Page - 7 - in Analogue Meets Digital - History and Present IT Augmentation of Europe’s Largest Landscape Relief Model in Villach, Austria

MultimodalTechnol. Interact.2019, 3, 44 7of12 Multimodal Technol. Interact. 2019, 3, x FOR PEER REVIEW 7 of 12 (c) Figure 2. The initial shelter building for the Landscape Relief Model of Carinthia with glass roof around 1925. (a) Exterior view and (b, c) interior views. In (b) and (c), the catwalk gallery can be seen. (c) also visualizes the overly bright illumination of the landscape relief model through the glass roof at noon. Photographs: Municipal Museum and Archive of the City of Villach. The “Reliefgebäude“ or ”Pavillon“ (shelter building) was constructed in 1912, based on the plans of the Villach City Baurat (an Austrian title for municipal construction engineers), the civil engineer Rudolf Müller. Initially, it received natural light through a large glass roof (Figure 2a–c). Since this sort of natural illumination did not prove itself in practice due to interaction with the sun radiation, only a few years later, the building got a roof membrane made of tin and an electric lighting (Figure 3) [4]. Figure 3. Shelter building for the Landscape Relief Model of Carinthia with changed roof membrane made of tin (around 1925). Photograph: Municipal Museum and Archive of the City of Villach. Figure2. Theinitial shelterbuildingfor theLandscapeReliefModel ofCarinthiawithglassroofaround 1925. (a) Exterior view and (b,c) interior views. In (b) and (c), the catwalk gallery can be seen. (c) also visualizes theoverlybright illuminationof the landscapereliefmodel throughtheglass roofatnoon. Photographs: MunicipalMuseumandArchiveof theCityofVillach. ree weeks after the official opening of the Relief von Kärnten, more than 1000 visitors were counted [7] (p. 5). Less than only four weeks after the opening, the landscape t rain model had been visitedbymore th n2000p rsons. According othe localnewspaperVillache Zeitungof24Augus 1913,allvisitorswereamazedanddelightedbythesplendid essof thiscrea ion. Theauth rof the rticlepraisedthenaturalappearanceanduniquenessof theobject dunderlineditsattractiveness for the local population as well as for tourists. It was predicted that the Relief von Kärnten would, in the future, act asa prominent tourist attraction. The volkswirtschaftlicher Verein (national-economic association) “Oberkärnten“(“Upper” = Western = more alpine “Carinthia”) made it their business to promote this “sculptural piece of art“ in Austrian newspapers and newspapers abroad in order to drawattentionto thisuniqueobjectof interest ([8],p. 5). In 1986/1987, the building got a thorough renovation and the landscape relief model was also refurbished. Twoyears later, in1988/1989, thealreadyyellowedterrainpaintingwasrestoredbythe Tyroliangeosculptor JörgCovi. Within thescopeof this renovation, the previously whiteneighboring regions of Carinthia also got a topographically correct coloring, so that today the whole area of 182 m2 showsa“real landscape”andnotonly thewhitish terrainrelief [4]. The large-area Relief von Kärnten owes its existence essentially to an alpinism, educational, and local-history motivation but—to be frank—also, to quite some extent, a patriotic–nationalistic motivation. At timeswheneideticcartographic (3D)visualizationsdidnotyetexist,not tomention aerialandsatellite imageryorvirtualdigitalpanoramas—things thatcanbetakenforgrantedtoday, this Landscape Relief Model of Carinthia played a seminal role (Figure 4, cf. [4]). Also today, during a period of ever increasing digitalization, this genuine landscape relief model, following the postulation of theworld-famousgeosculptorToniMair,has tobeconsideredbothapieceofexcellenthandicraft and