Time Pyramid

The Time Pyramid (German: Zeitpyramide) is a work of public art by Manfred Laber under construction in Wemding, Germany. The pyramid, begun in 1993, at the 1,200th anniversary of Wemding, will take another 1162 years to complete and is scheduled to be finished in the year 3183. As of 2021, the first 3 of its scheduled 120 concrete blocks have been placed.[1][2]

Time Pyramid
The pyramid after the third block was laid. View looking west with Maria Brünnlein in background.
Maintained by a dedicated association
and unknown future people
Coordinates48°53′03″N 10°43′17″E
ArchitectManfred Laber and unknown future collaborators
Constructed1993–3183 (scheduled)
TypeStep pyramid
MaterialConcrete
Height9.2 metres (30 ft) (when completed)
Base15 metres (49 ft) (underlying concrete pad)
Volume311 cubic metres (407 cu yd; 10,983 cu ft) (when completed)
Slope43°
pyramid
The pyramid would be in prominence on a small rise of the Bavarian lowlands.

Concept

The town of Wemding dates back to the year 793 and celebrated its 1,200th anniversary in 1993. The time pyramid was conceived by Manfred Laber (a local artist) in June 1993 to mark this 1,200-year period and to give people a sense of what the span of 1,200 years really means.[1] One block is scheduled to be placed every ten years, taking 1,190 years (see Fencepost error) in total. The material of the blocks used is not fixed and may be altered in future generations depending on availability.[3]

Artist

Manfred Laber was born in Wemding in 1932 and studied painting at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Berlin in the 1950s. He has other artwork on permanent display on the Isla San Antonio, and in Alcanar, Spain, and Mormoiron, France. Alcanar is also his part-time place of residence.[4]

Construction
Trimetric projection of the design
profile (side view) of the completed design

Current progress

The pyramid, as far as it exists today, is on a concrete pad on a rounded hilltop, the Robertshöhe,[5] on the northern edge of Wemding. The first block was placed in October 1993.[1] The 6.5-tonne (6.4-long-ton; 7.2-short-ton) third and most recent block was placed at 16:14 on 29 June 2013.[6]

The project's initial financing was mostly achieved through donations by local companies, which, for example, supplied the materials for the concrete slab for free. The project is administrated by a foundation based in Wemding.[7]

Speculative future progress

A model of the final artwork is exhibited at Wemding, at the Haus des Gastes.[1]

It is unknown if or how the project would be continued if the administrative foundation stopped existing. Assuming the project proceeded according to plan, it would naturally fall into stages by tier.

Base tier

The planned base layer, measuring 13.8 by 13.8 m (45 by 45 ft), consists of 64 blocks arranged in 8 rows and 8 columns with a presumptive stage completion date of 2623—some decades after Wemding's hypothetical bimillenary.

Second tier

The planned second layer will consist of 36 blocks, in a 6 by 6 format with a presumptive stage completion date of 2983. This is the first layer that requires a block be placed atop another block, which would require a crane or some form of scaffolding such as an earthen ramp used as an incline.

Third tier

The planned third layer will consist of 16 blocks arranged in 4 by 4 with a presumptive stage completion date of 3143.

Fourth tier

The planned final, fourth layer consists of 4 blocks, arranged in 2 by 2, upon completion of which the structure will be finished, having taken just shy of a decade less time to build than Wemding had been in existence at the time the first block was laid.

Completion

The pyramid, when completed in the year 3183, is scheduled to consist of 120 stone or concrete blocks, each measuring 1.2 m (3.9 ft) long, 1.2 m (3.9 ft) wide and 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall. Adjacent blocks are separated by gaps of half a block or 0.6 m (2.0 ft).

References
  1. Conception Official Zeitpyramide website, accessed: 14 December 2010
  2. Die Stadt der Zeitpyramide Archived 2011-07-19 at the Wayback Machine (The city of the time pyramid) (in German) Official Wemding website, accessed: 14 December 2010
  3. Zeitpyramide (in German) Official Zeitpyramide website, accessed: 14 December 2010
  4. Biographie Manfred Laber (in German) Official Zeitpyramide website, accessed: 14 December 2010
  5. Ein Wolf an der Wiege und ein Gebäude mit 1200 Jahren Bauzeit (in German) Augsburger Allgemeine, published: 4 September 2010, accessed: 14 December 2010
  6. Denkmal oder Utopie? Der dritte Dekadenstein auf der Wemdinger Robertshöhe ist gesetzt, Helmut Bissinger
  7. Stiftung Wemdinger Zeitpyramide (in German) Official Zeitpyramide website, accessed: 14 December 2010
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