On a recent trip to Fort Myers Florida I looked up the Giant Beethoven head. The mighty Ludwig guards the entrance to Pyramid Village, a community of futuristic tent-like condos built by a bunch of Austrians as a vacation resort. Apparently nothing says “vacation” like a giant, scowling head of Beethoven.
The resort is tucked into an inconspicuous plot of land between a housing development and busy US 41. The pyramids, which are designed to be hurricane- and burglar-proof, were invented by engineer Walter Freller. The village opened for business in 2002, and a tiny Sphinx was placed in front of the giant head in 2003. It is all very strange.
Former pyramid resident Janice Lassonde provides these insights: “The pyramids were built by Austrian people as a Florida resort property. The Beethoven head was a joke amongst the Austrian originators of the Pyramids. They said that now that they had ‘Austrian’ pyramids, they now needed an ‘Austrian’ Sphinx to go with them — thus the Beethoven ‘Sphinx’ was erected.
“The pyramids are two bedroom units. There is a sandy beach and a beautiful pond/pool to swim in inside the circle of the pyramids. They are mostly marketed to Europeans for vacations.
There’s also a nice Beethoven sculpture in Bonn, Germany, where he was born. The sculpture is called Beethon, and the fascinating thing about it is that when you look at it from any other angle it just looks like a jumble of irregularly shaped concrete slabs, but when you look at it from straight on, from either direction, those slabs resolve themselves into a vivid portrait of the composer. (For some reason I can’t show the photo here, sorry.)
There’s also a nice Beethoven sculpture in Bonn, Germany, where he was born. The sculpture is called Beethon, and the fascinating thing about it is that when you look at it from any other angle it just looks like a jumble of irregularly shaped concrete slabs, but when you look at it from straight on, from either direction, those slabs resolve themselves into a vivid portrait of the composer.
(For some reason I can’t show the photo here, sorry.)
Thank you for your comment. I looked up the Beethoven sculpture you were referring to what a interesting work of art!
What a marvel!