FOUNTAIN OF DIONYSUS
Wine Culture Centre SHABO, Ukraine, 2009
The symbol of Shabo
Multi-media fountain sculpture by Hugo Schaer
Music by Arakel Semenov
Via granite steps one walks up to the wide water surface. A brass plaque tells the visitor that the Dionysius Fountain is dedicated to the Swiss winemaker Louis Tardent, the founder and first mayor of Shabo.
Surrounded by water visitors enjoy a wonderful view of the mighty steel cylinder out of which hundreds of symbols of wine history have been cut. The cut-outs move like reeds in the wind and their reflections play on the surface of the water.
The experience is made even more spectacular and unforgettable when visitors venture across a bridge inside the cylinder. Here the symbols of Shabo’s world of wine appear like stars in a night sky.
Inside the cylinder Dionysian music is played and there is a bubbling and foaming as if in a fermentation tank. Dionysus, the good of wine, performs the miracle and turns grape juice into wine. Water fountains rise up in all the colours of wine, lit up by underwater lamps...