Bollingen Tower, Stone villa in canton St. Gallen, Switzerland.
Bollingen Tower is a stone villa near Lake Zurich featuring four connected towers that resemble a small castle built from local materials. The structure developed through several expansions over many years, showing an unusual mix of round forms and extended rooms.
A Swiss psychiatrist purchased the land in 1922 and built an initial two-story round tower that was later enlarged several times. These building phases reflected the owner's evolving thoughts and needs, as he used the place as a personal retreat over many decades.
The tower displays symbols and inscriptions connected to Jung's exploration of alchemy, with philosophical texts carved in Greek and Latin on a stone cube. These markings offer those passing by a window into the spiritual questions that shaped the place.
The property remains in private ownership and is not open to the public, neither its grounds nor interior spaces. Visitors can view the exterior from the road or lake, where the stone structure is visible among the trees.
The owner carved a carefully crafted stone monument beside the tower in 1950, bearing quotations and ancient alchemical symbols. This work bridges modern stonecraft with ideas drawn from historical philosophical texts.
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