Stoa 169, Contemporary art installation in Polling, Germany

Stoa 169 is an open colonnade hall west of Polling in the Pfaffenwinkel, about 200 m east of the Ammer. Its 121 columns, each 3.9 m high and up to 91 cm in diameter, stand roughly 40 × 40 m apart and carry a flat roof of white beams framing square openings. Every column is designed by a different artist, so one is a stack of red, blue, yellow, green and orange cubes, another a column of grey stone-like blocks, and a gold one shows a twisted knot form.

Bernd Zimmer conceived the idea in 1990 during a trip through India, inspired by the columned halls of Hindu temples. A first attempt around 2000 failed for lack of funding after the dotcom crash. After another India trip in 2016 he revived the plans, bought a 3.5-hectare meadow and obtained building permission in March 2017. The ground-breaking ceremony took place on 17 November 2019, and the first section with 81 columns was inaugurated on 13 September 2020.

The name Stoa 169 keeps the original plan of 13 by 13 columns, though only 121 (11 by 11) were built. A jury including Bernd Zimmer, Walter Grasskamp, Franziska Leuthäußer, Corinna Thierolf and Ulrich Wilmes selected 200 artists worldwide to design a column each. The hall is meant as a sign of solidarity and understanding between peoples.

The hall stands west of Polling, about 200 m east of the Ammer, and can be reached only on foot: roughly ten minutes along a field path from the village. The 121 columns are arranged in an 11×11 grid on a meadow measuring about 40×40 m.

The hall was planned for 169 columns, 13 by 13, and the name stuck even after the number of participating artists reduced it to 121 columns, 11 by 11. The built hall measures roughly 40 by 40 metres on a meadow of about 3.5 hectares.