Assya Turgeniev was a Russian artist and one of Rudolf Steiner's most important co-workers, best known for her engraving work on the colored windows of the first Goetheanum building in Dornach, Switzerland. In these unique reminiscences, she provides eye-witness reports of the burning of the first Goetheanum, the time surrounding the death of Rudolf Steiner, the early performances of his Mystery Plays, Steiner's lecturing and travels abroad, the artistic work on the Goetheanum, the carving of the "Group" statue, and the Christmas plays and "Faust. She also describes the development of eurythmy, and recounts her memories of Marie Steiner, Edith Maryon and others. Turgeniev initially set out to write a complete account of the period during which Anthroposophy was founded and developed, but illness prevented her from doing so. Nevertheless, the fragment which constitutes this book is one of the most valuable accounts available.

Rudolf Steiner’s architectural masterpiece, the double-domed building known as the first Goetheanum, featured decorated ceilings that were designed and partly painted by Steiner himself, utilizing vegetable colors and a new layering technique. Steiner emphasized that he was seeking a new artistic conception based on a conscious understanding of the nature of color. Contemporaries report the extraordinary effect of the domed ceilings’ paintings combined with the multicolored light emanating from the engraved glass windows. The cupolas depicted the creation and ages of the world, the initiators of the various cultural epochs and the figure of Christ. Tragically, the ‘complete work of art’ that was the first Goetheanum burned down on New Year’s Eve 1922 – so today we can only get an impression of the lost paintings and windows from Rudolf Steiner’s pastel sketches and drawings and a handful of photographs. In this lavish volume, the result of decades of research and study, Hilde Raske provides a detailed examination of the artistic work on the two cupolas, including Rudolf Steiner’s draft sketches and his written and verbal statements. Featuring 30 color and more than 100 black-and-white illustrations, this printing is a high-quality facsimile of the long out-of-print original edition from 1983.