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.

This volume focuses on the connection between modern design and architectural practices and the construction of "sacred spaces." Not only language and ritual but space, place, and architecture play a significant role in constructing "special" or "religious" spaces. However, this concept of a constructed "sacred space" remains undertheorized in religious studies and the history of art and architecture in general. This volume therefore revisits the question of a "modern sacred space" from an interdisciplinary perspective, focusing on religion, space, and architecture during the emergence of the modern period and up until contemporary times. Revisiting the ways in which modern architects and artists have endeavored to create sacred spaces and buildings for the modern world will addresses the underlying questions of how religious ideas--especially those related to esotericism and to alternative religiosities--have transformed the way sacred spaces are conceptualized today.

This book selectively describes the events around Anthroposophy in the early years of the 20th century and the lives of that young people from all over the world who mentally and physically committed themselves to this spiritual science. Beginning with Anthroposophy's spiritus rector Rudolf Steiner, continuing with the establishment of the Anthroposophical Society, going on with the erection of the extraordinary first Goetheanum building as of 1913 and its destruction by fire 1922/23. It ends with Rudolf Steiner's sudden death in 1925, the erection of the second Goetheanum building and the impacts and benefits Rudolf Steiner's Anthroposophy has until today in many fields of life and institutions as schools, hospitals, biodynamic agriculture, eurythmy, architecture, medicine, stage performance and others.

Focusing on Marie Steiner-von Sivers’ distinctive collaboration with Rudolf Steiner, From the History of the Dornach Hill… offers an engaging, lively narrative of the early decades of the anthroposophical movement. Utilizing eye-witness accounts and primary sources, Angela Locher creates vivid images of the developing arts at the Goetheanum – in particular eurythmy, speech formation and the dramatic arts – but also describes many fascinating aspects of general anthroposophical history. The latter include the period of cooperation with the Theosophical Society; the design and building of the first and second Goetheanums; travels, tours and visits overseas with Rudolf Steiner; the pivotal Christmas Conference of 1923/4; stage performances including the Mystery Dramas; and Rudolf Steiner’s unexpected death and its aftermath. Locher structures her absorbing study around the life of Marie Steiner – from her birth in 1867 and childhood in Russia to her eventual passing in Switzerland in 1948. ‘I have written this book especially for subsequent generations of eurythmists, actors and speakers who could not experience what had been achieved in the previous century… the vital processes of the development of eurythmy and the dramatic arts. These created the foundation on which we stand today, and from which we can carry on into the future.’ – Angela Locher 'This work by Angela Locher can be greeted with enthusiasm… In view of the difficult challenges of our time, more people than ever are beginning to experience that the arts are not merely a beautiful addition to life but are profoundly connected to our humanity.' – Virginia Sease

In conducting his research into the mysteries of antiquity, Frank Teichmann made a series of discoveries that connect directly to contemporary events and the tasks of the present-day. Whilst scholarly in nature and based on extensive documentation of historical sites, Teichmann’s work is no dry academic study. In The Origins of the Anthroposophical Society, he offers incisive new insights into Rudolf Steiner’s seminal esoteric deed – the refounding of the Anthroposophical Society at the Christmas Conference of 1923-24 – and considers how it impacts us today. The Conference itself, says Teichmann, ‘…did not just appear out of nowhere, nor did it happen merely as the result of a decision on Rudolf Steiner’s part. It was prepared for long beforehand.’ In the emergence of the anthroposophical movement, Teichmann reveals a conscious recapitulation and renewal by Rudolf Steiner of three types of primordial mystery. He states: ‘… the whole anthroposophical movement together with the Anthroposophical Society as it was re-founded at the Christmas Conference of 1923, was planned and prepared for in primordial times… All [Steiner’s] deeds, no matter how original they may appear in the foreground, have a deep esoteric background that contains the entire spiritual history of humanity.’ This renewal had been systematically prepared by Rudolf Steiner in three phases: through the evolution and intensification of thinking via the ‘mysteries of light’ in Greece; experiencing the spiritual through art via the ‘mysteries of space’ in Egypt; and, involving the ‘tasks of civilization’, the ‘northern’ or ‘earth mysteries’. Teichmann’s groundbreaking book – featuring dozens of images including his own original photos of British mystery landmarks – is published here for the first time in English translation.

Centering the Olivier sisters in their own time, Watling presents a vivid and fascinating group portrait of sisters, sisterhood, and feminism in the early twentieth century

8 lectures plus extracts and notes (CW 286) This collection introduces Rudolf Steiner's vision of architecture as a culmination of the arts. Such architecture unites sculpture, painting, and engraving as well as drama, music and dance--a vital synthesis of all the arts working in cooperation through the common ideal of awakening us to our individuality and task in life. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Steiner's ideas did not remain abstract. Within his lifetime he was able to design and construct a number of buildings, including his architectural masterpiece, the Goetheanum--a center for culture and arts near Basle, Switzerland. In these lectures Steiner describes, with reference to the Goetheanum, the importance of an architecturally coherent and integrated community, and how this in turn affects social unity and harmony. These lectures offer a panorama of the development of architecture in parallel with the emerging human soul in human evolution. This is a valuable collection for all students of architecture, the arts, social science, and those looking for a deeper spiritual understanding of the art of architecture. Includes eight color plates and 30 black & white illustrations. CONTENTS: Part One: The Temple Is the Human Being An Art & Architecture that Reveal the Underlying Wholeness of Creation The Task of Modern Art & Architecture Proposals for the Architecture of a Model Anthroposophical Community at Dornach Part Two: Ways to a New Style of Architecture True Artistic Creation Art As the Creation of Organs through which the Gods Speak to Us A New Concept of Architecture The Aesthetic Laws of Form The Creative World of Color Appendix: The Evolution of Architecture at the Turn of Each New Millennium Notes & Color Plates Architecture as a Synthesis of the Arts is a translation from German of Wege zu einem neuen Baustil. "Und der Bau wird Mensch"