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How a model evolves
At first glance you might find it difficult to believe that individual models can cost more than € 500,000. But just take a glance with us behind the scenes to find out how a model is built:
It always starts off with requests from our visitors. We regularly ask guests which new models they would like to see. The most popular request in 1991 was for a model of Dresden's Zwinger. At the beginning of February 1992, the German consulate helped us to get in touch with the right people to get hold of the appropriate documentation. This was followed by a fact-finding mission in June 1992 and it took several more months until we were given appropriate plans on various scales (more than 100 plan drawings in all) which we then had to convert to a scale of 1:25.
As this really was a "project of the century" for MINIMUNDUS, once the planning phase had been more or less completed, the next step was to divide up the work in order to shorten the time required to construct the model. We approached various technical colleges, asking them to take on the construction of parts of the model. At this point, we would particularly like to thank the HTLs in Villach and Linz. At the end of 1995, construction work started "for real" and the first 4 m³ of Saxon sandstone were ordered. 
The model makers involved in the project faced one of their greatest challenges in spring 1998. In the light of our strategy of not only putting models on display in Klagenfurt, it was necessary to make the entire model of the Zwinger "portable" - all 10 metres and over 20 tons of it. The model of the Zwinger therefore had to be divided up into 10 individual parts (without the inner parts). In that way, despite the "gigantic" dimensions of the model, it could be transported on three articulated lorries.
In our original plans we did not envisage building the Nymphs' bath as well because it would have been very difficult to see it in its original position as part of the model. As it is so beautiful, however, we eventually decided not to keep it from our visitors (particularly with regard to exhibitions in the winter months) but to put it on separate display in a showcase. We were then faced with a whole series of new challenges above and beyond making the actual model, such as the fountain system, appropriate lighting, installing it in a suitable showcase, etc. etc. Prof. Rychkov from the Ukraine was commissioned to build the extremely complicated Nymphs' bath, also out of the original sandstone.
The moment of truth came in winter 1999/2000: the individual segments of the Zwinger were delivered from the various workshops and they fitted together perfectly thanks to the excellent plans. As MINIMUNDUS's workshop was too small to put the individual parts together, we rented an old factory building near the HTL in Villach so that we wouldn't lose any time during the winter months.
In July 2000, after more than five years of construction work, we finally made it: the model of the Zwinger was put on display for our visitors. The model of the nymphs' bath was first presented to the public as part of the exhibition at the Trade Fair Centre in Dresden in November 2000, on home territory, so to speak.
At the moment the model is exhibited at Minimundus - the little world at lake Constance in Meckenbeueren, Germany.
