A new welcome arch on the B100 in Nikolsdorf has recently begun greeting visitors on their way to Osttirol.

The sculpture “Mother Earth” was designed by Osttirol artist Georg Planer, who also created the gateway at the Felbertauern Tunnel. The glass and metal workshop GEMOS was responsible for the technical implementation.

Initiated by the Osttirol Tourism Association and implemented in collaboration with the district building authority, the gateway serves as a visible landmark at the Carinthia/Tyrol state border and invites visitors to welcome Osttirol as a special region.

Reliefs, sculptures, paintings, and drawings are the visual media of humanity’s oldest art, dating from the European Upper Paleolithic period during the Ice Age, 35,000 to 10,000 years ago. Even at that time, the depiction of humans played an important role. These were mostly small female figurines—see the Venus of Willendorf. Gaia, the goddess revered in Greek mythology as Mother Earth, is the personification of the Earth and is worshiped as the mother of all things, the source of all life, and the embodiment of fertility and nature. The female sculpture depicted here draws on this symbolism: It represents humanity’s deep connection to nature, fertility, primal origins, and life in harmony with the Earth—fully in line with the appreciation and protection of Osttirol’s unspoiled natural environment.