The Kueka stone is hundreds of millions of years old, but in the last 22 years of its existence it has become the source of a protracted dispute between the government of Venezuela and a German conceptual artist.
It all began in 1998, when Wolfgang Kraker von Schwarzenfeld, an aristocratic figure with flowing white hair and a taste for adventure, arrived in Venezuela on his three-masted yacht, looking for the perfect rock.
His idea was to select a pair of stones in five continents. He would leave one of each pair in the country of origin and transport the others back to a park in Berlin, where they would be displayed as part of his “Global Stone project.” The rock from the Americas, was destined to be named “Love”.
He found the Kueka, a 30-ton whale-shaped slab of pinkish jasper quartz in Venezuela’s immense Canaima National Park. He later said he could have chosen any of the hundreds of stones in the area. All the necessary paperwork for his unusual export, he insists, was completed. The rock was loaded onto a transporter and then onto a cargo boat to Germany. It was then placed alongside 4 other massive stones in Berlin’s Tiergarten Park.
Not everyone however was pleased with the idea. There were reports at the time that indigenous people in Canaima thought it was inappropriate that a rock had been seized from their traditional land. These concerns were taken up by the newly-elected socialist President of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, when he took office in 1999. Some anthropologists and tribal leaders said that the Kueka was also not a random rock, but a holy stone for the Pemon people. Removing it, they said, was blasphemy.
Schwarzenfeld, now in his 90s, has dismissed the criticism. No one at the time had told him there “was even a hint of holiness” about the stone, he said.
Decades passed, but finally, last year, both the artist and the German authorities agreed that if Venezuela really wanted the Kueka back, then it could be removed from the Berlin park. Venezuela has paid the cost of the repatriation, a 12,000km voyage across sea and land. It now sits just a few hundred metres away from the very spot where it was taken in 1998. It will be repositioned, for eternity, in the coming weeks.
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BERLIN -- Wolfgang von Schwarzenfeld's sculptures in a Berlin park were meant to promote world peace
but the 79-year-old German now finds himself at war with a Venezuelan tribe which accuses him of stealing a sacred pink stone known to them as "Grandmother."
The Venezuelan government is championing the Pemon Indians of the "Gran Sabana" region by demanding the return of the polished stone from Berlin's Tiergarten park -- putting the German government in something of a dilemma
and the sculptor arguing that the stone was a legal gift
the monolith is emitting more negative energy than its esoteric fans in Berlin are used to
Blissfully unaware of the diplomatic tug-of-war
got off his bicycle to light joss sticks among the stones from five continents that form the "Global Stone Project"
awaiting friends for an afternoon shamanic ritual
But newly arrived Venezuelan tourists Grecia Melendez and Juan Carlos Brozoski knew all about the war of the stone and suspected there were political motives behind the protests
"(President Hugo) Chavez always wants a conflict with someone," said 32-year-old Melendez
which is engraved with the word "love" in different languages -- and graffiti with couples' names and hearts
'A symbol of a united mankind'Von Schwarzenfeld
a frail figure with whispy white hair and scuffed brown shoes
waved a sheaf of documents authorizing the removal of the stone from the Canaima National Park in 1998
As with all the stones arranged in a circle in Berlin
their burnished surfaces reflect the sun "as a symbol of a united mankind
The project was inaugurated in 1999 near Berlin's landmark Potsdamer Platz and Brandenburg Gate
Von Schwarzenfeld defied Venezuela to take back what he called a "gift to Berlin" from former president Rafael Caldera
"Peace for me does not mean the absence of conflict," said the artist
undeterred by threats and what he too suspects are "political motivations" behind the tussle over the stone
A video circulated on Youtube has mobilized public opinion in Venezuela
recounting the mythical origins of the Kueka (grandmother in the Pemon language) and its pair
"This man decided to take the Kueka without caring about its cultural value for the Pemon community," Venezuelan activist and ecologist Any Alarcon says in the video
Venezuela prosecutors investigatingCulture Minister Pedro Calzadilla told state television the donation was "illegitimate" because the stone was part of "the cultural patrimony of the (Pemon) community"
Prosecutors are looking into the stone's removal because "whoever authorized the removal of the Grandmother committed a crime," he said
After Pemon tribespeople demonstrated outside Germany's embassy last week with spears
feather headdresses and banners saying "The Pemon People Want Our Wise Grandmother Back," the German envoy promised to relay their feelings to Berlin
while telling them it would be no easy task to return the stone
German Foreign ministry spokesman Andreas Peschke said Berlin wanted a solution "agreed by all sides -- Venezuela
saying the stone's removal would sacrifice "the 15 years of my life and all the money I spent
it ruins the whole project." Beside him stood German anthropologist Bruno Illius
who has studied the Pemon tribe for two decades
He said there was "no such thing as a 'holy stone' for the Pemones
just small magical stones with practical purposes
like helping you to catch fish." Illius rubbished stories about the stone's removal bringing misfortune on the tribe
like drought and the disappearance of the ants they eat in spicy sauce
saying he had eaten plenty of ants on three visits to the region
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