Stone-Ideas.com 
The town of Lech am Arlberg in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg offers a new tourist and artistic highlight in the summer: at an altitude of 2,100 meters, a unique reflecting pool mirrors the surrounding peaks. Called the “Lech Mountain Mirror,” it was designed by the Norwegian architecture firm Snøhetta.
The pool’s distinctive feature is that it occupies the roof of the cable car’s upper station. The pool covers an area of 275 m2 and holds 175 cubic meters of water. It is self-cleaning and always clear. However, the clarity of the reflection is dependent on the weather: depending on the wind, waves can blur the image of the mountains.
The pool is only filled during the summer months from June to October.
The aim is to offer visitors an unusual perspective of the mountains. There are stepping stones in the pool that allow you to reach a specific point. There, you are, in the middle of the water, practically alone with yourself and the world.
All around you, there’s a lot of hustle and bustle: The cable car constantly brings guests up the mountain, and you can also reach the station on foot or by mountain bike. Right next door is the Balmalp restaurant, whose cuisine ranges from Alpine classics to Mediterranean dishes.
The “Lech Mountain Mirror” follows two art installations in the mountain region in recent years. From 2010 to 2012, the installation “Horizon Field” by British artist Antony Gormley was on display there: It consisted of 100 iron figures placed on the slopes at exactly 2039 meters above sea level. The two 640 kg (1,100 lb) and 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in) tall iron figures, made of solid cast iron, were casts of the artist’s own likeness.
Since the entire installation was dismantled in 2012, only the figure remains above the Kriegeralpe mountain hut in Lech. It can be viewed year-round from the terrace there.
However, the idea of art in the mountains has remained alive, and the next installation, “Sky Space Lech“ by the American light artist James Turrell, was installed in 2018 at an altitude of 1,780 m (3,100 ft) on Mount Tannegg. It is a circular structure with an opening in the roof.
At dusk, the walls and ceiling are bathed in color-changing light. Looking through the opening in the roof, the sky becomes part of the space. For a second art installation, the dome can be closed and used as a stage for the “Ganzfeld Room“: “The viewer’s perception is disturbed and distorted. The previously clearly perceived spatial structure dissolves,“ according to the installation’s website.
Access to “Sky Space Lech“ is via an underground tunnel. The dome is open at different times depending on the season.
Photos: Lech Begbahnen