The Bollingen Tower is a structure built by Swiss psychiatrist

Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, ph ...

. In appearance, it is a small castle with four towers. It is located in the village of

Bollingen Bollingen is a village (''Kirchdorf'') within the municipality of Rapperswil-Jona in the Swiss canton of St. Gallen. Geography The village is located along the northern shore of the upper Lake Zürich (''Obersee'') between Jona and Schmeriko ...

on the shore of the ''Obersee'' (upper lake) basin of

Lake Zürich __NOTOC__ Lake Zurich ( Swiss German/ Alemannic: ''Zürisee''; German: ''Zürichsee''; rm, Lai da Turitg) is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zürich. Depending on the context, Lake Zurich or ''Zürichsee'' can be used ...

History

Jung bought the land in 1922 after the death of his mother. In 1923 he built a two-storey round tower on this land. It was a stone structure suitable to be lived in. Additions to this tower were constructed in 1927, 1931, and 1935, resulting in a building that has four connected parts. A second storey was added to the 1927 addition after the death of Jung's wife in 1955, signifying "an extension of consciousness achieved in old age." For much of his life Jung spent several months each year living at Bollingen. The Tower is now owned by a family trust and is not open to the public. The

Bollingen Foundation The Bollingen Foundation was an educational foundation set up along the lines of a university press in 1945. It was named after Bollingen Tower, Carl Jung's country home in Bollingen, Switzerland. Funding was provided by Paul Mellon and his wife ...

, created in 1945 but inactive since 1968, was named after it.

Inscribed cube

In 1950, on the occasion of his 75th birthday, Jung set up a stone cube on the lakeshore, just west of the tower, inscribing it on three sides. One side contains a quote taken from the '' Rosarium philosophorum'':

A dedication is also inscribed on this side of the stone: ' (In memory of his 75th birthday, C.G. Jung out of gratitude made and set it up in the year 1950.) The second side of the cube depicts a

Telesphorus Telesphorus can refer to: * Telesphorus (general), 4th century BC general in ancient Greece * Pope Telesphorus (died c. 137), Catholic pope and Catholic and Orthodox saint * Telesphorus of Cosenza, a name assumed by a 14th century pseudo-prophet d ...

figure, a

homunculus A homunculus ( , , ; "little person") is a representation of a small human being, originally depicted as small statues made out of clay. Popularized in sixteenth-century alchemy and nineteenth-century fiction, it has historically referred to the ...

bearing a lantern and wearing a hooded cape. It is surrounded by a Greek inscription: The inscription says: "Time is a child at play, gambling; a child's is the kingship" is a fragment attributed to

Heraclitus Heraclitus of Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἡράκλειτος , "Glory of Hera"; ) was an ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from the city of Ephesus, which was then part of the Persian Empire. Little is known of Heraclitus's life. He wrot ...

. "He points the way to the gates of the sun and to the land of dreams" is a quote from the

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the '' Iliad'', ...

(Book 24, Verse 12). It refers to

Hermes Hermes (; grc-gre, Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travellers, thieves, merchants, and orat ...

the

psychopomp Psychopomps (from the Greek word , , literally meaning the 'guide of souls') are supernatural creatures, spirits, entities, angels, demons or deities in many religions whose responsibility is to escort newly deceased souls from Earth to the afte ...

, who leads away the spirits of the slain suitors. The second side also contains a four-part

mandala A mandala ( sa, मण्डल, maṇḍala, circle, ) is a geometric configuration of symbols. In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for e ...

of alchemical significance. The top quarter of the mandala is dedicated to

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...

, the bottom quarter to

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

, the left quarter to Sol-

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousand ...

ale Ale is a type of beer brewed using a warm fermentation method, resulting in a sweet, full-bodied and fruity taste. Historically, the term referred to a drink brewed without hops. As with most beers, ale typically has a bittering agent to bala ...

and the right quarter to Luna-

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

emale The third side of the cube is the side that faces the lake. It bears a Latin inscription of sayings which, Jung says, "are more or less quotations from alchemy."Jung (1962), p. 230f. gives German translations of the inscriptions and attributes the ''Rosarium'' quote to Arnold of Villanova (d. 1311). See also Edward Armstrong Bennet, ''Meetings with Jung: Conversations Recorded During the Years 1946-1961'' (1985), , p. 31 ("Summer 1951"). The inscription reads:

Gallery

File:Bollingen lapis0.jpg, The ''Rosarium'' quote and Jung's dedication File:Bollingen lapis2.jpg, Latin alchemical inscription File:Βοllingen lapis1.jpg, Greek inscription within a four-part mandala File:Telesphoros Nimes.jpg, An ancient statue of the god Telesphorus

References

Bibliography

*Dunne, Claire. ''Carl Jung:

Wounded Healer Wounded healer is a term created by psychologist Carl Jung. The idea states that an analyst is compelled to treat patients because the analyst himself is "wounded." The idea may have Greek mythology origins. Victor et al. (2021), a pre-print st ...

of the Soul: An Illustrated Biography''. Continuum International Publishing Group (2002), , pp. 70f., 106-108, 139, 192
Google books
*Hart, Vaughan. 'Carl Jung's Alchemical Tower at Bollingen', ''Res: Anthropology and Aesthetics'', 25, 1994, 36-50 *

External links

BBC.co.uk
''Der Turm am See'' (in German) {{jung Carl Jung Houses in Switzerland