Traben-Trarbach, 13. November 2009 – East and west meet to form a special cultural symbiosis: the world's only wine cellar to be built in the art nouveau style becomes home to Europe's most extensive collection of Buddhas. After total renovation and 12 months of restoration work, the impressive building is ready for the exclusive Buddha exhibits.

More than one thousand figures from various Buddhist countries find their new home in the art nouveau winery. The extensive renovations were essential to allow these precious Buddhas to be accommodated in the building. All together, artisans invested more than 50,000 working hours into the project, 22 miles of cable and 14,000 square feet of bamboo parquet flooring were laid, 71 tonnes of natural stone were processed, and  600 tonnes of building rubble was disposed off. Now this spectacular art nouveau winery is ready for the fascinating Buddha exhibition, the only one of its kind in Europe. The architect of this unique wine cellar, Professor Bruno Möhring, is considered among the most important representatives of the Art Nouveau movement in Germany. He has also enriched Traben-Trarbach with several other impressive buildings . He was made famous not only by his bridge, which connects Traben to Trarbach, but also by the building of the wine cellar, several large houses and the renowned little 'Bad Wildstein' castle surrounded by parkland.

These striking pieces of art nouveau architecture also fascinated the proprietors Brigitte and Wolfgang Preuß. 19 years ago they turned Möhring's romantic little castle into a top class Ayurveda spa hotel. In 2000 they bought the Julius Kayser wine cellar and at the end of 2008 began extensive renovations on the protected building. Now it has become home to well over 1000 Buddhas from Wolfgang Preuß' collection. For the first time, the public has now been given the opportunity to marvel at this collection, which had previously been kept private. The wine cellar, restored to its original state, is the perfect backdrop.

Before the opening, journalists were granted the exclusive opportunity to experience a tour of this symbiosis of western art nouveau architecture and oriental philosophy:

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Download link for press photographs of exhibits
Download link for press photograph of "Julius Kayser" building