scenography / mini diorama

design & content editing, illustration & sculpting, 2026

for the Oriental Building at Sanspareil Rock Garden 

see single models of the marine croc, ammonite, coelacanth or sea urchin 

The Baroque complex in the vicinity of Bayreuth is named after the coining exclamation ‘C’est sans pareil!’ (that’s one of a kind / incomparable). In the 18th century, people were impressed by the stunning rock formations, of which thousands of smaller pieces were also used for building. Geologically, these are the remains of Late Jurassic reef limestones, roughly a lateral counterpart of the layered Wattendorf plattenkalk, which again is a slightly older complement to the ‘Solnhofen’ limestones. 

During the renewal of this mainly historical exhibition, the storytelling went far back in time, starting with the origins of the surrounding and defining rocks. Fortunately, we had enough experience with the marine fauna of Wattendorf to create a tiny diorama or ‘aquarium’. The background, repeating the outline of the historical window, is a translucent illustration of the sponge reef with crinoids, belemnites and ‘Mobbl’, the uge Thalassemys sea turtle (on exhibition in Bamberg). The front pane is interrupted by models of the marine crocodylomorph Cricosaurus, the ammonite Aulacostephanus, the coelacanth Holophagus, and the cidarid urchin Rhabdocidaris sitting on a reef close-up with Tremadictyon sponges.

After all, the project can’t hide the short time and low budget but received great feedback right from the installation. It contains some recycled motives, along with research data. The colouring page for public outreach is nice and useful even for our commitment in the Solnhofen area.

exhibition context by Bettina Zenk – Zenk Design

supervised by Dr. Cordula Mauß – Bayerische Verwaltung der staatlichen Schlösser, Gärten und Seen