THERE’S NO DENYING that people have a fascination with anywhere they can be in two places at the same time. On the face of it, it sounds impossible. But when you consider the popularity of places like the Four Corners in the US — where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah meet — it’s no surprise that there are places around the world where people can stand in multiple states or countries at the same time. One such place is the “tripoint” between Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary. The “Four Corners of Europe” if you will.
Szoborpark, the sculpture park in which this point is located, was built after the Iron Curtain fell in 1991 to symbolize unity among the three countries. All the park’s sculptures were created by international artists and incorporate the triangular shape to represent each of the three nations.
Indeed, whereas border walls and checkpoints often remind us of the division of nations, and what separates us, the tripoint and other sites like it are reminders of our similarities — that borders are immaterial, moveable things. Perhaps the best example of this in the sculpture park is a triangular picnic table, where people from Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, and other nations are encouraged to lunch together and, over a sandwich, forget the borders that may separate them.
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