In 1999, architect Mario Botta built a life-size wooden model of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane near Lake Lugano, Switzerland. The original structure is a 17th-century baroque church, and the model presents the apse. The occasion for the model was to commemorate the 400th year anniversary of Francesco Borromini‘s birth. The 33 m high model consists of 35 000 wood boards and stands on a square platform floating a few meters from the shore. The wood boards were held together with the help of steel cables fixed to a steel frame weighing 90 metric tons. The exhibition of the model lasted until the disassembling of the pieces in October 2003.
San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane was the first important work of Francesco Borromini. Therefore, Botta’s model of San Carlo was the ideal representation to celebrate the 400th year after his birth.
