The title of the room is ‘The Eclipse of European Consciousness’. The story begins with an emblematic sentence placed in the corridor leading to this room: ‘The destinies of Europe seem to meet in this land’. A monk acts as narrator, introducing us to the disturbing climate of violence that has characterised Europe since the beginning of the 20th century and led to two world wars. Gorecki’s Symphony No. 3 creates a highly lyrical atmosphere in the first movement. In the crevices of the walls are four photographs, icons of the 20th century, created by the painful events of war.
These are the words of the monk: “Everything around here still bears the marks of the heaps of rubble, the hard stones of pain, the orgy of violence, gratuitous, banal, like the evil that bursts into everyday life. – Everywhere, the devastating fury of men and weapons is spreading, destructive as never before. Everything is impoverished beyond measure. – So much disbelief at what has happened. It all seems so far away, but it happened only yesterday.
The beginning of the story is entrusted to the voice of a grating. A timeless voice that seems to look down from above and from afar on the violence and destruction that has taken place over the course of the century.