Seine Heiligkeit der Dalai Lama mit Andreas Salcher

The Waldzell Meetings at Melk Abbey

from 2003 to 2007

Having met with Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho in spring 2003 in the French city of Tarbes, Andreas Salcher co-founded with Gundula Schatz the “Waldzell Institute” which derives its name from a fictitious place called “Waldzell” in Hermann Hesse’s novel The Glass Bead Game. One of the events this institute has organized is the „Waldzell Meetings“ at the Benedictine monastery of Melk Abbey which has grown into an internationally acclaimed dialog among artists, religious leaders, and scientists. The list of speakers appearing during the first four years includes seven Nobel laureates, moral authorities such as the Dalai Lama, artists, novelists and designers such as Christo and JC, Paulo Coelho, Frank Gehry and Isabel Allende as well as several of the most prominent scientists of our times such as Robert Gallo, Carl Djerassi, Paul Nurse, Gunter Blobel, Kary Mullis, Craig Venter, and Anton Zeilinger.

Following the fourth Waldzell Meeting in 2007 which had been given a very positive reception on both national and international levels, Andreas Salcher decided to leave Waldzell in view to launch a new project with the working title “THE CURRICULUM PROJECT – Creating the Schools of Tomorrow”.