However, in 2011 he proposed creating a visitors center at the location with construction costs being paid for by donations.An astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) focused a camera lens on the Bonneville Salt Flats of northeast Utah-the light-toned, patchy feature in the middle of the image. įollowing the dedication of this work of art, Momen donated the sculpture to the State of Utah and returned to Sweden. It has been said that Momen was moved to create the 87-foot-tall (27 m) tree after having a vision of a tree while driving across the desolate Bonneville Salt Flats.

Inscribed on the plaque are the words from Ode to Joy by Friedrich Schiller also used as the chorus of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. The sculpture currently has a fence surrounding the base to protect people from falling tiles. There are also several hollow sphere segments on the ground around the base. The sculpture, which is constructed mainly of concrete, consists of a squarish 'trunk' holding up six spheres that are coated with natural rock and minerals native to Utah.

It is located in the desolate Great Salt Lake Desert of Utah on the west bound side of Interstate 80, about 25 miles (40 km) east of Wendover and midway between the former railroad communities of Arinosa and Barro. Metaphor: The Tree of Utah, sometimes called the Tree of Life, is an 87-foot-tall (27 m) sculpture that was created by the Swedish artist Karl Momen in the 1980s and dedicated in 1986.

Utah bonneville salt flats