Architecture for Birds

A château enlarged and decorated by F. A. Špork stands on the site of a legendary ancient Slavic sacrificial ground. Its park contains allegorical statues, lions, sphinxes and other sculptures. The count had the town and surrounding area adorned with many more statues, hermitages and chapels. West of the château was a large aviary with artificial caves and a fountain. Nearby Bon Repos was Špork’s retreat for meditation, where he devoted himself especially to ornithology. “Taken as a whole, it is characterised by a curious mingling of the religious-philosophical, meditative component with recreation and entertainment,” writes Špork scholar P. Preiss. This “promiscuity of the profane and the sacred” may seem strange unless we allow that Špork was absorbed in the Joyful Science, as one branch of esotericism was called, characterised by a masterful game of mixing the “high” and the “low”. (See Bon Repos and Kuks.)