Open-air gallery
The open-air gallery of the Litovelské Pomoraví House of Nature shows the unique landscape of the woodland meadows along the Morava River. Artworks on the walking circuit serve as traditional viewpoints, but also enhance the experience of traveling through the landscape.
The artistic installations are placed in the open landscape and try to bring people out of the "virtual worlds of computer networks" to a natural stay in nature. At the same time, it is a unique intention that creates a composed landscape, with reference to English romantic parks.
The open-air gallery is freely accessible and ready for all pilgrims wandering through the landscape. On the large grounds you can see picturesque recesses, unconventional playground elements and seats for relaxing. It’s ideal for walks with prams or bicycle rides.
Within the premises of Sluňákov, there are structures built by famous Czech artists – František Skála (The Garden of Eden of plants and animals), Miloš Šejn (The Solar Mountain), Miloslav Fekar (The Forest Temple) and Marcel Hubáček (The Golden Spiral Campfire Spot).
- The Garden of Eden
- The Solar Mountain
- The Forest Temple
- The Golden Spiral Campfie Spot
- Clay furnances
The Garden of Eden
An atmosphere of stopped time, Mediterranean monasteries and, at the same time, an indirect link to typical homesteads of the Haná region with arcades and basic rural yards with their do-it-yourself aesthetics. The garden is a pleasant place created for joy. Joy of perception of space, sound and light, contemplation and time stopped for a while. Joy of observing materials, proportions, colors, plants and animals that come to live in the garden in a natural way. The garden is designed for meditation.
An artificial landscape structure providing access into its dark internal space. Four elements, four specific niches distributed around the central well. This underground space is a place providing an intimate link between Man and Earth, that gives us the opportunity to experience various sensual encounters stimulated by walking, standing, sitting or lying. The internal spaces of the Mountain behind the stone portals made of limestone from the Vitoul quarry hide many secrets. Every entry into the Mountain is unique. It always involves a specific situation of meeting the elements.
The Forest Temple made of oak-tree columns is a place that tells you a story about the journey of the Sun. Miloslav Fekar says on his work that it is "a fulfilled child's dream of visiting a temple hidden in a forest that is dedicated to nature and our relationship with her." Inside the temple is a circle made up of four benches. Four seasons, four cardinal points and four basic elements can be recognized in the benches.
Besides the temple, Miloslav Fekar also realized the Magical Forests of knowledge, sounds and feelings. The recess with wooden playground elements, for example, where you can experience a bird's flight or explore the importance of water retention in the landscape.
The Golden Spiral Campfire Spot
A campfire spot surrounded by a stone wall with the shape of a golden section. At the campfire spot, you can sit on the wall, which rises up gradually, and a tree grows at its end, as a symbol of the connection between life and fire, with the warmth of life. Marcel Hubáček says: “Fire has accompanied the mankind since time immemorial. It has become a part of all rituals, sacred ceremonies and initiation processes. And everyone carries this in himself/herself subconsciously. The campfire spot becomes a kind of a sacred place of the modern ritual of creation on the one side and the desctruction on the other side. And that's why the campfire spot has a shape of a golden spiral, which itself is a symbol of life. It further intensifies the energy of transformation and the eternal cycle of life of matter and consciousness."
In the years 2017-18, the exposition of the open-air gallery was extended with replicas of clay furnaces. You can find here a replica of a medieval bread baking oven, a bronze melting furnace, an ancient furnace for firing ceramics, an iron melting furnace and a weaving loom. Their construction was supervised by the archaeologist Filip Šrámek.
The furnaces are replicas of authentic archeological finds from this region and their construction and partly even their use are based on the principles of experimental archeology