Landscape of Franz Anton von Sporck in Roztěž Surroundings

Abstract

The paper presents the cultural landscape surrounding Roztěž near Kutná Hora. The existence of a designed landscape linked to the person of Franz Anton von Sporck was presumed in the area between the chateau of Roztěž and chapel of St. John Baptist on the Vysoká hill built in 1695–1697. Compared to other landscape designs of Sporck this project is almost unknown, but the name of the landlord offers a clue. This is the reason why this area was selected for testing the Methodology for Identification of Designed Landscapes created at the Department of Landscape Planning of FH MENDELU in 2012. The assessment confirmed the basic compositional relation (Roztěž chateau – chapel of St. John Baptist) and detected conditions of larger spatial relations linked to the chateau. The special part of surveys and analyses used GIS tools that allow for testing the visual links between individual features of the composition and spaces, and to formulate a hypothesis about the actual form of the composition in the landscape. The core of the composition was the chateau of Roztěž, but it was not limited only to the link with the chapel but included the surrounding settlements as well (Malešov, Nová Lhota), and also the extensive pheasantry.