Kristek’s metal monument and the visitorsFragment of the future sculpture.Lubo Kristek working on the sculpture BirthLubo Kristek created the fourth sculpture of the Glyptotheque in the years 2005–2006 specifically for the station in Podhradí nad Dyjí. A precursor of its form can be seen in the picture The Consumption of the Priest (2005).
He attached his other symbols to it – two eggs, which the Munich magazine Applaus mentions: “Another important symbol of the circle of life in Kristek’s works is the egg. In its simple integrity, it contains everything and contains the germ of eternal repetition.” (1)

Lubo Kristek working on the sculpture Birth

 

With regard to this sculpture, Kristek said the following for the newspaper MF DNES: “In the current materialistic era there is a great danger of a drift away from the equilibrium between the intellect and nature. So it is not enough just to 'manufacture' art as mere decoration. Art must – especially today – be capable of waking man up, engaging him, attracting him and, if necessary, also healing him. ‘Healing’ him of the disease which nearly every one of us has started to experience for some time now, because humanity is losing the ability to make healthy use of the energy which nature, the cosmos and the earth offers it.” (2)


Sculpture The Cosmically Timed Parapyramidal Potency by Lubo Kristek in the Kristek Thaya GlyptothequePyramids represent accumulators and transformers of the energy that is concentrated in their centre. The energy comes from the depths of the earth and the neighbouring space and flows from the base to the apex. The pyramid is the primal hill, the mythical and holy place of birth, resurrection and eternal life linking the earth and the heavens. Burial chambers were to be found within the pyramid. Kristek’s sculpture The Cosmically Timed Parapyramidal Potency allows energy to be drawn. The pilgrim climbs on to its wall, presses himself against it and merges with its surface. Here he can draw sufficient natural energy, gain equilibrium for living and personal balance. The sculpture also balances the flow of energy in the immediate surroundings, and a secret meditation chamber is to be found at its centre.

Text: Barbora Půtová

Barbora Půtová (born 1985) is a Czech anthropologist and art historian lecturing at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague.
She deals with history of culture, artwork and cultural heritage. Other fields of her expert interest include historical anthropology, visual anthropology and anthropology of art.
She has published dozens of articles and experts studies as well as several expert monographs such as Pravěké umění (Prehistoric Art, co-authors Jean Clottes and Václav Soukup, 2011), Félicien Rops: enfant terrible dekadence (Félicien Rops: Enfant Terrible of Decadence, 2013), Kristkova podyjská glyptotéka (Kristek Thaya Glyptoheque, co-author Iveta K. Pavlovičová, 2013), The Genesis of Creativity and the Origin of the Human Mind (co-edited by Václav Soukup, 2015) or Královská cesta: všední i sváteční život v proměnách času (The Royal Route: Ordinary and Festive Life Over the Course of Time, 2016).
In her monograph Félicien Rops she offers the first comprehensive view of the life and work of one of the most prominent representatives of decadence and symbolism; in her last book Královská cesta (The Royal Route) she writes about the creation, development, meaning and historical changes of the Royal Route in Prague. In her book Skalní umění (Rock Art, 2015), she published the results of her field research of Palaeolithic art that she carried out at archaeological sites in France and Portugal.
At presents she is carrying out research of African rock art in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco.

1 Kerschner, Johanna (1993): Bilder del Seele – Arbeiten von Lubo Kristek.
Applaus: Münchner Kultur-Magazin, 1, p. 81.

2 Smola, Vojtěch (12th February 2005): Surrealista myslí na velkou sochu. MF DNES, p. C/4.