Skalní hrady mezi geologií, zábavou a kontemplací

The paper focuses on two so-called rock castles (Sloup and Jestřebí in northern Bohemia) and their presentation in the early modern topographies written by Mauritius Vogt. While today they are both perceived as former castles, for Vogt, only Jestřebí was an abandoned castle, while Sloup was mainly a hermitage. The relationship between both places leans on their bizarre appearance and connection to the underground. They both were rocks upon a lowland described as saxum vivum. Vogt’s view is contextualized by Athanasius Kircher’s Mundus subterraneus and other works on the underground.