Hundreds of cardboard boxes, kilometers of adhesive tape, and tons of human energy and enthusiasm. This was necessary for the creation of the artistic structure, which grew during this Saturday thanks to the volunteers at the castle in Žďár nad Sázavou.

It was inspired by the work of renowned architect Jan Blažej Santini-Aichel, whose death this year marks 300 years. The cardboard structure was supposed to resemble the dome of the pilgrimage church of St. John of Nepomuck near Zelená hora, Santini’s best work from 1722.

The author of the special paper design and construction methods is French abstract artist and designer Olivier Grossetête. He organizes similar artistic events related to buildings around the world, including Australia and Asia. He worked in the Czech Republic for the first time.

“We need 1,700 sheets of cardboard and 30 kilometers of adhesive tape. The end result will weigh close to two tons and be 20 meters high,” explained Grossetête, who personally attended the event, managed the work and took part in the work.

“The previous week there had been a series of workshops attended by more than 400 people,” he said. During them, individual parts are assembled.

“And on Saturday morning we started putting everything together. It was a bit raining in the morning so we were a bit late. But the cardboard is high quality, it can withstand the rain and now it’s good,” the artist is looking forward to it.

Almost everyone who walked around the garden near the castle that day could participate in the construction. He holds the brown tape and can glue.

Adults and children join in, sometimes whole families come. The others just watched curiously from afar. During the eight hours to finally complete the dome, hundreds of people rotated here.

“We are here in Ždár visiting friends, we happened to be passing by, so we joined in,” laughs one of the event’s attendees. “I think it will be very fun. And when I see people’s eyes light up when they see it here, it’s great,” commented another.

“This is fantastic. We wonder if it didn’t hit us,” muses one visitor looking around at the beams glued to the top. And it doesn’t fall. It was completed in the late afternoon, the structure anchored and illuminated overnight.

But it can only be seen until Sunday afternoon, then it is dismantled again with the participation of volunteers.

The boxes are recycled and made into paper shopping bags. So it’s possible that when you take purchases from a store within a store, it’s going to be from these non-traditional occurrences.

“It’s inspiring, creative, sustainable and generic, we’re really excited about it,” said Constantin Kinský, whose family owns the castle where the meeting took place, at the event. He invited Grossetête here, he wanted to do something similar.

And why is the artist involved in it?

“There are two reasons. One is about materials – an architect is working with hard materials and I am working with fragile materials, which have their own beauty. But the other beauty is most important – connecting people, working on art together, coming together. Very often we get together to protest something, now we come together to have the joy of building something together,” Grossetête explained in conclusion.