July 7, 2017

Underworld

This week there was public holiday in my country, so my family went to small trip. Our destination was small city around 40 kilometers far from my home. We traveled there because in newspaper I found tip, that they built interesting exposition here - and we wanted to see it.
So, we went to Uhersky Ostroh. In this city they have castle (after reconstruction used as municipality). And, of course, some parts are used for exhibitions. First one is castle tower. Here is located exhibition of toys. It contains especially dolls for girls, but also various other toys, school aids, images drawn by children etc. Together with my wife we recognized some toys we had in childhood, it looks so long ago.....
On the top of tower is tower clock, no need to say. But clockfaces are in reality windows, so one can look out and that's not something you do everyday. Look at the pictures.
But main reason to visit Uhersky Ostroh was exhibition in undergroud. It was something special and unique, so I call it Underworld (Czech only). It consists of four parts.
  1. Crystal Cave - inspiration for this part is fact, that underground of the castle is flood by water. On the roof there are crystals made of glass, and water falls down from crystals (what are, in fact, small glass beads). Scene is illuminated by light, whose colors change to simulate day and night cycle
  2. Atlantis - Memory of the World. Interactive exposition utilizes illusion of under-sea world to give basic message where light goes through time and dimensions. It shows you various esoteric images exchanging with images of cosmos on the background of music and spoken words. There is some 3D interaction, like entering mirror or discovering "treasure" (some gems).
  3. Lookout tower and Immense tower. These two object are quite funny here, under ground, but really, they are exactly what their names say. Both object are created of old wooden girders formerly used in bridge. When you enter lookout tower, you get into mirror cube and can see yourself from all sides. Immense tower also utilizes mirrors to create illusion of infinite length. Or depth?
  4. Lukuma - planet of Unicorns. This world is not dissimilar to Pandora - there is blue glowing tree in the center with small red stone under tree. If you put finger into this stone, you can hear beating of your heart (it is scanned, amplified and changed into sound). And when you clink to tube bells, another blue light switch on - and you can see unicorns, butterflies and can feel really like on Pandora in Avatar movie.
This exposition was created two years ago, but not many people knows it. However IMO it is worth to visit it. Don't forget, if you travel nearby.
See some of pictures taken there (not big quality, as there is dark under ground, but enough to get idea how it looks like)