Seven metre deep, inverted pyramid
After two years in the making, Kim Wilkie has completed the 50 metre, inverted pyramid at the Grade 1-registered landscape of Boughton Park in Northamptonshire.
From the outset, Wilkie had a very defined sense of grandeur: “Boughton Park is one of the greatest formal landscapes of England. It is a garden of land and water; avenues and vistas; rhythm and reflection.”
The current Duke of Buccleuch – who runs the estate as his family home – decided to restore the famed landscape with inspiration from the original plans of 1746.
One of the most noted aspects of the garden is ‘The Great Mount’, a massive earthwork, created in the 18th century by Ralph Montagu, which dominates that section of the estate. Wilkie’s brief was to create a feature in the empty space opposite the mount. He said: “The proposal was to make a space that emphasises the scale and mass of the great earthwork, to create an Orphean Hades to complement the Olympian Mount.”
Hence the name of the living sculpture – ‘Orpheus’. Like the character of legend, the 21st century Orpheus descends into the earth – albeit a seven-metre descent as opposed to a drop into Hades. At the bottom is a square pool that reflects just the turf and the sky.
The new gardens will be open to the public from 1 August and Orpheus will be used both for quiet meditation and musical events.
