Luftschloss Belveder with the Chapel of St. John the Baptist, Monastery ruins and chapel in Vysoká, Czech Republic

Luftschloss Belveder is a ruined Baroque hunting lodge and chapel on the summit of Vysoká hill (471 m) near Suchdol. Its central octagonal core, once two storeys with an eight-sided roof and viewing turret, was ringed by grotto-like antechambers, giving a square plan with cut corners. Mixed masonry survives up to the main cornice, with fragments of plaster and stone detail.

Count Franz Anton von Sporck had the unusual combined hunting lodge and chapel built on Vysoká between 1695 and 1697, attributed to the young Giovanni Battista Alliprandi, whose design drew on sketches by his teacher Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach. The chapel of St. John the Baptist was consecrated on 24 June 1697 by canon Tobias Jan Becker. A hermitage for three hermits was added west of the lodge in 1698, and the buildings were sold with the Malešov estate in 1699.

The name Belveder refers to the viewing room in the small tower, used as a lookout. The chapel was consecrated on 24 June 1697 by Tobiáš Jan Becker, canon of the metropolitan chapter at St Vitus in Prague. Count Špork marked the event with a feast for nobles and some 20,000 of his subjects, and had 1,000 commemorative medals struck in silver-tin alloy, showing the polygonal building on one side and Christ's baptism on the other.

The site sits on a hilltop and requires a climb, so sturdy footwear is advisable. The best time to visit is during clear weather when you can see the surrounding landscape from this elevated vantage point.

The 1,400 ducats for the building were, by tradition, won by Count Špork at cards in Karlovy Vary in 1695 from Frederick Augustus I of Saxony, later King Augustus II of Poland. A thousand commemorative medals of silver-tin alloy were struck for the 1697 consecration, showing the polygonal building on one side and Christ's baptism on the other.