‘The Canticle of the Birds’ is an allegorical poem about love, trust and the beauty of the human journey. Written in the 12th century by the Persian poet Attâr. The story is about a flock of birds searching for the divine bird king Si-morgh who lives on Mount Kaf. They travel through seven valleys of seeking, love, knowledge, detachment, unity, wonder, deprivation and death. Only thirty birds reach Mount Kaf. At that moment you enter the dome. Thirty birds are depicted on the inside, they appear to land around an oval pool The story goes that they do not encounter the divine bird king. Looking into the puddle, a mirror is held up to them. They learn a profound lesson: Si-morgh is present in each of them, and all thirty of them together are.

Inspired by the dome in San Carlo alle Quattro Fontana we translated the oval cupola in a modern way. Borromini gave the dome an optical illusion by diminishing the interlocking coffering of polygons and crosses in size. Where he made the cassettes onto a heavy masonry dome, we were looking for a mathematical system with prefabricated elements.

Dedicated in 1640 to the Holy Trinity, nowadays we use the cupola to emphasize Attâr’s poem of Simorgh by showing the birds arriving at the mountain Kaf.

Atelier Golden Spike

Elsbeth Pluimers, sculptor

Piet Besteman, architect

Eric Hamburg, graphic artist