Baroque religious pilgrimages and decorations of printed pilgrimage guides

Abstract

Pilgrimage guides belong to the most widely published types of religious literature in Bohemia and Moravia in the 17th and 18th centuries. During this period Baroque religiosity grew stronger and the Catholic Church sought to consolidate its position in the country, which inclined to the ideas of the Reformation. Religious pilgrimages, festivities and ceremonies along with the worship of saints and faith in miracles, served as promotional tools of the Catholic faith. In order to spread Marian Piety, Czech and Moravian printers published works written by the representatives of church elites. In their works they dealt with the history of pilgrimage sites related to the Virgin Mary. The prints were published in Latin and German. In addition to the treatise about the pilgrimage sites and miraculous healings, they included prayers, songs and recommendations as to how to behave during a pilgrimage. It was not only the text component which the reader found interesting; he/she was also impressed by the graphic design of the print. The book decoration consisted of vignettes, friezes, typographic ornaments, lines or clichés, which fulfi lled an aesthetic and practical function. The customers’ interest was stimulated by copper engraving illustrations and Baroque allegorical frontispieces depicting a Marian statue and miracle picture or by depiction of the concrete pilgrimage site in the form of a veduta. The authors included some of the important Czech illustrators and engravers who collaborated with famous foreign artists.