Portraying The Ptujska Gora Pilgrims

Abstract

AbstractThe pilgrimage church at Ptujska Gora, built around 1400 and devoted to the Virgin of Mercy, is recognized as one of the most highly regarded and valued examples of cultural heritage in Slovenia. Pilgrims, of course, began to determine the nature of the site from the beginning of the 15 th century on and a significant number of images depicting the pilgrims to Ptujska Gora have been produced over the centuries. These images provide valuable insight into the demographic shifts in the quintessential Ptujska Gora pilgrim over time. In the 15 th century, noblemen and clergymen were portrayed as donators, closely connected to the Virgin (for example, the relief in the main altar with 82 figures under the cloak of the Virgin, and the predella of the altar of Our Lady of the Rosary and the frescoes in the Cross Chapel). In the 17 th and 18 th century it is appar-ent that the most devoted pilgrims came from the middle classes (see the copper engraving by Wolfgang Kilian, depicting eight miracles). From the 19 th century on, peasants and pilgrims from the lower classes attracted the attention of artists (such as Alois Kasimir and France Mihelič). Up until the 1970s, the pilgrims to Ptujska Gora typically reflected the structure of socialist society in which religion was unwelcome; their images were systematically recorded by the photographer Stojan Kerbler.