The Mining Towns of the Bohemian Ore Mountains: in the Early Modern Period and Their Impact on Cultural History

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F44555601%3A13410%2F23%3A43898130" target="_blank" >RIV/44555601:13410/23:43898130 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

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DOI - Digital Object Identifier

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Result language

angličtina

Original language name

The Mining Towns of the Bohemian Ore Mountains: in the Early Modern Period and Their Impact on Cultural History

Original language description

The book was written in connection with the nomination of the Erzgebirge Mining Area to the UNESCO World Heritage List, which was successfully completed in 2019. It focuses on the mining towns at the time of their foundation and greatest boom, when the area was intensively urbanized in a short time and its centre, the mining town of Jáchymov, became the second most populous town in Bohemia. Thanks to more than 800 years of almost constant mining and processing of ores, a unique mining landscape in the Erzgebirge, with unique monuments above and below ground and a dense network of specific mining towns, which is unparalleled in the world, was created. The book deals with the social, economic and above all cultural aspects of mining in the Bohemian Erzgebirge. Individual chapters deal with the origin and development of mining towns from the 14th to the 16th centuries. The plastic picture of the history of the Erzgebirge is complemented by chapters on the history of local guilds and medal making. Special attention is paid to sacral monuments in the context of Reformation and subsequent recatholization. The fate of selected monuments and works of art, aptly illustrating the rich and varied history of the once important region of Bohemia, are traced back to the second half of the 20th century, when many of them succumbed to extinction as a result of lignite mining and the associated operations. The aim of the book is to show the most important mining centres and their monuments, to contribute to the search for an answer to the question of what made the Late Gothic and then Renaissance movement in north-west Bohemia so exceptional and different from the prevailing architectural and artistic expression of the rest of the country, and also to support the thesis towards which the research to date has been directed: at the very end of the Middle Ages, i.e. around the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, a unified economic and cultural space was created in the Erzgebirge despite the Czech-Saxon border, and this space was connected not only by mining activities but also by language, artistic expression and, ultimately, the Lutheran faith. The results of new researches on architecture and works of art that were carried out within the framework of projects supporting the UNESCO nomination are published here. Some of the artworks are commented on and published in this book for the first time ever. It is a comprehensive view of the art-historical development of the Czech part of the Erzgebirge, which is presented in a way that is accessible to the wider public and can thus, especially for foreign visitors, open the way to learning about this unique area, which is still looking for its place among the UNESCO monuments. It is important that it is published in English and can thus attract the attention of foreign researchers and visitors to this unique mining landscape. Together with the Karolinum Publishing House it is also to be had in The University Chicago Press.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

B - Specialist book

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

60401 - Arts, Art history

Project

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Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2023

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

ISBN

978-80-246-4144-7

Number of pages

200

Publisher name

Karolinum

Place of publication

Praha

UT code for WoS book

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