Lauretanischer Blumen-Garten as a witness to the artistic decoration of the Prague Loreto around 1700
Abstract
Prague's Loreto is one of the oldest Baroque pilgrimage sites in the Czech lands. It became a distinctive spiritual centre of Baroque Prague in its heyday.
Since its foundation in 1626, Loreto has been next to the Capuchin monastery in Hradčany, whose brothers it was officially entrusted in 1651. The whole complex developed until 1737, but partial works of artistic decoration were still worked on thereafter.
The spiritual guide Lauretanischer Blumen-Garten was published in 1700. It was written by Loreto's sacristian P.
Josef of Bílina. The text leads the reader through the pilgrimage site and offers him several prayers to local chapels.
Some of these prayers are accompanied by graphic images. The aim of this text is to prove, based on a comparison of preserved artistic decoration and print Lauretanischer Blumen-Garten, that the basic layout of Loreto was established as early as 1691.
And the place is thus one of the early evidence of the development of religious reverence in the Czech lands returning to Catholicism during the 17th century, moreover with an emphasis on Franciscan spirituality. The text of some prayers was based on the fact that the reader simultaneously contemplated the altar canvas or statue (so works of art that has been preserved in Loreta to this day) to deepen its spiritual experience.