Description
Book SynopsisA history of the lost art of the Bohemian Ore Mountains. The development of mining towns in the Ore Mountain region of Bohemia during the thirteenth to the sixteenth century was driven by the Saxon nobility who brought with them the culture of their homeland. The art and architecture of the Ore Mountains, financed by wealthy miners and local nobility, therefore followed a different path than Prague yet rivaled its importance and grandeur.
The Mining Towns of the Bohemian Ore Mountains introduces the most important mining centers and historical monuments, exploring what made the late Gothic and early Renaissance periods in northwest Bohemia so distinct from the rest of the kingdom. It also examines the specific cultural space that formed, where locals viewed the Bohemian-Saxon border as an abstract political concept that had little to do with day-to-day reality. The authors trace the monuments and works of art until the second half of the twentieth century when many of them tragically vanished because of lignite mining.
Table of ContentsIntroduction /13
Ore mining in the Ore Mountains and the establishment of mining towns /17
The mining profession and mining law /33
Medical care, hospitals, and social solidarity /43
Mining guilds and their representation /46
Coin minting and medal making /50
The patron saints and piety of miners /54
The mining towns after Luther’s theses, and confessionalisation in the Ore Mountains /61
Between the Gothic and the Renaissance: In search of the ‘Saxon Renaissance’ /69
The Saxon Renaissance in architecture /72
The urbanism and architecture of mining towns in the Ore Mountains /84
Faith and piety in mining towns in the context of religious monuments /119
Remembering Príse
nice /168
The mining towns of Slavkov Forest /174
Review of sources, literature and internet sources /186
