Zprávy památkové péče 2017, 77(1-2):57-66

Boulder or piety. Baroque pilgrimage site Svatý Kámen near Rychnov nad Malší in a Central European context

Martin Gaži

NPÚ, ÚOP v Českých Budějovicích

The study analyzes the transformation of the pilgrimage site of Our Lady of the Snows at Svatý Kámen (Maria Schnee beim Heiligen Stein), built near the south Bohemian border town of Rychnov nad Malší. Using a previously unpublished constructional-historical survey from 1975 as well as recently acquired written and iconographic sources, the study interprets the architectural development of the pilgrimage site differently from the findings of existing professional literature. This "sacred precinct" formed on a pasture surrounded by forests and full of large boulders. In 1633, near one of them, the Rychnov burgher Ambrosius Spuleck received a revelation of a white-clad boy who showed him where a chapel should be built and a well dug. The pilgrimage site was built in 1653 at the initiative of Anna Christina Pöperl, abbess of the Český Krumlov monastery, and it was first completed in 1655. The chapel of Our Lady of the Snows and its votive altar with picture was financially participated in by the widowed Duchess Anna Marie of Eggenberg, née Brandenburger, who - particularly noteworthy - did not conceal her Lutheran faith. Probably in the 1660's, the cloisters were attached to the chapel, the wall of which led through a venerated stone which was thus accessible from inside and outside the premises. At the very beginning of the 18th century, another north-standing chapel was built above it on the premises, complemented in 1708 by a well construction on a central plan with a distinctive onion-shaped roof. In 1744, the two chapels were connected by a larger nave. Construction of the complex was finished in several stages until 1753, when its final form also included the southern side chapel, the late Baroque cloisters, and a residential building for the church administrator, later converted into a small monastery.
During the Communist government, the site was closed and incorporated into the border zone, used for border surveillance, and was devastated for a long time. In 1975, a significant part of the complex was demolished (cloisters, residential building, south side chapel).
Based on the inscriptions on the votive panels from 1653-1662, captured by a print published in Linz in 1688, the study attempts to demonstrate the merging of religious identities of the sites (boulder, fountain, chapel, picture) in the consciousness of incoming supplicants. In comparative examples, it gathers Central European examples of the cult usage of bizarre-shaped boulders (Schalenstein, Bo˝a stopka) which, in the 17th and 18th centuries, were primarily perceived as traces of events belonging to "an ancient unforgettable time". Often they were associated with places of revelation, resting places of the saints, or their footprints. The study finds comparative examples not only in the Czech Republic but also in Austria, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and Bavaria, and contemplates the differences between a centralized critique of premodern and a local symbiosis of diverse religious beliefs. In the vast majority of cases, revered natural formations were supplemented by liturgical buildings and artifacts that guaranteed a Christian interpretation of the site. The spiritual and secular authority of the time created the conditions for a Christian understanding of the local event, socially taking place from below, but usually did not use the "disciplining" instruments of power.

Keywords: pilgrimage, Baroque piety, revered stones, Marian devotion, South Bohemia, Central Europe

Published: March 1, 2017  Show citation