Sbírky relikvií nástrojem reprezentace ideje státnosti Karla IV.
Collections of relics and their role in the representation of Charles IV’s idea of statehood

Summary/Abstract: Charles IV accumulated collections of relics which symbolized his imperial ambitions: as the Holy Roman Emperor, he obtained the imperial crown jewels that he kept – along with a newly created collection of the reliquary treasure of the Bohemian Kingdom – in the Karlštejn castle. This collection, together with the relic collection of the St. Vitus Cathedral, represented his political idea of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown. The relic collections were regularly shown to the public at the Cattle Market (today’s Charles Square) and in the cathedral. The way these collections came about and the public’s interaction with them constitute a medieval form of the museum phenomenon and thus go beyond the contemporary predominant ways of collecting objects of great value and significance as practiced by church treasuries and noble palace treasure chests.

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