„….ein uhralter Kirchen-brauch.“ Slavnosti pokládání základních kamenů a svěcení patronátních kostelů na schwarzenberských panstvích v 18. století

Festivities connected with laying cornerstones and consecrations of churches are used in the current literature mainly as secondary information, which allows dating the beginning and completion of the object‘s construction. A collection of documented festivities on the Schwarzenberg estates in Bohemia, the Austrian lands and Middle Franconia in the 18th century demonstrates that the potentials for interpretation of the festivities are deeper. The submitted study briefly introduces ecclesiastical standards that governed the festivities. It monitors their concept in a contemporary secular encyclopaedia and a ceremonial manual (Zedler, von Rohr). Based on the surviving documents of the Schwarzenberg provenance (mainly official correspondence and accounting materials), the essay introduces the progress and content of selected festivities. The concrete examples show that the Schwarzenberg nobles continuously used festivities connected with laying cornerstones and consecration of churches to express their care for spiritual welfare of the subjects as well as their own piety and representation of their estate status.