Preliminary communication

https://doi.org/10.33254/aia.21.1.12

Travel blessing (Reisesegen) – an early modern devotional object discovered in Žumberak

Sebastijan Stingl orcid.org/0000-0002-9203-1650 ; Institute of Archaeology, Zagreb, Croatia

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Abstract

In one of the 322 early modern graves excavated predominantly around the Church of St Nicholas the Bishop, a travel blessing (Ger. Reisesegen) was discovered in situ next to a female deceased. This type of devotional object has, until now, been unrecorded in the archaeological context of Croatia. Because it visually resembles contemporary devotional objects – specifically large oval breverls – it was initially interpreted as such. This paper defines the traveller blessing as a devotional object, emphasizes its distinction from the very similar breverls, and discusses parallels from the archaeological context of Central and Western Europe, where such fi nds are likewise the exception rather than the rule

Keywords

early modern cemeteries; devotional objects; travel blessing; Žumberak

Hrčak ID:

342676

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/342676

Publication date:

30.12.2025.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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