A Twelve Top Tree : Czech Religious Broadside Ballads and Pilgrimage Chapbooks

The exhibition presents Czech broadside ballads with spiritual themes to the public. It is a result of a collaborative project involving four Brno-based institutions: the Moravian Museum, the Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Moravian Library, and the Institute of Ethnology at the Czech Academy of Sciences.

The exhibition showcases well-known and lesser-known saints and celebrations against the backdrop of the Christian liturgical year. It also presents their reflections in Czech broadside ballads and folk culture. Among the most numerous are the songs associated with the hymnal songs. The most expressive songs are contemplative, supplicatory, and prayerful. On the other hand, songs about saints and saintesses are more narrative. Typical pilgrimage songs are also present. The exhibition connects seemingly unrelated themes with real life and the present through textual, pictorial, and notational material.