Celebrations at Court

A cultural and artistic history of the grand royal festivals from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. The book consists of thirteen chapters that collectively explore the elaborate, ephemeral structures designed for these spectacles while unveiling their aesthetic, symbolic, and political significance. Special emphasis is placed on the material culture and technological foundations of these celebrations, drawing on a diverse range of written sources—from cookery books to pyrotechnics manuals. In this way, Celebrations at Court addresses the need to situate local European material culture within broader, transcultural contexts and offers new insights into the history of ideas and mentalities of the period.

Distributed for Aarhus University Press