Revealing the Origins: An Interdisciplinary Study Into the Provenance of Sacral Microarchitecture–The Unique Case of the Church Model From Žatec in Bohemia

Abstract The present study explores the iconographic and cultural significance of a unique case of microarchitecture from Bohemia in the wider context of ecclesiastical donation imagery in late antique, Byzantine, and early medieval art. It focuses on a stone model of a Romanesque church from the city of Žatec. Dating back to the first half of the twelfth century, this small microarchitecture, depicting a single-nave church with a semicircular apse, is the only surviving example of its kind from the early medieval period in Bohemia. There are extremely few analogies to the Žatec model north of the Alps, and only a few in the eastern regions. This makes the Žatec model a unique testament to the intersection of artistic, architectural, and religious traditions, as well as to the continuity of ancient and Byzantine imagery. Particular focus is placed on the tradition of donors or saints carrying church models as votive offerings, and how this tradition evolved from two-dimensional representations to three-dimensional microarchitecture. The Žatec model provides a rare material instance of this phenomenon, bridging the symbolic and the architectural modus operandi . In searching for possible parallels, attention was given to the use of archaeometric methods to determine the provenance of carbonates, considering the circulation of these materials, products, and patterns in a late antique to early medieval Mediterranean context. To further assess its material provenance, the model was investigated using X-ray powder diffraction, which highlights its role as an artefact of both artistic and archaeological significance. While the model’s original function remains uncertain, its iconographic parallels, most notably with the obverse of the denarius of Svatopluk (1107–1109), suggest strong ties to contemporary visual, ecclesiastical, and political culture. Similar forms of stone microarchitecture are attested only in a few other instances, such as the sculptures of Saint-Denis in France and certain Eastern churches, where church models appear carved on façades or as free-standing, votive representations.