Fire dramas

27 Jun 2024 - 29 Dec 2024
Olomouc Archdiocesan Museum
Fire dramas, baroque fireworks
Fire dramas
GUNPOWDER, FIREWORKS AND FIREWORK ILLUMINATIONS IN EUROPEAN ART 1400–1750

The Olomouc Museum of Art presents one of the outcomes of a long-term scientific project on early modern festivities and propaganda. This time we focus our attention on firework dramas – musical-dramatic performances with pyrotechnics. An exhibition and a scholarly publication will present the beginnings of the spread of gunpowder in Europe and its use for entertainment purposes. It will show the earliest firework displays, present the most influential masters of pyrotechnics and describe the highlights of the performances, staged in a unique moment and in a combination of ephemeral monuments, specific music and acting drama. Rockets, fireballs, pyrotechnic candles, mortars and cannons; manuscripts and old prints; prints and paintings will be the guides through the exhibition of the Archdiocesan Museum Olomouc.


  • EXHIBITION: Fire Dramas. Gunpowder, Fireworks and Firework Illuminations in European Art 1400–1750
  • PLACE: Olomouc Archdiocesan Museum, Gallery
  • TERM: 27 June 2024 – 29 December 2024
  • CONCEPTION, CURATOR, AUTHOR OF TEXTS: Miroslav Kindl
  • ACCOMPANYING PROGRAMMES: Marek Šobáň, Hana Lamatová
  • ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN: Miroslav Kindl, Vlastimil Sedláček
  • GRAPHIC DESIGN: Petr Šmalec
  • CONSERVATOR AND RESTORER: Ondřej Žák
  • TRANSLATER: Ashley Davies
  • FACSIMILES: Studio Trinity, s. r. o., Řepčínská 239/101, Olomouc, www.trinity-art-cz
  • LOANED BY:
    Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
    Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg
    National Heritage Institute
    The Municipal Museum and Gallery of Polička
    Regional Museum in Olomouc
    Scientific Library in Olomouc
    National Museum in Prague, Library of the National Museum
    Archbishopric of Olomouc
    Private collectors

The exhibition was created on the basis of institutional support for the long-term conceptual development of the research organisation provided by the Ministry of Culture.

SEFO Triennial 2024

The Olomouc Museum of Art presents one of the outcomes of a long-term scientific project on early modern festivities and propaganda. This time we focus our attention on firework dramas – musical-dramatic performances with pyrotechnics. An exhibition and a scholarly publication will present the beginnings of the spread of gunpowder in Europe and its use for entertainment purposes. It will show the earliest firework displays, present the most influential masters of pyrotechnics and describe the highlights of the performances, staged in a unique moment and in a combination of ephemeral monuments, specific music and acting drama. Rockets, fireballs, pyrotechnic candles, mortars and cannons; manuscripts and old prints; prints and paintings will be the guides through the exhibition of the Archdiocesan Museum Olomouc.


  • EXHIBITION: Fire Dramas. Gunpowder, Fireworks and Firework Illuminations in European Art 1400–1750
  • PLACE: Olomouc Archdiocesan Museum, Gallery
  • TERM: 27 June 2024 – 29 December 2024
  • CONCEPTION, CURATOR, AUTHOR OF TEXTS: Miroslav Kindl
  • ACCOMPANYING PROGRAMMES: Marek Šobáň, Hana Lamatová
  • ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN: Miroslav Kindl, Vlastimil Sedláček
  • GRAPHIC DESIGN: Petr Šmalec
  • CONSERVATOR AND RESTORER: Ondřej Žák
  • TRANSLATER: Ashley Davies
  • FACSIMILES: Studio Trinity, s. r. o., Řepčínská 239/101, Olomouc, www.trinity-art-cz
  • LOANED BY:
    Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
    Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg
    National Heritage Institute
    The Municipal Museum and Gallery of Polička
    Regional Museum in Olomouc
    Scientific Library in Olomouc
    National Museum in Prague, Library of the National Museum
    Archbishopric of Olomouc
    Private collectors

The exhibition was created on the basis of institutional support for the long-term conceptual development of the research organisation provided by the Ministry of Culture.

SEFO Triennial 2024

TICKETS

FIRE DRAMAS

MOMENTS. TRIENNIAL SEFO 2024

ARCHDIOCESAN MUSEUM

MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
+ ARCHDIOCESAN MUSEUM

TICKETS

FIRE DRAMAS

MOMENTS. TRIENNIAL SEFO 2024

ARCHDIOCESAN MUSEUM

MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
+ ARCHDIOCESAN MUSEUM