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- Title
Zwischen organisierter Wachsamkeit und Chaos. Massenveranstaltungen, ephemere Räume und Herstellung von Sicherheit im 18. Jahrhundert.
- Authors
Weber, Maria
- Abstract
Early Modern mass events that attracted large numbers of spectators, such as royal entries, the kings' and queens' birthdays, weddings, or funerals, were used as specific means of power in order to demonstrate status and prestige, supremacy and power, and were therefore carefully staged. Courtly spectacles and mass events have already been investigated in detail in this regard. The present article, however, aims to shift perspective: by focusing on processes of organization and planning mass events, it seeks to precisely elucidate how urban spatial structures were adopted, and, in particular, reshaped to ensure security. Based on a dense analysis of 18th century orders and newspaper reports (England, France), the article points out that spectacles and mass events – notwithstanding their representational function – were perceived as threatening and dangerous events for urban space as well as for people and property. Taking this in account, the paper focuses especially on the measures and mechanisms that have been developed to either anticipate or to prevent perceived dangers and shows that ensuring security was an enormous challenge and intertwined space, institutions, actors, and environment.
- Subjects
QUEENS; EIGHTEENTH century; REPORTERS &; reporting; PRODUCTION planning; ROYAL weddings; PUBLIC spaces; PRESTIGE
- Publication
Historische Zeitschrift, 2024, Vol 318, Issue 1, p35
- ISSN
0018-2613
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1515/hzhz-2024-0002