!!!Votivgaben

Votive Gifts, objects vowed ("ex voto") as an expression of 
gratitude or by way of prayer for assistance, placed on altars or 
before the statues of saints and "offered up" in (mostly pilgrimage) 
churches. Donors ask for protection, blessings and good health for 
themselves, their family or livestock, or give thanks for blessings 
received. Votive offerings are made from iron, wood, clay or wax, 
textiles or (precious) metal (such as silver). Motifs include symbolic 
representations of human organs and figures, animals, and more 
recently even motor cars. The best known votive offerings are votive 
tablets or images representing the saint or saints being asked for 
their protection, and indicating the donor(s) and the occasion on 
which the offering was made, often with informative inscriptions or at 
least a date. Votive images are at the same time manifestations of  
Popular Art and important sources of information on regional costumes 
( Trachten). - Votive gifts have mostly become obsolete, but are found 
in great numbers in the treasuries of pilgrimage centres.

!Literature
K. Beitl, Votivbilder, 1973; L. Kriss-Rettenbeck, Ex Voto, 
1972.


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