Room 7

In the Name of Reason

A Baroque enjoyment of the pleasures of life led to the achievement of wonderful works and man clung to his God in the ups and downs of his personal life with a strong faith occasionally expressed in a very human way. At the same time, a new school of thought came into our country from the West. Rationalism and the Enlightenment began their triumphal march.

Deep, sometimes very physical piety (cult of relics) came to be considered suspicious by many thinking people. Popular piety became excessive, and in the monasteries exaggerated, irrational asceticism was often practiced. Some had joined the monasteries for the sole purpose of meeting their daily needs. The new movement was directed against all of this. It could already be clearly felt under Maria Theresia (1740-1780), and became dominant under her son Joseph II. (1780-1790) in the movement which was named after him, Josephenism. This new intellectual movement may have ignored some human values, but it brought much light in to some of the darkness. Many positive values of this development brought great progress, but others impoverished important spheres.