Reformation and Counter-Reformation
Art as political tool
The dictates of the Counter-Reformation were generally adopted throughout the entire Baroque period.
After the Battle of White Mountain (1620) fought near Prague, Moravia—traditionally known for its great religious freedom that allowed the coexistence of Hussites, Calvinists, Lutherans and Catholics—was subject to an intense re-Catholicisation. In this regard, it played a strategic role in the grandiose urban development of the city of Mikulov, sponsored by Cardinal Dietrichstein in around 1600.
The Principality of Bavaria and the Grand Duchy of Tyrol generally adopted the dictates of the Counter-Reformation throughout the entire Baroque period, especially through the activities of the Jesuit Order, as well as the Theatines, who supported the action of the Benedictines, Cistercians and Augustinian Canons Regular. This is evident in the extensive use of certain iconographic subjects alluding to heresy, such as the expulsion of the rebellious angels, well into the 18th century.
The free Swabian town of Augsburg experienced a special denominational situation after the religious peace of the mid-16th century, with Catholics and Protestants enjoying equal rights.
Mikulov Town

1680–1720
Mikulov, Moravia, Czech Republic
Giovanni Giacomo Tencalla (c. 1600–c. 1650), Giovanni Tencalla, Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach (1656 Graz – 1723 Vienna), Anton Riga, Christian Alexander Oedtl (1654 Paznaun – 1731 Vienna), Ignaz Lengelacher (1698 Unter Peissenberg – 1780 Baden), Heinrich Gottfried Forster, Franz Anton Maulbertsch (1724, Langenargen am Bodensee – 1796 Vienna)
The city is an example of a patronage used to re-Catholicise an urban area. The work is focused on points of great religious importance, such as the "Sacri Monti", the Holy Trinity Column, and the Loreto Chapel.