Tutela del patrimonio in età barocca. Tra Svezia e Stato Pontificio, il 'Placat' per la protezione delle antichità scandinave

This article proposes a comparative interpretation of the events that connected Sweden to the Papal States, in regards to the establishment of an early system of protection of the Scandinavian heritage in 1600s. Aiming to relate the political and cultural scene of Sweden with historical issues – such as the Thirty Years’ War, the conflicts between Catholics and Protestants, and the need to shape a Swedish national identity – the author clarifies substantial questions on a specific aspect of the history of the heritage protection in Europe that have been generally disregarded by recent art history scholarship. Connected to the experiences of the Papacy in Rome, the so-called Placat for the preservation of Scandinavian antiquities acquires new significance: no longer accepted as the “oldest law in the world” on this subject, as a Swedish tradition used to believe, it can be regarded as the initiator of one of the earliest institutes devoted to cataloguing and archaeological research in Europe.