Geneza formy architektonicznej kościoła Mariackiego w Gdańsku – późnogotyckiej świątyni Rady Głównego Miasta

The Church of the Assumption of the Holy Virgin Mary, the parish church of the Main Town of Gdansk, is one of the most magnificent monuments of brick architecture of the Baltic coast. It is a building both important and symptomatic to the direction of changes occurring in late sacral brick architecture. However, while being mentioned in all significant compendia of the history of art, it remains unrecognized. It does not explicitly fit either into the building tradition of great parish churches of hanseatic cities or the architecture of lower Rhine or Holland. The origin of its architectural form cannot be drawn directly from the evolution of the European model of the cathedral church (in its royal-episcopal or bourgeois-patrician variations in planning and spatial characteristics), or from the solutions inspired by Cistercian churches. No sources have been identified in terms of particular hall church buildings in the Baltic coast. Moreover, it was not directly conditioned by the architectonic heritage of the neighboring region, i.e. the religious State of Teutonic Knights in Prussia. The progenitors and the builders of the church did indeed draw some impulses from all of the above mentioned sources, yet their Gdansk building outgrew the formal and expressive capabilities of its model predecessors. The commissioners of that "town council church" participated in a kind of intellectual discourse on the very form of their parish church as well as its ideological expression. It was a discourse of European range and significance, despite the authorities' decisions being made with no awareness as to their "inscribing into the current of formal transformations" of architecture. The form was undoubtedly meant to adequately reflect the intended content. Through that building - at the same time sacral and municipal - patrician town council manifested their status in the Hanseatic League. Yet, their choice of a reductive, 'anti-gothic' language of architectonic forms remained a singularity. The artistic conception of that late Gothic church was outlined already in the 1380s by the master Henryk Ungeradin. As a result, changes were introduced into the constructive thought which shaped the pre-existent 14th century basilica. Ungeradin worked out the plan, the idea of the building's internal space and the geometric form of its hall choir. Those outlines also dictated the rebuilding of the nave body beginning from the 1480s, which on its completion merged the nave with the choir and the transept. Various building adjustments occurring in the meantime did not influence the original idea of the master. What he had planned was a huge church, with a wide square-ended choir, three-nave transept and a round of chapels enveloping the whole church, built in between the buttressing. The size of the transept, its position halfway down the building's length as well as the rhythm of the nave bays widening towards the center, all contributed to the optical centralization of the whole complex. Thick, rough walls 'categorically' closed the hall area divided by octagonal pillars. These supported the domed calottes of sumptuous crystal and net vaults. An analogous aesthetic effect in the outer view of the geometric form of the building was achieved by juxtaposing plain peripheral walls with the lacelike area of the roof triads above each nave. The article was an attempt to provide a response to the question of where Ungeradin's idea did in fact originate, with special attention to the eastern part - the choir and the transept. Looking at the fundamental guidelines for the analysis in such elements of the building as: 1/. the project of the eastern part based on the so-called cathedral layout (multi-nave, pseudo-ambulatory, square-ended choir, lined with chapels, connected with multi-nave chapel-lined transept, also with straight-ended arms), 2/. accomplishing a hall-like nave layout based on such a plan, made it possible to search for the origin of each characteristic of the estate among adequate architectonic types, as well as their variations and mutations in multiple architectonic environments of the late 13th and all through the 14th century. Those taken into consideration included, among other items, ambit choirs in basilica layout on polygonal plan with a round of chapels, ambit choirs in basilica layout on rectangular plan with a round of chapels, hall three-abside closed choirs tending to 'square' their eastern end, choirless hall churches, a group of Baltic city parish churches with their so-called 'cathedral choirs' with chapels and with elaborate transepts, estates of hall churches built according to those plans, with the embedded process of the reduction of the number of sides of the polygon ending and the introduction of shallow inter-buttress chapels equal in height to the naves. It was revealed that the stages leading to the concept of the master Ungeradin could be traced back above all to the regional, Baltic complexes of churches in Stralsund (St. Nicolas), Rostock (Holy Virgin Mary), Doberan (Cistercian), towards the end of the century leading to completely new creations in Wismar (St. George) or Stralsund (Holy Virgin Mary). It is just in the final two that we can find the same formal values. They may have taken shape in a parallel fashion, regardless of the changes taking place in West European architecture of the second half of the 14th century. The example of Stralsund bears particular resemblance to the Gdansk church. Such similarity could even suggest that master Henryk Ungeradin educated himself on the building grounds of the Marian church of that city. Both churches boast a particular and groundbreaking purity of architecture, bestowing value to a wall through its very massive and real character. The Gdansk church became the same late medieval 'picture of the Church', expressed in the language of forms in a very concrete, rational vision. Methodology-wise, the present feedback is consistent with the traditional - undoubtedly requiring further revision - approach of architecture researchers, whose aim is to include the monument into the typological-formal sequence of architectural model transformation

Geneza formy architektonicznej kościoła Mariackiego w Gdańsku – późnogotyckiej świątyni Rady Głównego Miasta

The Church of the Assumption of the Holy Virgin Mary, the parish church of the Main Town of Gdansk, is one of the most magnificent monuments of brick architecture of the Baltic coast. It is a building both important and symptomatic to the direction of changes occurring in late sacral brick architecture. However, while being mentioned in all significant compendia of the history of art, it remains unrecognized. It does not explicitly fit either into the building tradition of great parish churches of hanseatic cities or the architecture of lower Rhine or Holland. The origin of its architectural form cannot be drawn directly from the evolution of the European model of the cathedral church (in its royal-episcopal or bourgeois-patrician variations in planning and spatial characteristics), or from the solutions inspired by Cistercian churches. No sources have been identified in terms of particular hall church buildings in the Baltic coast. Moreover, it was not directly conditioned by the architectonic heritage of the neighboring region, i.e. the religious State of Teutonic Knights in Prussia. The progenitors and the builders of the church did indeed draw some impulses from all of the above mentioned sources, yet their Gdansk building outgrew the formal and expressive capabilities of its model predecessors. The commissioners of that "town council church" participated in a kind of intellectual discourse on the very form of their parish church as well as its ideological expression. It was a discourse of European range and significance, despite the authorities' decisions being made with no awareness as to their "inscribing into the current of formal transformations" of architecture. The form was undoubtedly meant to adequately reflect the intended content. Through that building - at the same time sacral and municipal - patrician town council manifested their status in the Hanseatic League. Yet, their choice of a reductive, 'anti-gothic' language of architectonic forms remained a singularity.The artistic conception of that late Gothic church was outlined already in the 1380s by the master Henryk Ungeradin. As a result, changes were introduced into the constructive thought which shaped the pre-existent 14th century basilica. Ungeradin worked out the plan, the idea of the building's internal space and the geometric form of its hall choir. Those outlines also dictated the rebuilding of the nave body beginning from the 1480s, which on its completion merged the nave with the choir and the transept. Various building adjustments occurring in the meantime did not influence the original idea of the master.What he had planned was a huge church, with a wide square-ended choir, three-nave transept and a round of chapels enveloping the whole church, built in between the buttressing. The size of the transept, its position halfway down the building's length as well as the rhythm of the nave bays widening towards the center, all contributed to the optical centralization of the whole complex. Thick, rough walls 'categorically' closed the hall area divided by octagonal pillars. These supported the domed calottes of sumptuous crystal and net vaults. An analogous aesthetic effect in the outer view of the geometric form of the building was achieved by juxtaposing plain peripheral walls with the lacelike area of the roof triads above each nave.The article was an attempt to provide a response to the question of where Ungeradin's idea did in fact originate, with special attention to the eastern part - the choir and the transept. Looking at the fundamental guidelines for the analysis in such elements of the building as:1/. the project of the eastern part based on the so-called cathedral layout (multi-nave, pseudo-ambulatory, square-ended choir, lined with chapels, connected with multi-nave chapel-lined transept, also with straight-ended arms), 2/. accomplishing a hall-like nave layout based on such a plan,made it possible to search for the origin of each characteristic of the estate among adequate architectonic types, as well as their variations and mutations in multiple architectonic environments of the late 13th and all through the 14th century. Those taken into consideration included, among other items, ambit choirs in basilica layout on polygonal plan with a round of chapels, ambit choirs in basilica layout on rectangular plan with a round of chapels, hall three-abside closed choirs tending to 'square' their eastern end, choirless hall churches, a group of Baltic city parish churches with their so-called 'cathedral choirs' with chapels and with elaborate transepts, estates of hall churches built according to those plans, with the embedded process of the reduction of the number of sides of the polygon ending and the introduction of shallow inter-buttress chapels equal in height to the naves. It was revealed that the stages leading to the concept of the master Ungeradin could be traced back above all to the regional, Baltic complexes of churches in Stralsund (St. Nicolas), Rostock (Holy Virgin Mary), Doberan (Cistercian), towards the end of the century leading to completely new creations in Wismar (St. George) or Stralsund (Holy Virgin Mary). It is just in the final two that we can find the same formal values. They may have taken shape in a parallel fashion, regardless of the changes taking place in West European architecture of the second half of the 14th century. The example of Stralsund bears particular resemblance to the Gdansk church. Such similarity could even suggest that master Henryk Ungeradin educated himself on the building grounds of the Marian church of that city. Both churches boast a particular and groundbreaking purity of architecture, bestowing value to a wall through its very massive and real character. The Gdansk church became the same late medieval 'picture of the Church', expressed in the language of forms in a very concrete, rational vision.Methodology-wise, the present feedback is consistent with the traditional - undoubtedly requiring further revision - approach of architecture researchers, whose aim is to include the monument into the typological-formal sequence of architectural model transformation.The Church of the Assumption of the Holy Virgin Mary, the parish church of the Main Town of Gdansk, is one of the most magnificent monuments of brick architecture of the Baltic coast. It is a building both important and symptomatic to the direction of changes occurring in late sacral brick architecture. However, while being mentioned in all significant compendia of the history of art, it remains unrecognized. It does not explicitly fit either into the building tradition of great parish churches of hanseatic cities or the architecture of lower Rhine or Holland. The origin of its architectural form cannot be drawn directly from the evolution of the European model of the cathedral church (in its royal-episcopal or bourgeois-patrician variations in planning and spatial characteristics), or from the solutions inspired by Cistercian churches. No sources have been identified in terms of particular hall church buildings in the Baltic coast. Moreover, it was not directly conditioned by the architectonic heritage of the neighboring region, i.e. the religious State of Teutonic Knights in Prussia. The progenitors and the builders of the church did indeed draw some impulses from all of the above mentioned sources, yet their Gdansk building outgrew the formal and expressive capabilities of its model predecessors. The commissioners of that "town council church" participated in a kind of intellectual discourse on the very form of their parish church as well as its ideological expression. It was a discourse of European range and significance, despite the authorities' decisions being made with no awareness as to their "inscribing into the current of formal transformations" of architecture. The form was undoubtedly meant to adequately reflect the intended content. Through that building - at the same time sacral and municipal - patrician town council manifested their status in the Hanseatic League. Yet, their choice of a reductive, 'anti-gothic' language of architectonic forms remained a singularity.The artistic conception of that late Gothic church was outlined already in the 1380s by the master Henryk Ungeradin. As a result, changes were introduced into the constructive thought which shaped the pre-existent 14th century basilica. Ungeradin worked out the plan, the idea of the building's internal space and the geometric form of its hall choir. Those outlines also dictated the rebuilding of the nave body beginning from the 1480s, which on its completion merged the nave with the choir and the transept. Various building adjustments occurring in the meantime did not influence the original idea of the master.What he had planned was a huge church, with a wide square-ended choir, three-nave transept and a round of chapels enveloping the whole church, built in between the buttressing. The size of the transept, its position halfway down the building's length as well as the rhythm of the nave bays widening towards the center, all contributed to the optical centralization of the whole complex. Thick, rough walls 'categorically' closed the hall area divided by octagonal pillars. These supported the domed calottes of sumptuous crystal and net vaults. An analogous aesthetic effect in the outer view of the geometric form of the building was achieved by juxtaposing plain peripheral walls with the lacelike area of the roof triads above each nave.The article was an attempt to provide a response to the question of where Ungeradin's idea did in fact originate, with special attention to the eastern part - the choir and the transept. Looking at the fundamental guidelines for the analysis in such elements of the building as:1/. the project of the eastern part based on the so-called cathedral layout (multi-nave, pseudo-ambulatory, square-ended choir, lined with chapels, connected with multi-nave chapel-lined transept, also with straight-ended arms), 2/. accomplishing a hall-like nave layout based on such a plan,made it possible to search for the origin of each characteristic of the estate among adequate architectonic types, as well as their variations and mutations in multiple architectonic environments of the late 13th and all through the 14th century. Those taken into consideration included, among other items, ambit choirs in basilica layout on polygonal plan with a round of chapels, ambit choirs in basilica layout on rectangular plan with a round of chapels, hall three-abside closed choirs tending to 'square' their eastern end, choirless hall churches, a group of Baltic city parish churches with their so-called 'cathedral choirs' with chapels and with elaborate transepts, estates of hall churches built according to those plans, with the embedded process of the reduction of the number of sides of the polygon ending and the introduction of shallow inter-buttress chapels equal in height to the naves. It was revealed that the stages leading to the concept of the master Ungeradin could be traced back above all to the regional, Baltic complexes of churches in Stralsund (St. Nicolas), Rostock (Holy Virgin Mary), Doberan (Cistercian), towards the end of the century leading to completely new creations in Wismar (St. George) or Stralsund (Holy Virgin Mary). It is just in the final two that we can find the same formal values. They may have taken shape in a parallel fashion, regardless of the changes taking place in West European architecture of the second half of the 14th century. The example of Stralsund bears particular resemblance to the Gdansk church. Such similarity could even suggest that master Henryk Ungeradin educated himself on the building grounds of the Marian church of that city. Both churches boast a particular and groundbreaking purity of architecture, bestowing value to a wall through its very massive and real character. The Gdansk church became the same late medieval 'picture of the Church', expressed in the language of forms in a very concrete, rational vision.Methodology-wise, the present feedback is consistent with the traditional - undoubtedly requiring further revision - approach of architecture researchers, whose aim is to include the monument into the typological-formal sequence of architectural model transformation

Dekoracja iluminatorska inkunabułu Inc. I 11 ze zbiorów Biblioteki Raczyńskich. Problem ikonografii i atrybucji

The collections of the Raczyński Library in Poznań include the incunabulum Epistolae by Saint Hieronimus published in the printing office of Peter Schöffer in Mainz in 1470 (call number: Inc. I 11). This work is relatively richly illuminated, having a number of decorated ornamented initials (rubrics, delicate initials and illuminated initials) as well as a border illuminations – a row of fleuron ornaments depicting a deer, two little monkeys and a bird. An analysis of the zoomorphic motifs has revealed that the zoomorphic motifs are directly related to the content of the book. An analysis of the formal features of the enlarged and decorated capital letters and the first letters of a section of the text made it possible to establish that its originator represented typical German book illumination tradition, and possibly even cooperated with the Mainz-based printing office of Peter Schöffer. A number of certain formal analogies with the incunabulum Inc. 829, currently held at the Jagiellonian Library and widely addressed in the literature, suggest however an alternative attribution, namely that of an anonymous Cracow-based artist (known as the Illuminator of the Decretalia).W zbiorach Biblioteki Raczyńskich w Poznaniu znajduje się inkunabuł Epistolae św. Hieronima wydrukowany w 1470 roku w mogunckiej oficynie Petera Schöffera (sygn. Inc. I 11). Dzieło to posiada stosunkowo bogatą dekorację iluminatorską, na którą składają się inicjały (rubrykatorskie, filigranowe i iluminowane) oraz floratury z motywami jelenia, dwóch małpek oraz ptaka. Analiza motywów zoomorficznych wykazała ich bezpośrednie powiązanie z treścią książki. Cechy formalne dekoracji iluminatorskiej pozwoliły zaś na uznanie ich wykonawcy za reprezentanta niemieckiej tradycji malarstwa książkowego, być może współpracującego z moguncką oficyną Petera Schöffera. Analogie formalne ze znanym z literatury inkunabułem Inc. 829 z Biblioteki Jagiellońskiej skłaniają jednak do alternatywnej atrybucji – anonimowemu twórcy krakowskiemu (zwanemu Iluminatorem Dekretaliów)

Die gotischen Wandmalereien im Ostflügel der Forchheimer Burg - Bestand und Restaurierungsgeschichte

Die vorliegende Monografie erfasst erstmalig den vollständigen Bestand der spätgotischen Wandmalereien in der Kemenate der Forchheimer Burg aus kunstwissenschaftlicher und restaurierungswissenschaftlicher Sicht. In der interdisziplinären Zusammenarbeit mit der Bauforschung unter der Leitung von Tillman Kohnert konnte die Entstehungsgeschichte der Malereien in Bezug zur Baugeschichte gestellt werden. Die gotischen Malereien aus dem späten 14. Jahrhundert stammen aus der Um- bzw. Neubauphase unter dem Bamberger Fürstbischof Lamprecht von Brunn (1374-99). Nur der „Kaisersaal“ im Erdgeschoss verfügt über zwei Ausstattungsphasen, die während der Restaurierung 1909 auf eine Sichtebene freigelegt wurden. Vor dem Einbau des Gewölbes war der flachdeckte Raum 1391 (d) mit einer einfachen Wappenmalerei und roten Einfassungen um die Öffnungen geschmückt. Diese erste Dekoration wurde um 1398 mit dem Einzug des Kreuzrippengewölbes durch ein repräsentatives, figürliches Ausstattungsprogram erweitert. Wohl zeitgleich wurden die privaten Räume des Fürstbischofs im 1. und 2. Obergeschoss aufwendig ausgemalt. Die Funktion der Räume spiegelt sich in den sowohl religiösen Themen des Neuen und Alten Testaments wie auch in der Umsetzung profaner literarischer Vorlagen wider. Die zeitgleiche Verwendung sowohl der expressiven linearen Malerei, die über Avignon nach Prag gelangte, mit der nach der Abbildung der Natur strebenden Malerei, mit starken Bezügen zur oberitalienischen und böhmischen Kunst bis zur Grisaille zeigen das umfassende Wissen um das künstlerische Wirken der Zeit und dessen gezielte Auswahl. Regionale Einflüsse lassen sich durch Parallelen zur Malerei in Nürnberg finden, welche die Elemente der oberitalienischen wie auch der böhmischen Kunst aufnimmt und zu einem regionalen Stil vereint. Ebenso modern wie die Auswahl und Darstellung der Themen, die unterschiedliche Malweise, ist auch die hierbei verwendete Maltechnik. Die Analyse derselben und Vergleiche zu mittelalterlichen Quellentexten ergänzen neue Ergebnisse zu aktuellen Forschungen hinsichtlich der Herstellung spätgotischer Wandmalereien. Diese bestätigen, dass es sich weit häufiger als bis jetzt vermutet, um mehrschichtige Seccomalereien mit proteinhaltigem Bindemittel und Temperamischungen als um Kalkmalereien handelt. Die Verwendung der gleichen Maltechnik, jedoch in unterschiedlicher Malweise und kleine Unterschiede in der Ausführung, lassen auf ein Malerteam schließen, das die Ausgestaltung nach einem detailliert ausgearbeiteten Programm in kurzer Zeit ausführte. An den Forchheimer Malereien kann darüber hinaus beispielhaft die Restaurierungsgeschichte, ein wichtiges Forschungsdesiderat, dargestellt werden. Die einzigartige Aktenlage umfasst weitgehend den kompletten Schriftverkehr der zwei großen Restaurierungsphasen, 1830-32 und zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts, mit dem Einbau des Pfalzmuseums 1906-10. Damit lässt sich explizit der Wandel von einer künstlerischen historisierenden Restaurierung zu einer wissenschaftlich motivierten und nach Grundsätzen ausgerichteten Konservierung aufzeigen, der sich in Bayern, Deutschland und Europa im Verlauf den 19. Jahrhunderts vollzogen hat. Neben den restaurierungsethischen Grundlagen umfasst dies auch die verwendeten Materialien und Techniken der historischen Maßnahmen. Die Forchheimer Malereien repräsentieren hierbei jeweils die fortschrittlichen Gedanken ihrer Zeit. Wie nah Zeitgeschichte mit der Restaurierungsgeschichte verknüpft ist, zeigt der besondere Aspekt der enkaustischen Behandlung der Malereien der Kapelle während der Restaurierung im frühen 19. Jahrhundert. Dies steht in engem Zusammenhang mit der Wiedererfindung der Enkaustik auf der Suche nach einer haltbaren Maltechnik für die zahlreichen repräsentativen Monumentalbauten des Klassizismus. In Forchheim wurde dies stark durch König Ludwig I. begünstigt, der diese Bewegung in München förderte. In diesem geistigen Umfeld beauftragte der Central Galerie Direktor Georg von Dillis den Maltechniker Franz Fernbach, der durch seine maltechnischen Versuche zur Enkaustik hervorgetreten war, zur Restaurierung der Wandmalereien. Dies ermöglichte Fernbach seine neu entwickelte enkaustische Technik, die er 1845 publizierte, erstmals großflächig anzuwenden. Im Rahmen der vorliegenden Untersuchung konnte anhand von Analysen und Quellenforschung auch die bei der jüngsten Restaurierung aufgefundene und in Teilabschnitten freigelegte Bemalung der Südwand der Kapelle als eine Neubemalung von Franz Fernbach zugeordnet werden. Die zweite Restaurierung hingegen setzt früh und konsequent die um 1900 mit den Streitschriften zur Denkmalpflege von Alois Riegl und Georg Dehio formulierten Grundsätze hin zu einer Konservierung in die Praxis um. Unter Georg Hager als Direktor des Generalkonservatoriums in München wurde diese Wendung zu einer modernen Denkmalpflege in Forchheim vollzogen und die Wandmalereien als authentisches Fragment konserviert und museal mit nur geringen Retuschen präsentiert. Die Restaurierungszutaten von 1830-32 unter Franz Fernbach in der Kapelle wurden bei der Restaurierung 1906-10 weitreichend abgenommen. Dieses Zeitdokument der beginnenden künstlerischen Denkmalpflege konnte bislang noch nicht als solches gewürdigt werden, da die zeitliche Distanz fehlte und die zahlreichen Zerstörungen durch die frühen künstlerischen Restaurierungen zu offensichtlich waren. Mit Hilfe der Quellenforschung, der optischen Untersuchungsmethoden und der ausgewählten Materialanalysen konnte der Erstbestand von den späteren Eingriffen durch die Restaurierungen unterschieden werden: Bei der Restaurierung um 1906-10 wurde, wie in den Quellen betont, weitreichend auf eine Retusche verzichtet. Nur partiell wurden vor allem architektonische Linien lasierend ergänzt, wie in der Sockelbemalung im „Kaisersaal“. Bei den Malereien, die von Franz Fernbach ursprünglich restauriert worden waren, wurde nach der Abnahme seiner Zutaten mit der Retusche etwas weiter gegangen, vermutlich da die Darstellungen in ihrem ergänzten Zustand sowohl als Abbildungen wie auch bei Personen noch in Erinnerung waren. Mit dem Erkenntniszugewinn hinsichtlich einer beispielhaften Restaurierungsgeschichte wurde eine bedeutende Wissensgrundlage geschaffen, auch als Ausgangspunkt für weitere vergleichende Forschungen und Diskussionen. In der vorliegenden Arbeit konnte aufgezeigt werden, wie vielschichtig Wandmalereien in ihrer Aussage als Dokument sein können. Gerade in Forchheim sind sie eine reiche Quelle für die Geschichte des Baus und der mittelalterlichen Kunstauffassung und darüber hinaus eine wertvolles Dokument der sich wandelnden Restaurierungsgeschichte. Die Forchheimer Malereien fordern diesen umfassenden Forschungsansatz und machen sich somit zu einem äußerst kostbaren Kunst- und Kulturgut.This monograph completely records, for the first time, the late Gothic wallpaintings in the East wing of the castle in Forchheim, Southern Germany. The survey combines the art historical- and conservation- science perspective. In collaboration with the survey of the building by Tillman Kohnert, it was possible to incorporate the history of the paintings within the architecture. The Gothic paintings from the late 14th Century were created while the castle was in construction under the Prince Bishop Lamprecht von Brunn (1374 - 1399) from Bamberg. The "Emperor's Hall" on the ground floor is the only room that shows two decoration phases. During the restoration work in 1909 both phases were uncovered and presented on one plane of view. Before the construction of what is now the existing vault, the room was covered with a flat beam ceiling, dating from 1391 (Dendrochronology). The first decoration, with a painted coat of arms and simple red lines around the window openings imitate gothic architecture, was extended around 1398 with the construction of the ribbed vault, with an even more representative painted figurative program. It can be assumed that at the same time, the private rooms of the Bishop on the first and second floor were elaborately painted. The functions of the rooms are reflected in the religious themes of the New and Old Testament as well as in the implementation of secular literary topics. The simultaneous use of the expressive linear painting, which arrived over Avignon to Prague, and the figurative style striving to copy nature, with strong links to Northern Italy and Bohemian Art, and the application of grisaille painting show the extensive knowledge of the artistic works of the time and was the careful selection of the client. Regional influences can be found by parallels with paintings in Nuremberg, which use elements of the Northern Italian as well as the Bohemian art; linking them into a regional style. The technique used was as modern as the selection and execution of the painted subjects and the different styles of the single paintings. The results of the scientific analysis and in comparison with the medieval sources add further to the current research on the production technique of late Gothic wallpaintings. This confirms that it was a far more common practice to apply multilayered secco paintings with protein and tempera mixtures as binding media, than the use of lime painting. Using the same painting technique but in a different style, along with minor differences within the paintings, suggests that a team of painters carried out the decoration, following a more detailed program of work. Using the example of the wallpaintings in the Forchheim Castle and their restoration history, an important research desideratum can be exemplified. There are a vast amount of historic documents, comprising the complete correspondence of the two major restoration phases, in the early 19th century (1830-32) and the early 20th Century (1906-10). The second conservation project took place within the establishment of the “Palace Museum” in the castle. Using the example of these murals, it is possible to explicitly demonstrate the transition from artistic, historicizing restoration towards scientific conservation, in Bavaria, Germany and Europe during the 19th Century. This includes additional to ethical principles, the materials and techniques used in the previous conservation treatments. In each case the paintings of Forchheim Castle represent the progressive ideas of the time. How close contemporary history is linked to the restoration history, shows the particular aspect of encaustic treatment of the paintings in the chapel during the restoration in the early 19th Century. This is closely connected with the reinvention of the encaustic painting technique, in the search for a more durable technique, for the numerous representative monumental buildings in the classicism period. The early conservation in Forchheim was strongly favored by King Ludwig I, who supported this movement in Munich. In this intellectual environment, the Central Gallery director Georg von Dillis commissioned the painter Franz Fernbach, who emerged with his attempts to recreate the encaustic painting technique for the restoration of the wall paintings. This allowed Fernbach to apply his newly developed encaustic technique, which he published in 1845, for the first time on a large scale. Within this research, based on historic sources and scientific analyses, the recently discovered and partly uncovered decoration on the south wall of the chapel could be assigned as a new painting by Franz Fernbach. The second restoration, however, set early the principles for “conservation instead of restoration” into practice. These had been formulated around 1900 in the pamphlets of Alois Riegl and Georg Dehio. Under the Director of the Board of Monuments, George Hager, this change towards a modern scientific conservation was carried out and therefore, in Forchheim, the newly uncovered wallpaintings were preserved as an authentic fragment with only slight retouching undertaken. During the restoration of 1906-10, the additions of the restoration from 1830-32 under Franz Fernbach in the chapel, and on the “Triton” and “Craneman” in the adjoining room, were removed. This early document of the beginning of the cultural heritage could not yet be appreciated because it was before its time and so the numerous destructions by the early artistic restorations were still obvious. By researching historical sources, optical analysis methods and scientific analysis of material samples, it was possible to distinguish the first decoration from the interventions of the later restorations. It was also possible to confirm that during the restoration, of around 1906-10, and as stated in historical sources, hardly any retouching was carried out. Architectural lines were only partially added such as in the painted base zone of the “Imperial Hall”. In the paintings, which had been previously restored by Franz Fernbach, after the over painting was removed, more retouching was carried out than in the newly uncovered murals; probably because the paintings in there completed state were still known from published images or in the memory of the people. With the research of this exemplary history of restoration of the wallpaintings in Forchheim Castle, an important knowledge base has been created which has, in turn, formed a basis for further research and discussion. In the present study, it was possible to demonstrate how complex the historical documents of murals could be. They are a rich source for the history of the architecture, art history, contemporary history and restoration history, thus making them an extremely valuable art- and cultural asset