Sep 16, 2013
Reconstruction of the Late Gothic Vault in the Chapel of Dresden Castle
In these days, public attention once again focused on Dresden Castle, as after two years’ construction period the reconstructed vaulted ceiling in the former Chapel has been consigned to the public. Built in the 16th century, the Chapel is part of Saxony’s historical memory as a monument of early protestant church building and as a center of early baroque music culture. The magnificent ceiling of the chapel originally was formed by an elaborate late Gothic vault with ribs that describe a double curvature. Such vaults are among the most fascinating features of late Gothic architecture.
The reconstruction of the vaulted ceiling in the Chapel of Dresden Palace could be accomplished with a decisive contribution of two scientists from the TU Dresden, Prof. Dr. Stefan Bürger and Dr.-Ing. David Wendland. For this unique task two major challenges had to be met: First, the original vault is only scarcely documented. In fact, apart from very little archaeological evidence there is only one drawing of the interior where the vault is represented. Nevertheless, by comparative studies and in particular by the knowledge of the design procedures used by the late Gothic master builders, a hypothesis could be developed which fits to the existing traces in the building. Second, no construction of this type has been realized during the last 450 years, and no sufficient information on their design and construction is available from sources; hence, their design principles, geometric concept, structural design, detailing and technical realization were all to be clarified. In an integrated design process carried out by the architects, structural engineers and scientists, a shell structure in unreinforced masonry has been developed which is both formally and structurally equivalent with comparable original late Gothic vault constructions. Moreover, the realization of this complex structure built according to the traditional vaulting technique free-handed, i.e. without formwork, could be achieved only due to the intensive support by the scientist directly on the construction site. Finally, the Otto-Mohr-Laboratorium of TU Dresden has carried out load testing on the structure.
The reconstruction of the vault which gains its authenticity
by resuming the late Gothic design principles, using the
original materials, and implementing the historical
construction process of free-handed vault construction, could
be achieved on the background of the current research on late
Medieval architecture at the TU Dresden – in particular in
several research projects which brought to the establishment of
a leading research group in this field –, as well as in the
field of Construction History. Also the development of an
experimental free-form shell structure in masonry (the
prototype stood until recently on the University campus)
constituted an important basis for the concept of the new
“historical” vault construction in Dresden Castle.
Contact information:
Prof. Stefan Bürger,
apl. Professor, Professur für Christliche Kunst der Spätantike
und des Mittelalters,
Tel.: 0351 463-35790,
Dr.-Ing. David Wendland,
Projektleiter ERC Starting Grant „REGothicVaultDesign“,
Tel.: 0351 463-36071,