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Revision as of 17:28, 2 December 2018

Wall paintings of the Church of St. George

The Church of St. George is a part of a Benedictine monastery founded in 724 CE[1] on the island of Reichenau on Lake Constance in Southern Germany. The island is also home to the churches of St. Mary and Marcus, and St. Peter and Paul.[1] The Church of St. George was built in the late 800s to house the relic head of St. George, a gift from Pope Gregory II to commemorate a visit to Rome by Abbot Haito in 896.[2] The church is currently owned and run by the Catholic Church of St. George Fund.[1] The interior of the church is decorated with wall paintings depicting stories and characters from scripture, and was designed for those who dedicate their lives to prayer, worship, and devotion.[2]

Wall Paintings

While the Church of St. George was built at the end of the 9th century, the frescoes themselves weren’t added until nearly a century later.[3] The frescoes are divided on the nave walls of the church into three pictorial zones: The first and lowest being depictions of the abbots of the Reichenau monasteries between the nave arches, the second, above the arches, being an unbroken space of large panels covering the miracles of Christ[4], and third, the highest portion above the windows, are depictions of the Old Testament prophets as well as the New Testament apostles.[3] The second is the most researched section, as each fresco of the miracles details a very specific story from the life of Christ. Accompanied with the wall paintings were tituli, or inscriptions, that both gave comment to, and described, the stories and characters in the paintings.[3] These wall paintings are an important example of artistic expression from the middle ages, and are unique for their age and location. The frescoes of the Church of St. George are the only example of a preserved and complete set of wall paintings north of the Alps from before the year 1000.[1]

The eight miracles and their tituli (translated into English) are as follows:
  1. The healing of the Demon-Possessed Man (Mark 5:1-19) “The demon is driven out, which bears the name Legion./ Then [the demons] enter the swine. They throw themselves into the open sea”
  2. The Healing of a Man with Dropsy (Luke 14:1-11) “A man with dropsy comes straight toward the path and is healed./ He goes there loaded. He returns freed of the burden.”
  3. The Calming of the Windstorm on the Sea of Galilee (Matthew 8:23-27) “God sleeps in his bodily form; east and south wind in particular break loose./ With sovereign power he gives the command. Wind and water are calm.”
  4. The Healing of the Man Born Blind (John 9:1-38) “Here the one born without light is anointed with saliva and clay and…” (the remainder of the titulus is unreadable do to partial destruction).
  5. Healing of a Leper (Matthew 8:1-13) “... thankfully gives…” (Titulus mostly destroyed)
  6. Raising of the Young Man of Nain (Luke 7:11-16) “Dead one, rise quickly, and by rising and at the same time saying, return to life!/ And so drive away all sadness of your widowed mother!”
  7. The Daughter of Jairus Restored to Life and a Sick Woman Healed (Matthew 9:18-26) “See, the faith of the ruler encourages you, Jesus, to say,/ By the power of [my] force I want to,/ ‘Magdalena now arise’!”
  8. Lazarus Raised from the Dead (John 11:1-45) “Lazarus, come forth!, you who have already been buried four days!/ ‘Leave the delay in death.’: Thus speaks the Father’s image.”[5]

UNESCO

The whole island of Reichenau was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2000. According to UNESCO, the island, including the wall paintings of the Church at St. George, is protected based on the following criteria: The remains bare witness to the role of Medieval Benedictine monasteries, they are a strong example of monastic architecture in Central Europe from the 9th to 11th centuries; and they held great artistic significance in Europe at the same time period.[1]

Restoration and Recent Damage

Since the paintings’ discovery in 1856, they paintings have faded quite severely over time[5]. After being uncovered between 1856 and 1857, it was declared that the paintings, specifically those depicting the life of Christ, should and would be preserved in an authentic state, and not restored, so as to not lose their historic and artistic value. The Swiss model of “bildtapten”, or picture wall papers was introduced to the church as a way of having a clean mural for visitors to observe, without having to restore the original work. The bildtapten could be raised and lowered from a mechanism installed in  the ceiling, depending on who was in the building. For example, the bildtapten would be lowered for mass and visiting hours to give a complete picture of the paintings, but raised to reveal the original frescoes when art historians and other experts cam to research and inspect the wall paintings. The academic painter Carl Ph. Schilling began creating and installing the bildtapten in 1889 and completed them in 1891. In 1909 the bildtapten of St. George were removed after a part of the mechanism had broken down. A restoration that included partial repainting and artificial patination was completed by Victor Mezger between 1921 and 1922.[5]

The rise of visitors in the last few decades to the church has led to the paintings being damaged, calling for a need to closely monitor the state of the paintings. The increase in the number of visitors every year has actually caused a climate change in the church itself. With more bodies entering the church, there is a rise in the humidity and pollution levels. The humidity and pollution has created an environment ideal for the growth of mold and bacteria, which has caused severe damage to the frescoes.[1]

The current damage is being monitored by Landesamt für Denkmalpflege, alongside the University of Stuttgart, Institute for Materials of Architecture. The groups state that the data they collect includes “indoor climate, microclimate impacts, air motion, influence of radiation, and influence of visitation on the microclimate.”[1] This data will help support new ideas to regulate the indoor climate, including controlling visitor access. This could include limiting the number of visitors allowed into the church at one time, limiting the number of daily visitors, and decreasing open hours.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Centre, UNESCO World Heritage. "Monastic Island of Reichenau". whc.unesco.org. Retrieved 2018-11-17.
  2. ^ a b Lawrence., Nees, (2002). Early medieval art. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0192842439. OCLC 48753854.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ a b c J.,, Diebold, William. Word and image : an introduction to early medieval art. New York, NY. ISBN 9780429982613. OCLC 1035762729.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ H., Carl, Klaus (2015). German painting : Temporis. New York: Confidential Concepts. ISBN 9781783107933. OCLC 936299427.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ a b c Ursula, Schädler-Saub, (2013-09-11). ""Bildtapeten" and the conservation of medieval wall paintings at the turn of the twentieth century in Germany. New perspectives in the conflict between authenticity and visual integrity". CeROArt. Conservation, exposition, Restauration d’Objets d’Art (in French) (HS). ISSN 1784-5092.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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