The Corners on the Wall
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Katharina Palmberger
Katharina Palmberger is an art historian and archaeologist. She studied art history, classical archaeology, and Byzantine art history at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich and received her PhD in 2016 with a dissertation on Crusader-period sacred architecture in Jerusalem. She is a postdoctoral fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, most recently in the Martin Buber Society of Fellows. Her research focuses on the sacred architecture of the Abrahamic religions from antiquity to the early modern period, with a regional emphasis on Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean.
Abstract
In the Crusader period, the façade of Jerusalem’s Holy Sepulchre Church underwent a complete reconstruction, blending European, local, contemporary, and historical influences. Among the most notable features is the frieze delineating the two floors. Heavily inspired by Roman architecture, it has a highly unusual design: rather than following a straight horizontal course, it forms corners in the middle of the wall surface.
This 12th century copy of a Roman frieze introduced an element of historicity to the Crusader kingdom’s meticulously crafted agenda of legitimisation, depicted on the façade of the era’s most important church. I argue that by introducing the corner as a clearly contemporary take on Roman style, a genuinely medieval outline was created drawing heavily on Byzantine period references. By way of the cornice creating corners, this paper takes on the story in stone created by the Crusaders as their legitimisation agenda.
About the author
Katharina Palmberger is an art historian and archaeologist. She studied art history, classical archaeology, and Byzantine art history at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich and received her PhD in 2016 with a dissertation on Crusader-period sacred architecture in Jerusalem. She is a postdoctoral fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, most recently in the Martin Buber Society of Fellows. Her research focuses on the sacred architecture of the Abrahamic religions from antiquity to the early modern period, with a regional emphasis on Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean.
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Credits
Fig. 1, 2, 4 – 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 16, 22, 24, 25: Author — Fig. 3: El Museo Universal 12.1, 4 (January 1868), Federico Ruiz and Enrique Laporta via Wikimedia Commons — Fig. 7: Djehouty via Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA 4.0 — Fig. 10: Ross Burns via Manar Al-Athar, Ressource (ID): 89496 — Fig. 12: Andrew Wilson via Manar Al-Athar, Ressource (ID): 89544 — Fig. 15: Thérèse Gaigé via Wikimedia Commons — Fig. 17: Sean Leatherbury via Manar Al-Athar, Ressource (ID): 89355 — Fig. 18: Joseph Greene via Manar Al-Athar, Ressource (ID): 85880 — Fig. 19: Ross Burns via Manar Al-Athar, Ressource (ID): 85370 — Fig. 20: Christian Sahner via Manar Al-Athar, Ressource (ID): 85407 — Fig. 21: Jane Chick via Manar Al-Athar, Ressource (ID): 88876 — Fig. 23: DIZer via Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA 4.0
© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Cover
- Frontmatter
- Aufsätze / Articles
- The Corners on the Wall
- Michelangelos Pläne für die Florentiner Nationalkirche S. Giovanni dei Fiorentini in Rom
- Raumdurchdringung und »Traumdenken«
- Dialektisch Wohnen
- Kurzbiographien der Autorinnen und Autoren
- Kurzbiografien der Autorinnen und Autoren
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Cover
- Frontmatter
- Aufsätze / Articles
- The Corners on the Wall
- Michelangelos Pläne für die Florentiner Nationalkirche S. Giovanni dei Fiorentini in Rom
- Raumdurchdringung und »Traumdenken«
- Dialektisch Wohnen
- Kurzbiographien der Autorinnen und Autoren
- Kurzbiografien der Autorinnen und Autoren
