Main Nave Research Articles

The conservation of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the preliminary restoration project of the decorated surfaces

Abstract The studies developed by the team of the School of Specialization in Architectural Heritage and Landscape of “Sapienza” University of Rome, that initially concerned the entire Basilica to be then focused on the main nave, on the aisles, on the transept and bema. At the architectural scale, the investigations concerning mosaics, mural paintings and coloring are aimed to the comprehension of the complicated relation between the single analyzed part and the architectural complex. The “reading” of the current state of the Basilica, i.e. the historical events that made it as we can see today, is the starting point for the necessary critical considerations to start the restoration project.

Sześcioksiąg w mozaikach bazyliki Santa Maria Maggiore w Rzymie

The main nave of the Santa Maria Maggiore at Rome has been decorated with 42 mosaic panels, presenting the scenes from the Pentateuch and the Book of Josue. The mosaics were created at the time of the construction of the basilica in the first half of the fifth century and thus they are the oldest monumental Bible illustration cycle. Some illuminated codices probably served as a model for the mosaics, but the final result is rather an original conception, linked theologically with the mosaics of the triumphal arch of the basilica. The paper describes the surviving 27 mosaics. Their conformance to traditional Roman iconography is underlined. The main idea behind the cycle is interpreted as an attempt to convince the people of Rome that the history of the People of God, which begins with the patriarchs of the Old Testament, is as glorious and ancient as the Roman one.

Vibration characteristics of vaulted masonry monuments undergoing differential support settlement

This paper assesses the feasibility of vibration testing to detect structural damage caused by the settlement of buttresses in the Beverley Minster, a Gothic church located in the UK. Over the past eight centuries, the accumulated support settlements of the buttresses of Beverley Minster have pulled the main nave walls outward, causing severe separation along the edges of the masonry vaults. Bays closer to the main crossing tower have remained intact; however, at the west end of the Minster, the crack width between the walls and vaults has reached about 150 mm, leading to approximately 200 mm of sag at the crown of the vaults. Due to uneven settlement of buttresses along the nave of the church, the Minster now has ten nominally identical vaults at different damage states. In this work, two of these vaults representing the two extremes, the most damaged and undamaged structural states, are subjected to vibration testing with impact hammer excitation. From these vibration measurements, damage indicators are extracted in the modal, frequency, and time domains. In the modal domain, the differences between modal parameters are observed to be comparable to measurement uncertainty and hence insufficient to reach conclusions about the presence of vault damage. However, the amplitudes of frequency response functions in the frequency domain are observed to indicate a clear difference between the damaged and undamaged states of the structure. A time domain autoregressive model, support vector machine regression, is also found to be successful at indicating the differences between the two structural states of the vaults. We conclude that vibration measurements offer a practical solution to detect wall–vault separation in historic masonry monuments, provided that multiple damage indicators are evaluated.

Saint Virgin Mary Parish Church in Kraśnik – new research results after I phase of studies 2008-2009

The town of Kraśnik is one of the oldest of its kind in the Lublin region – archaeological researches confirmed that that in the XIII century in the same place existed a settlement with castle and a church. Municipal rights were granted to Krasnik in 1377, when town was ruled by Gorajski family. A brick church was founded by Teczynski family around 1448. Today this is reflected by the chancel build around the altar from Gothic bricks, to which in the next phases vestry and treasury has been constructed. In 1461 a n Canons Regular of the Lateran Order has been brought to Krasnik from Cracow. The Order extended the original structure and built a monastery. From stone blocks they erected main nave and church aisles and Gothic church was incorporated in the new form. Consecutive rebuilding continued in 1st half of XVI century (raising of church walls, new arches, Renaissance decorations, polychrome wall paintings, memorial chapels). After damages to the church caused by the wars with Sweden, it became a property of Zamoyski family, who rebuilt it in the Baroque style (new elevation copings, building of new chapel in which the foundation date remained – 1657). In the year of 1864 after the cessation of the Order, church has been taken under the control of Russian government. Damaged by fires it required renovations (front elevations, roof). In 1911 the last phase of modifications was recorded – extension to the clock tower. Church in Krasnik with its 600 years of history always attracted attention from architectural researchers and scientists. In 2007 renovation of front elevation commenced. Initial works on removing plaster revealed perfectly preserved stone blocks and details from the earliest phases of the construction (fragments of a Gothic arch, stone window framings, front walls). Conservatory and archaeological researches inside the church on the foundation, roof and elevation levels uncovered new architectural elements and therefore allowed to understand in more complete way the construction phases of the church. As the results of the research, a decision has been made to restore the Gothic form of the church (rarely found in Lublin region) and to expose the oldest brick front, stone contour with beautiful stepped facade, portal, high windows and architectural details from the II phase of construction. Research to reveal more about the history of church, monastery and the town itself continues along with reconstruction works.

Second World War Damages of the Architectural Heritage: St. Maria Del Popolo Agli Incurabili Church in Naples

The research concerns the case-study of the church of Santa Maria del Popolo into the historical Incurabili Hospital in Naples, seriously damaged during a bombing raid in 1943. The construction of a reinforced concrete trussed roof and floor above the main nave has caused serious structural problems and the church shows evident signs of deterioration today. The present situation offers the occasion to deep, in an interdisciplinary way, the delicate issue of the recent past strengthening operations realized with reinforced concrete that, associated with highly territorial seismicity, alarm about the condition of many historical buildings. In order to have a clear knowledge of the structural behavior of the church, assessing the actual in situ condition, a numerical FE analysis has been performed with the scope of evaluating the state of stress in the structural elements of the walls and of the roof, pointing out the structural deficiencies. The numerical damage assessment has been validated by means of comparisons with crack patterns. Providing a reliable model, it has been possible to fully simulate the behavior of historical structures when subjected to different and severe types of load, e.g. seismic loads.

On-Site Stress Measurement on the Piers of the Saint Jacobs Church in Leuven, Belgium

The construction of the Saint Jacobs Church dates from 1220. During several subsequent building phases, the Romanesque church has been replaced and extended by a church in early Gothic style. Because of the location of the church, constructed on a swamp, and the unforeseen additional vertical loading on the columns of the main nave, large differential settlements took place. During a research campaign, the resulting stresses are determined both numerically and experimentally, based on a minor destructive “hole-drilling technique.” Numerical determination allows the deduction of the principal stresses (magnitude and direction) in stone masonry. The experimental technique is presented and the results are compared with the outcome of a comparative numerical analysis. The quality of the experimental technique and the usefulness of the on-site methodology in the framework of cultural heritage are presented and discussed.

Palestinian Christian Networked Activism: Reifying “Nonviolence” or Divining Justice?

For two years now, a new kind of Christmas service has taken place in the Bethlehem Chapel of the Washington National Cathedral. Located steps away from the celestial stained glass windows and great organ of the cathedral’s main nave, the Bethlehem Chapel’s vaulted ceiling and rows of stone columns have an intimate feel as the room fills with people and winter coats. The chapel has a material bond with its namesake, as its limestone foundation was imported from a Bethlehem quarry a century ago. These Christmas services renewed that relationship in a markedly twenty-first century way, as congregants in D.C. came together in prayer with their counterparts from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem by way of video simulcast. And, thanks to the wonders of webcasting, anyone anywhere with a speedy internet connection could join.

Church of Saint-James at Leuven: Structural Assessment and Consolidation Measures

The construction of the western tower of the Church of Saint James dates to 1220. During several subsequent building phases, the Romanesque church has been replaced and extended by a church in early Gothic style. The wooden roofs in the central and side naves were replaced with masonry vaults, and flying buttresses were added. The structure itself is located on a swamp, reclaimed by the monks at the time of construction. The load-bearing capacity of the subsoil is limited, causing large differential settlements. At several occasions in the past, restoration works took place. Due to the excessive cracks observed however, it was decided in 1963 to close the church envisaging its structural collapse, to remove the severely cracked masonry vaults of the side naves and to shore up the pillars of the main nave. Additionally, in 2000, the remaining flying buttresses were removed and replaced by tie rods. The focus of this manuscript is on the structural understanding of this historical building, to determine the most appropriate strengthening and consolidation measures, respecting the authenticity of the building and preserving it for the future.

Gaudí and the vaults over the ‘Sagrada Familia’ school

The tiny Gaudi School that once stood at the foot of the ‘Sagrada Familia’ is a gem of modernist brick architecture that has been overshadowed and even trampled on (for 7 years, from 1995 to 2002) by its gigantic neighbour, an atrocity that met with the same indifference as a beggar outside a church door. It was built in 1909 as a provisional structure for the education of the workers’ children in the full awareness that it would have to be demolished to finish the temple. In 1940, Quintana rehabilitated the roof to repair the damage caused by two fires that broke out during the civil war (1936 and 1939), although with variations on the original design, as shown in the present study. Over a period of 15 years Prof. Adell raised several proposals to the Temple Construction Council (abbreviated in Spanish as J.C.T.), to remove the school, all in one piece, to a better location. Due to the rapid progress on temple construction, nothing could be done in 2000 to prevent the J.C.T. from cutting off the northwest corner to make room for one of the columns that supports the main nave. Subsequently, in 2002, on the 150oh anniversary of Gaudi’s birth, despite Prof. Adell’s public opposition in forums such as the Ateneo de Barcelona and in the press, the J.C.T. hastily decided to move the school by sections and partially rebuild it with only three of the pieces. But the objections and the proposal to use flotation techniques to relocate this historic-artistic monument as a single unit to the adjacent square or to the other side of the S.F. compound were to no avail and unable to prevent the destruction of the school and its erroneous reconstruction, which bears little or no resemblance to the original. Nor was Prof. Adell’s proposal for a new roof, designed in conjunction with architect Eladio Dieste, accepted, even though this solution entailed the sort of technological evolution that Gaudi would have liked for this experimental work, in which he combined technique and form in very original ways in the early stages of his most ambitious architectural project.

Portals of the Church of Saint Nicholas in Bari

The Church of Saint Nicolas in Bari, in southern Italy, is known as a church of great renown and importance, in view of the fact that it was built to receive the remains of Saint Nicholas, which are still kept in the church?s crypt, in the part of the building from where its construction began, at the end of the XI century. This church played a highly significant role in the creation of the specific, Romanic style of architecture in this region, so several important buildings were constructed using the basic typological and stylistic characteristics of the Church of Saint Nicholas. It was built as a triple-naved basilica with a transept and a dome designed at the intersection of the main nave and the transept, and the specific rendition of the altar section, with side towers and a flat facade wall that encloses the inner apse was applied in a similar manner on several churches in Apulia. Its great renown in the Christian world is well-known, reflected both in the strong connection between the churches in Bari and Kotor, and through the donations by the medieval Serbian rulers, among which is the large icon of Saint Nicholas, a gift from Stefan Decanski, which is still preserved in the church?s crypt. The importance of this and the other churches in Apulia was undoubtedly one of the factors that have led to discussion in literature about the question of their possible influence on architectonic creation in related artistic fields, including the monuments of the Raska stylistic group, particularly in connection with the architectural and sculptural plastics on portals because of the similarity of some of the shapes and motives in the stonemasonry...

Centro parroquial en Puchenau, Austria

This complex has been built near the old church, the schools, cemetery and the parish house, opposite the townhall and adjacent to the town's shopping centre. It consists of: the main church, a smaller every-day chapel, a baptistery chapel, the community hall, a youth hall and a kindergarten. The three consacrated areas have an octogonal floor plan with skylight focusing on the altars and the baptismal font. There is also a continuous span window, high along the walls of the main nave for visually floating the roof. The materials used are all traditional: timber and brick, but highlighting the focus points with stone and metal. The arcades, landscaping the pond and a plaza, provide the compound with the required monumental feeling and dignified importance.

Dos iglesias de Pierre Pinsard, arquitecto Francia

Parish Centre of Saint Pierre de Chanel, Bourg-en-Bresse It is located in the modern part of the town, and is built on three levels: — Basement, with public garage. — Ground floor, which has nave with seating capacity for 639, chapel, mortuary, sacristy, presbytery and offices, as well as courtyard, garden, car-park and belfry. — Upper floor, with catechism rooms, gallery, offices and sitting rooms annexed to the presbytery. The basic construction is of expossd concrete with metal columns. Parish Centre of Saint Jean Baptiste de La Salle, Rouen This building is situated on the left bank of the Seine. Consisting of one floor only, it has a main nave with room for 600, a chapel, catechism rooms, two sacristies, mortuary, presbytery, choir and gardens. The construction is of concrete faced with brick, and metal roof with interior wood lining.

Iglesia de San Martín, en Samen, Suiza

Round the nave of the main church building, which is elliptical in platform, the chapels and confession boxes are placed radially. The chapels are located on the inside of the church, and open on to it: these entrances add to the internal architectural composition of the church. The public choir communicates with the main nave, and the choir of the friars is more directly related with the altar. This church, which is part of a Benedictine Order convent was built to meet the needs both of the fathers, and of the novices, and can be used simultaneously by both.

La catedral metropolitana de Cristo Rey, en Liverpool, Gran Bretaña

The main nave of the cathedral is round and can normally accommodate 800 people, though this capacity can be increased to 2,000. Besides, there are 140 seats on the balconies over the East and West entrances, and 58 seats at the choir - Chapels of the Holy Sacrement, the Holy Virgin and eight others, each devoted to one saint, as well as the baptistry and the porch entrances, are located round the central nave - At the centre of the cathedral, as main focal feature, is the presbitry, and the main altar. The adoption of a circular planform in the design at a church is meant to emphasize the natural tendency of the congregation to surround and be as close as possible in a physical sense to the main altar, so that all can participate more intimately and collectively in the act of worship and prayer.

Nueva Iglesia en Klosters – Suiza

The main premisses which have guided the architect in this design have been the projection of the architectural concept towards the future and the nature and primitive concept of Christ's Church; simple in form, expressive and clear in the outline of its message. The church interior, following the recent Vatican Council, separates clearly two zones: the main nave, devoted to the assembly of the faithful; and the chapel, a place of inner concentration. The dynamic and rhythmic shape seeks to convince us that the congregation advances «with happiness and enthusiasm towards the future».

Study Of Sensitivity Of Structural Analysis On The Vertical Section Through The Main Nave Of The Cathedral Of Leon.

A sensitivity analysis about the influence of the E-modulus distribution, differential settlements, variation in geometrical definition, distribution of stone densities, etc, (related to the vertical section through the main nave) is here presented. The purpose is to calibrate the importance of such variables in the relevant parameters (internal forces, stresses and displacements) in order to have consistent criteria to define what to monitorize and where to install measurement devices in strategic places. This shoud lead to reduce monitoring cost and to deep in the knowledge of the structural behaviour of the monument.

Iglesia de San Esteban en Arlen, Alemania

This church is located within a carefully developed urban zone. The church can hold 550 worshippers, and it comprises a main nave, a lateral one, where services are held on working days, the baptistry and sacristy. Below the church there is a parrochial hall, for meetings. There is a beautiful contrast, in the design of this building, between the concrete and the black roofing slate, as well as the dynamic patterns of the roof surfaces.

Iglesia reformista, Suiza

This mountain church at Rigi-Kaltbad has three functional levels. The top one includes the entrance, the choir and room for 29 seats. The intermediate level, which is reached via a staircase, has the main nave of the church and provides seating facilities for 95 people, as well as a cloakroom. The bottom level has a vestibule, and room for the congregation, the office of the priest and general services. The most characteristic feature of this church is the original and plastic quality of its external walls and the dynamic design of its main volumes.

Complejo industrial en Ballymena, Irlanda del Norte

These two industrial buildings serve for the manufacture of cigarettes. The main nave is 274 m long and 32 m wide. There are additional secondary buildings, which house the services and offices. This type of industry requires a close control of temperature and humidity, and it is necessary that these factors remain very constant during the process of manufacture. The naves have been covered with shed type sheeting. These sheets are prefabricated and rest on hollow arches, which are manufactured in sections, and are then prestressed and suitably spaced. The inner hollow part of these arches, and the columns on which they rest, also serve to carry the air conditioning conduits, and lighting cables. The large number of skylights ensures a good daylight illumination.

Iglesia en El Grao de Gandía

In the initial remarks of this articles the architect of the Gandia Church pays heartfelt tribute to the memory of Eduardo Torroja, who was the collaborating engineer on this project, and who died after its construction had already begun. The architect goes on to deal with various aspects of the design, which can be summarised as follows. The construction of this church was necessary because the original building had been destroyed. The type of arrangement adopted, whereby the cloisters—quiet and with an outside view—are incorporated to the main nave of the church, is justified because in summer time the congregation is vastly augmented by those vacationing in Gandia. This has saved the necessity of building a church that would have been unnecessarily large during the rest of the year and would have lost much of its intimacy and charm. The composition of the enclosing walls is also discussed by the author, who indicates how the structure itself has been utilized as main contrasting element, both outwards and inwards. This has led to such distinct effects as those provided by the northern and southern elevations; whilst still retaining a deep sincerity of design. The distribution of the main sections of the project is described, and the internal composition is closely analysed. Attention is drawn to how the zone of the high altar has been made into the axis and centre of the whole interior by suitably forcing to this end the lighting and the materials. Finally the architect emphasizes the technical interest of the structural design which so faithfully meets the functional requirements and results in an integrated whole of great merit and originality, that fits perfectly into the overall composition.