Sepulchral Monument Research Articles

ACCURACY EVALUATION OF SMARTPHONE-BASED VIDEOGRAMMETRY FOR CULTURAL HERITAGE DOCUMENTATION PROCESS

Abstract. The last decade has seen the development of a growing tendency to use the most modern technologies, in the field of Cultural Heritage, with the aim of digitizing and facilitating protection and conservation activities. Much research has focused on the development of innovative methods such as photogrammetry or Terrestrial Laser Scanners, in terms of reliability, precision, time and costs. In this research, however, the use of the smartphone was investigated by comparing the point clouds obtained via videogrammetry from smartphones, with those generated by different digital survey techniques, such as Terrestrial Laser Scanners and photogrammetry via SLR camera. Specifically, a smartphone was used and the comparison between point clouds was conducted based on four criteria: point clouds fitting, density evaluation, profiling and texture quality with the aim, therefore, of verifying the geometric reliability of the data and the quality of polygonal lines and the mesh/texture derived. The case study selected was the sepulchral monument of the Pascopepe Lambertini family (14th century), located in the Crypt of Santa Maria della Scala, the Cathedral of Trani (South of Italy). Finally, the research demonstrates how this methodology, in the documentation of heritage, allows for even greater portability and accessibility compared to other methodologies, maintaining widely acceptable standards of accuracy and therefore going to constitute a valid alternative in the documentation of historical heritage.

Relief with Crucifixion Scene in St Martin’s Church in Jawor – the Oldest Silesian Pictorial Epitaph and its Ideological and Artistic Contexts

This paper provides an analysis of the relief block with the Crucifixion scene preserved in the St. Martin’s parish church in Jawor, an important town in the Duchy Jawor-Świdnica in the 14th century. According to the 17th century’s written sources the relief was originally located on the wall of the church’s cemetery mortuary, however the primary written source pertaining to the artwork in question is the inscription running along its three sides. The slab commemorates Johann Sapiens and his family. It is the earliest preserved pictorial epitaph in Silesia and in this part of Europe. Its votive purpose is stated. Moreover, a passage referring to biblical texts as well as formulations, which entered into the consecration rites of churches and altars, provide a premise to interpret this family memorial and epitaph, at the same time, also as an ossuary foundation memorial. These circumstances allow searching for possible models and references in places where the pictorial epitaph found favourable conditions for development already at the dawn of its existence as a type of sepulchral monument. At first sight, Thuringia with Erfurt seem the place geographically closest to Silesia, where stylistically and typologically related artworks have been preserved. However, the crucifix depicted in the relief from Jawor turned out to be rather typical for the contemporary Silesian sculpture too, in contrast to the assisting figures of Virgin Mary and St. John. In consequence, the references and sources of inspiration applied in the process of creation of the assisting figures in relief from Jawor should be searched in western territories of Silesia or having regard to the possibility of drawing inspiration from much older portable microplastic objects as, for example, Byzantine or Romanesque ivory.

A Figurative Roman Period Monument Recently Recorded into the Collection of the National Union Museum Alba Iulia. Considerations Regarding its Significance

The scope of this scientific endeavour is the analysis of the Roman funeral monument, recently recovered by the judicial bodies from a certain individual from Alba Iulia. Upon the presentation of the method of recovery of the monument, the authors refer to an unfortunate implications’ phenomenon for the cultural heritage, which is occurring in Alba Iulia, where under lies the largest urban concentration within the former Roman province, namely Dacia. We are referring to the urban centre Apulum where, each year, numerous vestiges come to light, because of archaeological exploitations. Unfortunately, in numerous courtyards of the inhabitants, there still are Roman monuments which should belong into a museum. It would not be unproductive for the competent institutions to identify, inventory and take the required steps to bring and enter them into the museum related circuit. The idea is to prevent the trend of owning Roman monuments from Alba Iulia, which was also observed amid highly educated families. The topic is a funeral limestone document, kept in a fragmented state, in the shape of a truncated pyramid, which has a relief sculpture in the image of the hero Hercules. From the iconographic standpoint is part of the Farnese type, depicting the hero upon the completion of one of his twelve deeds, the killing of the lion from Nemeea. Within his cult also arose the funeral element, depicted by numerous sculptural monuments. According to the mythology, upon taming Cerberus, the famous dog of Hades, the lord of the Inferno, the hero becomes a role model for every mortal. By such” deed” Hercules defeated Death, and the deed turned out to be an example which perpetuated into the conscience of the people. Thereafter, after this special action he was entered among the deities. The iconographic analysis found that the stonemason failed to accurately represent part of the anatomical features of the character (lack of gender, bent legs, poor representation of the hair and beard), the monument remaining unfinished (the sculptural relief is not finished on the left side). Moreover, there are interventions after the Roman era, probably from the Middle Ages or the modern age, when a channelling was engraved around the head that would mark a halo of the Christian Saints, and within the pubic area a clumsy incision which could render a vulva. The images of Hercules on the Roman funerary monuments are numerous throughout the entire Empire, as well as into the North Danube Province. But on this type of sepulchral monument – pyramidal crowning or in the shape of a truncated pyramid – this representation of the hero is unique within the Province of Dacia. In general, such crowning is found in Dacia Superior and Porolissensis, originating into the North-East of Italy, better said, Aquileea city, wherefrom it spread in Pannonia, Noricum, Dalmatia, Moesia Superior and Germania Superior.

Høj Stene – en monumental skibssætning ved Gudenåen

Høj Stene – en monumental skibssætning ved Gudenåen

"FAZIL-I FENA FİL EVKAF" ARŞİVİNDEN HATTAT MEZAR TAŞLARI

The way made İsmail Fazıl Ayanoğlu important in terms of Foundations and our cultural history is that he has a rich photograph archieve taken by him once upon a time and classified by their subjects and described by him as "Evidents of a small part of the civilization ocean". From this aspect, Ayanoğlu is known as also “fazıl-ı fena filevkaf” in the General Directorate of Foundations in Istanbul had served for General Directorate of Foundations until the date of his death is a founder and a man of culture, who participated in the operations for issuing, moving of the foundation cemeteries (in the grave transfer operations), reading epigraphs, renew and classification of them as a specialist of ancient artworks and sepulchral monuments in the General Directorate of Foundations in Istanbul for many years and undertaken an active role for taking photographs of many ancient artworks, particularly sepulchral monuments and recorded and brought to the future. After his death, Ayanoğlu has continued to contribute to scientific works of investigtors with his own books in the İbrahim Hakkı Konyalı Library and very rich photograph archive of ancient works and to provided visual support to the works of many investigators. In this study some sepulchral monument photographs of Calligraphists, considered as one of the the most important samples of photograph archive of İsmail Fazıl Ayanoğlu, are protcted in the file numbered 5403 in the archieve department of the İbrahim Hakkı Konyalı Library and previously never published anywhere, general view and biographic contents of epigraphs shall be included in chronological order.

Két sírkápolna a történelmi Veszprémi Egyházmegyében: Békás és Szőlőskislak – Ybl Miklós és Ágoston József Művei

The research was triggered off by the documentation of the building history of the mausoleum of the Brüll family in the neolog Jewish cemetery in Kozma street, Budapest. The revived antique, in ante temple style mausoleum erected over a crypt was completed in 1902 as the joint work of architect Kálmán Gerster and sculptor Alajos Stróbl. The interior of the cell is adorned with a fine floral mosaic composition (cartoon by Ferenc Lohr). At Békás in Veszprém county the sepulchral monument of the founder of the Society of Hungarian Engineers and Architects was unveiled in the Békássy–Hollán mausoleum in 1903. The periodical Művészet reported that the frescoes were painted by Dezső Kölber after cartoons by Károly Lotz. Documents in the Archives of the Veszprém Archiepiscopacy and Collegiate Chapter reveal that the chapel built in revival gothic style was consecrated on the day of the Sacred Name of the Virgin, on 12 September 1869, so that masses could be celebrated for the salvation of the departed souls. The church demanded that the builders provide guarantees for the survival of the chapel “until the end of time”. The architect’s name is not put down, but the article of 1903 expressly names Ybl as the planner of the funerary chapel, which has not been listed in his oeuvre so far. During an assessment of art historical values we came across the ruins of the Ágoston–Kacskovics family’s mausoleum on the edge of Balatonboglár, in Szőlőskislak. Until 1993 the diocese of Veszprém also included Somogy County. The remains of the archaizing building displays several remarkable elements. One is the set of wall-lining bricks stamped with the initials LNJ, which are undoubtedly from the brick-yard of the architect Ödön Lechner’s family in Kőbánya. The other is a glazed, ribbed-surface ornamental brick type arranged around the red triangular limestone symbolizing the eye of God in the pediment. Earlier, this brick type was known on the St. Ladislaus church in Kőbánya and the façades of the Museum of Applied Arts (1896) both planned by Lechner. The floor pavers – produced by Wienerberger – were acquired in Vienna. It is again the obligation for maintenance in good condition that accounts for ample documents kept in the Archiepiscopal Library, which reveal that the crypt was consecrated in 1883, the chapel in 1884, on the feast day of Saint Ignatius Loyola. The erection of the chapel might have been related in connection with the re-burial here of landowner Ignácz Kacskovics, lord lieutenant of the county (and maybe with the change of the manorial centre). The use of the Lechner “design” bricks here precedes the well-known examples by a decade. The building was designed by József Áoston of Kisjóka, who qualified as an engineer from the Technical University of Budapest in 1875. In the central cemetery of Pécs there are two similar historicizing family mausoleums close to each other. The classicizing monuments also displaying motifs of the Jugendstil were built in 1909 (and later?) from the terracotta elements of the Zsolnay Factory of Pécs. The mausoleum of the Nagy family who played an important role in the life of the city is still privately owned. The other one underwent a strange metamorphosis in 1963, as it was not redeemed again. The party committee of the city decided to convert it into a labour movement pantheon, and had the cross surrounded by palm branches in the pediment replaced by the red star. (The classicist character suited the socialist realist ideal of the fifties.) Their conservation in their current form is justified.

Nadgrobni spomenik G. Aruncija Felicisima i starosna struktura pučanstva antičke Liburnije

In the first part of this paper, the author analyses two fragments of a single sepulchral monument found as spolia in the church of Sv. Juraj (St. George) in Raštević near Benkovac. The monument, which can generally be dated to the late Princpate period - most likely in the second half of the 2nd century AD, was erected by Sempronia Maximilla for her husband Gaius Aruntius Felicissimus, who died at the age of 70. In the second part, the author analyses data on the age of the deceased found in Liburnian sepulchral inscriptions and aims to prove the possible age limits of average life expectancy. Through that analysis it will be possible to better understand if, and to what degree, was Gaius Aruntius Felicissimus an exception from standards present during that period.

A new Republican temple on the via Appia, at the borders of Rome's urban space

On May 27, 1970, during construction of the Caffarella sewer system which was to serve new districts in the sprawling suburbs of Rome, the Municipality of Rome alerted the Soprintendenza to the discovery of some ancient structures near the via Appia.The area affected by the passage of the sewer system lies just beyond the Almo river, between the Appia's first and second mile, in a place where, at the end of the 19th c., P. Cartoni built a rather large barn for his estate (vigna). On the W side of the road, excavators discovered a concrete pedestal reveted with tuff blocks that was interpreted as the foundation of a sepulchral monument, the ruderatio of the via Appia, and a secondary paved road leading southeast, as published by L. Spera (see fig. 1, trench A). However, the excavations on the E side of the via Appia have never been published. The aim of this paper is to describe and interpret the remarkable discovery. My examination of documentation stored in the archives of the Soprintendenza identified photographs and sketches of the 1970 excavation, providing evidence for the existence of a Republican-era monumental architectural complex situated behind the barn of Vigna Cartoni. Since it was impossible unfortunately to locate any written reports, the research was based mostly on illustrations and administrative documents, but a fairly accurate history of the excavation could be reconstructed based on the latter.

Salvation Through Religion. The Rebirth Of The Classics In Arent Passer’s Oeuvre.

Salvation Through Religion. The Rebirth Of The Classics In Arent Passer’s Oeuvre.

Catfield Church, Norfolk: A Lost Rectorial Brass and an Early Case of Brass-Preservation

Evidence is produced here for the appearance and location of the sepulchral monument of John Walters, rector of Catfield in Norfolk from 1460 until 1478. Walters’s monument is interesting both for its own sake and because it incorporated a brass inscription which recorded his responsibility for reconstruction of the chancel of Catfield church in 1471. Another point of interest is the deliberate preservation of this brass in the early 17th century, an act recorded in the church’s register by a later rector, Anthony Harison. The article also includes observations about other medieval monuments at Catfield.

Szczęśliwość wieczna królewny Anny Wazówny. W niebie pod kopułą pomnika grobowego

The Eternal Bliss is a dream of each believer on crossing the finishing line of his/her earthly journey and entering Heaven in reward for being just. As it comes to the biography of Princess Anna Vasa of Sweden and the events commemorating her that took place in Toruń in 1636, we deal with three visions on the beyond. They are her personal experience of presence in the Third Heaven (1), the vision on her presence in Heaven created by the means of art on her sepulchral monument at the Assumption of the Virgin Mary Church (c. 1636) (2), and the parallel vision constructed during the funeral ceremony (3) and present in a panegyric that situates her in Heavenly Jerusalem, in which her name is written in the Book of Life and she is nourished by the living waters and connected to the Tree of Life.All endeavours aimed at commemorating Princess Anna Vasa such as funeral ceremony, sepulchral monument and occasional literature are dual in their nature, ie. they are both mournful and distinctly triumphant. Thus on the sepulchral monument, despite its typical gloomy character, there are elements to be found that overtly indicate the state of Eternal Bliss in which the departed Princess is to rejoice. The elements include the monument’s location in the chancel and such its architectural details as a portal in the shape of triumphal arch symbolizing the gate between the earthly and the spirit worlds, a dome as a symbol of Heaven, and a design for the sepulchral sculptures, that contains the lying figure of the Princess (with the eyes open and lost in contemplation of the spirit world; situated beyond the portal-gate and composed within the arch of the portal), and the set of three portal figures, standing for Princess’ earthly achievements and opening the gate to Heaven for her in exchange for her faithfulness to the faith and its articles. The figures include the images of Fides (Faith), Gratitudine (Gratitude) – representing the help to our neighbours, and Vittoria (Victory) – denoting the victory in the earthly and heavenly dimensions.

The Sparham Corpse Panels: Unique Revelations of Death from Late Fifteenth-Century England

AbstractTwo late fifteenth-century rood-screen panels in Sparham church, near Norwich, display images of corpses that are apparently unique in surviving medieval art. One is painted with two standing corpses dressed in finery, the other with a corpse arising from a tomb within a church, with a font to one side. Both panels are notable for their surviving inscriptions, and others now lost. Together, these works constitute one of the most significant English contributions to the genre of death imagery, yet their uniqueness and artistic importance has not been recognized to date. Using a range of medieval and antiquarian sources, this article aims to provide a comprehensive account of the Sparham panels’ physical and historical context, iconography and meaning. The strong possibility that they functioned as a ‘surrogate sepulchral monument’ is discussed at the end of the paper.

Thorkild Dahls daggerter

Thorkild Dahls daggerter

Il porgetto di conservazione della cappella di Tas-Salvatur (Kalkara, Malta) : analisi diagnostiche

The origins of the Tas-Salvatur chapel go back to the 15th century, but historical events brought about demolitions (at the beginning of the Great Siege of 1565 by order of the Grand Master Jean Parisot de la Vallette, and during the uprising against the French in 1798), re-edifications (in 1670 by prior Fra Giovanni Bichi) and interventions over the ages. Inaccessible during past years to parishioners and completely abandoned, the whole chapel is at present the subject of a conservation project carried out by the Malta Center for Restoration within the Cottonera Rehabilitation Project. In the first phase of restoration works, several scientific analyses were performed in order to define the nature of constituent materials and to evaluate the causes and the effects of deterioration processes. Original polychrome layers and repainting were found on the statue of the Madonna with Child situated in the external niche, on the altar, on the overhanging frame and on the sepulchral monument located in the interior of the chapel. Optical microscopy (under visible and UV light), SEM-EDX and FT-IR analysis were carried out identify the painting materials, the remnants of external plastering layers on the facade and the internal ones. Most of the repainting layers are made of lead white (2 PbCO3 PbCO3 Pb(OH)2) and lithopone [BaSO4 + ZnS (ZnO)]. The frame was originally gilded with a guazzo technique and covered later on with several layers of paint. The sepulchral monument in memory of Fra Giovanni Bichi was originally covered with a reddish layer of ochre on stone, while the central framed medallion and the relief portrait of the deceased were gilded (a missione). Below, on the lion's head that forms the lower part of the coat of arms, a brilliant vermilion red (HgS) was revealed under the gray repainting layers. Distribution of salts in the external masonry was evaluated and quantitative data were obtained by means of IC analysis. Tests for the extraction of salts were performed on the lower part of the altar. Sulphatation processes were found where subflorescences of gypsum are the main cause of the loss of stone material (flaking).

An Engraved Architectural Drawing at Santa Maria in Aracoeli, Rome

The use of tracings-drawings engraved on floors or walls showing an architectural detail to scale-was an important stage of the Gothic building process. Although examples of such engravings have survived all over Europe, very few Italian tracings are preserved. Two hitherto unknown examples, found in the Roman church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli, are presented here for the first time. One portrays the profile of a small base and was probably a trial drawing. The other is a two-light-and-oculus tracery pattern, and is particularly interesting because it is drawn to full scale and was cut into a reused slab of ancient marble. In this essay, I reconstruct the geometric process of generating the design and analyze the position of the tracing, with its peculiar Roman features, within the European Gothic context. I also consider the engraved drawing's possible function (guideline for template- and stone-cutters, or slab from which the tracery was to be cut directly), destination (sepulchral monument, window, or ciborium), and dating.

The Sepulchral Monument of the Procurator C. Julius Classicianus

The evidence for an altar tomb of the Procurator of Britain, C. Julius Classicianus, consists of a richly carved bolster stone and two substantial lettered fragments, found at the foot of a Roman bastion of London's city wall during two excavations separated in time by eighty years. Reunited. at the British Museum in 1935, they form one of the most important and beautifully lettered archaeological documents of Roman London. The purpose of this study is to reassess the information contained in the worked faces of each fragment, to review the assumptions which led to the disposition of the fragments in their present setting, and to consider whether a measured survey of lettering and layout might contribute to a fuller reconstruction of the tomb and its text.

Michelangelos Grabmal Julius' II. in S. Pietro in Vincoli

Michelangelo's sepulchral monument for Pope Julius II in the Church of San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome, is discussed. Drawing on evidence provided by letters, contracts, and invoices, the writer reconstructs Michelangelo's original plans for the tomb and examines how the monument was executed, the extent to which the artist was involved in the execution, and later alterations. He shows that some basic assumptions customarily made by researchers when addressing the history of the tomb and its original form are no longer tenable.

Die Grablege der sachsischen Kurfursten zu Freiberg: Ideelle Dimensionen eines internationalen Monuments

The Renaissance Kurfurstenkapelle at Dom St. Marien in Freiburg, Germany, burial place of the electoral princes of Saxony, is discussed. The family grave, probably the most “international” monument built in Saxony during the Renaissance, attracted visitors from all over Europe. The choir was transformed into a burial place by Italian architect Giovanni Maria Nosseni, and the Italian sculptor Carlo di Cesare was responsible for the plastic interior decorations. The magnificent marble-alabaster-brass sepulchral monument of Prince Moritz, designed by Gabriele and Benedetto Tola and executed by Antonius van Zerroen, was completed in 1563. The chapel is much more than a dynastic burial place: Its design and decoration were determined by the notion of a symbolic space offering access to a kind of limitless freedom of the princes.

The Tomb and the Tiara. Curial Tomb Sculpture in Rome and Avignon in the Later Middle Ages

The anatomy of mortality wills and contracts beginnings tomb styles in Roman Sculpture circa 1200-circa 1300 workshops and sculptors in Rome the papal monument in the later Midle Ages the sepulchral monument in Rome circa 1250-circa 1305 - some cardinals' tombs of the 13th century in France the tomb designs of Arnolfo di Cambio facta est quasi vidua - tomb sculpture in Rome 1300-1400 ubi papa ibi Roma - the curia abroad - some lost tombs of the Aviognonese period, surviving cardinals' tombs outside France and Italy. sculpture in the 14th century the curia abroad tombs and portraiture.

The East Tomb and other Tomb Buildings at Balboura

To the north east of Balboura, on the far side of the stream-bed, lie the ruins of an imposing tomb (see Fig. 1), the largest and most elaborate so far discovered in the area. Built directly on and partly into the hillside, the building was oriented to look straight across the valley towards the city (orientation: 27° E of true north—see Fig. 2; i.e. the tomb faces approx. SSW); and apparently it stood in splendid isolation, at some distance from the other tombs of the northern necropolis, and on somewhat higher ground. The remains of another tomb of similar type, but of smaller dimensions, can be seen across the valley in the neighbouring cemetery; and a third faces the city from the slopes to the south.Although at first sight there seems to be little of the building left in place Pl. 1 (a, b); Fig. 2), enough remains for us to be fairly sure of its original form. It was built on two levels: above, standing on a stepped podium, a monumental building designed to house large stone sarcophagi—a structure most often described in inscriptions throughout Asia. Minor as a heroön (and for convenience so designated here); and below, within the podium, a lower chamber or crypt, often referred to in inscriptions as a hyposorion, normally intended for the various dependants of those entombed above. The building was constructed from the local white limestone; and while certainly the most ambitious sepulchral monument yet known from Balboura, it shows a relatively simple design, and the same rather rough-and-ready workmanship as the other buildings of the site.