Medieval Arch. of the Imperial Palace of Vienna, part II

The results of buildings archaeology into the medieval architectural history of the Hofburg, which have been achieved during the course of the FWF project P18954-G08, have lead to many new questions, which demand renewed and continued work. New research questions will also be dealt with, which were not included in the first project application for lack of time. Among the most important results to date are the certain finds that, firstly, the castle chapel was built by Duke Albert V. not somewhat later by Emperor Frederick II. as had been thought and, secondly, that the Augustinian Church, closely related to the court, was finished in the mid-15th century. This means that comparative analyses between the castle chapel and the architecture of Duke Albert`s father-in-law, the Emperor Sigismund, and also between the chancel of the Augustinian Church and the church architecture of Frederick III. have grown in relevance. In the course of the research to date a total of 80 unedited medieval documents from the former Augustinian archive have been found at the Institute of Austrian Historical Research. Their analysis will lead to important data for the architectural history of the Augustinian Church and of St. George`s Chapel. Ror reasons of time St. Michael`s Church in Vienna was included in the project up to now only as part of the topographical range of the research, but not in the detailed planning. The importance of St. Michael`s Church lies in the fact that it was built at more or less the same time as the late Babenberg castle and in its function as the (court) parish church for the area around the Hofburg. Construction activity by the Habsburgs in the 14th century is thought to have involved the church`s staggered choir and has not yet been adequately investigated. The research will include buildings archaeology and archival research. The thermoluminescence method of dating bricks will be tested in the second phase of the project in order to underpin the architectural dating achieved to date. The attic of the castle chapel, the east tower of the castle, the scarp, the chancel of St. Michael`s church and the gable wall of the Augustinian church are to be the subjects by this interdisciplinary research. The knowledge gathered in the first phase of the project about the Hofburg in the 15th century makes the reconstruction of the greater part of the room order and the access architecture of the castle possible. An "access diagram" will be drawn up, alongside a schematic room plan, which will assist the identification of room sequences, relationships between rooms and of different zones within the castle. An analysis of circulation and lines of sight in the Hofburg area will also be carried out, aided by the newly reconstructed property boundaries and street plan. The results of buildings archaeology will be also corroborated through the preparation of a virtual, three-dimensional visualisation.

The projects scientific aim was the detailed history of the construction and functional use of the castle of Vienna (Hofburg) during the Middle Ages. Thus, the results were intended to be part of a larger scientific project concerning the complete history of the castle of Vienna from its foundation until the present day, the publication of which is planned by the Austrian Academy of Sciences. The research was organised methodologically in an interdisciplinary fashion, combining the archaeological investigation of the object, the art historical interpretation of the results and also archive research. Investigations of the court churches, St.Michaels and St.Augustines, were included. The voluminous results of this project brought new evidence about the foundation of the castle and proved that the Vienna castle is the earliest example of a rectangular castellum with four rectangular corner-towers in the Holy Roman Empires provinces north of the Alps. It was Duke Leopold VI. of Austria, who first intended to establish a castle within the city of Vienna (1221). The foundation itself however was probably an act of Emperor Frederick II. during his wide-ranging reforms concerning Austria from 1237 to 1239. The ground plan and the architectural details applied in the construction of the castle had been developed shortly before in Fredericks kingdom of Sicily. The castle was finished only in 1275 by King Otakar II. P?emysl, who therefore was mentioned in two chronicles as its founder. The walls and towers from the 13th century still exist, at one point up to the level of the castles roof, hidden only by later structures. It became evident that the castle, from the late 13th century onwards, was surrounded by palaces of the countrys most important noble families. Many new facts were discovered about the construction and dating of St. Augustines church of and the Chapel of the Knights within the Augustine monastery. Here also, the arches of the medieval cloister were rediscovered and restored. Contradicting the opinion that the church of St. Michaels had been founded on the walls of an early medieval building it could be shown that the whole structure was constructed completely anew during the 13th century. The research found out that the main choir of St. Michaels was a foundation of the Hapsburgs, whereas the choirs lateral naves were founded by the dukes servants. Traces of the original choir screen were revealed. The construction history of the castles chapel was rewritten: It now appears to have been a creation of the Viennese cathedral workshop of St. Stephens and was rebuilt completely from the foundations upwards during the rule of Duke Albert V. Alongside the castle chapel and the chapel of All Saints, situated in the castles tower beside the Widmer Gate, a third chapel was located above the castles western gate. The construction history of the Vienna castle during the late medieval period was characterized by new achievements under the reign of Emperor Frederick III., such as an elevated high passage between the castle and St. Stephens church, the establishment of a garden on the site of the former Augustine cemetery, and an outer ward.A technical examination took place and dendrochronological samples were taken from the roof-truss of the castle and the court churches. Additional essays provide information about music at the medieval court, the library and the Hapsburg treasure and thus reveal the cultural level of the Viennese residence.