The Romanesque Picture Door of St. Maria im Kapitol: New Research Results and Theses

Registration is now open for the online research colloquium “The Romanesque Picture Door of St. Maria im Kapitol – New Research Results and Theses,” which will be held virtually from 21–23 October 2021.

The two-winged door of the former church of canonesses, St. Maria im Kapitol of Cologne, is one of the most significant artworks of the Romanesque period. It is the earliest wooden door with relief scenes that has survived from medieval Europe. Twenty-five high relief pictures present the childhood and youth of Christ on the left door leaf and the Passion on the right leaf. For present- day observers the wood of the door is visible almost all over the surface. However, it once had an elaborate polychromy. It was already in the processes of conservation at the end of the 1980s when two Romanesque polychrome phases were discovered. Thirty years later, in 2018, an extensive study of the picture door by means of state-of-the-art technological methods was conducted. It comprised the technical structure of the polychromy, the materials, the composition as well as the color canon of both phases on all parts of the door and provided numerous new findings.

In order to appreciate the significance of this unique work of art, however, further comprehensive cross-range research had to be carried out which will be presented at the occasion of the conference. Scientists of various specialist disciplines, e.g. art and history science, natural science, art technology, building research and epigraphy examined the picture door from their respective point of view. Thanks to the latest building history research, the comparison to book illumination, and the viewing in an urban and international context we are expecting new insights regarding the picture door and its function in St. Maria im Kapitol.

The conference is sponsored by the Cologne Institute of Conservation Sciences and the Institut für Restaurierungs- und Konservierungswissenschaft. To register for free and to see the program, which includes papers in German and in English, please visit https://www.th-koeln.de/hochschule/cics—forschungskolloquium-st-maria-im-kapitol_86140.php.