We can no longer see much.
A flower, a few silhouettes, architectural elements ... This is what remains today of the oldest frescoes in Augsburg Cathedral.
Discovered in 1930 and 1980 under a layer of whitewash, they had been dated - wrongly - to around 1065. At least fifty years older, these paintings are in fact more contemporary with the Year 1000 than with the Battle of Hastings .
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Announced in December by the Bayerisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege (BLD), the institution in charge of the historical heritage of the Land of Bavaria, the origin of the discovery dates back to the restoration of the framework of the Augsburg cathedral started in 2009. D 'according to details reported by
The Art Newspaper
, a dendrochronological dating of fragments of wood engaged in the masonry where the frescoes are located, in the elevation of the transept of the cathedral, revealed that this section of the church dated from the surroundings of the year 1000. "
This corresponds to what we know about the mass destruction of 994
", clarified Birgit Neuhäuser, spokeswoman for the BLD, in reference to the collapse of a large part of the Carolingian building at the end of the 10th century.
1/4 - The preserved paintings represent episodes from the life of Saint John the Baptist.
Angelika Porst / Bayerisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege
2/4 - The preserved paintings represent episodes from the life of Saint John the Baptist.
Angelika Porst / Bayerisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege
3/4 - The preserved paintings represent episodes from the life of Saint John the Baptist.
Angelika Porst / Bayerisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege
4/4 - The preserved paintings represent episodes from the life of Saint John the Baptist.
Angelika Porst / Bayerisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege
A major episcopal seat at this time, Augsburg Cathedral was rebuilt fairly soon after the collapse of 994, as recent findings in building archeology indicate.
The date of 1065 initially proposed corresponds to the consecration of the Romanesque bedside of the church.
The dating of the frescoes, supposedly painted quickly, makes it possible to assimilate them to the very first phases of redevelopment work on the building, in the Ottonian period.
Dated from the middle of the 10th to the middle of the 11th century, the so-called Ottonian period corresponds to a transition, in the Germanic-speaking territories, between the Carolingian and Romanesque periods, which manifested itself in particular in the fields of architecture and arts.
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Among the oldest paintings preserved in Central Europe
Very partially preserved, the frescoes represent the take-off and the entombment of Saint John the Baptist.
"
The discovered murals are the most important cycle known from the period around the year 1000 in the German-speaking area, apart from Oberzel,
" Mathias Pfeil, director of BLD, said in a statement.
Located nearly 140 km southwest of Augsburg, the Church of St. George in Oberzell, on the island of Reichenau, is indeed known for its paintings from the Ottonian period, prior to the year 1000. and listed as World Heritage by Unesco.
Other paintings in Augsburg Cathedral which must have depicted the birth and baptism of Saint John the Baptist were undoubtedly destroyed during the 14th century during the construction of Gothic bays.
The frescoes have been cleaned and restored by Bavarian heritage officers and will continue to be the focus of German specialists as long as work on the cathedral framework continues.
"
They are in a stable and durable condition,
" said Birgit Neuhäuser.
Enough to ensure the frescoes of Saint John the Baptist to watch perhaps a thousand years more over the Bavarian nave.