Glentleiten open-air museum: saints and angels' heads painted on wood

Großweil-Glentleiten - The Schiebl is getting on in years. The stately farm from 1555 is one of the first buildings to be transferred to the Glentleiten Open-Air Museum in the mid-1970s. Work is now on to maintain the property. The challenge here is wall paintings that are 300 years old. The museum's restorer, Maria Wimmer, is working on a concept to safeguard these images.

Not much is known about the history of the Schieblhof. What is certain is that the Glentleiten exhibit is the residential wing of a four-sided courtyard from the Tyrlbrunn district of the Palling community (Traunstein district). The Schiebl is interesting for museum people because of its large-scale paintings from the Baroque period. Maria Wimmer: “The owner of the farm had the three chambers on the upper floor richly decorated. Among other things, you can see a scene from the Mount of Olives. The saints Georg, Sebastian, Laurentius, Florian and Ursula. ”In between the walls are decorated with angels' heads, ornaments and flower tendrils, with columns and volutes. Maria Wimmer is enthusiastic: “We know wall paintings on stone, especially from churches and monasteries. Wall paintings on wood,In addition, in a farmhouse are something special - even if they are not that rare in the southeastern Bavarian region. Their execution is of high quality. A skilled painter was at work. Unfortunately we don't know the artist. "

For two chambers, Maria Wimmer can date the pictures to the year 1691 by means of an inscription.

The paintings in the third room show a stately hunting scene instead of the saints.

The restorer concludes from the style and painting technique that they were created before 1691.

Wall paintings in the focus of the preservationists

The wall paintings of the Schieblhof were already in the focus of the preservationists in the late 1960s. In 1970 state curator Dr. Ottmar Schuberth mask the entire walls of the northern room with gauze, separate it neatly and pack it individually. The individual parts found their place in the depot of the Bavarian National Museum. A few years later, the Upper Bavaria administrative district founded the Großweil-Glentleiten open-air museum. Dr. Ottmar Schuberth became director. He had heard that the old Schieblhof in Tyrlbrunn was to be replaced by a new building - he wanted the murals. In the museum, the ground floor of the courtyard was true to detail, but newly bricked. Then came the chambers, which were delivered in one piece, as well as the parts from the National Museum. That was in 1975.

What was not done at the time was a scientific documentation of the translocation, i.e. the transfer to the museum.

Maria Wimmer: “That was not yet standard in the 1970s.

Today we do well-founded building research for every house.

There are archaeological excavations, folklorists and historians collect information about the residents. ”A concept is being worked out how the building in the museum will later be presented to the public.

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The restorer Maria Wimmer is currently working on a concept to preserve the wall paintings of the Schieblhof from the Baroque period.

© Günter Bitala

Posts support log walls

Anyone who enters the former sleeping quarters of the farmer family with Maria Wimmer will be amazed. All the walls, from the ceiling to the floor, are brightly painted. The pictures are in poor condition. The colors: faded and peeled off over the centuries. In some places, posts protect the block walls from vibrations. Maria Wimmer explains the necessity: “That does not mean that the statics of the house are at risk. We had that examined by an external expert. But: Every building is exposed to certain vibrations, for example from the footsteps of visitors. We want to prevent the thin layer of clay that was used as the painting surface from cracking and further damaging the pictures. "

Because there are only a few documents for the Schieblhof, Maria Wimmer mapped the location of the rooms and the individual murals in them. She used photographs from the 1960s and 1970s: “The work sometimes resembled a search game.” Her problem was that parts of the paintings were badly damaged by moisture or insects, or that they were supplemented or painted over during the reconstruction. This is noticeable in the windows, which were enlarged once and then reduced again later. Maria Wimmer demonstrates that two groups of figures have been painted over, which change the expression of the picture; that happened on the occasion of a restoration in 1978. The dragon who fights with George is now humbly crouching in front of the saint and awaiting the fatal blow. In a photo from 1938, the dragon starts jumping against Georg instead.

Second example: it appears as if Saint Sebastian is leaning against a tree and voluntarily allowing arrows to be shot at.

The chains and drops of blood from the original picture are missing.

Maria Wimmer can now describe the historical representations and separate them from recent additions.

In the coming months it will be a matter of determining the restoration effort.

The entire Glentleiten team, made up of building researchers, historians, folklorists and craftsmen, is involved.

Maria Wimmer: "We will also consult an external specialist, a specialist in painting on wood and clay."

Is a complete renovation worthwhile or is an emergency backup enough? The restorer gives an example of her considerations: “In the southeast corner of the room with St. George we have to replace the ailing beams of the block wall. Can we keep the thin, painted layer of clay in the process? ”New questions arise every day; Maria Wimmer: “Actually we are only at the beginning.” Gb