The holdings of handwritten works on architecture and the history of building of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek are rich, but distributed over several different collections. The goal of the subject-oriented project ArchIconis to make these holdings accessible in the form of one uniform presentation, and to catalogue them according to consistent, material-oriented indexing criteria for the first time. The decisive criterion for selecting material was the architectural representation, so as to achieve delimitation against geographic views and, with regard to fortress construction, against the art of pyrotechnics. The presence of illustrations, as distinguished from written treatises with only few technically explanatory schematic drawings, was one formal selection criterion.

A first compilation of the drawn and handwritten works on architecture and the history of building in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek is contained in the handwritten repertory of the collection 'Codices iconographici' founded by Johann Andreas Schmeller in 1835 on the basis of the collection of illuminated manuscripts of the 15th to the 20th century held by the library at that time. The repertory contains 'no or at most brief explanatory texts'. Among the ten subject areas gathered in this repertory, the illuminated manuscripts on architecture from the 15th to the 20th century make up one of the largest groups. Sixteen of these manuscripts crafted in the period up to 1650 were already published within the framework of the project CodIcon online (http://codicon.digitale-sammlungen.de). The 89 further manuscripts from the 17th to the 20th century now form the basis of the project ArchIcon, which focuses exclusively on architectural representation and encompasses all further architecture-related handwritten or hand-drawn works held by the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek: These works are 26 architectural manuscripts from the collections Codices germanici (Cgm), Codices italici (Cod.ital.) and Codices latini (Clm) and 15 collections of personal papers relevant to the subject.

The holdings of works related to architecture encompass the following groups:

• Renaissance architectural theory
• Drafts
• Fortress construction theory and drafts
• Fortress construction views
• Civil construction drafts plans and views
• City views and situation plans
• Construction technology bridge and hydraulic construction
• Garden architecture Interior design of churches (altars, epitaphs, organs)
• Secular interior design (floorings, Wagner's domicile)
• Teaching materials (Dacian antiquities, Gothic architecture, teaching books of the princes)


Status: current

Funding: DFG  

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