The art monuments of Switzerland
Die Kunstdenkmäler der Schweiz KdS is the name of a series of books published by the Society for Swiss Art History that has been published since 1927. Behind it is a major scientific project that is researching the historical building culture of Switzerland using the methods of monument topography . The results of the research have been published in a series of books that has been published since 1927. So far, 139 volumes of this inventory have been published (status: end of 2019). The volumes have been available online since 2019.
The work offers in a concise form, scientifically founded and intended for a broad circle of readers, an overall presentation of architectural production in Switzerland from late antiquity to classical modernism . As a series of books, Die Kunstdenkmäler der Schweiz creates the basis for understanding monuments in their historical changes. The series forms a necessary prerequisite for further exploration of the monuments as well as for their care and preservation.
construction
The work is structured topographically and divided according to cantons . Each volume takes account of the regional heritage and honors it in a national comparison. The text combines historical facts with the inventory of the monuments and with art historical representations. An overview chapter on topography and settlement development introduces the area covered. This is followed by an art historical analysis and an overall appraisal of the architectural and artistic heritage. The main part is the documenting and descriptive inventory of the monuments, followed by a critical apparatus. All volumes deal with the monuments from the period of late antiquity to around 1920. Finds and buildings from prehistoric and Roman eras are only dealt with in the introduction. Where sites have developed continuously from ancient settlements or where sacred and secular buildings have arisen over ancient facilities, a description in the main text is justified. The developments after 1920 are mentioned and explained in the description of the settlement topography. Buildings after 1920 are included if they are of exceptional importance or if it is necessary for a better understanding of the urban context.
organization
The Society for Swiss Art History GSK and the Swiss cantons are supporting the project in a public-private partnership. The Swiss Confederation supports it on a subsidiary basis. The GSK controls the overall project and guarantees its scientific quality through scientific project management and peer review in the editorial committee. It publishes the results of the research in a series of volumes covering all cantons. Research and inventory take place decentrally in the cantons.
history
In 1920 Die Kunstdenkmäler der Schweiz emerged as an initiative of the Society for Swiss Art History (then: Swiss Society for the Preservation of Historical Art Monuments; founded in 1880 as an association for the preservation of patriotic art monuments) from the statistics of Swiss art monuments founded in 1872 by Johann Rudolf Rahn (1841-1912). The first volume in the series was written by Linus Birchler and appeared in 1927. It covers the districts of Einsiedeln, March and Höfe in the canton of Schwyz.
The statistics of Swiss art monuments appeared in the Anzeiger für Schweizerische Altertumskunde from 1872 . The most important Romanesque buildings were first recorded in lists. In the course of the 1880s the statistics were expanded to include Gothic buildings. It became more detailed and appeared in separate attachments to the scoreboard . The method and selection criteria were based on the inventory works developed in France since the early 19th century , which were followed by monument inventories in Germany, Austria and England from the middle of the century. The statistics culminated in the work of Robert Durrer , who published the canton of Unterwalden in several deliveries between 1899 and 1928. The complete work comprises 1168 pages and differs in some points significantly from the simultaneous inventories at home and abroad: It includes buildings up to the middle of the 19th century; Farmhouses and other examples of rural culture are examined using the same scientific methods as sacred buildings and evidence of high bourgeois culture; the main emphasis is on the representation of the buildings in their cultural landscape context; all available sources are included in the presentation. This pioneering work by Durrer served Linus Birchler as a model for the first volume in the series of art monuments in Switzerland .
The authors of the early volumes understood their works primarily as a local history for the attention of the local population and as a collection of sources for further research. From the 1940s, the scientific claim was emphasized more and more and more and more was written for a specialist audience. The lower time limit introduced by Durrer was expanded in 1965 to include buildings up to 1920. From 1973 to 2004 the inventory of newer Swiss architecture from 1850 to 1920 (INSA) was added to the art monuments of Switzerland .
Processing status
The series of publications that has existed for 90 years has been driven forward with consistency. In 1950 it comprised 24 volumes, in 1970 59 volumes were available, in 1990 83 volumes and in 2016 a total of 131 volumes were published. Each volume is part of the nationwide series; the work is also divided into cantonal series with their own volume numbers. If there are significant new scientific findings on a previously published area, there is the possibility of a new inclusion (“New Edition”). Around 24 authors are at work in 14 cantons and are preparing 17 volumes.
The following volumes were published in 2019:
- KdS BS X. The Basel Minster
- KdS AG X. The district of Laufenburg
| Status of the cantonal ranks (2019) | Published | Work in progress / planned |
|---|---|---|
| The art monuments of the canton of Aargau | 10 | 2 |
| The art monuments of the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden | 1 | - |
| The art monuments of the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden | 3 | - |
| The art monuments of the canton of Basel-Landschaft | 4th | 1 |
| The art monuments of the canton of Basel-Stadt | 9 | 6th |
| The art monuments of the canton of Bern | 8th | 24 |
| The art monuments of the canton of Friborg | 5 | 9 |
| The monuments d'art et d'histoire du canton de Genève | 4th | 8th |
| The art monuments of the Canton of Glarus | 1 | 2 |
| The art monuments of the canton of Graubünden | 7th | - |
| The art monuments of the canton of Graubünden. New edition | - | 12 |
| The monuments d'art et d'histoire du canton du Jura | - | - |
| The art monuments of the canton of Lucerne | 6th | - |
| The art monuments of the canton of Lucerne. New edition | 2 | - |
| Les monuments d'art et d'histoire du canton de Neuchâtel | 3 | 2 |
| The art monuments of the canton Unterwalden | 1 | - |
| The art monuments of the canton of Schaffhausen | 3 | - |
| The art monuments of the canton of St. Gallen | 5 | 7th |
| The art monuments of the canton of Solothurn | 4th | 4th |
| The art monuments of the Canton of Schwyz | 2 | - |
| The art monuments of the Canton of Schwyz. New edition | 4th | 2 |
| The art monuments of the canton of Thurgau | 9 | 3 |
| I monumenti d'arte e di storia del Canton Ticino | 4th | - |
| The art monuments of the Canton of Uri | 5 | - |
| Les monuments d'art et d'histoire du canton de Vaud | 8th | 11 |
| The art monuments of the canton of Valais | 7th | 12 |
| The art monuments of the canton of Zug | 2 | - |
| The art monuments of the canton of Zug. New edition | 2 | 2 |
| The art monuments of the Canton of Zurich | 9 | - |
| The art monuments of the Canton of Zurich. New edition | 8th | 8th |
The art monuments of the Principality of Liechtenstein
Together with the Historical Association for the Principality of Liechtenstein , the Society for Swiss Art History is also responsible for the development of the art monuments of the Principality of Liechtenstein . They are managed as a special series, but the processing standard corresponds to the Swiss series. In 1950 the special volume on the Principality, written by Erwin Poeschel, was published. The second inventory by Cornelia Herrmann in two volumes was completed in 2013. In contrast to the Swiss series, the New Edition of Art Monuments of the Principality of Liechtenstein also systematically takes into account monuments and objects from the recent past.
literature
- Dorothee Eggenberger, Georg Germann: History of the Swiss art topography. In: Yearbook of the Swiss Institute for Art Research. 1972/3, pp. 9-36.
- Catherine Courtiau: Les grands inventaires nationaux et l'inventaire des monuments d'art et d'histoire de la Suisse. In: Journal of Archeology and Art History. Volume 51, No. 2, 1994, pp. 109-112.
- Isabelle Rucki (Ed.): Territories of Art - Monument topographies in Europe. Files from the international conference on March 16 and 17, 2007. In: Art and Architecture in Switzerland. Volume 59, Issue 1, 2008.
- Matthias Noell: A picture full of contradictions. Swiss art monuments and their registration in the inventory . In: Edgar Bierende et al. (Hrsg.): Helvetic oddities. Peter Lang Verlag, Bern 2010, pp. 119-137, ISBN 978-3-03-430371-2 (= Neue Berner Schriften zur Kunst. 10).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ KdS-online: The art monuments of Switzerland are now accessible online free of charge. GSK website, September 9, 2019, May 6, 2020, accessed on May 28, 2020.