Octagon (architecture)

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Floor plan of the Lateran Baptistery
Floor plan of the Dome of the Rock
Octagon of Aachen Cathedral
Ground plan of the Seiffen church
Plan for an octagonal house by OS Fowler
The architecture of the Castel del Monte is believed to have a sacred function.

An octagon or octagon (octagon) is a central building or room in architecture with a floor plan in the form of a regular octagon . The octagon has had a symbolic meaning since antiquity , which goes back to the archetype of the eight-pointed star and stands for perfection .

Ancient and early medieval buildings

Probably the first documented use of an octagon as a floor plan was in the Athens Tower of the Winds . While the octagon was mainly used to illustrate the eight winds and as a pointer for the weather vane, numerous octagonal buildings followed, primarily in the sacred area.

The two-fold axially symmetrical floor plan was chosen for secular-representative buildings as well as for sacred buildings because of the symbolic meaning of the number eight . It usually stands for perfection and divine perfection. Octagonal buildings have four axes of symmetry . The eight in Christianity also stands for the resurrection of Jesus Christ and participation in Christ in baptism . Often, baptisteries and baptismal fonts are octagonal.

In early medieval church buildings the octagon can be found as an independent central building . It is believed that the octagonal shape of sacred buildings from Byzantine architecture came to southern Europe via structures such as the Church of San Vitale in Ravenna (6th century). (The older Lateran baptistery from the early 4th century was probably not octagonal at the time of construction.) Charlemagne , who knew the church of Ravenna, chose this shape for the Aachen Palatine Chapel in the 8th century . This in turn served as a model for other early medieval churches in the Holy Roman Empire, such as the Mettlach grave church (around 990) or the Ottmarsheim abbey church (1020-1030). While the shape of the basilica , from the Ottonik also with a cross-shaped floor plan, became more and more popular, the central buildings and thus also the octagon were pushed to the edge, mostly as a baptistery or burial chapel. Emperor Friedrich II von Stauffen also built the Castel del Monte on an octonal floor plan, an architectural reference to the aforementioned sacred buildings can be assumed.

In the Romanesque and Gothic periods , octagons are used as tower floors and crossing towers , especially in imperial domes . The eight place was probably used as a proportion key. The imperial crown of the Holy Roman Empire also has an octagonal shape, as does the base of the Cappenberger Barbarossa head . The Aachen Barbarossa chandelier , which symbolizes the heavenly Jerusalem , consists of eight segments .

The octagonal dome in the Kempten St. Lorenz Church represents a kind of honor . Due to the history, foundation and foundation of the Kempten monastery by Charlemagne and his third wife Hildegard , the octagonal dome in its basic shape echoes the Aachen Cathedral. Other evidence such as various ceiling frescoes with depictions of Charlemagne and Hildegard support this thesis.

Significant octagonal buildings (by age)

Octagonal gallery with a round cantilever dome in the Adinath Temple in Ranakpur , Rajasthan , India
Octagonal Max Morlock Stadium in Nuremberg

Well-preserved medieval octagonal churches in German-speaking countries are also the village church Ludorf (12th / 13th century), St. Sigismund in Oberwittighausen (around 1150), St. Achatius in Grünsfeldhausen (around 1200), St. Ulrich in Standorf (1220).

Baroque octagons

The Hercules on the octagon in the mountain park Wilhelmshöhe Kassel, 2018

In addition, in the Baroque period one can often find octagons on top of medieval tower floors, closed with a tent roof, which have the sound openings for the belfry and sometimes tower clocks .

The octagon u. in Neuf-Brisach use.

American octagon houses

In the middle of the 19th century, the octagon became briefly popular in civil architecture in the USA . Eight-sided model buildings come from the architects William Thornton and Thomas Jefferson (see Octagon House ).

The shape was popularized by the phrenologist Orson Squire Fowler , who saw the octagonal shape as the most economical construction and ideal living environment for people. In the USA, especially on the east coast and in the Midwest, around 500 of these fashionable residential buildings from the 19th century still exist today.

Lavatories

In Berlin, the iron public lavatories built on an octagonal floor plan in the 19th century are also jokingly referred to as Café Achteck .

Octagonal systems in urban planning and garden art

Pseudo-octagon

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Georg Friedrich Kempter : The octagon as a basic architectural form. (PDF; 187 kB) Retrieved December 13, 2013.
  2. ^ Karlheinz Schaldach: The ancient sundials of Greece. Frankfurt am Main, 2006, ISBN 3-8171-1756-6 , pp. 78-81.
  3. ↑ Franz Joseph Dölger : The octagon and the symbolism of the figure eight. In: Franz Joseph Dölger: Antiquity and Christianity, Volume 4 . Münster 1934, pp. 153-187.
  4. ↑ Jürgen Rasch: The dome in Roman architecture. Development, Shaping, Construction , In: Architectura, Vol. 15 1985, pp. 117-139 (123).
  5. ^ Udo Mainzer : The Palatine Chapel of Charlemagne in Aachen as part of the world heritage . In: Andrea Pufke (Ed.): The Carolingian Palatine Chapel in Aachen. Material - construction technology - restoration (= workbook of the Rhenish monument preservation 78). Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, Worms 2012, ISBN 978-3-88462-325-1 , p. 9.
  6. ^ Herbert Brunner et al .: Reclam's Art Guide Germany VI . Stuttgart 1980, ISBN 3-15-010286-3 , p. 294.
  7. ↑ Caroline Horch: ... caput argentum ad imperatoris formatum effigiem ... The Cappenberger Barbarossakopf: picture or portrait In: AufRuhr 1225! The Middle Ages in the Rhine and Ruhr . Catalog for the exhibition in the LWL Museum for Archeology in Herne from February 27 to November 28, 2010, Mainz 2010, ISBN 978-3-8053-4108-0 , pp. 107–121.
  8. ^ Georg Minkenberg : The Barbarossa chandelier in the cathedral of Aachen . In: Zeitschrift des Aachener Geschichtsverein 96, 1989, pp. 69-102.
  9. ↑ gvba.de: The Aachen octagon as the crown of the collegiate church St. Lorenz zu Kempten. January 21, 2011 (accessed November 17, 2012).
  10. ↑ Jürgen Rasch: The dome in Roman architecture. Development, Shaping, Construction , Architectura, Vol. 15, 1985, pp. 117-139 (118f., 122, 136).
  11. ↑ Jürgen Rasch: The dome in Roman architecture. Development, Shaping, Construction , Architectura, Vol. 15, 1985, pp. 117-139 (130 & 136).
  12. ^ Carlo Pietrangeli (ed.): Il palazzo apostolico Lateranense . Nardini, Florence 1992, ISBN 88-404-1205-0 .
  13. ↑ Marcell Restle : The history of exploration of the architectural monuments in Hauran. Vienna, p. 6 ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 307 kB). @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.hauran-monuments.eu
  14. ↑ C. v. Bothmer: On the architectural-historical interpretation of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. Journal of the German Oriental Society (ZDMG), Supplement Volume III, 2 (1975), pp. 1568–1573.
  15. ↑ Model and history of the Wieselburg octagon , accessed on November 17, 2012.
  16. ^ Karl Heinz Esser: The cathedral of Willigis . In: Willigis and his cathedral. Festschrift for the millennium, Mainz 1975, p. 179.
  17. ↑ Paul Stintzi: Ottmarsheim history and art of the former abbey church , Mulhouse, 1955, 10 p
  18. ↑ Klaus Lange: The west building of the Essen cathedral. Architecture and rule in the Ottonian period , Aschendorffsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Münster 2001, ISBN 3-402-06248-8 .
  19. ^ Annamaria Giusti: The Baptistery of San Giovanni in Florence . Mandragora, Florence 2000, ISBN 88-85957-57-9 .
  20. ↑ Toni Diederich : The building history of the Sinzig parish church St. Peter in the light of a new seal find . In: Rheinische Vierteljahrsblätter 45, 1981, pp. 35–43.
  21. ^ Carl A. Willemsen (Ed.): Castel del Monte. The most accomplished monument of Emperor Frederick the Second . Island Library. Vol. 619 B., Frankfurt am Main 1982, ISBN 3-458-08619-6 .
  22. ^ State Office for the Preservation of Monuments, Castles, Palaces, Antiquities Rhineland-Palatinate (Ed.): State castles, palaces and antiquities in Rhineland-Palatinate . Koblenz 2003, p. 146 f.
  23. ^ Alfred Hagemann : Symbolpolitik. Friedrich Wilhelm IV's dome for the Berlin Palace , article from May 25, 2020 in the humboldtforum.org portal , accessed on July 30, 2020
  24. ^ Christoph Dautermann: Krefeld-Linn . 1st edition. Neuss 2009, ISBN 978-3-86526-032-1 (Rheinische Kunststätten. Issue 509), pp. 17-18.
  25. ↑ Werner Ahrens: Balve and his Romanesque legacy . Heimwacht Balve, Balve 2006, ISBN 3-89053-109-1 .
  26. ^ Inge Zacher: Evangelical Kreuzkirche in Düsseldorf . Cologne 2010. (Rheinische Kunststätten Heft 522, edited by the Rheinischer Verein für Denkmalpflege und Landschaftsschutz eV), ISBN 978-3-86526-052-9 .
  27. ↑ Rothko Chapel. Retrieved October 19, 2018 .
  28. ↑ Peter Felder: The Muri Monastery. Swiss Art Guide, Volume 692, Bern 2001, ISBN 3-85782-692-4 , p. 18.
  29. ^ Karl Faymonville : St. Johann Baptist . In: Paul Clement (Ed.): Die Kunstdenkmäler der Rheinprovinz , Bd. 10, I: Stadt Aachen. The cathedral in Aachen . Düsseldorf 1916. p. 236 ff.
  30. ^ Ernst Andreas Friedrich: Das Jagdschloss Clemenswerth , In: If stones could talk, Volume II, Landbuch-Verlag, Hanover 1992, ISBN 3-7842-0479-1 , pp. 165-167.
  31. ^ Johanna weg: Die Rellinger Kirche , Verlag Boyens & Co, Heide 1990, ISBN 3-8042-0506-2 .
  32. ^ Barbara Bechter: Bergkirche Seiffen , Deutscher Kunstverlag, Berlin / Munich, 2010, ISBN 978-3-422-02275-1 .

Web links

Commons : Octagons  - collection of images, videos and audio files