Wirtel (architecture)
A whorl or shaft ring is a plastically protruding ring around the shaft of a column or a round pillar . Components that have a shaft ring are also referred to as "whirled".
history
The use of the shaft ring in European art goes back to the 12th century and is a style element of the Romanesque and Gothic . In the medieval architecture of India they appear in round or angular form - structurally, however, ineffective - on ornamental columns or pillars already 100 or 200 years earlier. B. at the Rani Ki Vav - stepwell near Patan, Gujarat , or at the temples of Nagda near Udaipur , Rajasthan .
function
In addition to the design effect, the whorl also fulfills a constructive purpose: it enlarged the cross-section in the center of the column so that the risk of failure of the column (risk of buckling) could be reduced. With columns standing just in front of a wall, e.g. B. in the stepped walls of a Gothic portal, the whorl discs are usually designed as a separate workpiece and tie into the brickwork at the back. This results in additional stabilization against kinking. Many different shapes and ornaments were used in the design of the shaft ring . The viewer should get the impression that the ring bundles the many individual pillars into an overall pillar. This effect also gave the column more load-bearing capacity.
literature
- Hans Koepf , Günther Binding : Picture Dictionary of Architecture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 194). 4th, revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-520-19404-X .
- Nikolaus Pevsner, Hugh Honor, John Fleming: Lexicon of World Architecture. Prestel, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-7913-0652-9 .