Have a personal or library account? Click to login
Presentation of older layers and findings on historical architecture using the method of analytical presentation: Example of the Old Town Hall in Bratislava, Slovakia Cover

Presentation of older layers and findings on historical architecture using the method of analytical presentation: Example of the Old Town Hall in Bratislava, Slovakia

By: Andrej Botek  
Open Access
|Dec 2023

Abstract

Analytical presentation is one of the methods used in the process of monument restoration. The method displays certain valuable older layers in the form of a cutout in the dominant layer of the facade´s surface. This article seeks to illustrate the method on the example of the facades of the Old Town Hall in Bratislava, Slovakia, and its restorations that were performed in several phases. The floor is presented in the Renaissance style – a part of the wall in medieval style over the arch of the underpass is exposed. The largest areas of analytical presentations are realized on the northern facade in the courtyard. The areas of arcades are restored in light beige colour, respecting the Renaissance colour palette. On the wall, research uncovered important medieval style findings and fragments of the chopped pillars of continuous balconies. A large-scale analytical probe encompassing two floors was realized. A system of various medieval windows, richly decorated and formed by a curved arch or triangular gable, is preserved here with some more recent openings in the Renaissance style. The main facade facing the town square could also be classified as a system of analytical presentations. The tower shows plaster in an Early Baroque style with various windows (Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque) on both facades (Main Square and Kostolná Street). Interesting are Late Gothic double windows with wimpergs. The rest of the facade facing the Main Square is prevailingly designed in the Renaissance style. But in the middle, there is a part reconstructed in the Gothic style with a rich curved decoration. Next to the tower, there is a Gothic portal with an arc and oriel above it. In the part of the Kostolná Street, there is a Gothic plaster reconstructed by applying two methods. One contains a grained plaster in sandy colour, the second has a surface with networking. Various windows and niches (medieval, Renaissance, Baroque) are present here. The complicated analytical presentations contained in the facades of the Old Town Hall raise many questions in the expert discussion.

Language: English
Page range: 38 - 47
Submitted on: Jul 13, 2023
Accepted on: Nov 27, 2023
Published on: Dec 10, 2023
Published by: Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 4 issues per year

© 2023 Andrej Botek, published by Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.