Paths to the Past

On the Conception of Medieval Architecture and Other Essays

Schenkluhn, Wolfgang

This selected essays volume includes all of Wolfgang Schenkluhn's important works on the history of medieval church architecture. They reflect and evaluate the fundamentals of building analysis and focus on the relationship between innovation and reception in the choice of architectural forms. Some also discuss the time-related handling of historical objects, which raises the question of how to arrive at an adequate understanding of historical art and architecture. Great attention is paid to the theory of quotation, which has been in use since the 1970s. In the works, it is repeatedly placed in relation to the older theories of meaning and examined more closely. The author is one of the few architectural historians to have demonstrated and further developed the scientific value and the various possible applications of the quotation theory using concrete examples from medieval architecture. Thus the essays form a whole, in that the subjects dealt with combine factual, methodological and scientific-historical aspects.