Zprávy památkové péče 2017, 77(4):387-400

The recent renovation of the interior paintings of the Convent Church of the Birth of the Virgin Mary in Želiv

Martin Šanda

A total reconstruction of the interior and exterior of the Convent Church in Želiv (Pelhřimov district) took place in 2015-2016. The reconstruction also included renovation of the interior painting, which this article primarily focuses on because it was the most problematic part of the otherwise successful reconstruction.
The original medieval church was significantly renovated in the Early Baroque period and subsequently, after a fire in 1712, rebuilt according to the design of Jan Blažej Santini-Aichel. The course of construction of the church and its subsequent furnishing is illustrated to us by archive sources which also present two later renovations of the interior paintings from 1884-1885 and 1917-1918. The appearance from the second stage, carried out based on the design of Beuron Benedictine Pantaleon Major, has been retained in the interior until the recent reconstruction in which the interior of the building was made monochrome with a white warm ocher, which is supposed to be the original Baroque color scheme according to the conclusions of the restoration survey.
Two older partial restoration surveys, carried out in 2002 and 2007, offer a different idea of the Baroque color scheme. According to their conclusions, the original color scheme included two shades of gray. The probe, however, also recorded a green layer on the architectural elements and even the use of red paint on one element. A multicolored design using green and ocher was also surveyed in 2015, but this was judged to be a later layer. The most important finding is that none of the restoration surveys, or the corresponding reports on the restoration, fulfill the idea of how a similar document should look. The texts of the reports are too concise and inaccurately formulated, their attachments contain an insufficient amount of photo documentation, and so on.
A comparison with other realizations by Jan Blažej Santini-Aichl convincingly shows that in places where the original color scheme was known, it was always a multicolored design, very often incorporating a green coat on architectural elements. A critical analysis of the restoration reports shows that a similar multicolored solution was apparently used by Santini in Želiv, and the restoration survey and the consequent renovation of the original painting was reconstructed erroneously. The true form of the original color scheme can not be determined on the basis of the surveys conducted.
This entire case affects not only one specific valuable heritage structure - it reveals certain other more general problems in approaches to important heritage renovations.

Keywords: Želiv, Jan Blažej Santini-Aichel, monument renovation, restoration, interior colors

Published: December 1, 2017  Show citation