Tanja RATILAINEN
(University of Turku, Finland)
Abstract:
Two of the few medieval brick buildings still standing in Finland are the Häme Castle and the Holy Cross Church at Hattula, which are located 7 km from each other. They were the most impressive buildings in the region at the time and still offer great possibilities for the building archaeological research.
The aim of the ongoing research is to study the brick building techniques of both the church and the castle and to compare these with each other. Questions asked are: How did the bricklayers proceed in their work? Was a single project conducted in a relatively short period of time? Is it possible to identify bricklayers? What is the relation between the two buildings?
Building archaeological methods such as context analysis (Harris Matrix), and digital surveying methods such as rectified photographs (PhoToPlan, AutoCad), photogrammetry (iWitness) and laser scanning are being applied in co-operation with Muuritutkimus Ltd and docent Kari Uotila and the Institute of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing of the Aalto University. 3D technology is not only used to present the data collected, but also as an analytical tool to gain more information on the building process.
Preliminary results: 1) the Wendish bond used in the exterior walls locates around the same level with the starting point of the vaults. This could indicate that the brick layers wanted to strengthen the walls due to the building of the vaults. 2) Regarding the scaffolding system, it was surprising to see that the interior put log holes were situated two courses higher than the exterior ones: the walls were built up at a slightly different pace or the bricklayer working inside preferred a longer distance between the put log levels. 3) Analysing the stretchers of the Flemish double-stretcher bond showed that the exceptions in the bonding are located near the corners, buttresses, openings and the gables.
Keywords:
Buildings archaeology, Middle ages, brick