Naturvidenskabelige undersøgelser af mursten i Sorø Klosterkirke – sortering af mursten

Abstract

Faculty surveys of bricks in Sorø Abbey – sorting of bricks
By Kaare Lund Rasmussen, Christina Andersen
and Thomas Bertelsen

Small samples have been procured with hammer and chisel from the bricks in the crowns of the walls in the medieval church of the Cistercian monastery of Sorø, Denmark. The samples have been subjected to three types of analyses: magnetic susceptibility, thermoluminescence sensitivity, and for the first time colour measurements. The colour measurements were performed with a handheld Minolta CM-2600d photo spectrometer yielding very precise colours in the 1976 CIE colour system (L*,a*,b*). Extensive sorting of bricks according to colour seems to have been a common feature in the vast group of Danish late medieval building projects where the varying colours of bricks were used as decoration. Genuine patterns seem to be a phenomenon of eastern Denmark with Roskilde Cathedral’s Chapel of the Three Kings from about 1460 as the noblest representative (fig. 13). Masonry with belts of bricks of contrasting colours also occurs, while arches of alternating red and dark bricks appear across the country (fig. 14). The most common type of decoration, however, was red façades with evenly spread dark bricks. This might seem coincidental but the absence of this feature in the interior walls underlines its role as a deliberate facade décor. Possibly, bricks were also sorted by colour when the building of the Abbey Church of Sorø was commenced shortly after the founding of the abbey in 1161. Only small parts of the original façade of the church have been preserved, for example the gable of the northern transept, which is a well-balanced blend of red and dark bricks (see fig. 15, p. 118). In contrast, the interior walls above the vaulting are built of much more monochrome bricks, which points to a deliberate wish for polychrome façades.