Conference on October 11 and 12, 2024Ascent and Descent. Renaissance Staircases in Europe

9:00 am– 9:45 am
Tour of Mergentheim Residential Palace

10:15 am Welcome
Patricia Alberth, Staatliche Schlösser und Gärten Baden-Württemberg
Prof. Dr. Matthias Müller, Rudolstädter Arbeitskreis für Residenzkultur

10:30 am Prof. Dr. Stephan Hoppe (Munich)
Ascent and Descent: Renaissance staircases in Europe – an Overview of Research.

1st Section
The Renaissance Staircases of the Mergentheim Residence
Moderation: Prof. Dr. Matthias Müller

11:10 am
Maike Trentin-Meyer M. A. (Bad Mergentheim)
The Berwart Spiral Staircase – A Staircase for the Residence of the Teutonic Order

11:50 am
Dr. Ulrich Knapp (Leonberg)
The Rider’s Staircase in the Mergentheim Palace of the Teutonic Order. Observations on the Type of Staircase and its Function
 
12:30 pm – 2:00 pm Lunch

2nd Section
Staircases as Places used for Representational Purposes
Moderation: Prof. Dr. Stephan Hoppe

2:00 pm
Prof. Dr. Gottfried Kerscher (Trier)
Too Tight for the Cardinals’ Hats? A Staircase History of the Papal Palace in Avignon

2:40 am
Dr. Jean Mesqui (Paris)
“La Grande vis” of Le Louvre Palace and its Successors at the End of the 14th and Start of the 15th Centuries.

3:20 pm– 3:40 pm Coffee
 
3:40 pm
PD Dr. Christofer Herrmann (Mainz)
Staircases in Palaces of the Teutonic Order and Bishops’ Palaces in Prussia and Livonia – an Embryonic Phase of the Representational Staircase

4:20 pm
Dr. hab. Barbara Arciszewska (Warsaw)
The Stairs Dilemma in Residential Architecture of Poland-Lithuania: the Case of Myszkowski Seat in Książ Wielki.

5:00 pm
Dr. Johannes Erichsen (Munich)
The Bibra Steps Originating from 1511, on Marienberg in Würzburg. A Key to Ceremonial Changes

6:30 pm
Evening Lecture
Prof. Dr. Matthias Müller (Mainz)
The Staircase as a Virtuoso Symbol of the Royal House: Torgau Palace and the Question of a Political Iconography of Stair Towers Around 1500

7:30 pm Reception Hosted by the Town of Bad Mergentheim in the New Town Hall

3rd Section
The Function of the Staircase in the Residence
Moderation: PD Dr. Christofer Herrmann

9:00 am
Prof. Dr. Krista De Jonge (Leuven)
From the Wendelsteen to the Escallier a la Romaine: Staircase Developments in the Burgundian and Habsburg Low Countries

9:40 am
Ing. Arch. Petr Chotěbor, CSc. (Prague)
Staircases in Prague Castle

10:20 am – 10.40 am Coffee

10:40 am
Dr. Christian Leo (Würzburg)
The Stair Towers of the Marienberg Fortress, Indicators of
Lost and of Changing Room Arrangements

11:20 am
Dr. des. Christa Syrer (Munich)
Grand Staircases and Ceremony in the Early Modern Age: An Art-historical Analysis in the Context of the Little Ice Age

12:00 pm – 1:30 pm Lunch

4th Section
Staircases as Showpieces of Construction.
Moderation: Dr. des. Christa Syrer

1:30 pm 
Prof Dr. Marc C. Schurr (Trier)
The Strasbourg Cathedral Building Lodge and the Staircase Motif

2:10 pm
Prof. Dr. Stefan Bürger (Würzburg), Bau-Ing. Thomas Bauer and Arch. Jörg Lauterbach
Stages of a Development – Evolution of Open Newel Staircases as Principal Pieces of Master Craftsmen’s Presentation in Terms of Method, Design and Media (Strasbourg-Meißen-Torgau)

2:50 pm – 3:10 pm Coffee

3:10 pm
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Falk Krebs (Darmstadt)
The Beginnings – Early Spiral Staircases with Supporting Columns

3:50 pm
Prof. Dr. Hubertus Günther (Munich)
Bramante Spiral Ramp in the Cortile del Belvedere

4:30 pm – 4:50 pm Coffee

Moderation: Maike Trentin-Meyer M. A.

4:50 pm
Dr. Etienne Faisant (Paris)
Chambord and Others: Monumental Staircases in Renaissance France

5:30 pm
Dr. Renate Leggatt-Hofer (Vienna)
A Balance between Innovative Construction Technology and Imperial Representation: Staircases at the Court of Vienna between 1540 and 1619 in a Central European
Context

6:10 pm
Dr. António Nunes Pereira (Lisbon)
Straight and Spiral, Visible and Invisible Staircases in the Portuguese Renaissance

EXCURSION
9:00 am – 4:30 pm 
Rothenburg, Staircase in the Town Hall, and Creglingen, Riemenschneider Altar