Staletá Praha 25, 2/2009, 16-25 | DOI: 10.56112/sp.2009.2.02

Dating and composition of the Vyšehrad type Romanesque floor tiles

Jarmila Čiháková

Národní památkový ústav v hl. m. Praze, Na Perštýně 12, 110 00 Praha 1

An attempt is made to evaluate the oldest terracotta relief tiled floors in Bohemia - their chronology, iconography and composition technology. Chronology of the Vyšehrad type of tiles is currently based on two conceptions: it was produced either in the end of the 11th century or in the period around the year 1130. After critical analysis of those published finds, which have a high degree of potentially accurate dating, the earlier date is considered more probable. The newly recognised composition principle of the eponymous tiled floor, found in the 19th century in the basilica of St. Lawrence at Vyšehrad in Prague, was based on a different idea than the composition of square tiles. A re-construction design of the Vyšehrad type tiled floor and its interconnection with the architectonic disposition of the building as a work of a master of European format is suggested. An attempt to compare the construction of the Vyšehrad type of floor with the groundplan of the surrounding building has so far been made in case of St. Wenceslaus rotunda only, where coherence was prooved. Revealing the composition principle of the floor from hexagonal Vyšehrad type ceramic tiles as a complicated construction with a strict inner structure opens further possibilities regarding their iconography and comparing the iconography and composition of other early medieval floors in Europe.

Keywords: floor tiles - ceramic (terracotta) tiles - Romanesque art - Prague, Vyšehrad - Prague, Malá Strana - pre-Romanesque church - 11th century - pre-Romanesque composition - geometric composition

Grants and funding:

Příspěvek je výstupem institucionálně financovaného výzkumného záměru MK 07503233303 "Odborné poznávání, vědecké hodnocení, dokumentování a evidence nemovitého kulturního dědictví, identifikace statků, které mohou být chráněny", dílčího úkolu 307 "Odborné zpracování a vědecké vyhodnocení záchranných archeologických výzkumů nemovitých kulturních památek a památkových území jako nových pramenů k dějinám území ČR".

Published: December 15, 2009