In Gothic architecture, a wimperg is a gable-like crowning over portals and windows [1] and is also called an ornamental gable. Outside of immediate architecture, the wimperg is also found as a motif in Gothic carving. [2]
In Gothic architecture, a wimperg is a gable-like crowning over portals and windows [1] and is also called an ornamental gable. Outside of immediate architecture, the wimperg is also found as a motif in Gothic carving. [2]
The word has been documented in German since the 10th century (Old High German wintberga, Middle High German wintberge). The original meaning was "that which protects against the wind, conceals [birgt in German]". What was originally meant were gable parts that protrude above the roof. [3] In this context, Wintberge is also found in older sources in the meaning "merlon" ( [3] mentions Middle High German wintburgelin "merlon"), occasionally also "Wimperg" as "tooth-like top extension to the parapet wall of a battlement". [4]
The wimperg is considered an architectural element which, as an ornamental gable, reinforces the Gothic style's drive for height. [4] It can be flanked, framed or even occupied by pinnacles. The gable slopes of the wimperg were often framed or occupied with crockets. Its gable peak is often executed as a gable flower, [5] for example as a cruciform ornament. In German, the name Frauenschuh ("women's shoe") has been handed down for wimpergs with a tip that overhangs to the front. [5] The gable field may be left plain, but it is often filled with pre-faced or openwork tracery. [4]
The wimperg has also made it into some coats of arms as part of a heraldic figure. Predominantly, the architectural object is used to place a coat of arms in the free space under the legs for filling and ornamentation. For heraldry, it is more important that it is represented in the coat of arms. The building part in the coat of arms is mentioned in the blazon and should then also be appropriately acknowledged by the coat of arms' painter. A good example is the coat of arms of the town of Kamenz. Here, according to the description of the coat of arms, there is a golden wimperg decorated with crockets on a golden battlement wall. Often the wimperg is described as a "triangular gable", and it does not always have to be flanked by crockets or have a finial on top. The number of coats of arms with a wimperg remains manageable. In the description of the coat of arms of Fehrbellin before 1993, one could read of the quatrefoil in the wimperg. [6]
A merlon is the solid upright section of a battlement in medieval architecture or fortifications. Merlons are sometimes pierced by narrow, vertical embrasures or slits designed for observation and fire. The space between two merlons is called a crenel, and a succession of merlons and crenels is a crenellation. Crenels designed in later eras for use by cannons were also called embrasures.
The coat of arms of Germany, also known as Bundesrepublik Deutschland displays a black eagle with a red beak, a red tongue and red feet on a golden field, which is blazoned: Or, an eagle displayed sable beaked langued and membered gules. This is the Bundesadler, formerly known as Reichsadler. It is one of the oldest coats of arms in the world, and today the oldest national symbol used in Europe.
Frederick VI of Hohenstaufen was Duke of Swabia from 1170 until his death at the siege of Acre.
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesthetic concerns. The term gable wall or gable end more commonly refers to the entire wall, including the gable and the wall below it. Some types of roof do not have a gable. One common type of roof with gables, the 'gable roof', is named after its prominent gables.
Kamenz or Kamjenc is a town in the district of Bautzen in Saxony, Germany. Until 2008 it was the administrative seat of Kamenz District. The town is known as the birthplace of the philosopher and poet Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and Bruno Hauptmann, convicted kidnapper of the Lindbergh baby. It lies north-east of the major city of Dresden.
A crocket is a small, independent decorative element common in Gothic architecture. The name derives from the diminutive of the Old French croc, meaning "hook", due to the resemblance of a crocket to a bishop's crook-shaped crosier.
In historical Germanic society, níð was a term for a social stigma implying the loss of honour and the status of a villain. A person affected with the stigma is considered a níðingr . Middle English retained a cognate nithe, meaning 'envy', 'hate', or 'malice'.
Heraldic visitations were tours of inspection undertaken by Kings of Arms throughout England, Wales and Ireland. Their purpose was to register and regulate the coats of arms of nobility, gentry and boroughs, and to record pedigrees. They took place from 1530 to 1688, and their records provide important source material for historians and genealogists.
Köln-Dellbrück is a railway station on the line from Köln-Mülheim to Bergisch Gladbach situated at Dellbrück, Cologne in western Germany. It is served by the S11 line of the Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn.
The Castle of Castro Marim is a medieval castle on a hilltop overlooking the civil parish of Castro Marim, in the municipality of the same name, in the Portuguese Algarve. The castle was part of the defensive line controlled by the Knights Templar, a stronghold used during the Portuguese Reconquista, and adapted during the Restoration War to defend the frontier.
The Castle of Vidigueira is a castle in the civil parish of Vidigueira in the municipality of Vidigueira in the Portuguese subregion of Baixo Alentejo. Although constructed in the first half of the 15th century, it is more commonly associated with the first of the Counts of Vidigueira: Vasco da Gama.
The Castle of Óbidos is a well-preserved medieval castle located in the civil parish of Santa Maria, São Pedro e Sobral da Lagoa, in the portuguese municipality of Óbidos. Historical province of portuguese Estremadura.
Benedictus Gotthelf Teubner was a German bookseller and the founder of a publishing company.
The Castle of Castelo Bom is a medieval castle in the civil parish of Castelo Bom, municipality of the Almeida in the district of Guarda in the Centre region of Portugal.
The Castle of Moura is a Portuguese medieval castle in civil parish of Moura e Santo Amador, in the municipality of Moura, in the district of Beja.
Geo Widengren was a Swedish historian of religions, professor of history of religions at Uppsala University, orientalist and Iranist.
Stefan Kaiser is a German sculptor.
The House of Poschinger is an ancient Bavarian noble family. Its origin date back to the year 1140. The family received the rank of Knights of the Holy Roman Empire. The Frauenau branch rose to the rank of Barons (Freiherr) in the Kingdom of Bavaria and held a hereditary seat in the House of Councillors.
The Liebfrauenkirche in the Thuringian town of Arnstadt, Germany, is a Lutheran parish church. The basilica, which was essentially erected in the 12th and 13th centuries, is considered, along with Naumburg Cathedral, to be the most important church building of the transitional phase from Romanesque to Gothic architecture in Thuringia.
Carl Gustav Rechlin was a German Classicist painter with emphasis on military and genre themes. A graduate of the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin, his paintings were exhibited at the and at the Prussian Academy itself between 1832 and 1860, at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851, and at the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations in New York City from 1853 to 1854. His works have been subsequently exhibited at the Kronprinzenpalais and at Charlottenburg Palace.
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