The old Abbey of Kornelimünster - Building Research and Architectural History

As part of this year’s M2 project "From Survey to Building Idea" a group of students, together with Bruno Schindler, Tobias Glitsch and Carsten Hensgens, have studied the architectural ensemble of the old Benedictine abbey of Kornelimünster. On the basis of their research it became possible to establish the primary motivations for the elaborate design of the abbey buildings and to link the various architectural interventions to the abbot’s role as guardian of the biblical relics of the Holy Roman Empire.

With the support of the kunsthaus nrw currently occupying the monastery buildings, the Chair and its students have now created an exhibition which, directly on site, presents the findings to an interested public and gives visitors an idea of the history of the abbey buildings, their architectural characteristics and their influence on the village of Kornelimünster.

The exhibition was inaugurated on Heritage Day, 8 September 2019, in the presence of the project team and a sizeable audience. After an official welcome by Dr. Marcel Schumacher, director of the kunsthaus, and Prof. Dr. Anke Naujokat, head of the Chair of Architectural History, Bruno Schindler and Tobias Glitsch in their speeches first outlined the overarching framework of the individual research topics underlying the exhibition as well as the organizational context of the student research project. On behalf of the group of participants Yannick Ley and Alexander Cattaneo then reported on their experience with the project from a student perspective and presented some of the group’s specific results. Subsequently, the students offered a series of guided tours through the exhibition and the spaces they had studied. On this occasion, the visitors not only had the opportunity to obtain more detailed information about the insights gained during the research process. Thanks to Dr. Lothar Stresius of the Förderverein St. Kornelius it was also possible to show parts of the architectural ensemble that normally remain closed to the public.

The exhibition has found its place in the former monastery kitchen of the old abbey and in the coming months will continue to be accessible during the kunsthaus’s normal opening hours. Admission is free.