The Porta Nigra in Trier Architectural, archaeological and art-historical study

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Gottfried Kerscher; Professorin Dr.-Ing. Ulrike Wulf-Rheidt (†)
• Subject Area: Classical, Roman, Christian and Islamic Archaeology ; Architecture, Building and Construction History, Construction Research, Sustainable Building Technology ; Art History
• Term: from 2014 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 257659916

The Porta Nigra in Trier is the best preserved Roman town gate north of the Alps. The representative gate construction with two flanking towers and a gate courtyard was erected in the second half of the 2nd century A.D. During the 11th century, the Porta Nigra served at first as a cell for the later canonized monk Simeon and was afterwards converted into a church. Redesigned in the baroque style in the 18th century, the Porta Nigra was finally secularized and mostly dismantled to the antique elements during the 19th century. Thus, it belongs to the rare antique large-scale buildings with a long usage and modification history, nonetheless, a major part of its antique substance was preserved. In a first phase an architectural survey in conformity with current scientific standards was executed and the building phases examined. It could be clarified that the ancient Porta Nigra has remained unfinished. Numerous sources and high quality archival materials were studied and important information especially for the medieval and baroque periods are worked out. Further, this has led to a new hypothesis of the medieval phases and provided important insights into the baroque refinement of the church of the Holy Simeon. On this basis, the roman, medieval and baroque building phases and art-historical classifications could be worked out in detail and comprehensively published.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants