The research project “Weser Sandstone as a global cultural asset” under the direction of Prof. Dr. Eva-Maria Seng, chair for Tangible and Intangible Cultural Heritage/University of Paderborn, investigates the global early modern trade of sandstone (generously funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research/BMBF, within the funding guideline of the BMBF initiative Language of Objects. Material culture in the context of social developments).  The three-year project, launched in 2013, is conducted jointly by Prof. Dr. Frank G?ttmann, chair for Early Modern History, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Reinhard Keil, chair for Contextual Informatics (both University of Paderborn), and Dr.-Ing. Marc Grellert, Faculty of Architecture, Department of Digital Design (TU Darmstadt).

The discovery of a prefabricated construction kit of a Weser Sandstone portal, found in the shipwreck of the trading ship Batavia that sunk in 1629 off the coast of Western Australia, forms the starting point for an in-depth study of material, technical, economical, and cultural processes. The rediscovered portal had been commissioned by the VOC in Amsterdam for the Dutch citadel Batavia – today’s Jakarta. Furthermore, the Royal Palace of Amsterdam (Koninklijk Paleis Amsterdam) and the Bourla Theater (Bourlaschouwbourg) and Cathedral of our Lady in Antwerp (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal Antwerp) are among those European structures, which have been build with Weser Sandstone. The projects is breaking new ground in the exploration of prefabricated structures, global transport and export, and cultural transfer long before industrialisation.

Another aim of the research project is the conjunction of the humanistic disciplines concerned (art history, history of architecture, economic history). Involving contextual informatics and CAD-based computer simulation during all stages of the project is making this initiative truly interdisiplinary. As a whole, the project is going beyond the mere visualisation of buildings, paradigmatically developing scientific aids and methodology as well as stimulating new research tasks. 

The findings will be made available to the public at large by the end of the project. An international conference preceeded by a corresponding publication is scheduled as well as the modelling of an interactive research forum. Here, objects of interest like stones and their shape, measurements and surface, architectural drafts, blueprints - but also insight into the financing of building projects and their actors, aspects of logistics and construction site management and stylistic characteristics of the buildings shall be documented and presented.