The conservation of cultural heritage for sustainable development
Building stone used in historic objects of the Tyrol region
Christoph FRANZEN*, Thomas BIDNER, Peter W. MIRWALD,
Walter HAUSER and Helmut STAMPFER
Summary
In the frame of an EU Interregional-II Project between
South Tyrol/Italy (ST) and Tyrol/Austria (NT), inventory of
stone in historic buildings has been documented on a
regional scale. Taking the scale of documentation into
consideration, a special scheme has been developed in
order to make this information useable for the Monu-
ment Protection Services. The use of stone material is in
many cases limited to various architectural elements of
varying functional position on or within the objects. Ba-
sic mapping criteria were: the kind of stone material
used, its exposure within the object, and its state of
preservation. The results of the stone distribution map-
ping reveal interesting differences between ST and NT.
While in ST the material distribution indicates a close
correlation to the regional geology, this is far less pro-
nounced in NT. This seems partly due to material trans-
port along the Inn River Valley. This is of considerable
consequence for the regional conservation strategies,
implying a very constrained use of exchange material in
ST compared to more versatile applications in NT.
Introduction
Usually, monument protection services are in charge of
preserving a region with a wide variety of monuments.
The task requires elaborating concepts, planning and
carrying out the preservation measures in an appropri-
ate order and on a suitable scale. Planning for the
preservation is only possible on a broad basis of knowl-
edge. Knowledge of materials is a fundamental aspect
in this matter. Detailed knowledge for a given object
must be gained basing on the regional information.
For monument conservation, a number of mapping
schemes have been developed in recent years
(FITZNER, 1995; VDI3798, 1998). The mapping of sin-
gle stones allows the documentation of detailed fea-
tures such as lithology, weathering forms, and the
damage category. This kind of mapping may cover a
size range from 10-2m to 101m. Here, a broad base of
experience in surveying, documentation and evalua-
tion already exists.
The next larger range covering the scale between
101m and 103m refers to an urban scale. For this
range, several studies have been performed, catalogu-
ing the material distribution in a part of a city or an en-
tire city (GENNARO, 2000; SCHWARZ, 1986). Similar
to GENNARO (2000), we developed in this study a
database for processing and evaluating the results.
The largest scale used so far is of a nationwide
frame. For example, GRIMM (1990) has considered
the geology of Germany under the aspects of stone
materials and illustrated the results with examples of
historic objects. The relevant scale range here was
103m to 105m.
Our study is of regional dimension, covering the range
between 100m 104m. On this scale, most of the
monuments can schematically be presented on a
map. The often postulated correlation between build-
ing material and the local geology becomes very obvi-
ous. Our scheme may respond, in addition, to the par-
ticular demand to distinguish between the different
materials found in different positions within the monu-
ment. This provides a useful tool for documenting the
spatial distribution of the stone material in the monu-
ments. Such information is fundamental for the plan-
ning of conservation measures on a larger scale. Of
course, a detailed stone-by-stone mapping is still nec-
essary.
Methodology
The methodology used in this study can be divided
into three sections: 1) geology and material, 2) mon-
ument surveying, 3) mapping. In all three sections ex-
isting knowledge or standards have to be considered
and schemes have to be developed to make the in-
formation gained useable for conservation practice.
Geology and material
The geology of Tyrol is complex but very well-investi-
gated. A detailed geological map (BRANDNER, 1980)
served as a basis in which the historically used build-
ing materials were marked. Granite and granitic rocks
were not differentiated because they are most often
not distinguishable on the objects. The metamorphic
rocks, gneisses and phyllites, are clearly differentiat-
ed because their different constitution leads to dif-
ferent use in buildings. Marbles, which frequently oc-
cur in the Tyrolean metamorphic areas, have a spe-
cial significance as building stones. Thus, even the
smallest occurrences were taken into account. Al-
though the extended carbonate formations of the
Dolomites represent a marked geological unit in the
south-eastern part of ST, this material is scarcely
used on the historical buildings in the investigated
area. Actually, the use of sedimentary carbonate ma-
terial in ST is mostly limited to quaternary, highly
309
Workshop 4
masonry
architectural
elements
interior
sculptures
Figure 1. The fourfold subdivision of the symbol of a
church in the form of a pie diagram was used on the maps.
porous tufa-stone. As a further sedimentary material,
a local sandstone was used to a great extent in ST.
In NT the geological situation and consequently the
building stones are different. Various carbonate ma-
terials, especially red polishable limestones and dif-
ferent kinds of breccias can be found.
Survey of historic buildings
One of the very first steps in the project was to de-
velop a comprehensive data sheet. The major aim
was to record geological data accurately describing
the material on the historic monument so that the de-
scription met the preservation needs. In the header
of such data sheet, all general information was en-
tered indicating location, name of the building, ad-
dress, owner, and date of the surveying campaign.
The proper data part was subdivided into four archi-
tectural sections: masonry, architectural elements,
sculptures and interior (Figure 1). In the first section
several subdivisions of masonry were introduced
(rough-stone, ashlars, square-stone masonry). Further
details about surface plaster may be entered here in
addition to the natural stone description. The second
section concerns architectural elements parts of the
buildings such as portals, window jambs, mouldings,
columns, vaulting, etc. Portals proved to be one of the
most significant and indicative elements for regional
material distribution. The third section contains sculp-
tures, reliefs and gargoyles. In the fourth section inte-
rior floors, fonts and mensas were documented.
Here, replacement material was often observed.
A further important point of the survey was to indi-
cate what kind of restoration measures and repairs
had been done on the object so far. All the data was
entered into a database.
Maps
In order to provide a clear overview of the data it was
presented on maps. Three different kinds of maps
were used. The first consisted of information related
to section 1) Geology and material. This map dis-
310
played the geology with reference to the historically
used building materials. In the second map, the distri-
bution of materials within the historic buildings
throughout the region was shown. The fourfold sub-
division into different architectural elements as pro-
posed in section 2) Survey of historic buildings was
entered into the quarters of a circle symbol. We chose
the general symbol for churches (open circle with a
cross on its top side) and entered the geological find-
ings into each quarter segment of the circle, like in a
pie diagram (Figure 1). This yielded a comprehensive
overview of the regional building stone distribution
(Figure 2, 3). As a compilation result, building stone
provinces were defined where a preferential use of a
certain material was observed. Such provinces are
demonstrated in the third map (Figure 4).
Results and discussion
When comparing the outcrop geology with the litho-
logical data from the surveys of the objects, a coher-
ence between both can be observed in some regards.
In areas where no square stones were available, walls
were rendered even in times when stone surface views
were fashionable. Architectural elements best reflect
the locally quarried building stones. Taking this into ac-
count for ST, five different building stone provinces can
be defined:
Northern granitic province (Eissack Pusteria Val-
ley) main building material in that area is the Per-
mian Brixen granite. This is middle to fine-grained
biotite granite. A weak foliation is often the only dif-
ference from the also used granite-gneiss from the
Pustertal area.
Sandstone province the Grden sandstone is an
important building and architectural stone in the
Etsch valley area of Bozen-Meran (FRANZEN,
2000a). It exhibits an interesting mineral indicator
for weathering: dawsonite, a fibrous carbonate
(NaAl2[(OH)2/CO3]), to be found frequently in pris-
tine Grden sandstone. It is very sensitive to
weathering, so that it disappears in building stone
within a few decades (FRANZEN, 2000b).
Porphyry province the Bozen quartz porphyry,
which recently gained a wide reputation as good
pavement material, was often used in walls in the
Bozen-Meran area, but there are also a number of ex-
amples, e.g. columns, where it is used as an archi-
tectural element.
Marble province the Laas marble, as a very deco-
rative material, is exported worldwide for architec-
tural purposes. As conventional building stone, it
can be found in the middle Vinschgau Area.
Carbonate province in the upper Vinschgau Area
various carbonates, mainly tufa, are employed as
 The conservation of cultural heritage for sustainable development

Figure 2. Building stone distribution in Northern and Eastern Tyrol.

Figure 3. Building stone distribution in South Tyrol.

311
Workshop 4
(5)
MERAN
(4)
Et
V i n s c h g a u
sc
h
Va
lle
y BOZEN
N 2)
nd
rla
te
Un
Figure 4. Building stone provinces can be defined in South Tyrol.
building materials, especially for architectural ele-
ments.
In NT the building stone distribution situation is rather
different. Due to the geological situation, a variety of
limestones came into use as building stones. Trans-
portation by glaciers and river as well as transport by
man along the Inn River Valley took place over the
whole northern Tyrol region. To some extent, local re-
sources were also used. Due to this diversity in mate-
rials, no building stone provinces can be defined with-
in the area of NT.
An often unsolved problem is where the stone materi-
als for the different objects have actually been quar-
ried. A correlation between the material in the building
and the geological unit, based on microscopy and
chemical analysis, is rarely possible because signifi-
cant local criteria like typical mineralogy or local dis-
tributed fossils are missing. In addition, very little his-
torical documentation about the quarrying of the build-
ing material is available.
Conclusions
A good correlation between historic natural building
materials and the geology can be demonstrated in
South Tyrol. Distinct building stone provinces are de-
fined. This facilitates the regional, material oriented
approach in conservation. In contrast to this, no build-
312
(1)
E
is
BRUNECK
s
Pu s t e r i a
a
c
Va
ll
k
e
y
Va l l e y
BRIXEN
(3)
(2)
1) Granitic province (Brixen Gr, Gneiss-Gr)
Sandstone province (Grden Sst)
3) Porphyry province (Bozen Quartz-P)
4) Marble province (Laas M)
5) Limestone province (Calc-tufa)
ing stone provinces can be established in North Tyrol.
A major reason for this is the natural and human trans-
port of materials along the Inn River Valley. Thus, a
much more complex approach in conservation strate-
gy is required. Generally, the results show that the
chosen regional scale is able to reveal the actual dif-
ferences in stone inventories. The examples of ST and
NT show that despite similar settings with respect to
building materials, the regional distribution is quite dif-
ferent so that different conservation strategies are
necessary.
Further work
In the near future, the data collection must be con-
tinued to close remaining gaps in knowledge. An ex-
tension of our investigations into secular monuments
is planned. A goal is to integrate the database into
the GIS (Geographical Information System) project,
which will allow complete web access. This will of-
fer new opportunities for data processing and evalu-
ation in the field of monument preservation and con-
servation.
Our interdisciplinary collaboration between natural
scientists and monument protection services has
proven to be very productive and fruitful. Our aim is
to develop regionally scaled conservation strategies
for the inner Alpine regions of Italy and Austria.
 The conservation of cultural heritage for sustainable development
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Christoph Franzen*
Inst. Mineralogie und Petrographie, Universitt IBK
A-6020 Innsbruck
e-mail: christoph.franzen@uibk.ac.at
Geologist and stone mason. Born 1968 in Kln, he
passed his apprenticeship in Kln and his studies of
geology and palaeontology at the Ruprecht Karls Uni-
versity in Heidelberg. In his diploma thesis (1999) he
carried out petrological and geochemical investigation
of variscan granites in the Bavarian Forest. Since 1999
he has been a project assistant at the Institute for
Mineralogy and Petrography, Leopold Franzens Uni-
versity, Innsbruck, Austria and a member of the work-
ing group: Building stone weathering. He has been
working on a PhD thesis: Historic building stone in
South Tyrol, distribution and weathering behaviour,
under the supervision of Professor P.W. Mirwald.
Since 2000 he has been an associate member of the
ICOMOS scientific committee for stone.
Thomas Bidner and Peter W. Mirwald
Inst. Mineralogie und Petrographie, Universitt IBK
A-6020 Innsbruck
Walter Hauser
BDA Landeskonservatorat fr Tirol
A-6020 Innsbruck
Helmut Stampfer
Ufficio Beni Culturali Alto Adige
I-39100 Bolzano
313