I - An acquisition of the drawingpossible thanks to patronage
After the publication of a notice of call for sponsorship On 15 April 2022, the City of Strasbourg announced the acquisition of this parchment drawing by Johannes Hültz in October 2022.
Classified as a national treasure on the occasion of an application to export a cultural property (see below), this work was indeed acquired through a sponsorship scheme culture-specific, codified to Article 238 bis-0 A of the General Tax Code.
This arrangement allows a company to benefit from a 90% tax reduction for the acquisition, in favour of a public collection, of works of major heritage interest.
Crédit Mutuel contributed €1.2 million to the total amount of the acquisition, which amounted to €1.75 million.
The rest of the sum was provided by the society of friends of the cathedral of Strasbourg, the heritage fund of the Ministry of Culture and the city of Strasbourg. The drawing was restored thanks to the foundation of the work Notre-Dame.
The words of Daniel Baal
Managing Director of Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale
This acquisition is the result of a long mobilization to which Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale has been associated from the outset.
The headquarters of our group is in Strasbourg, the history of Crédit Mutuel has largely been written in the Rhine territories, of which the Cathedral is a jewel. This patronage finds all its meaning and thus makes it possible, in a decisive way, to contribute to the preservation of the heritage. [...]
Crédit Mutuel is very pleased to contribute to the financing of this work, which marks the group’s strong attachment to the city of Strasbourg. We wanted the drawing, of inestimable historical value, not to go abroad but to return to the very heart of the collections of the Musée de l'Œuvre Notre-Dame»
II - The acquired work: a drawing of medieval architecture on parchment
Hence comes from this Johannes Hültz drawing illustrating the arrow of the cathedral?
Witness to an ambitious project of Gothic art, this drawing of more than two meters in height was in the hands of a private individual since 1994. According to research by the DRAC Grand Est and the OND, he disappeared from public collections during the French Revolution, between 1775 and 1810. Proposed on the art market in 2018, in a Parisian auction house, the foundation of the work Notre-Dame had expressed interest in the work. It was the subject of a decision refusing an export certificate and classified as national treasury because of its heritage significance.
Why does this design have ait matters?
The octagonal tower was designed by master builder Ulrich von Ensingen (circa 1350/1360 - 1419) in the early 15th century. Johannes Hültz took over the construction site in 1419, until his death in 1449.
The historical significance of this drawing is explained by the fact thatthis is the first known document accurately representing the octagon as it was built. This is also the first project of Johannes Hültz for the arrow which has, on the contrary, not been built according to this project, which represents the pyramidal spire surmounted by a three-tiered lantern above the two levels of the octagonal tower.
The Museum retains a copy of the 19th-century drawing, which depicts the octagon and spire of the cathedral according to its current plan.
Where to see the chef eggre?
The drawing of the arrow is presented to the public from Saturday 21 January to Sunday 23 April 2023 in the drawing room of the Notre-Dame Art Museum. For conservation reasons, this room is accessible only from 2pm to 6pm on Saturdays and Sundays.
It thus joins the collection of plans and drawings (12th – 16th centuries) of the cathedral of Strasbourg held by the foundation and placed in deposit at the museum of the work Notre-Dame.
Did you know ?
With the completion of its spire in the second half of the fifteenth century, the cathedral of Strasbourg, 142 meters high, without equivalent until the nineteenth century, is considered the highest building of medieval Christendom!
The words of Paul Lang
Director of Museums of the City of Strasbourg
«After several years of mobilization and negotiation, Strasbourg sees a «national treasure» joining its collections! Through this remarkable architectural drawing made around 1419 by Johannes Hültz, it is a page of the history of our city that joins the collections of the Museums of the City of Strasbourg. Despite the many twists and turns, we were able to count on the unfailing support of our main sponsor, Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale, and the exemplary investment of the Society of Friends of the Cathedral of Strasbourg at our side. The Ministry of Culture also accompanied and supported us with rigor and commitment in this acquisition process. Not to mention the teams of the Fondation and the Musée de l'Œuvre Notre-Dame, very mobilized and invested in this initiative. It is above all a collective and tenacious work that has enabled this magnificent acquisition that will mark the history of the Museums of the City of Strasbourg.”
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