S. Johannes in Jerusalem Church: enhancement through technological analysis

Abstract

The research aims to exhaust the store of knowledge on a nearly one thousand years monument through the study and the interpretation of ancient technological devices that have generated unique formal characteristics. The analysis on the church of the Castello della Magione in Poggibonsi, monumental complex near the ancient Via Francigena, face the evolutionary history in an attempt to fill the lack of documentation. Critical observation of the monument, direct survey of technological and structural devices, punctual measurements aimed at verifying the hypothesis, reconstruction carried out in the field and reworking of data in post-production are the distinctive characteristics of the search method. In particular, we have achieved the following results: hypothesis of self-supporting during construction of a brick vault not coeval with the church; formal interpretation of the unique denticular single-lancet window of the church’s main front, that has so far left scholars' curiosity unsatisfied; detection of the method for tracking the monument and the proportional relationships used to its location in relation to the existing context; he explanation of the peculiar and irregular orientation of the church; assumptions about the dating of the monument, still uncertain because of the lack of documents; in general, the complete knowledge of the monument aimed to provide useful tools for the enhancement and for a correct approach in case of any restoration.