Heinrich von Ferstel und die Regotisierung der St. Jakobskirche in Brünn

The Church of St James is an important late Gothic monument and was treated as such even in the 19th century, when not only reconstruction work was carried out, but also attempts to restore it to its Gothic appearance and to cleanse it of later stylistic elements. August Prokop was engaged in 1868 for the task of creating a design for a new choir loft on the north side of the church. However, his plan was not implemented, and in 1870, a higher authority - Heinrich von Ferstel (1828-1883) - became involved in the repairs to the church. The latter then determined the course of all the work, which was conducted on site by Josef Arnold (1824-1877) and Franz Neubauer (1824-1881). The present edition presents news and letters from both August Prokop and, especially Heinrich von Ferstel. These sources illuminate not only the issue of the reconstruction of the Church of St James, but they also provide an insight into the thinking of architects of the second half of the 19th century on the issues of transformation, repair and restoration of Gothic architecture.