from the 13th century, ©AI MAINZ, 2020
Other possible reconstruction alternatives emerged during the project. These changes focused on the eastern part of the church, which was located outside the archaeological site. Several alternatives emerged regarding the building's height and the level of the windows. The second variant considered raising the last bay on the west side to the height of the other spans. The third variant was influenced by the church's form in 1200, a reconstruction previously developed by Architectura Virtualis. This variant assumed shortening the side aisles by one bay compared to the main aisle while maintaining a constant roof ridge height over the main nave throughout the length of the church. However, based on current research, we now understand that the structures of the church in 800 and 1200 are not connected. Between these periods, the building was completely demolished to ground level and reconstructed from scratch.
The fourth variant involved shortening the length of the church by removing the last eastern bay. Due to contemporary urban development, no excavations have been carried out at the site where this bay would have been located, so the exact length of the building and its eastern ending cannot be clearly determined. The exact changes between all the reconstruction variants in chronological order can be seen in the video below.
Variants of reconstruction with animated changes. Produced in 2024.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Igor Bajena. (2024). Reconstruction of St. Johannis Church in Mainz in 800 AD: Variants of reconstruction. In: YouTube [Video].