Benutzerspezifische Werkzeuge

The German cemetery in Menen is the largest of the four central First-World-War German military cemeteries in West Flanders. Between 1955 and 1959, a reception building and an octagonal memorial chapel were constructed. The latter was planned by Robert Tischler and decorated with mosaics and sculptures designed by Franz Grau, Willy Guglhör, and Fritz Schmoll genannt Eisenwerth. The lecture will focus on the combination of the selective architecture and decorative program, and demonstrate how, by using significant ancient and medieval models, a martyrium was created for the soldiers of World War I after World War II. 
Galit Noga-Banai is an Associate Professor of the History of Art at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is the author of The Trophies of the Martyrs: An Art Historical Study of Early Christian Silver Reliquaries (2008) and Scared Stimulus: Jerusalem in the Visual Christianization of Rome 2018. She has published studies on art and architecture in the Holy Land, in Italy, and in Western Europe, including Merovingian and Carolingian art. Her recent dealing with medieval rhetoric in modern German commemorative art has led to A Medievalist’s Gaze: Christian Visual Rhetoric in German Memorials (1950-2000) (2022).  

[Caption: The Memorial Chapel in Menen, General Look of the Interior. Photo: Galit Noga-Banai]