Städel Museum, Frankfurt

Project report 2

Invisible protection for the Triumphal Arch of Emperor Maximilian I

The non-reflecting, nearly invisible special glass SCHOTT AMIRAN® provides an undisturbed view of Albrecht Dürer’s wood prints, even with extreme differences in brightness

The background The challenge It is uncontested. With the Triumphal For Emperor Maximilian I, the Triumphal The Städel Museum had to fulfill two Arch of Holy Maximilian I, Arch was the most important commis- requirements when exhibiting the painter and graphic artist Albrecht sion he ever awarded. The masterpiece masterpiece. First, it needed to ensure Dürer created the largest wood print of (completed in 1518) consists of 195 that the wood print was protected his time; and one could say this is true wood blocks. They were printed on 36 against vandalism. For that reason, the is two ways. First, the work measures major folio sheets. For a Dürer exhibi- protective glass covering had to be an impressive 3.5 meters. Secondly, tion at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt/ extremely stable and scratch-proof. Dürer’s rendering of the Triumphal Main, the wood print, on loan from the Secondly, the glass had to provide the Arch serves as a monument to the Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum in art enthusiast an unimpeded view of Emperor as a glorious commander. It is , was presented behind the work. To ensure this, a color-neutral an exaggerated representation of the dual-sided non-reflecting glass. safety glass was sought that can be , which is expressed, used in all lighting conditions and pro- among other things, in the ancient duces little reflection. It also had to be triumphal arches and external towers. available in various sizes and shapes from a work perspective, in order to allow flexible processing. 3

The solution When glazing the Triumphal Arch of resistant laminated glass with a total Emperor Maximilian I, the glass case thickness of approx. 17.5 mm, consist- builders at the Städel opted for ing of two panes of single-side non- SCHOTT AMIRAN®. This special glass is reflecting AMIRAN® with PVB film absolutely robust and scratch-proof sandwiched between them. The impres- thanks to its high-tech coating. It con- sive total surface of about 11.5 sqm sists of several metal oxide layers, consists of three sections, which are which are applied by a sol gel dip coat- each 3.75 meters in height. Smaller ing process developed by SCHOTT. works in the Dürer exhibition were also The high-tech coating is chemically and placed behind glass made by SCHOTT. mechanically more stable than vapor The MIROGARD® protect used is a deposited layers, for instance. Another non-reflecting, fully transparent glass, THE MATERIALS benefit of this unusual interference which is ideally suited for paintings. coating is that it reduces disturbing MIROGARD® protect reduces reflections • AMIRAN ® reflections to one per cent and allows in the visible range to less than one per Dimensions 3.1 x 3.75 m 98 per cent of light to pass through it. cent and is color-neutral. Like SCHOTT • MIROGARD® protect The glass is therefore nearly invisible, AMIRAN®, it is dip coated in a sol gel color-neutral and perfectly suited to process. Several titanium dioxide and extreme differences in brightness. This silicon dioxide layers are applied one by is a very important criterion for glass one in nanometer precision and then cabinets because there are major light burnt in. The result: a non-reflecting differences in front of and behind the high-tech picture framing glass with an glass. In order to fulfil the security extremely stable surface and top UV aspect, the glass cabinet builders used protection. Overall, 16 panes were SCHOTT AMIRAN® as high penetration- used. SCHOTT AG Hattenbergstrasse 10 55122 Mainz Germany Phone +49 (0)6131/66-2678 [email protected] www.schott.com/amiran

PFLY_0012_OM ENGLISH 10/2014 kn/odd Printed in Germany