Stove tile

Description

When lift shafts were being dug in the Museum fur Völkerkunde in the Augustinergasse tiles and fragments of tiles from a stove were discovered. They were of two types: small, square filler tiles decorated with griffins and large tiles decorated with powerful, yet delicately worked heraldic animals. In 1981 these rather few surviving pieces were combined with copies and contemporary tiles already in the possession of the Museum so as to reconstruct a Gothic tower stove for the Historisches Museum's reopening in the Barfüsserkirche. The diameter of 140-150 cm for the stove was determined by the fragments of tiles. A huge and impressive stove was reconstructed, conveying an idea of the one that must originally have stood in the refectory of the Augustinian monastery. One of the original tiles of the stove tower is illustrated here.