Completion of the restoration of the Schilling figure group
The figures can be seen without their wrapping for a week
The restoration work on Schilling's "Four Times of Day" figures in the new palace ponds has been completed. Tomorrow, 17 November, the scaffolding and the temporary film enclosures required for the restoration work will be dismantled for acceptance. The result of the restoration work can be viewed by the people of Chemnitz for more than a week.
On 27/28 November 2017, as every year, the Schilling figures will be covered with the winter protective housing. Next spring, visitors will once again be able to enjoy the light-coloured sandstone sculptures in the park by the castle pond.
Since mid-August, biological deposits, crusts and graffiti have been removed from the four sculptures. They have been cleaned and partially stabilised on the stone surface. In addition, fragments have been attached and supplemented with stone restoration mortar. Older mortar additions were reworked.
After completion of the restoration in mid-September, a silicone resin protective coating was applied to protect the surface from the biological destruction of the stone. This procedure has already been successfully trialled on the Dresden Zwinger and other valuable sandstone sculptures in Saxony and will preserve the restoration results in the long term.
The colour of the protective coating has been agreed with the State Monuments Office and the Monuments Authority of the City of Chemnitz. The selected light colour tone corresponds approximately to the original colouring of newly processed Saxon Elbe sandstone from the Postelwitz quarries. Although the colour coating primarily serves to preserve the surface of the stone as protection against biological attack as far as possible, the light-coloured finish allows the sometimes very delicate stone sculptural structures on the four groups of figures to stand out much better. In appropriate daylight conditions, the natural play of light and shadow becomes recognisable again.
The sculpture group of the four times of day, originally created between 1866 and 1871 by sculptor Johannes Schilling for the grand staircase on Brühl's Terrace in Dresden, is one of the most artistically valuable large sculptures of the 19th century in Saxony, according to the State Monuments Office.
Following consultation with the monument authority, a catalogue of measures and the necessary planning services for the restoration were drawn up by the planning company Heidelmann und Klingebiel from Dresden. This was followed by the invitation to tender for the stone restoration services and the construction of working scaffolding with a protective roof and foil enclosure. The stone restoration work was carried out by the company Christoph Hein Restauratorengesellschaft mbH from Dresden. The necessary working scaffolding and protective enclosures were erected by the Chemnitz-based company O & T Gerüstbau GmbH.
The total costs totalled approximately 56,000 euros.