Plastic stucco decoration as a decorative element of interiors is documented for both Greco-Roman antiquity and the Middle Ages. For the intervening Late Antique and Early Byzantine periods, on the other hand, research into this group of materials has been conducted to a much lesser extent.

Stucco decoration must be understood as a further regularly used genre of late antique wall and vault decoration, alongside object types such as mosaics, wall painting and wall incrustation. However, stucco decoration differs from this group in one important respect. It is the only genre that possesses a real plasticity, which implies a proximity to architectural sculpture. In contrast to the latter, however, stucco decoration is characterised by a different production method and the resulting different material properties. Stucco decoration thus has a potential for the design of interiors and the associated spatial effect that has been insufficiently discussed so far.

Numerous already published findings that prove that the decorative furnishing of sacred rooms with stucco was also widespread in late antiquity and the early Byzantine period open up the possibility of analysing this design potential of late antique stucco decoration comparatively - and transregionally.

Runtime: since 2019

Supervision: Prof. Dr Sabine Schrenk and Prof. Dr Sabine Feist