Schrift als Teil der Architektur. Rekonstruktion und Analyse des karolingischen Titulus der Sylvesterkapelle in Goldbach im Kontext raumumfassender Monumentalinschriften der Spätantike und des Frühmittelalters

The paper presents a new reconstruction of the monumental Carolingian inscription in the St Sylvester's Chapel in Goldbach/Uberlingen (Germany). This reconstruction, which is based on the archaeological findings, lays the foundation for the (art-)historical discussion and interpretation of the titulus' significance as a major element of the chapel's architecture that stands out from late antique and early mediaeval objects of comparison. Although the inscription, as a part of the church's Carolingian wall paintings, is highly fragmented, the original arrangement of the text on the walls can be derived. It is shown that the layout of the Latin titulus - a singular masterpiece of poetry composed by Walahfrid Strabo - is extremely elaborate and interweaves strongly with the architecture: in a multilayered, hitherto un-realised way, the verses contribute both to the composition of the room as a whole and its disposition. Beyond the astonishing interplay between (inscribed) word and architecture, the comparative survey of other contemporary western and Byzantine examples of room-embracing epigrams reveals their inherent specific qualities as well as their eminent visual and meaningful potential. Since those aspects of such ambitious inscriptions seem to have never been considered before in a broad context, the present interdisciplinary approach can be understood as an impulse to a new field of research.