The winners of the 2020 Peter Parler Prize have been announced: The jury honored independent master stonemasons and sculptors from Würzburg, Bamberg, Trier, and Auggen.
Last Friday, this year’s Peter Parler Prize 2020 award ceremony was scheduled to take place at “denkmal”—Europe’s leading trade fair for historic preservation, restoration, and renovation of old buildings—in Leipzig. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Federal Association of German Stonemasons (BIV) notified the winners without public participation.
The Peter Parler Prize is awarded every two years by the Federal Association of German Stonemasons and the German Foundation for Monument Protection. The award honors independent master stonemasons and sculptors for high-quality work on historic preservation projects involving natural stone, taking into account conservation, artisanal restoration, creativity, and a feel for the material. The prize is endowed with 15,000 euros. The prize money is intended to encourage master stonemasons and sculptors in their commitment to historic preservation.
This year’s jury consisted of Professor Dr. Rolf Snethlage, formerly of the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments; Dr. Michael Auras of the Institute for Stone Conservation e. V. in Mainz; restorer Karsten Böhm of the State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments and Archaeology of Saxony-Anhalt; Carolin Pfeuffer, a certified restorer and director of the European Training Center—Competence Center for the Stonemasonry and Stone Sculpture Trades, independent architect Peter Reiner, and the 2018 Peter Parler Prize winner Frank Schuster. Annette Liebeskind of the German Foundation for Monument Protection and patron of the Peter Parler Prize emphasized: “What we protect today as cultural heritage has grown out of the high-quality work of the craftsmen of that era. We need that same level of craftsmanship today to preserve these monuments. The award-winning projects impressively demonstrate that historical techniques and the craftsmanship of stonemasons play just as important a role as the use of state-of-the-art technologies.”
The achievements of the participating firms were carried out across the various disciplines of historic preservation, each with distinct objectives, and show only minor differences in quality. The jury therefore evaluated the overall impression in each case, which was based on the degree of difficulty, the quality of preliminary investigations and documentation, the measures implemented, the quality of the craftsmanship techniques used, and the cooperation between the historic preservation authorities and external experts.
This year, the jury awarded one first prize, one second prize, and two third prizes. First place went to Boris Rycek GmbH from Würzburg for the restoration of the Four-Pipe Fountain in Würzburg. Second prize went to Monolith Bildhauerei u. Steinrestaurierung in Bamberg for its restoration work on the monument to Margrave Christian at Plassenburg Castle in Kulmbach. The stonemasonry firms Henning Wirtz from Trier and Johannes Abel from Auggen shared third place. The Henning Wirtz stonemasonry firm from Trier was honored for the restoration of the main portal of Gut Müllenark in Inden, and the Johannes Abel stonemasonry firm from Auggen for its work on the transept gable spire in the upper bay of the southern nave-transept at Salem Cathedral.
In addition, the jury decided to award a special commendation to one project. Although the project was not executed in natural stone, it made a lasting impression on the jury because the company was able to reconstruct, revive, and preserve various traditional craft techniques. The special commendation goes to Sauer GmbH in Budenheim for the reconstruction of a Gothic ribbed vault in St. Nicholas Church in Alzey-Budenheim.
