Walter Andrae und die Wiederentdeckung Assurs das abenteuer der architektonischen zeichnung innerhalb der archäologie des alten orients

Résumé

One of the aims of archaeological investigation is to know and, as far as possible, reconstruct, the physicál space inhabited by the ancient. Field drawing and the histoty of architecture have always gone hand in hand. When Khorsabad was discovered in the middle of the 19th century, there were some positive impulses, that, nonetheless, were not continued. But in Germany, the traditional investigation of ancient architecture, that had been developed since the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, went in depth into the study and documentation of the ruins and construction techniques, suggesting drawings reconstruction buildings based on rigorous information. When German archaeology began to work in the Near East, Robert Koldewey not only introduces modern and rigorous excavation and documentation techniques, but applied reconstrucbon drawings to the study of the cultures of the ancient Orient. His disciples continued his work and among them, Walter Andrae played the most important role. Thanks to his technique, documentation and reconstruction drawings, Assur would come back to reality. Modern technologies, applied to the documentation of those first excavations, could achieve today astounding results.