Middeleeuwse dakkappen in Brugge en ommeland. Een catalogus.

Historic timber roofs in Belgium: overview of materials and structures (1150-1960)

“…18th century carpentry could certainly deserve further research in Belgium, but at present, there is no indication that major changes occurred during this period. This remarkable stability has been confirmed by recent investigations in Brussels, Bruges, and Vilvoorde [21,20,37]. The archive of one of the most successful architects in the Austrian Netherlands, Laurent-Benoît Dewez (1731-1812), provides dozen of plans of Belgian roofs predominantly relying on a trapezoidal portal frame topped by a simple king-post truss (Fig.…”

“…In the last two decades, a renewed interest in the documentation and the rehabilitation of historic timber structures led to a large number of studies. To name but a few, researchers have focussed on specific buildings [14][15][16][17], building techniques [18,19], on cities [20,21] and regions [22]. These works focused mostly on the middle ages and, to a lesser extent, on the early modern period.…”

“…The Belgian territories, independently from their ruling power, have always faced unequal access to wood resources, resulting in intricate supply networks. As there can be a considerable distance between a roof and its 1337d) were all sourced from Southern Belgium [20,30,31]. Furthermore, clear traces of floating squared timbers on the Meuse have been recorded in many Flemish roofs, with timbers having holes that enabled the assembly of rafts with ropes and marks affixed by merchants (Fig.…”

“…In Belgium, proto-purlin roofs can be observed in St John's Hospital in Bruges (1226-1241d) (Fig. 4E) and in the quite similar roof of the Bijloke Hospital in Ghent (1251-1255d), where two couples of plates support the rafters [20]. However, the introduction of these horizontal elements was likely an attempt to provide "raised wall plates" on which to erect the upper part of the roof.…”