It all began with the dream of an elevator and some new display cabinets — by now the renovation and alteration works in the Kolk have been going on since more than two years. Accompany us behind the heavy doors of the Kolk and discover together with us the astonishing finds that the construction works at the site have brought to light.
In our virtual tour of the construction site you have the opportunity to discover all rooms with a 360 degree view from your home. Just enter the old museum rooms of the Kolk 14 or the Museum of Theatre Puppets in Kolk 20-22 by clicking on one of the videos. We will acquaint you with the most fascinating, astonishing and scary events that occurred during the works.
Some particulars from the construction site
1. From a garage to a museum
Kolk 14 as a garage and car repair shop
Did you know? What was the entrance with the Museum of Theatre Puppets’ shop up until now, had been a car garage in the 50’s. In the small and narrow Kolk of all things! This is still visible in the angular construction just at the beginning of our virtual tour at Kolk 14. Later, this garage became a bar and finally the well-known entrance to the Museum of Theatre Puppets in Lübeck. (To see further images of the Kolk, click here)
2. Newly interlocked walls
A crack in the masonry and new interlocking cloister format bricks
The layout of the Kolk’s buildings is complex and labyrinthine. Here, masonry of all ages and origins converges. We had quite the scare when the plaster was taken of the walls during the works: In many places the walls had not been interlocked and big holllow spaces were left open instead. This was so detrimental to the stability of the building that whole walls in the Kolk could have collapsed. The safety risk was averted with meticulous manual work. In countless places the walls were newly interlocked, which means connecting them diagonally with bricks.
3. Bricks after the original recipe
Brick doesn’t immediately mean brick! Bricks in cloister format were a popular construction material in the middle ages and can be found in many places in the historical merchant houses of the Kolk. However, not all of the bricks had endured the years equally well, some crumbled away at the first touch. In every place where it was necessary to lay new bricks, bricks made with the original materials were used and baked in historical ovens.
4. What is really old?
In some places in the Kolk paintings were found beneath old layers of plaster or on old beams. Historical paintings were examined by experts and reconstructed digitally. However, in some places it turned out that over time ever new paintings and layers were added. The question to ask here is: What is really old? Those and other questions are keeping building researchers occupied.
We will keep you updated on our blog about all further developments and discoveries.
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