Plan drawings

The Francke Foundations archive holds more than 3,400 plan drawings documenting historical building activities from the 18th to the 20th century. In addition to the depictions of the buildings on the foundation grounds, drawings of other properties in Halle (Saale) as well as the former agricultural foundation estates in the region, the Goddelsheim copper mine and the school buildings in Tranquebar (now Tharangambadi) in south-east India have also been preserved.

Research

Classification

The shelfmarks of the plan archive (AFSt/A) are divided into three numbers. The first number indicates the main group, which comprises a specific building or complex. The second number defines a sub-group which, for example, summarizes a century or certain parts of a building. This is followed by the sequential number of the objects. A precise inventory overview, which can be used for research purposes can be found at the end of this introductory text.
Please note that this is a standardized scheme. The house numbers given correspond to the current status, but have changed repeatedly in the course of the foundation's history and especially during the renovations in the 1990s and 2000s. They also include adjoining outbuildings that no longer exist today. In addition, the building names essentially reflect the institutions that founded the building or shaped it over a long period of time. Particularly in the case of schools, a distribution and frequent change of buildings must be taken into account.

Cataloging

The cataloging data is recorded according to a standardized structure. The title initially indicates the type of drawing (e.g. floor plan), the parts of the building (e.g. first floor) and the name of the building or property. The surviving titles have been transcribed and confirmed or presumed draughtsmen named. The annotations may contain further information on the context, localization, alternative building designations or references to subsequent entries. The subject headings are arranged in the following order: type of building (e.g. school building), storey, details (e.g. chimney, roof truss) and type of representation (e.g. elevation, cross-section). The house numbers are listed in a separate field, as far as an assignment is possible, and can be taken into account in the search query.

Project

The complete digitization and revision of the indexing data was carried out as part of the project »Digitization of historical plan drawings, building and property files from the Francke Foundations Archive«, which was funded by the state of Saxony-Anhalt 2024.
The digitization and the integration of the digitized data into the archive database and the digital collections are intended to provide both general culture enthusiasts and specialists from various academic disciplines (monument preservation, art history, professional history, etc.) with location-independent and worldwide access to these central sources of the Francke Foundations.

If you have any questions about the plan drawings, please contact the archivist Arvid Steubler.