A chance find Historic staircase from the 15th century turns up in the USA
A coincidence led to its rediscovery: a stone staircase from Palma de Mallorca that had been lost for centuries has turned up in the Princeton University Art Museum in the USA.
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- A literary scholar has discovered a stone staircase from the 15th century, originally located in Palma de Mallorca, which was thought to have been lost, in the Princeton University Art Museum.
- By deciphering an inscription in early medieval Catalan, it was possible to reconstruct the structure in a historically accurate way.
- There is evidence that the staircase came to the USA via the art dealer Arthur Byne and Baron Cassel van Doorn.
A building from Palma de Mallorca that was thought to be lost has reappeared - in an unexpected place.
Literary scholar Enric Mallorquí-Ruscalleda came across a monumental stone staircase from the 15th century in the Princeton University Art Museum, which was thought to have been lost for decades.
The find was a coincidence: in 2010, a curator at the museum approached the expert in Spanish and Portuguese literature with an unusual request.
She asked him to help her decipher an inscription on a medieval staircase that had been in the USA for decades at the time.
Widow left the staircase to the museum
The work of art had been donated by Baron Cassel van Doorn in 1955 and had been dismantled and rebuilt several times. As a result, it was unclear how the individual parts were originally arranged and what the meaning of the inscription was.
Mallorquí-Ruscalleda recognized the language immediately: early medieval Catalan. He translated the text into English so that the museum could reconstruct the components historically correctly.
The engraved text turned out to be a prayer: "They were heard ... by the holy apostolic fathers ... and he sings of his misfortune, for he who dances is brought before the magnanimous Our Father, who possesses us even after death." However, the scientist was not only fascinated by the words, but also by the artistic design of the staircase.
Once owned by a prestigious Mallorcan family
Years earlier, he had come across traces of the building during a study - including a drawing by the art dealer Arthur Byne and an engraving by the writer and painter J. B. Laurens, both of which depicted a staircase in Palma.
Now Mallorquí-Ruscalleda could say with certainty that it was the same staircase that is now in the Princeton Art Museum. It was also possible to trace how the building got from Mallorca to the USA.
According to Mallorquí-Ruscalleda, the staircase once belonged to a prestigious Mallorcan family. It was later acquired by Arthur Byne in Madrid and came into the possession of Baron Cassel van Doorn in 1929. His widow eventually left the architectural jewel to the museum in Princeton.