Invisible protection for the Triumphal Arch of Emperor Maximilian I with SCHOTT AMIRAN^® for showcases DONE

Background
It is uncontested. With the Triumphal Arch of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, painter and graphic artist Albrecht Dürer created the largest wood print of his time; and one could say this is true in two ways. First, the work measures an impressive 3.5 meters. Secondly, Dürer’s rendering of the Triumphal Arch serves as a monument to the Emperor as a glorious commander.

The masterpiece (completed in 1518) consists of 195 wood blocks. They were printed on 36 major folio sheets. For a Dürer exhibition at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt/Main, the wood print was presented behind dual-sided non-reflecting glass.

Challenge
The Städel Museum had to fulfill two requirements when exhibiting the masterpiece:

• First, it needed to ensure that the wood print was protected against vandalism. For that reason, the protective glass covering had to be extremely stable and scratch-proof.
• Secondly, the glass had to provide the art enthusiast an unimpeded view of the work.

Solution
When glazing the Triumphal Arch of Emperor Maximilian I, the glass case builders at the Städel opted for SCHOTT AMIRAN^®. This special glass is absolutely robust and scratch-proof thanks to its high-tech coating.

Another benefit of this unusual interference coating is that it reduces disturbing reflections to 1% and allows 98% of light to pass through it.
The glass is therefore:

• nearly invisible,
• color-neutral and
• perfectly suited to extreme differences in brightness.

This is a very important criterion for glass cabinets because there are major light differences in front of and behind the glass.

In order to fulfil the security aspect, the glass cabinet builders used SCHOTT AMIRAN^® as high penetration-resistant laminated glass with a total thickness of approx. 17.5 mm, consisting of two panes of single-side nonreflecting AMIRAN^® with PVB film sandwiched between them. The impressive total surface of about 11.5 sqm consists of three sections, which are each 3.75 meters in height.