On 1 and 2 June 2023, researchers from the Materi-A-Net team Arthur Acker and Aleksandra Lipińska undertook a research trip to Franconia to examine archival holdings there. On the one hand, they searched for documents relating to alabaster in the records of the Teutonic Order, in the State Archive in Nuremberg, In the Fürstlich Castell’sches Archiv zu Castell, on the other hand, they familiarised themselves with the sources relating to the extraction and trade of alabaster by the Counts of Castell. With the kind support of the archivist Jesko Graf zu Dohna, it was not only possible to consult and digitise the archive holdings, but also to visit the alabaster-rich vineyards of Castell as well a parish church there with its stunning alabaster pulpit. Finally the researchers visited churches in the region that preserve alabaster furnishing: the parish church in Rüdenhausen and the Cistercian church in Ebrach.
