Who still masters the art of building vaults today? Anton Gröll is one of the few bricklayers in Germany who is still a master of the old technique. Using nothing but stone and mortar, he builds a wine cellar with a cross vault in six weeks. And this in a modern new building. In a simple concrete cellar.

Toni, as everyone calls him, only uses old bricks for his vaults. For him, they have more character and history than modern building materials and they simply look nicer. He doesn't use ready-made mortar out of a bag either. He mixes it himself from lime and sand.
He and his employees put pillars and vaults together like a mosaic, spanning arches through the room.

A cross vault is a bold construction. The vault is self-supporting because the compressive load is transferred to the walls and pillars. Pure physics. And yet a miracle.
In the end, the craftsmen will have used 4,000 bricks and, together with the mortar, 30 tons of material. They will have transformed a concrete cellar into a room from another century.

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In “Craftsmanship”, a craft is presented in each film - from the first step to completion. With long takes, precise observations, calm editing sequences and no distracting background music, everyone can understand how things are made and understand why good craftsmanship is also great art.

IN VIDEO Anton Gröll

Author: Margit Kehry
Camera: Hanns Maier, Steffen Bohnert
Sound: Jonathan Scheid, Markus Vetter
Editing: Kirsten Kieninger
Graphic design: Katharina Flamm
Speaker: Rolf Hüffer
Editing: Carmen Lustig
Social media editing: Land und Leute RP online
Production: Eikon Media

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#craftsmanship #DIY #masonry