Students from Kwansei Gakuin University place wooden replicas of the university’s clock tower’s old iron ornaments in places where the original ornaments once stood.
15:41 JST, August 10, 2024
NISHINOMIYA, Hyogo — A project is underway to restore the intricate ironwork that once adorned the staircase in the bell tower of Kwansei Gakuin University, which was removed during World War II.
The tower, designed by American architect William Merrell Vories and completed in 1929, is a symbol of the university in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture. The metal decorations were placed in 23 places on the banisters in this tower, but it is believed that they were removed and donated to the war effort.
The bell tower of Kwansei Gakuin University
Based on blueprints and photographs from the time, the larger ornaments were octagonal and approximately 14 inches (35 centimeters) wide and high. The ornaments were finished in bronze and had an elegant design reminiscent of plants. However, the university newspaper reported in 1942 that all of the iron and steel on campus, including the library’s iron railings, had been collected. The stairwell ornaments also appear to have been removed for use by the military.
The decorations’ existence was largely forgotten over the years. That changed in 2022, when Marie Kurata, the curator of the university museum, began a project to restore them to their original state. Associate Prof. Masakazu Ishigure of the university’s School of Architecture and several students examined surviving drawings and photographs and used them as references to create 13 wooden models of the decorations.
These replicas will be attached to the balustrades and displayed to the public in a special exhibition at the university museum starting on September 28. The project aims to create and install iron ornaments in the place where the originals once stood in 2029, to commemorate the 140th anniversary of the founding of Kwansei Gakuin.
