The original door is a truly magnificent antique piece, made by craftsmen, out of wood and glass, in the year 1700. Sadly, however, it no longer offers the necessary level of security for the works of art and furniture kept in the building.
So Christchurch Mansion in Ipswich (UK) commissioned Oikos, a major Venice-based manufacturer of security doors, to create a replacement.
For Oikos, preserving the appeal of the historic, chiselled wood door and arched glass panels of a 500-year-old building represented a huge challenge, but they took it up with characteristic enthusiasm. After conducting the necessary studies, Oikos created a faithful reproduction measuring 1365 mm wide by 2705 mm high, of which the leaf itself measures 2095 mm.
The job took several months to complete and involved recovering the original glazing and making it intruder-resistant and fire-resistant by combining it with other glass. The particular added-value of this handcrafted work lies in the chiselling of the oak structure, and the production of the door's steel security core.
