  We present an analysis of the observed light curves and spectra of the Type
Ia supernova SN1994D in the galaxy NGC 4526. The sensitivity of theoretical
light curves and spectra to the underlying hydrodynamical model is discussed.
  The calculations are consistent with respect to the explosion mechanism, the
optical and infrared light curves, and the spectral evolution, leaving the
description of the nuclear burning front and the structure of the white dwarf
as the only free parameters.
  The explosions are calculated using a one-dimensional Lagrangian code
including a nuclear network. Subsequently, the light curves are constructed.
Detailed NLTE-spectra are computed for several instants of time using the
density, chemical, and luminosity structure resulting from the light curve
code.
  Different scenarios have been compared to the observations including
detonations, deflagrations, delayed detonations, tamped detonations and Helium
detonations. Only one of our delayed detonations models shows good agreement
with the observations of SN1994D both for the B, V, R and I colors and the
spectral evolution. The classical deflagration model W7 does not reproduce the
high Si velocities as observed early on. The deflagration velocity is close to
the laminar deflagration $(v =0.03 c_s)$, and the transition from the
deflagration to the detonation occurs at $\rho_{tr} = 2.~10^7 g/cm^{3}$. The
initial central density of the white dwarf (WD) is $2.7~10^9 g/cm^{3}$.
  The distance to SN1994D is determined to $16.2 \pm 2 Mpc$. The explosion took
