Alfred Mutz

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Alfred Mutz (born June 15, 1903 in Basel ; † August 26, 1990 there ) was a Swiss mechanic , trade instructor and historian .

Life

Alfred Mutz was the ninth child of Paul Mutz and Martha Mutz (née Misteli). After finishing school, he was an apprentice mechanic at Haas from 1918 to 1922 and later wrote various articles on technology for the Christian Metalworkers' Association (including from the history of technology).

As a teacher at the Basel trade school (from 1934) Mutz taught prospective mechanics the basics. During the Second World War he met Rudolf Laur-Belart , who later became an archaeologist and professor at the University of Basel . For Laur-Belart he recreated the iron window grille of a Roman villa excavated near Hölstein and wrote an essay about it for Ur-Switzerland . In addition to the replica of the window grille, he made other "antique" objects, including a Roman high-speed scale to equip the Roman house in Augst .

After his retirement in 1967, he studied ancient technology with an archeology student on various Roman pieces in various museums and institutes throughout Italy. Back from Italy, Mutz managed to get the necessary financial means to publish his first major work The Art of Metal Turning at the Romans in 1972. Thanks to his thirst for research and numerous publications on the history of ancient metal art, Alfred Mutz received an honorary doctorate from Basel University on November 24, 1972.

Four years later (1976) he founded the Alfred Mutz Foundation with the aim of safeguarding his collected material on the one hand and making his extensive specialist library on ancient technology and the history of technology accessible to everyone on the other. After his death in 1990, according to his wishes, his specialist library was attached to the Basel University Library and made accessible to the public.

Publications (selection)

  • A Roman window grille on Holstein. In: Ur-Schweiz 1954, 1, pp. 15-18.
  • A Roman speed scale. In: Ur-Schweiz 20, 1956, 32–37.
  • A seldom large Roman bell from Augst. In: Ur-Schweiz 21, 1957, pp. 48–52.
  • Roman taps. In: Ur-Schweiz 22, 1958, pp. 24–31.
  • The vase from Vix. House newspaper Metallwerke AG Dornach 8, 1959, pp. 12-16.
  • The art of metal turning among the Romans. Interpretations of ancient work processes based on traces of work. Basel and Stuttgart 1972.
  • We work with metal - 25 descriptions of metalworking professions , Munich 1978.
  • Sketches from the youth of an eighty year old. Basel 1983.
  • The "weight stone" siliqua. In: Annual reports from Augst and Kaiseraugst, 5 (1985), pp. 223-225.
  • A turned sandstone table from Augst. In: Annual reports from Augst and Kaiseraugst, 6 (1986), pp. 171–181.
  • A Roman screw fragment from Augst. In: Annual reports from Augst and Kaiseraugst, 6 (1986), pp. 183-185.
  • What was it? : on an iron object from Chur GR, Markthallenplatz In: Yearbook of the Swiss Society for Prehistory and Early History = Annuaire de la Société Suisse de Préhistoire et d'Archéologie = Annuario della Società Svizzera di Preistoria e d'Archeologia, 70 (1987), p 199-200.
  • The running bike in St. Leonhard's Church. In: Basler Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Altertumskunde, 1989, pp. 145–163.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Ehret, Joseph: Alfred Mutz, bridge builder between archeology and technology, Basel 1980.
personal data
SURNAME Mutz, Alfred
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss mechanic, trade instructor and historian
DATE OF BIRTH June 15, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Basel
DATE OF DEATH August 26, 1990
Place of death Basel