Gerhard Rudolf Meyer

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Gerhard Rudolf Meyer (born June 19, 1908 in Crimmitschau ; † October 24, 1977 in Berlin ) was a German archaeologist from the Near East and from 1958 to 1976 General Director of the State Museums in Berlin .

Life

Gerhard Rudolf Meyer was born the son of a postal inspector and grew up in a middle-class environment. He passed his Abitur in 1927 at the Realgymnasium. From 1928 to 1933 Meyer studied oriental studies , archeology and Assyriology at the universities of Rostock , Greifswald and Berlin . At the beginning of the 1930s, after Adam Falkenstein, he was with Anton Moortgat as an assyriological employee of the Max-Freiherr-von-Oppenheim Foundation , which looked after the Tell Halaf Museum founded by Max von Oppenheim and an Orient research institute . He later moved to the Near Eastern Department of the Berlin Museums in the Pergamon Museum , where he worked for the director Walter Andrae . During the Second World War Meyer was a soldier in North Africa and was first taken prisoner by the US and later by the Soviet Union. In captivity, he studied linguistics and dealt with the Mittani Empire. After returning from captivity, he went back to the Middle East Collection and did his doctorate at the Humboldt University in Berlin with a thesis on Gutium . Contributions to the cultural history of East Tigris. Part 1. The sources . When Andrae retired as director in 1951, he appointed Meyer as his successor. Despite major problems, especially due to a lack of funds, he devoted himself to rebuilding the collection. The museum had been reconsidered after the end of the war, but opening the museum was out of the question. Meyer's strong presence during the work earned him the nickname Der Bauherr, based on Mesopotamian rulers . In 1951 the first halls of the museum, now as the Vorderasiatisches Museum , were reopened, and in 1953 all halls were accessible again. In the course of the construction work, Meyer had the Assyrian tombs expanded on the basement , which were now accessible from the main level of the exhibition. In 1958, the holdings of the collection that were brought to the Soviet Union after the end of the war were returned to the exhibition. Meyer has now redesigned the exhibition. He let the Assyrian reliefs and also the showcases sink into the walls. In doing so, he achieved a new impact on the exhibition. On March 1, 1958, Meyer was also appointed General Director of the National Museums in Berlin. He remained general director until January 16, 1976, director of the Vorderasiatisches Museum until his death. In 1961 he was appointed professor at Humboldt University. In addition, he was deputy chairman of the Kulturbund of the GDR and from 1963 to 1977 he was a member of the Volkskammer for four electoral terms , where he was active in cultural policy as a Berlin representative. In his first electoral term he represented the NDPD , then in three electoral terms until his death, the Kulturbund. Meyer died unexpectedly in 1977. His successor as director of the Vorderasiatisches Museum was his long-term employee Liane Jakob-Rost .

Meyer dealt primarily with the history and legacies of the ancient Anatolian state of Urartu . His most important scientific work was the investigation of a bronze griffin from Rusahinili ( Toprakkale ). At least since his appointment as general director of the Berlin museums, Meyer could only rarely devote himself to research, which is why only a limited number of Meyer's writings were produced. His most important popular scientific and most widespread work was a first major guide through the exhibition of ancient oriental finds. His older short guide What ancient monuments tell was also translated into other languages, including Czech and English, and was published six times up into the 1970s. In addition, as director general of the museums, he was able to make international contacts and present parts of the collection in Japan and Scandinavian countries. He has often been to lectures abroad. Meyer was also active as an excavator, for example digging in Babylon , where he was responsible in particular for the investigation of the " Tower of Babel ".

Even as a child, Meyer devoted himself to a wide variety of objects that he considered worth collecting. Over the years, he brought together a notable collection of minerals, which he later donated to the museum in his hometown of Crimmitschau. He also supported other projects in his hometown, to which he remained connected throughout his life, both ideally and financially. On his 60th birthday in 1968 Meyer became an honorary citizen of the city where he was buried after his death.

Awards

Fonts

  • with Johannes Friedrich : The inscriptions from Tell Halaf. Cuneiform texts and Aramaic documents from an Assyrian provincial capital , 1940 ( Archive for Orient Research , Supplement 6) (Reprint: Biblio, Osnabrück 1967)
  • Ancient oriental monuments in the Vorderasiatisches Museum zu Berlin , Seemann, Leipzig 1965

Footnotes

  1. ↑ See the entry of Gerhard Meyer's matriculation in the Rostock matriculation portal

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Meyer, Gerhard Rudolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German archaeologist from the Middle East, Member of the Board of Directors
DATE OF BIRTH June 19, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Crimmitschau
DATE OF DEATH October 24, 1977
Place of death Berlin