Gerhard Seebach

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gerhard Seebach (2008)

Gerhard Seebach (born July 25, 1946 in Gols in Burgenland , † December 15, 2008 in Vienna ) was an Austrian building researcher and monument conservator .

Life

Born out of wedlock, Seebach grew up with his grandparents in Gols until the end of elementary school . To attend the grammar school - he attended the BRG Stubenbastei in Vienna I. - he was brought to Vienna by his mother. After graduating from high school , he studied mechanical engineering at the Vienna University of Technology . After the first diploma examination, however, he broke off this course and studied art history . Since he was 18, Gerhard Seebach earned his living as a music critic for a daily newspaper, as an employee in the Arnegger planning office and as a designer of gourmet restaurants.

Seebach earned a great name in a completely different area. From the earliest days he has been interested in castles and their scientific research, but also in other historical secular and sacred buildings , of which he often took the first plans. Around 1970 he got to know Walter Pongratz , who was then President of the Waldviertler Heimatbundes . This promoted the commitment and interest of the young Seebach and introduced him to Bernhard Naber, the abbot of the Benedictine Abbey of Altenburg . There, a few years later, he set significant impulses for archaeological and architectural research into the monastery. Walter Pongratz and Gerhard Seebach published their joint research results on the Waldviertel castles in the series "Burgen und Schlösser" from Birken Verlag, today's Niederösterreichisches Pressehaus. In 1973 he married Christine Toman, the publisher's daughter. There were two children from this marriage.

It was not until the mid-1970s that historical building research began to develop as a modern sub-discipline within the art-historical preoccupation with sacred buildings, with Seebach, who developed the dating of masonry through the development of time-specific structures, alongside his friend Martin Bitschnau in Tyrol . Despite a small number of published works on the topic, he has methodically and terminologically created the basis on which a predominantly younger generation is based. Castle research in particular has provided the decisive impetus in recent years. Seebach wrote his dissertation after years of on-site research about Altenburg Abbey under the supervision of Renate Wagner-Rieger .

The investigation of Schloss Neugebauten at the end of the 1980s was a major project that he devoted himself to with great ambition. The examination of the Cathedral of Trento is considered a highlight of his work . It was concluded in 2001 with an extensive publication. In 1991 he met his future wife Doris Gneisz as an employee. In 1999 their son Florian was born.

In 1994 Seebach was called to the Federal Chancellery, where he took over the restoration management of the facades. This building marked the beginning of an industry into which he worked with great ambition. Objects that particularly impressed him were the restoration of the church at Steinhof (1140 Vienna), the restoration of a grand hall in the Herrengasse Ministry of the Interior, and the Renaissance courtyard and facades at Bäckerstraße 7 (1010 Vienna). In the last fourteen years he has been responsible for around 120 building restorations, primarily in Vienna . He could no longer complete the restoration management of the Ministry of Finance's restoration in Himmelpfortgasse. Publications planned by him such as B. to Gozzoburg in Krems or to Schlaining Castle could no longer appear like this.

Seebach can be described as the founder of "modern" historical building research in Eastern Austria thanks to his pioneering work in the field of historical building research, in particular due to his intensive examination of the genesis of wall technology .

Publications (selection)

  • with Walter Pongratz : Burgen und Schlösser, Litschau - Zwettl - Ottenschlag - Weitra (= Lower Austrian castles and palaces 3, Waldviertel 1), Vienna 1971, ISBN 3850300072
  • with Walter Pongratz: Burgen und Schlösser, Ysper - Pöggstall - Weiten (= Lower Austrian castles and palaces 3, Waldviertel 2), Vienna 1972, ISBN 3850300080
  • Altenburg Abbey: A guide through the collegiate church. Altenburg / Horn 1975.
  • The construction of castles in the Babenberg era. In: 1000 years of Babenberger in Austria. Catalog of the Lower Austrian State Museum New Series Volume 66, Vienna 1976, pp. 454–471.
  • with Hermann Wiessner: Castles and palaces around Friesach, St. Veit - Wolfsberg (= Carinthian castles and palaces 1), Vienna 1977.
  • with Hermann Wiessner: Castles and Palaces in Carinthia, Klagenfurt - Feldkirchen - Völkermarkt (= Carinthian Burgen und Schlösser 2), Vienna 1980, ISBN 3850300161
  • with Hanna Egger , Gerhard Egger and Gregor Schweighofer: Altenburg Abbey and its art treasures. St. Pölten / Vienna 1981, ISBN 3853266029
  • Imbach Castle. In: Franz Fux (Ed.): Under veil and crook, story of Imbach. Imbach 1989, pp. 669-671.
  • The Rosenburg - Investigations into the medieval building history. In: Nobility in Transition. Politics - Culture - Confession 1500-1700. Catalog of the Lower Austrian State Museum New Series Volume 251, Vienna 1990, ISBN 3854600194 , pp. 603–605
  • On the building history of the Lower Austrian country house in the 16th century. In: Nobility in Transition. Politics - Culture - Confession 1500-1700. Catalog of the Lower Austrian State Museum New Series Volume 251, Vienna 1990, ISBN 3854600194 , pp. 313–315
  • with Martin Bitschnau , Barbara Kienzl and Ulrike Steiner: The profane architectural and art monuments of the city of Friesach (= Austrian Art Topography Volume 51), Vienna 1991, ISBN 3850284352
  • Archaeological and architectural studies 1991–1994. In: Iginio Rogger, Enrico Cavada (a cura di): L'antica Basilica di San Vigilio in Trento. Storia - Archeologia - Reperti. Trento 2001, pp. 135-313.

literature

  • Oliver Fries: Obituary for Dr. Gerhard Seebach. In: Das Waldviertel 58 (2009) pp. 420–423.

Remarks

  1. ↑ ART HISTORY: Waving enigmatically . In: Der Spiegel . No. 38 , 1986 ( online - 15 September 1986 ).
  2. ↑ Oliver Fries: Obituary for Dr. Gerhard Seebach. In: Das Waldviertel 58 (2009) pp. 420–423

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Seebach, Gerhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian building researcher and monument conservator
DATE OF BIRTH July 25, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Gols , Burgenland
DATE OF DEATH December 15, 2008
Place of death Vienna