Gundolf Bruchhaus

Gundolf Bruchhaus (born January 21, 1942 in Aschaffenburg ) is a German architect , photographer , musician and architectural historian with a focus on architectural research in the Caucasus .

biography

During his studies at RWTH Aachen with Rudolf Steinbach and Gottfried Böhm, Gundolf Bruchhaus was interested in the basic needs of living and living in a confined space. Its stylistic character stems from the spirit of the Bauhaus Dessau and functionalism. Bruchhaus deepened his knowledge of architecture on numerous international research trips, mainly in South Caucasian countries such as Armenia , Georgia and Eastern Turkey. After graduating, he became an assistant at Böhm and, from 1980, began teaching at the Institute for Art History at RWTH Aachen University. Under Böhm's successor Volkwin Marg , Bruchhaus was appointed adjunct professor for urban planning and engineering as well as head of the chair at the institute for urban development and regional planning.

photography

Bruchhaus has been making professional architectural photographs in large format since 1969. From this activity the research area Christian-Armenian sacred architecture in the Middle East and South Caucasus developed.

Bruchhaus discovered photography and art for himself in the mid-1970s. He is busy u. a. with photo anamorphoses, to which he was inspired by art historical studies, especially by the painting by Hans Holbein the Younger The Ambassadors from 1533. He currently runs his own gallery in Aachen with changing exhibitions.

Research on the architecture of Armenia and Georgia

At the suggestion of a US-American-Armenian cultural organization, Bruchhaus organized and led the first expedition to Eastern Turkey in 1973. Expedition participants from the fields of photo documentation, architectural drawing and interpreting supported the research work. T. was carried out under adventurous and threatening conditions. The actual research goal was kept secret, traces of Christian-Armenian churches and architectural cultural monuments such as B. wanted cross stones and inscription panels. References to possible sites came among other things. a. by friars of the Mechitarists , a congregation of Armenian-Catholic clergy. The field research was based on oral information, literary references and historical sources. A total of six expeditions were carried out.

The practical search for clues was followed by invitations to cooperate on various academic projects. The theoretical work was initiated by Bruchhaus's co-authorship on a microfiche project in Armenia. A short time later, an invitation to Georgia followed. Bruchhaus was presented with an ongoing project there and asked for his cooperation. However, he proposed his own, much more extensive documentation, for which he ultimately received not only approval but all available powers. This is the collection and publication of all available materials on the subject of Armenian sacred architecture.

Following a further suggestion by Bruchhaus, the publication was published in English and Georgian, as the Georgian language has its own typeface and the bilingualism of the publication is therefore essential for understanding at an international academic level.

The importance of this research series opens up u. a. from the fact that it is important evidence of the cultural and historical development of Georgia. During the many periods of foreign rule, Christianity formed the main link between national unity. The monuments, most of which come from the sacred area, are valued by all strata of the population as carriers of national identity. For this reason, Bruchhaus found the support of the highest government agencies with the research project. a. of the former President of Georgia, Eduard Shevardnadze .

• 1974–1977: Co-founder of the research project 'Research on Armenian Architecture'. In this context, organization and implementation of five expeditions of 6–8 weeks each to the north-east of Turkey to record and document monuments, remains and traces of Christian sacred buildings in this region. Build an archive of photos, plans and building descriptions.
• 1978–1985: Participation in the preparation and editing of the microfiche documentation 'Armenian Architecture' in collaboration with the 'Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute' (Troy, New York, USA) and the 'Academy of Sciences of Armenia' (Erevan, Armenian SSR). In this context, participation with lectures at several symposia (see also “F - lectures and publications”).
• 1989–2010: Co-initiation, planning, organization and realization of the research project 'Georgian Architecture' in cooperation with the 'Academy of Sciences of Georgia' (Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia).

This project is about the complete recording, documentation and microfiche publication of Georgian monuments and their remains / traces from the beginning of the Christianization of the country in the first half of the fourth century to the beginning of socialism. Total volume: eight volumes; approx. 48,000 photos, plans and text pages (see also 'F - lectures and publications').

The project has been funded by the Federal Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany since 1996.

music

After learning the harmonica at the age of four and the accordion at the age of six, Bruchhaus later received professional music lessons . Inspired by concerts by the Chris Barber and Alex Welsh bands in London , he switched to the trumpet at the age of 15. Two years later, the high school jazz band Dixieland Youngsters was founded, with numerous public appearances in the then hometown of Düren . At the same time, Bruchhaus played in the Erkelenz band Erkatown Stompers . In 1963 he moved to the Monkstown Jazzmen in Mönchengladbach .

While studying in the 1960s, the Malteserkeller in Aachen was one of the leading jazz bars in Germany. Here Bruchhaus appeared under the pseudonym Bobby Kirschkern . Some later professors in the fields of art and architecture as well as cosmopolitan musicians emerged from this environment, including Manfred Leuchter and Paul Lovens . There are also radio recordings as a supporting program for a Kurt Edelhagen appearance in the mid-1960s in Erkelenz and an appearance at the Federal Garden Show in Bonn in 1979, alternating with a WDR formation.

Bruchhaus has been playing dance music since the late 1970s. At the same time he led the swing formation Gundolf Bruchhaus Quartet with trumpet, guitar, bass and drums. From around 1985 the DEA Swingport Band was put together and directed by Lech Lukomski on behalf of an agency . From this went u. a. his Dixieland formation Imperial Jazz Band emerged. This is based on an association of NRW musicians who have met in various Dixieland bands since the early 1980s. Spontaneous playing and quick musical reactions characterize this group, which performs in a wide variety of places in Germany and abroad.

Awards

• 1993: Awarded the architecture prize (1st prize) from the BDA for a residential building in Aachen.
• 1994: Personal letter of thanks from the President of the Republic of Georgia, Eduard Shevardnadze , for initiating and implementing the microfiche project 'Georgian Architecture'.
• 1996: Georgian 'State Prize for Science and Technology', the highest honor to be awarded in this field.

Cultural policy activities

• 1988: Member of the Comitato Scientifico, Quinto Simposio Internazionale Di Arte Armena, Venice 1988.
• 1989: Report as invited expert before the European Parliament in Strasbourg on the structural situation of Christian monuments in Turkey. At the same time, a step-by-step plan developed by him was presented, according to which the buildings could be gradually recorded, assessed and placed under protection through suitable measures.
• 1993: Chairman, Le Patrimoine Architectural Armenia, 2e Congrés mondial scientifique arménien [Unesco], Paris 1993
• 1996: Appointment as expert for ICOMOS and trip to Armenia to develop a statement regarding the inclusion of the Haghpat and Sanahin monastery complexes in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
• 1998: Appointment as expert for ICOMOS to develop a statement on the promotion of urban development measures in the listed center of Mtskheta (Georgia) by UNESCO.

Publications and lectures (selection)

• 1978: 'Armenian churches and monasteries in the historical province of Chorord Haik', II. International Symposium on Armenian Art, Erevan 1978 (lecture).
• 1981–1990: 'Armenian Architecture' (microfiche), Leiden 1981–1990 (publication; vol. 1–5 and vol. 7: collaborators and vol. 6: co-author).
• 1983/1989: 'Catalog of Christian Monuments of the South Caucasus: Tao-Klardschetien', IV. International Symposium on Georgian Art, Tbilisi 1983 (lecture). In: 'Сборник Докладов' [Collection of Lectures], Vol. 2, Tbilisi 1989 (publication).
• 1985/1988: 'The Sowrb Dawi Monastery' near Tercan - Materials on Armenian Architectural History ', IV. International Symposium on Armenian Art, Erevan 1985 (lecture). In: 'Theses of Reports', Erevan 1985 (publication of the abstract). In: 'Festschrift für Rudolf Schönwald', Aachen 1988 (complete publication of the lecture).
• 1988/1991: 'The Xad-Hôr Church in Hangstown - Materials on Armenian Architectural History', Quinto Simposio Internazionale Di Arte Armena, Venice 1988 (lecture). In: Atti [reports], Venice 1991 (publication).
• Materials on the Armenian architectural history of the Kiğι region . In: Cahiers Archeologiques Vol. 37, 1989
• 1989: 'On the structural situation of Christian monuments in Turkey', VI. International Symposium on Georgian Art, Tbilisi 1989 (talk).
• Proportion and harmony - measure and number in architecture . In: Bruno Kauhsen (Hrsg.): Architecture connections - Festschrift for Gottfried Böhm . Munich 1990
• 1995: 'Georgian Architecture - experiences on the way to a corpus of archi-tectural monuments of Georgia', Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford, Oxford 1995 (lecture).
• (Ed.): Georgian Architecture - a documented photo-archival collection on mi-crofiche with 47,000 photographs for the study of Early and Late Medieval Christian Architectural Arts of Georgia and its historical area of ​​settlement .

Volume 1, Leiden 1994, Volume 2, Leiden 1955, Volume 3, Leiden 1997, Volume 4, Leiden 1999, Volume 5, Leiden 2001, Volume 6, Leiden 2004, Volume 7, Leiden 2007, Volume 8, Leiden 2010

• 2005/2006: 'The Djwari Church of Mtskheta', [Guide to the Sacred Monuments of Georgia, Volume 1], Aachen / Tbilisi (publication in preparation).
• 2005/2006: 'Monuments of Georgian Architecture', CD-Rom publication, Tbilisi (publication in preparation).
• The Surb Dawiť monastery near Tecan . In: Oriens Christianus Volume 94, 2010, pp. 228–249.
• Architecture and music - about a life with these two arts . In: AIT Dialog No. 3/2015, Hamburg /

literature

• Bruchhaus, Gundolf . In: Georgische Enzyklopädie , Vol. 1, Tbilisi 1997 (Georgian).

Web links

• Portrait on ait-online.de
• Page at RWTH Aachen with picture

Individual evidence

1. ^ Imperial Jazz Band on kulturportal.de.
2. ↑ Chronicle of the City of Aachen 1996 , p. 4.