Hans Wilhelm Mutzbauer

Memorial plaque for Hans Wilhelm Mutzbauer in the Rheinanlagen

Hans Wilhelm Mutzbauer (born February 26, 1908 in Essingen (Palatinate) , † November 3, 1968 in Koblenz ) was a German horticultural architect . As head of the municipal garden and cemetery office, he was responsible for the reconstruction of the war-torn cemeteries and parks of the city of Koblenz, including the Koblenz Rhine plants , from 1950 .

Life and work

Born in the Palatinate, he learned his trade at the horticultural college in Weihenstephan near Freising . During his training, he had an accident at work that resulted in a lower leg being amputated. After graduating, he first found a job in Graz , Austria , from where he moved to Nuremberg in 1935 . Here he contributed to the expansion of the zoo at the Dutzendteich . In 1939 he took up his first position as gardening director in Ludwigshafen am Rhein . After the Second World War , he was finally appointed to Koblenz in January 1950, where he headed the Koblenz Garden and Cemetery Office until his death in 1968. He was married and had three children. Hans Wilhelm Mutzbauer died unexpectedly on November 3rd, 1968. He was buried in the New Pfaffendorfer Cemetery that he created in 1954/1955.

Working as horticultural director in Koblenz

In the city on the Rhine and Moselle , Mutzbauer made a major contribution to the reconstruction and redesign of the Koblenz parks. So he and his employees had rebuilt and redesigned the Rhine facilities after severe war damage within just 5 months . Many systems in Koblenz bear or bear his signature. B .:

• the flower courtyard of the Deutschherrenhaus ( redesigned for the Federal Garden Show 2011 ),
• the 1958 redesigned Lützeler Volkspark ,
• the Moselle promenades from the Europabrücke to the Koblenz barrage ,
• the design of Overbergplatz in the Goldgrube district .

Another focus of his activity in Koblenz was the expansion and construction of cemeteries. For example, he had the Koblenz main cemetery restored and expanded and new cemeteries set up in the districts of Lützel, Pfaffendorf and Asterstein.

One of his most important works after 1956 is the redesign of the former Hübeling battery , part of the Prussian fortress Koblenz and Ehrenbreitstein , into a memorial with an area of ​​around 10,000 m² for those killed in the war in the city of Koblenz. With this "memorial site" [...] Mutzbauer has set himself a monument in the hearts of many people in Koblenz. " That the room received a festive atmosphere through the subdued light. Franziska Plate took on the artistic design of the walls with the names of the dead and missing, while the "larger than life, bronze angel figure" was the work of the sculptor Eugen Keller .

Appreciation

Mutzbauer's work, which is characterized by a move away from baroque structures towards a functional understanding of the art of horticulture, represents a new direction in garden art, "which should show a complete break with the past and a political reorientation towards the outside world". Today, a simple bronze memorial plaque in the Rhine complex reminds of the former Prussian city wall ( 50 ° 21 ′ 15 ″  N , 7 ° 36 ′ 9,5 ″  E ), not far from the Pfaffendorfer Bridge, of the important Koblenz garden director of the post-war period, of his services to the Koblenz plants is also apostrophized as their second creator. "

literature

• Helmut Kampmann: When stones speak. Memorial plaques and memorial plaques in Koblenz. Fuck-Verlag, Koblenz 1992, ISBN 3-9803142-0-0 , p. 148f. and p. 260.
• Matthias Kellermann: 75 years Lützeler Volkspark. On the history of the park in Koblenz-Lützel. Ed .: Feste Kaiser Franz e. V. Koblenz 2011, ISBN 978-3-934795-87-7 , p. 34f.
• Press and Tourism Office of the City of Koblenz: The Rheinanlagen Koblenz. From the beginnings till now. with contributions by Willi Hört, Franz-Josef Heyen, Katharina Richter, Detlef Wahl u. a. Self-published, Koblenz 1992, p. 10 f.
• Wolfgang Schütz: Koblenz heads. People from the city's history - namesake for streets and squares. 2. revised u. exp. Edition. Publishing house for advertising papers, Mülheim-Kärlich 2005, p. 405 f.
• City of Koblenz: The cemetery guide. This world & the hereafter. Mammut-Verlag, Leipzig 2005, p. 46 ff. And 34 f. (can be obtained free of charge at various locations in Koblenz)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ An old powder tower becomes a memorial . In: Rhein-Zeitung . October 12, 1955.
2. ↑ Kampmann: When stones speak. 1992, p. 148.
3. ↑ Kampmann: When stones speak. 1992, p. 260.
4. ^ Katharina Richter, Detlef Wahl: Rheinanlagen mit Rheinfront 1809 to 1983. In: Press- und Tourismusamt Stadt Koblenz: Die Rheinanlagen Koblenz. From the beginnings till now. Self-published, Koblenz 1992, p. 90.