Hugo Borger

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Hugo Borger (born November 23, 1925 in Düsseldorf , † September 15, 2004 in Bonn ) was a German medieval archaeologist , museum founder, building and monument curator, general director of Cologne museums and university professor. In addition, Hugo Borger, as a great communicator, is heavily involved in local and national cultural politics .

Scientific career

Growing up in Krefeld , Hugo Borger studied art history , classical archeology , history and theater studies at the University of Cologne and Bonn from 1948 to 1954 after completing his journeyman's examination as a bricklayer . In 1955 he received his doctorate from Hans Kauffmann in Cologne. phil. with a dissertation on the St. Vitus Minster in Mönchengladbach and went to the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn in 1959 .

From 1961 Borger headed numerous important archaeological excavations at the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn and was department director there from 1965. From 1966 he took on a teaching position for archeology of the Middle Ages at the University of Bonn, on April 1, 1970 he was appointed honorary professor there. In 1972 he was appointed director of the Roman-Germanic Museum of the City of Cologne and from 1974 was also director of the Historical Museums of the City of Cologne. In 1981 he was also appointed General Director of the Museums of the City of Cologne. In 1990 he retired.

Services

Hugo Borger already carried out numerous archaeological excavations in medieval churches and city centers during his studies and after completing his doctorate as part of the recording of art monuments in the Rhineland and published parts in short preliminary reports. His excavation sites include Xanten , Mönchengladbach Minster , Neuss and Bonn . The focus was mostly on the cities' “growth stages”.

When changes in Neuss Minster were pending in Neuss at the end of the 1950s and beginning of the 60s, this provided the opportunity for archaeological research on early Christian settlement. As a result, Borger found Merovingian graves on the north side of Munsterplatz; Until then, Frankish graves north of Cologne were only known in Krefeld- Gellep . His find documented a continuous settlement of Novaesium in the area of St. Quirin even in post-Roman times. With a view to Wolbero , Borger was able to provide evidence that the builder had probably planned the three-icon system from the beginning. He published his findings in the supplement to the Bonner Jahrbuch and in excerpts in the Neusser Jahrbuch. He devoted numerous publications to archaeological and architectural studies of the Cologne Cathedral .

Hugo Borger on a guided tour on the occasion of the state visit of the Jordanian royal couple in the Roman-Germanic Museum

From 1976 to 1988 Borger was chairman of the Association of State Archaeologists in the Federal Republic of Germany .

With his numerous ideas and initiatives, Hugo Borger has repeatedly stimulated and promoted the discussion about museums. The problems that had to be solved were always the focus. Borger always endeavored to make the museums more lively and interesting, i.e. not only to educate the museum content, but also to create an incentive by strengthening the tendency of the 1960s to integrate the museum into everyday social life.

Hugo Borger developed a trend-setting concept for the design of the Roman-Germanic Museum of the City of Cologne, which is currently under construction. The new museum was opened on March 4, 1974, with its "revolutionary innovation" (according to Hansgerd Hellenkemper , his successor in the office of museum director), that many exhibits can be viewed all around. Since the 17th century it has been customary to place the stones on the wall and the showcases in the middle of the room. Borger has reversed this principle: he has drawn the showcases on the walls and placed the stones in the center. Also new to this museum were the audio programs, which are common today. With the help of this medium, according to Hugo Borger at the time,

destroys the silence of prayer that has prevailed in the museum rooms and thus allows articulation in the everyday space from which the majority of visitors come.

The concept of the Roman-Germanic Museum is now considered to be one of the decisive turning points in the museum's conception.

Despite the sometimes strong rejection in the specialist field, the museum was and is accepted and understood by the public, so that a social legitimation emerged here, which brought the end of the museum crisis in sight and which therefore broke the critical accusations of conservative and progressive provenance , says Achim Preiss.

Hugo Borger also saw himself as a cultural politician and made a name for himself far beyond the city of Cologne.

He felt the change earlier than many of his colleagues, which, with the upheavals in social and political life, also changed the demands and expectations of the public's demands and expectations of the museum. Due to his basic democratic and social attitude, the "opening" of the traditional temple of the Muses became a matter of course for him. His talent for didactic presentations, his imagination and the skill in conveying art and history in the new building of the Roman-Germanic Museum served as a reference for subsequent planning , according to Peter Nestler, former head of the cultural department of the city of Cologne.

Hugo Borger was also significantly involved in the development of the Museum Mile of the Federal City of Bonn with the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany , the House of the History of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Bonn Art Museum .

In addition to numerous popular science works, Hugo Borger has written important television films and documentaries on monuments, museums and archeology.

Hugo Borger's official inventory was taken over on May 15, 1990 by the Historical Archives of the City of Cologne.

Awards

Quotes

"There is nothing to be gained from intolerance."

"I welcome criticism, but it does not bother me because what I do with what I do is done in such a way that if I do, I am convinced that it is right."

“Theater is needed to convey history. Malraux once said that things must be allowed to undergo a metamorphosis. In order to bring history and art to the people, any staging means is fine with me, as long as it does not become an end in itself. "

Fonts (selection)

Hugo Borger published publications in particular on the subject of archeology of the Middle Ages and medieval architectural history, on problem areas of the museum for today's society as well as numerous museum catalogs.

  • The minster S [ankt] Vitus zu Mönchen-Gladbach . Fredebeul & Koenen, Essen 1958, DNB 450560228 (= Die Kunstdenkmäler des Rhineland , Supplement 6, also dissertation at the University of Cologne , Philosophical Faculty, March 9, 1959).
  • Xanten, origin and history of a medieval town (contributions to the history and folklore of the Dinslaken district). Gesthuysen, Xanten 1960
  • They built an image of the sky. Monographs of Romanesque and Gothic churches from North Rhine-Westphalia on West German advertising television . Cologne 1970.
  • The Hänneschen makes the puppets dance . Administration of the Museums of the City of Cologne, Cologne 1976.
  • The Roman-Germanic Museum Cologne . Callwey, Munich 1977.
  • Xanten. Development and history of a Lower Rhine monastery (cultural sites on the Lower Rhine, vol. 2). Gesthuysen, Xanten 1966 (2nd edition 1977).
  • The Cologne Cathedral . Greven, Cologne 1980.
  • Cologne - the city as a work of art. City views from the 15th to the 20th century . 2nd edition Greven, Cologne 1982.
  • The images of the sky in Cologne. Church buildings in Cologne as a source of settlement history in the Middle Ages , Volume 1 (no more published). Greven, Cologne 1988.
  • Tasks and aspects of urban archeology . In: Archeology in Germany. Issue 1, vol. 1989, pp. 12-44. digitized
  • I welcome criticism, but it doesn't bother me. In: Gerd Courts: Cologne Table Discussions 1976–1989. With photo portraits by Alfred Koch. Wienand, Cologne 1989, ISBN 3-87909-235-4 , pp. 8-13.
  • Martyrs' graves in the Rhineland from new knowledge . Walter, Eltville 1993.
  • The museum. The development in the 80s. Klinkhardt, Munich 1994.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Max Tauch: Dr. Hugo Borger is 75 years old. Archaeologist also master of the word. NGZ from November 22, 2000.
  2. ^ Hans Schwier : Every epoch creates its museums. In: Achim Preiß, Karl Stamm, Frank Günter Zehnder (Ed.): The Museum - The Development in the 80s. Festschrift for Hugo Borger on his 65th birthday, Munich 1990, p. 78.
  3. ^ Achim Preiss: ivory tower or mass medium. On the history of the relationship between museum and public in the 20th century . In: see above p. 275.
  4. ^ Peter Nestler in his essay Museum Between Culture and Politics in the Festschrift for Hugo Borger's 65th birthday, p. 53.
  5. ↑ http://historischesarchivkoeln.de/de/lesesaal/haben/2131/Best.+912+Hugo+Borger
  6. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF file; 6.6 MB)
  7. ↑ Merit holders since 1986. State Chancellery of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, accessed on March 11, 2017 .
  8. ↑ a b c Gerd Courts: Cologne Table Discussions 1976–1989. With photo portraits by Alfred Koch. Wienand, Cologne 1989, ISBN 3-87909-235-4 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Borger, Hugo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German medieval archeologist and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH November 23, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Dusseldorf
DATE OF DEATH September 15, 2004
Place of death Bonn