Johann Nikolaus von Wilmowsky

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Johann Nikolaus von Wilmowsky

Johann Nikolaus von Wilmowsky (born January 3, 1801 in Pardubice , Bohemia, † March 19, 1880 in Trier ) was a German cathedral capitular , archaeologist and historian in the diocese of Trier .

Origin and family

He was the son of the Kurtrier engineer officer Ignaz von Wilmovsky and his wife Gertrud geb. Willmer. At the time of his birth, his father was in Austrian service after the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress was conquered by the French. The family later returned to the Rhine, where the father joined the armed forces of the Duchy of Nassau .

Live and act

Johann Nikolaus von Wilmowsky attended grammar school in Koblenz from 1819 , then the University of Bonn and was ordained a priest in Speyer on November 13, 1824 .

Initially chaplain in Niederberg , he was appointed as secretary in the Episcopal Vicariate Trier as early as 1825. In 1828 Wilmowsky went on study trips to Central Europe for a year, after which he officiated as pastor of Saarburg from 1829 to 1842 .

On November 10, 1842, Bishop Wilhelm Arnoldi appointed him cathedral capitular in Trier and commissioned him to renovate the cathedral cloister. The clergyman soon developed into a specialist in the field of historical research and archeology. Cathedral Chapter Wilmowsky collected everything he found in his work and created the beginning of the later Diocesan Museum in the Romanesque hall of the cloister. Several early episcopal tombs were opened and examined by him. He was President of the Society for Useful Research in Trier . Johann Nikolaus von Wilmowsky has published numerous works, for example about his excavations in the Roman Villa Nennig , about the villa in Euren , and above all about the cathedral and the bishops' graves there. Thanks to his great talent for drawing, he was able to make precise recordings of the finds and findings, which were then reproduced as elaborate lithographs . A controversy developed over the excavation of the Roman villa in Nennig, where the excavator had forged an allegedly found inscription. Wilmowsky defended the authenticity of this inscription for a long time and published several bitter defenses, especially since he felt scientific criticism as a personal attack. In the end, statements from important experts revealed that it was indeed a forgery and Wilmowsky had to admit that he had become a victim of the criminal energy of the excavator director.

Wilmowsky gained particular fame through the publication of his observations shortly before the Holy Robe was closed in 1844. He had the opportunity to look at the robe for a quarter of an hour. He came to the conclusion that what he saw was only a valuable shell for the actual cloth relic hidden beneath it. This thesis, which sparked a lively debate, corresponds to today's level of knowledge, but at the time it triggered the most violent hostility, not least because the pilgrimage itself had already been the subject of a heated debate and Wilmowsky's remarks thus fell into a heated atmosphere. Ultimately, the case led to the estrangement of Johann Nikolaus von Wilmowsky and the cathedral chapter and bishop. The restoration of Trier Cathedral was not without friction between the sensitive and easily offended Wilmowsky, the cathedral chapter and the public.

Blinded since 1870, the canon was therefore not buried in the cathedral cloister as usual, but in the cemetery near St. Paulin .

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personal data
SURNAME Wilmowsky, Johann Nikolaus von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cathedral capitular, historian and archaeologist in Trier
DATE OF BIRTH January 3, 1801
PLACE OF BIRTH Pardubice , Bohemia
DATE OF DEATH March 19, 1880
Place of death trier