Klaus Wessel

Klaus Wessel (born April 16, 1916 in Berlin ; † December 5, 1987 ) was a German Christian archaeologist and art historian for Byzantine art .

Klaus Wessel passed his Abitur in 1934, did his Reich Labor Service in the same year and began studying Protestant theology, Christian archeology and art history at the University of Berlin . In 1939 he passed his theological exam and was then drafted into the Wehrmacht . Despite participating in the war, Wessel was able to complete his theological licentiate in November 1943 ; his thesis was on Egyptian ivory carvings from the 6th century . Reviewers were Friedrich Gerke and Erich Seeberg . In July 1946 he became a research assistant at the Institute for Church History at the Humboldt University in Berlin. The habilitation took place in August 1948. In the following month Wessel was appointed lecturer for church history and Christian archeology. In December he received his doctorate in art history, the subject of the dissertation was To the panels of the wooden door of Santa Sabina in Rome , reviewers were Peter Metz and Richard Hamann . In September Wessel became a lecturer and acting director of the seminar for church history and the seminar for Christian archeology and church art. In 1952 he not only became a professor with a teaching position for church history at the theological faculty of the University of Greifswald , but also director of the early Christian-Byzantine collection of the State Museums in Berlin . In 1953 he also became director of the “Victor Schulze Institute” in Greifswald. In 1958, when he moved to the FRG, his career in the GDR ended. In May 1960 Wessel became an adjunct professor for early Christian and Byzantine art history at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich . In 1981 he retired. He founded the Real Lexicon on Byzantine art .

Fonts

• The Ravenna Mosaic in the National Museums in Berlin and its restoration . Staatliche Museen Berlin, Berlin 1953 (Guide No. 2).
• The Wartburg Festival of the German fraternity on October 18, 1817 . Röth, Eisenach 1954 (publications of the Wartburg Foundation 2).
• Works of art from the early Christian-Byzantine collection. A picture booklet . State Museums Berlin, Berlin 1955.
• Theodoric's tomb in Ravenna , 1958.
• Byzantine enamel art. From the 5th to the 13th century . Bongers, Recklinghausen 1967 (Contributions to the Art of the Christian East, Vol. 4).
• Byzantium . Heyne, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-453-41323-7 (Heyne-Stilkunde 18).
• Ikonen , Battenberg, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-87045-156-4 (Battenberg antiques catalogs).
• with Klaus Gallas and Manolis Borboudakis: Byzantine Crete . Hirmer, Munich 1983, ISBN 3-7774-3240-7 .

literature

• Marcell Restle (Ed.): Festschrift for Klaus Wessel on his 70th birthday. In memoriam. Editio Maris, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-925801-02-2 ( Munich works on art history and archeology. Vol. 2).
• Lothar Mertens : Lexicon of the GDR historians. Biographies and bibliographies on the historians from the German Democratic Republic. Saur, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-598-11673-X , p. 637.

Web links

• Literature by and about Klaus Wessel in the catalog of the German National Library
• Wessel, Klaus .  Publications in the bibliographic database of the Regesta Imperii .