Otto Müller (conservator)

Otto Müller (born September 26, 1911 in Michelstadt ; † October 18, 1999 there ) was a German art historian and monument conservator who primarily dealt with Carolingian buildings and works of art.

Training and activities until 1945

Müller was born in Steinbach near Michelstadt in 1911. An encounter at the age of 14 with the later professor of art history , Hans Christ , set the trend for him. At that time, Christ carried out measurements on the Einhards basilica in Steinbach .

Müller studied art history, Romance philology and philosophy at the University of Leipzig . As a student, he carried out independent excavations on the grounds of the Einhards Basilika between 1931 and 1933 , among others with Friedrich Behn . Müller received his doctorate in 1934 under Leo Bruhns on the Einhards basilica in Steinbach. The first two sections of the dissertation were published independently in 1937 by the publishing house Gustav Sprey Jr. in Seligenstadt . He then became an assistant at the Institute for Art History at RWTH Aachen University at the chair of Professor Mindner. This gave him the order to examine Einhard's second basilica, the Einhard basilica in Seligenstadt. His results were published in 1936 and caused a sensation in the professional world. This was followed by excavations in this very basilica, which came to a standstill with the beginning of the Second World War. At the same time, Müller built the beginnings of the later museum in the former prelature of the Seligenstadt monastery . These activities were also interrupted, as was his extensive work to preserve the imperial palace in Seligenstadt from 1937. Müller did his military service in the military hospital in Seligenstadt, in 1943 he married Elise Augenstein, the marriage remained childless.

Activities as district curator

After the Second World War , from 1946, Müller was employed as a conservator at the Hessian State Monuments Office. There he was responsible for the greater Starkenburg area . As a conservator, he prevented the demolition or sale of buildings and land around the former Seligenstadt abbey on several occasions. He carried out the dismantling of the Einhard basilica in Seligenstadt, which was freed from baroque ingredients and other traces, and he again carried out excavations and renovations in both Seligenstadt and Steinbach. In 1956 he rediscovered the Arnheider Chapel , carried out investigations and excavations and published about it. He also played a decisive role in downtown Seligenstadt, especially to preserve the half-timbered houses. His first book of his own, outside of the publication on the basilica in Steinbach in 1937, appeared in 1964, it was the Abbey Leader Seligenstadt . In the late 1960s, two works appeared on the cathedral and the cathedral treasury in Aachen , which were published several times.

At his instigation, the Einhards basilica in Steinbach, now in danger of collapsing, was bought by the Erbacher Grafenhaus from the state of Hesse in 1967. Müller and others founded the Einhards working group in 1966, which took care of the structural work and documentation in the early 1970s until the basilica was finally secured. In 1973 Müller published the volume: Die Einhard-Abtei Seligenstadt am Main and wrote countless articles in a wide variety of specialist journals. Upon reaching the age limit, Müller resigned from the civil service in 1976. Before that, he had managed to prevent the construction of a nuclear power plant in the area of ​​the Seligenstadt moated castle . Nevertheless, he remained active as a writer and in 1996 was able to see the completion of his most extensive work The Einhardsbasilika in Steinbach near Michelstadt in the Odenwald in two volumes, with Thomas Ludwig and Irmgard Widdra-Spiess.

Müller refused all honor of his person throughout his life. He rejected the Federal Cross of Merit , which had been offered to him several times , as well as the intended honorary citizenship of the city of Seligenstadt. He died four weeks after the death of his wife on October 18, 1999. On the occasion of his death and to honor him, an extensive biography of Karl Franz, Dr. Otto Müller - A life for the preservation of monuments as a reprint of the sheets for local research of the Dreieich landscape .

Publications (selection)

Books

• The Einhard Abbey Seligenstadt am Main , Langewiesche publishing house , Königstein im Taunus 1973 ISBN 3-7845-3400-7
• Seligenstadt: former Benedictine abbey ; official leader; Use of the state Palaces and Gardens, Bad Homburg vdH 1975
• The Aachen Cathedral , Langewiesche publishing house, Königstein 1972 (8th edition) ISBN 3-7845-0111-7
• The Aachen Cathedral Treasure , Langewiesche publishing house, Königstein 1972 (5th edition) ISBN 3-7845-0121-4
• The Einhards Basilica in Steinbach near Michelstadt in the Odenwald , with Thomas Ludwig and Irmgard Widdra-Spiess, 2 volumes, von Zabern, Mainz 1996 ISBN 3-8053-1322-5
• The Einharts Basilica in Steinbach near Michelstadt in the Odenwald , (from the first two chapters of the dissertation), Verlag Gustav Sprey Jr., Seligenstadt 1937

Essays

• Brief description of the Einhardsbasilika in Seligenstadt , special print from: Archive for Hessian History and Archeology, New Series; Vol. 36, Darmstadt 1976, pp. 87-116, Einhards-Arbeitsgemeinschaft (ed.), Michelstadt 1982
• The Einhards Basilica in Steinbach near Michelstadt , special print from: Guide to prehistoric and early historical monuments. Vol. 3., von Zabern, Mainz 1965
• Types of construction and masonry technology on Einhard's buildings in Michelstadt-Steinbach and Seligenstadt . In: The Odenwald. Journal of the Breuberg Association. Vol. 20, Issue 2, Reinheim 1973
• The hospital of the county of Erbach in Steinbach . In: The Odenwald. Journal of the Breuberg Association. Vol. 43, Issue 4, Reinheim 1996
• What is happening for the Einharts Basilica in Steinbach? In: German Art and Monument Preservation, Munich 1954
• Conservation measures at the Einhards basilica in Steinbach near Michelstadt . In: Kunstchronik 25, Nuremberg 1972
• Conservation measures at the Einhards basilica in Steinbach near Michelstadt . In: Kunstchronik 26, Nuremberg 1973

literature

• Karl Franz: Dr. Otto Müller - A life for the preservation of monuments , special print from Landschaft Dreieich, Blätter für Heimatforschung, annual volume 2002, Dreieich and Langen 2002

Web links

• Einhard Society sifts through the estate of the monument conservator Dr. Otto Mueller. Upper Hessian Press, July 22, 2016