Richard Haupt (art historian)

Friedrich Ludwig Richard Haupt (born October 6, 1846 in Büdingen ; † September 17, 1940 in Preetz ) was a German high school teacher , art historian and provincial curator .

Training and first teaching position

Richard Haupt was a son of Georg Haupt (* February 22, 1812 in Höchst im Odenwald ; † March 8, 1865 in Büdingen) and his wife Mathilde, née Schmidt (* August 14, 1824; † September 2, 1900). The father worked as a grammar school teacher and was most recently director of the grammar school in Büdingen. The maternal grandfather was the Büdingen pastor Carl Ludwig Schmidt. One of Haupt's brothers was the professor of architecture Albrecht Haupt . He was the cousin of Herman Haupt .

Haupt studied from 1851 to 1856 at the elementary school in Büdingen and then until 1863 at a grammar school, which he left with the higher education entrance qualification. He initially considered taking up a degree in architecture, but instead went to Bern for half a year . His uncle and philologist Georg Friedrich Rettig lived here and showed him life at a university. From 1864 he studied classical philology and theology at the University of Giessen. During his studies in 1864 he became a member of the Germania Gießen fraternity . Due to financial difficulties and the death of his father, he had to finish his studies as quickly as possible. Haupt received his doctorate in 1867. Then he had to support his mother and the younger siblings financially.

Haupt initially worked as an assistant teacher at a secondary school in Alzey , then at a grammar school in Büdingen . From 1868 to 1870 he taught as the second full teacher at a grammar school in Eutin . He then had apprenticeships again in Büdingen and at a secondary school in Iserlohn . In 1872 he moved to the Grand Ducal Baden Pedagogy in Durlach as a high school professor . There he met liberal educational methods that he did not advocate. Therefore, a year later he switched to the grammar school in Plön , where the more conservative Prussian education system was applied.

Change to Plön

Haupt became increasingly involved in society in Plön. He attended literary circles and gave lectures in the citizens' association. As a supporter of Bismarck's politics , he was also very active politically. In the mid-1870s he co-founded a conservative electorate that criticized social democracy in writing and in speeches. As part of these activities, Haupt published in several daily newspapers. He wrote many essays on politics, religion, and legal issues.

Haupt has been interested in history as well as older architectural and cultural monuments since he went to school. Therefore, he dealt with monuments in Schleswig-Holstein and was committed to their protection. He was particularly concerned with regional church art objects. When the government was looking for a person who could create a list of monuments, Haupt got in touch in early 1878 in order to process existing documents. Since the available information was too scant, he traveled through Schleswig-Holstein from 1880 onwards. For his travel activities and the preparation of the inventory he was given a leave of several years from teaching. This is how registers for the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein and the district of Duchy of Lauenburg were created . The overviews on Schleswig and Holstein comprised 26 deliveries that appeared from 1886 to 1888. They were titled The Architectural and Art Monuments of the Province of Schleswig-Holstein . The Lauenburg directory was published in 1890.

Because of the extensive activities in monument protection, Haupt had to significantly reduce his political commitment. He remained strictly conservative for life and continued to be interested in politics. After 1908 he showed clear sympathy for the DNVP . Mainly, the work in monument protection was obviously better than the teaching activities. He positioned himself increasingly critical of school and the teaching profession. Previous negative experiences with superiors and other teachers may also have contributed to this. He took on the tasks that were brought to him as a teacher increasingly dissatisfied. In 1889 he decided to move to the Schleswig Cathedral School . In addition to his work as a teacher, he acted for several years as a voluntary curator for the collection of the "Association for the Collection and Conservation of Patriotic Antiquities in the City of Schleswig", which has recently ceased to exist.

Acting as a conservator

A reorganization of the preservation of monuments in Prussia meant that conservators had to be employed in every province. The Provincial Administrative Committee elected Haupt in 1893, who initially took over the office on a voluntary basis. He was now in charge of monuments, assessed planned restorations and prepared plans for repairs. This took so much time that he was released from teaching in 1896. In 1900 he went into early retirement. He lived in Eutin until 1908 and then in Berlin until the end of his life.

As a conservator, Haupt set up a memorial archive that permanently documented work carried out in the province. He tried to make the buildings known with lectures and essays. From 1909 he taught at the preacher's seminary in Preetz and went on excursions with the students, during which he taught the correct handling of monuments. He worked in many history and local history associations and in 1896 he helped found the “Association for Schleswig-Holstein Church History” and wrote many articles for the association's magazine. From 1911 to 1918 he also worked as a monument conservationist in the Grand Ducal Oldenburg Principality of Lübeck. However, due to a very small budget, he could not achieve much here.

During the First World War and the following years, the preservation of monuments faced major financial problems. In addition, the responsible authorities and society were less interested in the topic. Haupt significantly reduced his work and the motivation to continue working as a conservator was obviously reduced. The changed political circumstances contributed to this. Haupt was a declared opponent of the liberalism of the Weimar Republic and for this reason was no longer involved in society. Because of this situation and probably also his age, he resigned from the office of provincial curator in 1924. Ernst Sauermann was his successor .

Works in the field of monument preservation

Haupt worked on his history and type of architecture for ten years . This went to print in 1924/25 in the form of volumes 5 and 6 of the inventory of monuments. After his time as a conservator, he wrote more, mostly for the journal of the Society for Schleswig-Holstein History , Die Heimat and Nordelbingen . His autobiography, most of which he wrote in 1931, is also worth mentioning. The manuscript with more than 1000 pages can be found today in the State Office for Monument Preservation.

Works as an art historian

As an art historian, Haupt not only created inventory lists of monuments. His main achievement was that he first looked at the connections between different genres of art that existed in Schleswig-Holstein. He classified stylistic connections between art and buildings very reliably and wrote good relative chronologies. Most of these documents are not yet out of date.

As part of his art historical work, Haupt carried out dates that were often heavily criticized during his lifetime. Most of the time, construction began on numerous brick churches of the Middle Ages in Ostholstein, for which no written sources were available. He had his own opinion about when the brick architecture of the Middle Ages was created. This was in contradiction to Professor Friedrich Adler and Government Builder Otto Stiehl . Haupt also wrote about Vizelin and was heavily criticized by members of the Society for Schleswig-Holstein History. He also had conflicts with the Kiel Association of Engineers and Architects, whose members criticized the quality of Haupt's drawings and photographs.

Honors

Haupt has received numerous awards for his work:

• In 1899 he received the Order of the Red Eagle .
• The theological faculty of the University of Kiel appointed him an honorary doctorate in 1889
• In 1931 he was made an honorary member of the Association for the Care of Natural History and Regional Studies.
• The Society for Schleswig-Holstein History made him an honorary member in 1933.
• In 1936 he received the Goethe Medal for Art and Science .

family

Main married on March 20, 1880 Metta Amalie Hill (* May 15, 1852, † June 5, 1938 in Preetz ), whose father was senior director in Seligenstadt . The couple had two sons and a daughter.

literature

• Thomas Scheck: Haupt, Richard . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 10. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1994, pp. 161-165.
• Helge Dvorak: Biographical Lexicon of the German Burschenschaft. Volume II: Artists. Winter, Heidelberg 2018, ISBN 978-3-8253-6813-5 , p. 296.

Web links

Wikisource: Richard Haupt  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Thomas Scheck: Haupt, Richard . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 10. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1994, p. 161.
2. ↑ Thomas Scheck: Haupt, Richard . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 10. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1994, pp. 161-162.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} Thomas Scheck: Haupt, Richard . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 10. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1994, p. 162.
4. ↑ Thomas Scheck: Haupt, Richard . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 10. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1994, pp. 162-163.
5. ↑ ^{a b c d} Thomas Scheck: Haupt, Richard . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 10. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1994, p. 163.
6. ↑ Thomas Scheck: Haupt, Richard . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 10. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1994, pp. 163-164.
7. ↑ Thomas Scheck: Haupt, Richard . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 10. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1994, p. 164.