Rolf Lauer (art historian)

Rolf Ferdinand Lauer (born October 20, 1944 in Edenkoben ) is a German art historian . From 1975 to 2007 he worked for the Cologne Cathedral Administration . From 1975 to 2007 he headed the Dombauarchiv From 1976 to 2006 he was editor and since 1989 with editor of Cologne Domblatts . As an author and editor he has published numerous works on Cologne Cathedral and its art treasures.

Youth and education

Rolf Lauer grew up in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse , where he attended the Kurfürst-Ruprecht-Gymnasium . In 1964 he began studying art history at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich with the minor subjects classical and Christian archeology as well as prehistory . In 1966 he moved to the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn . In 1974 Lauer received his doctorate under the professors Herbert von Eine and Hermann Schnitzler with a dissertation on Ottonian book illumination under the Archbishop of Mainz , Willigis , which in particular focused on the cycle of pictures of Otto III's prayer book. treated.

After completing his doctorate, Lauer began an almost one-year traineeship in August 1974 at the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe , headed by Horst Vey . On August 1, 1975, he took over the position of head of the cathedral archives as the successor to Herbert Rode in the Cologne cathedral building administration.

Lauer's tasks included the inventory and later also the digital recording of the archives of the cathedral building administration and the scientific inventory of the works of art and the collections of the Cologne Cathedral. He expanded the reference library of the cathedral building administration, which was primarily a work tool of the employees of the cathedral building administration, from an original inventory of around 4,000 volumes to more than 20,000 volumes. It thus became an important scientific specialist library for specialist literature on Cologne Cathedral, its history, art history and architecture.

In addition to classic archival materials, the Dombauarchiv also preserves an extensive inventory of paintings, prints, photographs and handicrafts related to Cologne Cathedral. Lauer succeeded in locating and buying numerous important objects during his activity. This also included parts of the cathedral furnishings that were considered lost, such as a table from the Agilolphus Altar , a bust of the Claren Altar and a statue of Saint Catherine from the Gothic high altar of the cathedral.

As head of the cathedral building archive, Lauer was also editor and from 1989 co-editor of the Kölner Domblatt . He was responsible for 31 issues with a total of almost 10,000 pages. In addition to his editorial work, he enriched the cathedral sheet with his own scientific publications, for example as a co-author of articles on the Gero Cross in 1976 and on the altar of the city patronage in 1987.

Lauer's own art historical research had a number of focal points, including the Epiphany Shrine , the cathedral's medieval stained glass and 19th-century cathedral sculpture with the work of Cologne cathedral sculptors such as Christian Mohr , Peter Fuchs and Franz Meynen . His research and publications on the medieval pictorial program of the cathedral choir and the furnishings of the chapels before and after the consecration of the choir in 1322 are of outstanding importance.

Since 1982 Lauer had a permanent teaching position at the Art History Institute of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Bonn. He also taught at the Ruhr University in Bochum and at the Philipps University in Marburg .

Rolf Lauer retired on May 1, 2007. In the period that followed, he supervised a number of research projects and worked on a monograph on the Shrine of the Three Kings .

Klaus Hardering succeeded Lauer as head of the Cologne Cathedral Archives . Besides Hardering, the publisher of the Kölner Domblatt was the art historian Leonie Becks .

Honors

On the occasion of Lauer's retirement from professional life, the Cologne Cathedral Building Administration organized a scientific colloquium on May 4th and 5th, 2007 in the Dombauhütte under the title The Cologne Cathedral and "What is Related to it" . The 17 lectures of the colloquium dealt with topics of archeology and the history of architecture and art of Cologne Cathedral. Almost all of them were published as a commemorative publication for Rolf Lauer in a volume in the Kölner Domblatt .

Publications (chronological selection)

• Rudolf Ferdinand Lauer: Studies on the Ottonian Mainz book painting . Dissertation, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Bonn 1974, reprint Bonn 1987;
• Christa Schulze-Senger and Rolf Lauer: The Gero Cross in Cologne Cathedral. Results of the restoration and dendrochronological examination in 1976 . In: Kölner Domblatt 1976, volume 41, pp. 9–56, ISSN  0450-6413 ;
• Rolf Lauer: The 19th century sculpture in Cologne Cathedral . In: Eduard Trier and Willy Weyres (eds.): Art of the 19th century in the Rhineland. Volume 4. Plastic . Schwann, Düsseldorf 1980, pp. 13-62, ISBN 3-590-30254-2 ;
• Rolf Lauer, Christa Schulze-Senger and Wilfried Hansmann: The altar of the city patron in Cologne Cathedral . In: Kölner Domblatt 1987, volume 52, pp. 9-80, ISSN  0450-6413 ;
• Rolf Lauer: Image programs of the Cologne Cathedral Choir from the 13th to the 15th century . In: Ludger Honnefelder (Hrsg.): Cathedral construction and theology in medieval Cologne. Festschrift for the 750th anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone of Cologne Cathedral and the 65th birthday of Joachim Cardinal Meisner . Verlag Kölner Dom, Cologne 1998, pp. 185–232, ISBN 3-922442-27-7 ;
• Leonie Becks and Rolf Lauer: The treasure chamber of Cologne Cathedral (masterpieces of Cologne Cathedral 6) . Verlag Kölner Dom, Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-922442-41-2 ;
• Rolf Lauer: The Shrine of the Magi (Masterpieces of Cologne Cathedral 9) . Cologne Cathedral Publishing House, Cologne 2006, ISBN 978-3-922442-53-0 ;
• Ulrike Brinkmann and Rolf Lauer: Representations of Jews in Cologne Cathedral . In: The Cologne Cathedral and ›the Jews‹. Symposium of the Karl Rahner Academy Cologne in cooperation with the Cologne Cathedral Building Administration from November 18-19, 2006 (Kölner Domblatt 2008, 73rd episode). Verlag Kölner Dom, Cologne 2008, pp. 13–58, ISBN 978-3-922442-65-3 .

literature

• Leonie Becks and Klaus Hardering (eds.): The Cologne Cathedral and »what is related to it«. Festschrift Rolf Lauer . Kölner Domblatt 2007, 72nd episode. Cologne Cathedral Publishing House, Cologne 2007, ISBN 978-3-922442-63-9 ;
  • Klaus Hardering: Laudation Rolf Lauer , pp. 379–392;
  • Rolf Lauer and Gisa Müsers: Bibliography Rolf Lauer , pp. 393–400.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Klaus Hardering: Laudatio Rolf Lauer , pp. 379-380.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Klaus Hardering: Laudatio Rolf Lauer , pp. 380–384.
3. ^ Klaus Hardering: Laudatio Rolf Lauer , pp. 386–388.
4. ^ Klaus Hardering: Laudatio Rolf Lauer , pp. 384–385.
5. ^ Klaus Hardering: Laudation Rolf Lauer , pp. 385–386.
6. ^ Klaus Hardering: Laudatio Rolf Lauer , pp. 390–391.
7. ^ ^{A b} Matthias Deml: Retired archive manager Rolf Lauer . In: Kölner Domblatt 2007, 72nd episode. Verlag Kölner Dom, Cologne 2007, p. 465, ISBN 978-3-922442-63-9 .
8. ↑ Matthias Deml: New head of the cathedral architecture . In: Kölner Domblatt 2007, 72nd episode. Verlag Kölner Dom, Cologne 2007, ISBN 978-3-922442-63-9 , pp. 465-466.