Rudolf Esterer

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Interior view of the Herkulessaale of the Munich Residence
New construction of the palace building of the Trifels castle ruins

Rudolf Esterer (born November 23, 1879 in Altötting ; † November 11, 1965 in Farnach im Chiemgau ) was a German architect , monument conservator and university professor .

Life

Rudolf Esterer studied architecture under Friedrich von Thiersch at the Technical University of Munich from 1900 to 1903 and worked as a government architect ( assessor ) in Würzburg from 1907 . In 1915 he joined the construction department of the royal Bavarian court chief staff. From 1924 Esterer was the leading architect of the Bavarian Administration of State Palaces, Gardens and Lakes . In this role he was responsible for the restoration of the Imperial Castle in Nuremberg , the Plassenburg Castle in Kulmbach, the Marienberg Fortress in Würzburg, the Margravial Opera House and the Trausnitz Castle in Landshut.

In 1939 he was appointed to the Technical University in Munich with a part-time teaching position for practical monument preservation and the award of a professor's title. There he was able to pass on his idea of ​​the “creative monument preservation” aimed at individual cases to prospective architects. In 1943 the Bavarian Prime Minister Ludwig Siebert founded the Tittmoninger Werkhütte State Foundation , which was based on an idea by Esterer . In the last phase of the war, Esterer, as head of the building department of the Bavarian Palace Administration, worked with his colleague Tino Walz to secure destroyed buildings and rescue other cultural assets.

Politically unencumbered, he was appointed the first post-war president of the Bavarian Administration of State Palaces, Gardens and Lakes immediately after the end of World War II. More recent research shows that "Esterer was also involved in the planned actions of the Bavarian freedom campaign".

On Esterer's instructions, the salvage, documentation and inventory of building remains, equipment and other found objects took place. He held this office until 1952. Esterer was also a founding member and later also Vice President of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts . After the end of the war, he was not only significantly involved in the reconstruction of Munich, but also the Imperial Castle of Nuremberg, the Würzburg Residence and the Johannisburg Palace in Aschaffenburg. He also campaigned for the restoration of the palace gardens, which had been badly damaged by bombs. He admonished those directly responsible to assert themselves against the austerity pressure and other resistances: “The gardening officers must be clear that the state, if it has taken care of a large number of old, historical parks, only does this for one to preserve the significant artistic legacy of the past for future generations. "

Esterer formulated his conviction of the “creator of monument preservation” as a contrast to the previous doctrine of “preserve, not restore”. In practice, in some cases, such as the Imperial Castle in Nuremberg or the conversion of the Trifels castle ruins into a National Socialist consecration site , Esterer used the homogeneous connection to the original structure and reinterpreted the existing structure "in the spirit" of the original. Esterer was also criticized for his new building of the Hercules Hall of the Munich Residence , which in its monumental neoclassicism is more reminiscent of the architecture of National Socialism than of the new building of the post-war period, and for the destruction of the painting of the Imperial Cathedral in Speyer by Johann Schraudolph .

Honors

plant

Buildings (selection)

Fonts (selection)

  • Preservation of monuments at Bavarian residences and castles after the time of the monarchy. In: Zeitschrift für Denkmalpflege Wien, 4th year (1930), pp. 97-103.
  • Munich. Prince Carl Palais. Plan and structure. Designs from five centuries. Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts, Munich 1952.
  • Restore or Renew? In: Das Bayerland, Vol. 56 Issue 9 (1954), pp. 336–339.

literature

  • Sigrun Gwendolyn Bannert: Concepts for the preservation of monuments in the reconstruction of the Munich Residence. The first phase of the reconstruction under Rudolf Esterer. Master thesis. Munich 2009.
  • Bavarian administration of the state palaces, gardens and lakes Munich (Ed.): Rudolf Esterer. In memory of his 100th birthday on November 23, 1979. Munich 1979.
  • Sepp Huf: Rudolf Esterer. A Bavarian master of architecture and monument preservation. In: Voice of the Palatinate. Journal for Politics, Culture and Economy 8, No. 11/12 (1979), pp. 3-7.
  • Susanne Fleischner: "Creative preservation of monuments". Cultural ideology of National Socialism and positions of the preservation of monuments (= contributions to the preservation of monuments and building research, Vol. 1). Munster 1999.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Klaus Bäumler: Political learning in historical places. The palace administration and contemporary history. Lecture as part of the Residenzwoche 2009 on October 17th, 2009 in the Max-Joseph-Saal of the Munich Residenz (contribution by the Friends of the Munich Residenz eV).
  2. State Archive Munich SGSV 807 (writing Rudolf Esterer to the palace and garden management Nymphenburg of 9 October 1947).
  3. ^ Franz Siepe: Nazarene Renaissance. Chipped off fifty years ago, valued today: Johann Schraudolph's frescoes are exhibited in the Imperial Hall of Speyer Cathedral. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , April 10, 2013, p. N4.