Rudolf Zießler

Rudolf Werner Zießler (born August 7, 1934 in Morgenröthe-Rautenkranz , Vogtland ; † December 17, 2015 in Neudietendorf ) was a German art historian and monument conservator , from 1991 to 1999 as the state curator of Thuringia .

Live and act

After graduating from high school, Rudolf Zießler studied art history at the University of Greifswald . He graduated in 1957 with a thesis on mendicant churches in Saxony . Since 1958 he worked continuously in the preservation of monuments , initially in the Dresden office of the Institute for Monument Preservation of the GDR . In 1963 he followed a call to the newly established Erfurt office of the Institute for Monument Preservation. This was, so to speak, the predecessor institution of today's building and art monument conservation department of the Thuringian State Office for Monument Conservation and Archeology . Zießler became head of the research department. Together with the chief curator Hans Schoder, whose deputy he later became, he set up a modern specialist institution for the districts of Erfurt , Gera and Suhl - the territory of today's Free State of Thuringia. In 1976 Zießler was appointed chief curator. In May 1990 Zießler became chief curator , and from July 1991 he became the state curator of Thuringia . He now had the task of reorganizing the previous monument authority to the Thuringian State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology . 1992 was able to move into this own service building , the former artillery barracks B and the new main guard of the Petersberg Citadel in Erfurt.

In 1995, Zießler's scientific merits were honored with an honorary professorship at the Chair of Art History at the University of Jena . In 1998 Zießler was able to host the annual meeting of the Association of State Monument Preservators in Germany in Erfurt . This was under the motto "Preservation of monuments and sovereign architecture". Zießler retired on August 31, 1999 .

The State Office for Monument Preservation wrote in retrospect: "It is not least thanks to Zießler's pragmatism that Thuringian monument preservation achieved outstanding monument preservation achievements at that time, despite the limited economic opportunities in the GDR ". This included the restoration of valuable church interiors such as St. Andreas (Rudolstadt) , Johanneskirche (Saalfeld) , Marienkirche (Mühlhausen) and St. Georg (Schmalkalden) church . Important partners were the church building authorities, including their ability to procure materials that could only be obtained against foreign currency. On the other hand, Zießler, like the other employees in monument protection in the GDR , had to experience without any influence how many village churches fell into disrepair and entire inner-city quarters in Erfurt , Gotha , Suhl and other Thuringian cities were demolished and replaced by prefabricated buildings.

Zießler's scientific achievement lay particularly in research on polychromy in architecture . He presented his corresponding results in numerous publications and articles, which also received international recognition. The restoration of the room framing and colors in Schloss Wilhelmsburg (Schmalkalden) , in Kloster Rohr , Kloster Veßra and especially the Thuringian residence and pleasure palaces benefited from Zießler's work.

The political change in 1989/90 brought completely new possibilities for the preservation and restoration of valuable buildings, also in Thuringia, which Zießler used as a state curator. During his term of office, however, also the demolition of the Weimarhalle from 1931 and the Teufelstalbrücke from 1938, as well as the decision to demolish the historic "island building" from 1893 of the Erfurt main station .

The "Rudolf Zießler Badge of Honor" was donated in recognition of Zießler's merits. It is awarded to citizens who have made a special contribution to monument protection and preservation with civic engagement.

Zießler was married (wife: Christa-Maria) and has two children (Elke and Marc).

Publications

• Rudolf Zießler: Catalog of works in the workbook 1/1994 of the Thuringian State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology. This overview contains 50 publications, most of them with Zießler as the lead author.

The following book contribution deserves special mention because of its cultural and historical significance for Thuringia:

• Rudolf Zießler: District of Erfurt. Gera district. District of Suhl . In: Fate of German Monuments in the Second World War. A documentation of the damage and total losses in the area of ​​the GDR . Edited by Götz Eckardt. Henschelverlag, Berlin 1978. 2nd volume

Web links

• Obituary of the Thuringian State Office for Monument Preservation

Individual evidence

1. ^ Rudolf-Zießler-Ehrennadel - Denkmalverbund Thüringen eV (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on February 12, 2017 ; accessed on February 11, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.