Ulrich Krings
Ulrich Peter Andreas Krings (born February 23, 1942 in Oberhausen ) is a German art historian , monument conservator and author of publications on the preservation of church and secular buildings in the Cologne area as well as on urban planning and architecture. From 1991 to 2005 he was the chief city curator of Cologne.
Life
Ulrich Krings was the only child of the married couple Peter Krings (1894–1964) and Johanna, geb. Hömberg (1903–1971) born in Oberhausen. There he also attended the Catholic elementary school from 1948 to 1952 and then the old-language branch of the state grammar school. After graduating from high school in 1961, Ulrich Krings first studied German language and literature for two semesters at the University of Freiburg im Breisgau , but then moved to the Technical University of Munich , where he studied architecture for six semesters , while working on various construction sites. His interest in the history of architecture prompted him to begin studying art history at the University of Munich in the winter semester of 1965/1966 . He chose Classical Archeology and Sociology as minor subjects . He names the art historians Hermann Bauer , Wolfgang Braunfels , Erich Hubala , Theodor Müller and Friedrich Piel as his lecturers there . On December 18, 1978 Krings received his doctorate in Munich. phil. with an elaboration on German metropolitan railway stations of historicism, a topic on which he subsequently published further works. On April 1, 1979, he joined the city of Cologne as a scientific consultant . Under the then city curator Hiltrud Kier he was entrusted with the inventory (churches and traffic structures) in the monument office. The "Year of the Romanesque Churches in Cologne 1985" was accompanied by Krings in numerous publications, through guided tours and in co-organizing the scientific colloquium in March 1985. He was able to contribute his specialist knowledge to the restoration of the platform hall at Cologne Central Station in the 1980s. From 1982 to 1984 he had a teaching position for monument preservation at the Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf .
During his time as city curator in Cologne from 1991 to 2005, he edited a total of 16 volumes of the series Stadtspuren - Denkmäler in Köln . In addition, from 2000 to 2005 he was a member of the editorial committee for the revision of the volume North Rhine-Westphalia I: Rhineland by Georg Dehio - Handbook of German Art Monuments , published in 2005. From 1993 to 2001 Krings was chairman of the working group “Municipal Monument Preservation” of the German Association of Cities . In the Förderverein Romanische Kirchen eV, founded in 1981, he was the deputy chairman of the city curator in the 1990s, and he was a founding member of the "Architekturforum Rheinland eV". The focus of his work as Cologne city curator was - together with his staff - u. a. the restoration of the Gürzenich, the Spanish building of the town hall, the historical town hall including the council tower as well as the monument preservation support of the further restoration of the Cologne main station, numerous sacred buildings in Cologne and finally the restructuring (conversion) of the Rheinauhafen. The entry of the listed building stock from the 1950s in the list of monuments of the city of Cologne as well as accompanying the restoration work of other excellent examples from this era were also part of his tasks.
After his retirement in 2005, Krings was a member of the board of the House of Architecture Cologne (hdak) from 2008 to April 2014 ; In October 2009 he organized a two-day symposium there with Michael Hecker on the subject of the architecture of the "Second Post-War Modernism" (cf. information under "Fonts"). Since 2008 Krings has been on the board of the Cologne Regional Association of the Rhenish Association for Monument Preservation and Landscape Protection ( RVDL ); From December 2013 to June 2020 he acted as deputy chairman and was responsible for public relations (including by sending out "newsletters"). Since 2013 he has been an "expert citizen" in the field of monument protection and preservation in the Art and Culture Committee of the City of Cologne. He continues to publish on topics of recent architectural history (so-called Second Post-War Modernism ; "Brutalism" style or: "Cologne in 1914"). Until the end of 2019 he offered guided tours, lectures and courses on the Cologne campus "Time for Knowledge" (see his website: publications there, focal points, contact ).
Fonts (selection)
- Cologne Central Station. (Ed. Landeskonservator Rheinland. Arbeitsheft 22), Rheinland Verlag, Cologne 1977, ISBN 3-7927-0324-6 .
- German metropolitan railway stations of historicism. 2 volumes (also dissertation, Ludwig Maximilians University Munich, Munich, 1978), Cologne 1981 (curriculum vitae: volume 2);
- Railway station architecture. German metropolitan railway stations of historicism , Prestel Verlag, Munich 1985 (= writings on 19th century art of the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, vol. 46), ISBN 3-7913-0596-4 .
- together with Hiltrud Kier and Wolfram Hagspiel : Cologne. Architecture of the 50s. (= Stadtspuren, monuments in Cologne. Volume 6.) JP Bachem Verlag, Cologne 1986, ISBN 3-7616-0858-6 .
- together with Hiltrud Kier (Ed.): 3 volumes Cologne: Die Romanischen Kirchen .... (= city traces, monuments in Cologne. Volumes 1, 3, 4.) JP Bachem Verlag, Cologne 1984 and 1986, ISBN 3-7616- 0761-X ; ISBN 3-7616-0763-6 ; ISBN 3-7616-0822-5 .
- together with Otmar Schwab: Cologne: The Romanesque churches. Destruction and restoration (= traces of the city, monuments in Cologne. Volume 2) JPBachem Verlag, Cologne 2007, ISBN 978-3-7616-1964-3 .
- together with Rainer Will (Ed.): The Baptistery at the Cathedral. Cologne's first place of baptism , Greven, Cologne 2009, ISBN 978-3-7743-0423-9 .
- together with Michael Hecker (ed.): "Buildings and systems of the 1960s and 1970s - an unloved legacy?", ("Edition hdak Haus der Architektur Köln, Volume 4"), Klartext Verlag, Essen 2011, ISBN 978-3- 8375-0679-2 .
Web links
- ulrich-krings.de Website of Ulrich Krings with a complete, constantly updated list of publications and selected texts.
- Literature by and about Ulrich Krings in the catalog of the German National Library
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Krings, Ulrich |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Krings, Ulrich Peter Andreas (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German art historian and monument conservator, city curator in Cologne |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 23, 1942 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Oberhausen |