Wilhelm Dorow

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Wilhelm Dorow (born March 22, 1790 in Königsberg ; died December 16, 1845 in Halle (Saale) ) was a German diplomat, archaeologist, historian, author of biographical writings and founder of the Museum of Rhenish-Westphalian Antiquities in Bonn .

Life

After the early death of his father, Dorow was accepted by Hans Jakob von Auerswald in Marienburg , where he also attended school. In 1806 he returned to Königsberg. On the advice of his uncle Johann Friedrich Reichardt , he got a commercial position at a trading house in Königsberg, but continued his philosophical and mathematical studies under the direction of war council Karl Gottlieb Bock (1746-1830), a student of Kant and Herder 's friend . In the long run, however, he did not like the commercial activity.

In 1811 he left Königsberg and, after living for a while with his uncle Reichardt in Giebichenstein near Halle , set out on foot through Germany to France. In November 1811 he arrived in Paris , where he met the Prussian ambassador Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig von Krusemarck . The latter sent him to Berlin on December 12th with dispatches to State Chancellor Karl August von Hardenberg . There he won the favor of Hardenberg, which on the one hand should be very helpful for his future, but on the other hand involved him in the conflicts over Hardenberg, as his favorite he was considered. Dorow was sent to Paris as an attaché in February 1812, but was recalled in November by Count von der Goltz , who was dissatisfied with this appointment.

In February 1813 he joined the Prussian army as a volunteer hunter and was assigned to the Russian headquarters. During the Armistice of Pläswitz he traveled to Poland on behalf of Hardenberg, stayed for a time at the Prussian headquarters in Teplitz and, after the capture of Paris , traveled to Hardenberg in Dijon . In March 1814 he and the doctor Daniel Carl Theodor Merrem received the supervision of the military hospitals of the allies at the Central Hospital Administration in Frankfurt . In 1814 he left the army. In February 1816 he was sent to Dresden as legation secretary and in May 1817 to Copenhagen , where he became dangerously ill due to the long-term consequences of an injury sustained in the battle of Großgörschen . In July 1817 he traveled to Wiesbaden for a cure . In connection with journalistic activities in the spirit of Hardenberg during this time, the Mainz Central Investigation Commission brought proceedings against him .

So prevented from doing other work, Dorow began to occupy himself with archeology. Without professional knowledge, but with a considerable spirit of enterprise, he began extensive excavations in Wiesbaden and, in May 1818, Hardenberg developed the plan for a central management of antiquarian endeavors in the new Rhenish-Westphalian parts of Prussia, which Hardenbergs fully approved. On January 11, 1819 he was made a court advisor , in October 1819 he received his doctorate from the University of Marburg and on January 4, 1820 he was appointed director of the administration for antiquity in the Rhineland and Westphalia. He settled in Bonn and planned to put his collection together with the holdings scattered in the province in Cologne , but encountered resistance from the academic community and the Ministry of Education, encouraged by Hardenberg's waning influence. An academic commission judged his professional qualifications negatively, on July 29, 1822 he was removed from office and after Hardenberg's death on December 19, 1822, he was retired with half his salary. In spite of his short period of activity, he has made lasting merits as the founder of the Museum of Rhenish-Westphalian Antiquities , the forerunner of today's Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn .

Efforts to find a job in the editorial office of the Allgemeine Prussische Staatszeitung, founded in 1819 , were unsuccessful. Dorow undertook further fruitful excavations in Neuwied and in 1827 with the support of the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III. a trip to Italy, where he undertook excavations at Canino near the Etrurian Vulci , acquired other finds, including a bowl found at the Ponte dell'Abbadia , and brought together a total of 600 Etruscan vases, although disputes arose over their possession by Cardinal Pietro Francesco Galleffi , then the papal Camerlengo , were decided in his favor. All pieces were acquired by the Prussian state together with the bronze and vase collection of the Consul General Jakob Ludwig Salomon Bartholdy , about the locations of which Dorow said he had made inquiries on site, and are now part of the Berlin Collection of Antiquities .

In 1829 Dorow returned to Berlin and spent the remaining years of his life in Halle processing his observations and discoveries, organizing a lot of collected materials and correspondence, and defending himself against his opponents.

Name vase in Berlin: two animal friezes

The Etruscan-Corinthian vase painter was named after Dorow . The name vase is a large dinosaur in the Berlin Collection of Antiquities .

Fonts

editor

literature

  • Harry Nehls: The same seen from the front. A newly discovered portrait of Wilhelm Dorow (1790-1845). In: The Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn. Reports from the work of the museum. 4, 1989, pp. 54-56.
  • Heinrich Döring : Wilhelm Dorow. In: New Nekrolog der Deutschen . Edited by Bernhard Friedrich Voigt. 23rd year 1845. Weimar 1847, no. 275, p. 962 ff. ( Digitale-sammlungen.de ).
  • Reinhard Fuchs: On the history of the collections of the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn. In: Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn. 150 years of the collections 1820–1970. Düsseldorf 1971, pp. 30-33, pp. 40-83.
  • Markus Mode: Talisman in carnelian. A native of Halle at the beginning of oriental archeology. In: Hallesche's contributions to oriental studies. 37 (2004), pp. 7-37 ( digital ).
  • Ulfert Ricklefs: Dorow, Wilhelm. Wilhelm Kühlmann (Ed.): Killy Literature Lexicon . Authors and works from the German-speaking cultural area. 2., completely revised Ed. De Gruyter, Berlin 2008, Volume 3, p. 90 f.
  • Ludwig von Urlichs :  Dorow, Wilhelm . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, p. 359 f.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Dorow, Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dorow, Carl Friedrich Ferdinand Wilhelm (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German diplomat, archaeologist, historian and biographer
DATE OF BIRTH March 22, 1790
PLACE OF BIRTH Königsberg (Prussia)
DATE OF DEATH December 16, 1845
Place of death Halle (Saale)