Wilhelm Pelizaeus

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wilhelm Pelizaeus

Wilhelm Pelizaeus (born September 6, 1851 in Hildesheim ; † October 14, 1930 ibid) campaigned as a successful merchant, banker and Spanish consul in Egypt for an old people's home in Alexandria and donated an important collection of ancient Egyptian art monuments to his hometown Hildesheim.

Life

The married couple Dr. jur. Clemens Pelizaeus and Emilie, née Schwarz, named their third child Wilhelm. From 1860 to the Untersekunda in 1866, Wilhelm Pelizaeus attended the Josephinum grammar school in Hildesheim. He then completed a three-year business apprenticeship in Braunschweig. In order to gain experience in the company of his uncle Louis Menshausen in Alexandria , the young businessman left Germany on April 23, 1869.

Following a commitment to the military year, he presented himself to the draft in Hildesheim in October 1873. Back in Alexandria, whose favorable climate should strengthen his unstable health constitution , he entered a trading and banking house in 1874. On March 1, 1878, he took over the branch of an English company in Cairo . It supplied the Arab market primarily with coal, iron, glass and textiles. Pelizaeus acted largely independently, eventually also under its own name, and was able to successfully expand its business. Voluntary functions in the German community of Cairo and a lively charitable commitment were a need for him and boosted his reputation.

From about 1885 Pelizaeus benefited increasingly from good relationships with people in Egyptian high finance, from connections to diplomatic circles and to economic forces in Germany. A consortium , which also included Pelizaeus, was awarded the contract in 1889 for the extension of the railway line in Middle Egypt by the Compagnie des chemins économiques de l'Est égyptien . As a representative of the Krupp company , he organized the transport of goods to be imported from Alexandria and Cairo. After the construction of the section from Girgeh to Assiut , the concession for the construction of the Kenah – Aswan railway went to a merger of companies that Pelizaeus financed in part. Pelizaeus benefited from further government contracts (construction of water and electricity works, sugar factory in Kom Ombo and promotion of large-scale sugar cane cultivation). In 1898 he supported the establishment of the National Bank of Egypt , took over the management and was elected to the supervisory board of the mortgage bank Crédit Foncier Egyptien . Pelizaeus took over the office of Spanish consul , which he held for around twenty years.

First contacts between Pelizaeus and the Orient Mission of the Sisters of Mercy of St. Charles Borromeo (Borromean Sisters) in Egypt probably took place in 1892. The banker made it possible for the charitable congregation to purchase a piece of land and financed the construction of their old people's home in Alexandria. It was inaugurated on January 22nd, 1899 and still exists today under the name of its sponsor. Pelizaeus also generously supported charities in his hometown. The Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy of St. In 1905 he gave Vincent von Paul in Hildesheim (Vinzentinerinnen) 90,000 marks for an extension to the education home in Himmelsthür and 20,000 marks each Christmas in the following years.

Collector and sponsor

With growing economic success, the influential businessman had increasing opportunities to acquire and collect antique objects. His interest in ancient art and the history of ancient Egypt as well as his social position led to the acquaintance of well-known scholars. They also include a member of the North German Confederation / German Reichstag , the Hildesheim senator and natural scientist Hermann Roemer (1816–1894).

Pelizaeus supported his plan to furnish an Egyptian room from the holdings of the museum he co-founded by donating a painted mummy in 1885 . Years before, he had brought scarabs and other jewelry from Egypt to the museum on occasional visits to his hometown. In 1886, on Roemer's order, Pelizaeus acquired a mummy with a painted cardboard cover and the two corresponding colored wooden coffins.

The excavations carried out by the University of Leipzig under Georg Steindorff (1861–1951) in the winter months from 1903 to 1907 on the pyramid cemetery near Gizeh were largely co-financed by Pelizaeus and the associated official division of finds enriched his collection. He also expanded it through acquisitions.

Pelizaeus decided to make its collection publicly available in Germany and, under certain conditions, offered it to his hometown as a gift. His demands related to the exhibition of the Pelizaeus Collection as a unit, the obligation to always take care of its preservation and not to sell it. He expressly stipulated that the collection should be accessible to visitors free of charge three times a week if possible, but at least twice a week. He understood the latter to be just as essential as conveying written and oral information about ancient Egypt.

On October 17, 1907, the city ​​council of Hildesheim accepted the offer and the obligations. In the immediate vicinity of the Roemer Museum , suitable exhibition rooms were created through the purchase and renovation of the former Protestant orphanage . Furnished according to the specifications and wishes of Pelizaeus, the house was ceremoniously opened on July 29, 1911 in his presence. The new museum bears his name. In the following November the city of Hildesheim made Wilhelm Pelizaeus an honorary citizen .

Once again, the patron helped finance an excavation in the cemetery near the pyramids of Giza , this time carried out by the Academy of Sciences in Vienna under the direction of Hermann Junker (1877–1962). Already during the first excavation campaign it caused a sensation. In the initially inconspicuous remains of the mastaba of the vizier Hemiunu , the archaeologists discovered a life-size statue of high quality. Due to the division of the find and fortunate circumstances, Pelizaeus came into possession of this masterful work of art and was able to bring it to his museum. In the same way, shortly before the outbreak of World War I, another extraordinary statue, the scribe figure of Heti, came to Hildesheim.

During the hottest season, Pelizaeus usually did not stay in Egypt. So also in the summer of 1914. At the time Austria-Hungary declared war against Serbia, he was in Germany and was not allowed to return to Egypt at the instigation of the English suzerainty. His property in Cairo and most of his property were confiscated. With the loss of supervisory board and management posts, his income shrank. Under the given circumstances he was forced to settle in Hildesheim and to keep his budget with relatively modest means. As a subtenant, he lived in an attic room and regularly went to the home in Himmelsthür, which he once generously financed on Sundays. He devoted himself entirely to museum work, which he continued to support during the difficult war and inflation years when he received compensation for his property confiscated in Egypt.

In 1921, the University of Göttingen honored Wilhelm Pelizaeus with an honorary doctorate for his successful commitment to science . He was denied another trip to Egypt.

literature