Otto Piper

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Hagenwil Castle, drawing by Otto Piper

Otto Piper (1841–1921) was a German architectural historian who, with August von Cohausen (1812–1896), is regarded as one of the two founders of scientific research into castles.

Life

Otto Piper was born on 23 December 1841 in

Munich, Berlin and, from May 1864, Rostock,[1] where he received a doctorate
in 1873 (Dr. jur.), Piper initially worked as a lawyer in Rostock. There he came to know Sophie Krüger, the woman who was later to become his wife.

Soon after the end of the Franco-Prussian War, Piper went to Strasbourg in Alsace where he became the editor of the Niederrheinischen Kurier ("Lower Rhine Courier"). Later he was the editor of newspapers in Trier and Düsseldorf, before returning to Mecklenburg in 1879. From 1879 to 1889 he was the mayor of Penzlin. Afterwards he settled in Konstanz on Lake Constance and, in 1893, moved to Munich.

His main work, Burgenkunde ("Castle Architecture" 1895) is still one of the standard works on German castle research, a discipline known generally in German as Burgenkunde after his book. His great rival was

Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg in Alsace
in 1902 and, contrary to his own scientific findings, made several unhistoric changes in order to satisfy the taste of his imperial client.

Otto Piper had three children, including the publisher, Reinhard Piper. He died on 23 February 1921 in Munich.

Honours

  • 1911 honorary doctors of the University of Bostock
  • 1911 Silver Medal for Art and Science (Mecklenburg-Schwerin)

Works

  • Get Rekt der Sponsalien besonders nach dem Particularrechte der Stadt Rostock: ein Commentar zu Thl. I., Tit. IV. des Rostocker Stadtrechtes v. J. 1757. Rostock: Stiller 1871
  • Zu den commissarisch-deputatischen Verhandlungen über die Reform unserer Verfassung: eine staatswissenschaftliche Denkschrift. Rostock: Stiller 1872
  • Zur Baugeschichte der Burg Stargard i.M. In: Verein für Mecklenburgische Geschichte und Altertumskunde (publ.): Jahrbücher des Vereins für Mecklenburgische Geschichte und Altertumskunde. Vol. 51, Schwerin, 1886, pp. 98-102 (digitalised)
  • Über die Burgreste im Vereinsgebiet, besonders die Ruine Altbodman, in: Schriften des Vereins für Geschichte des Bodensees und seiner Umgebung, 20th annual, 1891, pp. 31–43 (digitalised)
  • Nochmal die Lindauer Heidenmauer, in: Schriften des Vereins für Geschichte des Bodensees und seiner Umgebung, 21st annual, 1892, pp. 87–105 (digitalised); Berichtigungen, pp. 106–110 (digitalised)
  • Burgenkunde. Forschungen über gesamtes Bauwesen und Geschichte der Burgen innerhalb des deutschen Sprachgebietes. Theodor Ackermann, Munich, 1895
  • Von der glücklichen mecklenburgischen Verfassung. 1898
  • Abriss der Burgenkunde. Leipzig, 1900
  • Österreichische Burgen. (publ. Alfred Hölder) Vienna: Erster Theil 1902 (Digitalisat), Zweiter Teil 1903 (digitalised), Dritter Teil 1904 (digitalised), Vierter Teil 1905 (digitalised), Fünfter Teil 1907 (digitalised), Sechster Teil 1908 (digitalised), Siebenter Teil 1909 (digitalised), Achter Teil 1910 (digitalised)
  • Burgenkunde. Bauwesen und Geschichte der Burgen. Munich, 1912 (1st edn., 1895). )

Literature

References

  1. Rostocker Matrikelportal

External links