Ernst Hoeltzer (7 January 1835 – 3 July 1911) was a German

telegraphist A telegraphist (British English), telegrapher (American English), or telegraph operator is an operator who uses a telegraph key to send and receive the Morse code in order to communicate by land lines or radio. During the Great War the Royal ...

and photographer. He came to

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

during the rule of

Naser al-Din Shah Naser al-Din Shah Qajar ( fa, ناصرالدین‌شاه قاجار; 16 July 1831 – 1 May 1896) was the fourth Shah of Qajar Iran from 5 September 1848 to 1 May 1896 when he was assassinated. He was the son of Mohammad Shah Qajar and Malek ...

in the

Qajar dynasty The Qajar dynasty (; fa, دودمان قاجار ', az, Qacarlar ) was an IranianAbbas Amanat, ''The Pivot of the Universe: Nasir Al-Din Shah Qajar and the Iranian Monarchy, 1831–1896'', I. B. Tauris, pp 2–3 royal dynasty of Turkic peoples ...

and lived in Isfahan for about 20 years (1871–98). He captured historical photos of the city and the sites around it.

Life

Ernst Hoeltzer was born on 7 January 1835 in Kleinschmalkalden in Thuringia. From 1844 to 1848 he attended the

Schnepfenthal Salzmann School The Schnepfenthal Institution (Salzmannschule Schnepfenthal) is a boarding school in the district of Gotha, Germany, founded in 1784. In addition to compulsory education in English and German, students in 6th grade choose from Arabic, Chinese an ...

. Before going to Iran Hoeltzer worked for Siemens & Halske cable company in the Mediterranean. Hoeltzer was tasked by the British in Isfahan to run the telegraph center in this city. After the work was completed in 1867, he took a short trip to back to (Germany), where he became acquainted with photography. He bought a camera and other equipment and brought them back to Iran. From 1873 to 1897, Hoeltzer took thousands of photographs in Iran. Most of the photos captured

Isfahan Isfahan ( fa, اصفهان, Esfahân ), from its Achaemenid empire, ancient designation ''Aspadana'' and, later, ''Spahan'' in Sassanian Empire, middle Persian, rendered in English as ''Ispahan'', is a major city in the Greater Isfahan Regio ...

but a few also show sites in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

Qom Qom (also spelled as "Ghom", "Ghum", or "Qum") ( fa, قم ) is the seventh largest metropolis and also the seventh largest city in Iran. Qom is the capital of Qom Province. It is located to the south of Tehran. At the 2016 census, its popul ...

and

Kashan Kashan ( fa, ; Qashan; Cassan; also romanized as Kāshān) is a city in the northern part of Isfahan province, Iran. At the 2017 census, its population was 396,987 in 90,828 families. Some etymologists argue that the city name comes from ...

Personal life and legacy

In 1870 he married Maryam Haghnazar (1850 – 12 October 1920), an Iranian-Armenian woman from Tehran. After his death, all his property went to his daughter Karolina who married

Eskandar Khan Davidkhanian Eskandar Khan Davidkhanian was an Iranian general, professor, the Deputy Commander of the Persian Cossack Brigade, and a member of the Davidkhanian family. Family A member of the Davidkhanian family through his father, Eskandar shares blood wit ...

, a

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

in the town of Jolfa,

. Karolina lived in Tehran and had two daughters, Ricolletta and Hildegard. After World War II, Ricolletta married a German man and carrying all her grandfather's belongings, went to live in Germany. She put Hoeltzer's five large wooden cases in her basement. In 1969, after a pipe broke in the basement, the cases were brought out and opened.The cases held a considerate number of glass containers with negatives of his photos in addition to notebooks with chemical instructions and Hoeltzer's diary. In 1975, a number of Hoeltzer's photos were put on public display which included a collection of 100 photographs from Jolfa. Prints of these photos came into the possession of Mohammad Assemi, who sent them to the

Ministry of Culture Ministry of Culture may refer to: *Ministry of Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Sports (Albania) *Ministry of Culture (Algeria) *Ministry of Culture (Argentina) * Minister for the Arts (Australia) *Ministry of Culture (Azerbaijan) * Ministry of ...

in Tehran. A selection first appeared in 1976 under the title Persia 113 Years Ago and again in 2004 under the title Thousand Sights of Life. Pictures taken of Isfahan by Hoeltzer"s were also collected in a book published in 1976.

Death

Ernst Hoeltzer died in

on 7 July 1911. He is buried in the Armenian cemetery in Isfahan.

gallery

File:Ali-Qapu-1885.JPG, Ali-Qapu builging in Naqsh-e Jahan Square. File:Haftdast 2 by Ernst Hoeltzer.jpg, Haftdast. File:Haftdat palace and Ayenekhane pavilion by Ernst Hoeltzer.jpg, Haftdat palace and Ayenekhane. File:Chahar Bagh Madrasa by Ernst Hoeltzer - 1870s.jpg, :Chahar Bagh Madrasa File:Sheikh al-Islam’s Hall-House of Sheikholeslam of Esfahan-Ernest Hoeltzer-1878.jpg, Sheykh ol-Eslam's House

References

External links

Lifelines: Ernst Hölzer. Vol. 3, Ed. Siemens Historical Institute, Munich 2015«ارنست هولتسر»
در وبگاه مرکز اسناد و مدارک میراث فرهنگی {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoeltzer, Ernst Photographers from Thuringia 1911 deaths Explorers of Iran 1835 births German emigrants to Iran 19th-century German photographers People from Schmalkalden-Meiningen Burials in Iran Burials in Isfahan People of Qajar Iran