Ferdinand Franz Wallraf (20 July 1748 - 18 March 1824) was a German botanist, mathematician, theologian, art collector and Roman Catholic priest. His collection formed the founding nucleus of the

Wallraf–Richartz Museum The Wallraf–Richartz Museum (full name in German: ') is one of the three major museums in Cologne, Germany. It houses an art gallery with a collection of fine art from the medieval period to the early twentieth century. History The museum ...

Biography

He was the son of a Master tailor. After 1760, he attended the and, from 1765, studied at the Art Faculty; graduating in 1767 with a master's degree. He had no money to continue his higher education so, having received

minor orders Minor orders are ranks of church ministry. In the Catholic Church, the predominating Latin Church formerly distinguished between the major orders —priest (including bishop), deacon and subdeacon—and four minor orders—acolyte, exorcist, lec ...

in 1763, he became a teacher. In 1772, he was ordained a priest by Auxiliary Bishop . Beginning in 1776 his friend, the Professor and physician, Johann Georg Menn (1730-1781), helped him study medicine. He obtained his

Baccalauréat The ''baccalauréat'' (; ), often known in France colloquially as the ''bac'', is a French national academic qualification that students can obtain at the completion of their secondary education (at the end of the ''lycée'') by meeting certain ...

in 1778, and his Master's in 1780. In 1784, the awarded him a professorship and he became a

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

St. Maria im Kapitol St. Maria im Kapitol (St. Mary's in the Capitol) is an 11th-century Romanesque church located in the Kapitol-Viertel in the old town of Cologne, Germany. The name “im Kapitol“ refers to the Roman temple for the Capitoline Triad that was bu ...

. As early as 1785, he was commissioned to improve the school and university system, but nothing was achieved due to inaction by the city government. By 1788, he was a Doctor of medicine and philosophy. In 1795, he was also made a Canon at the Basilica of the Holy Apostles. From 1793 to 1796. he served as a Rector at the Universitas. He used his own resources to restore the botanical gardens on the Zeughausstraße for research purposes. When the Universitas was abolished by the French in 1798, during their occupation of the Left Bank of the Rhine, Wallraf became a teacher at its successor, the short-lived University of Cologne, in ine department of

Belles Lettres is a category of writing, originally meaning beautiful or fine writing. In the modern narrow sense, it is a label for literary works that do not fall into the major categories such as fiction, poetry, or drama. The phrase is sometimes used pejora ...

. Although he swore an oath to the university, he refused to swear one to the First Republic. He was also named the "Conservateur des monuments". It was then that he began his own collecting in earnest; meant to eventually restore that of the Universitas. His collection included Roman excavation pieces, various medieval paintings, religious works of art, manuscripts and early prints, coins, fossils, historical weapons and sculptures. In 1809, in his capacity as Conservateur, he was commissioned to design the new

Melaten cemetery Melaten is the central cemetery of Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, which was first mentioned in 1243. It was developed to a large park, holding the graves of notable residents. Name The name "Melaten" refers to a hospital for the sick and ...

, using the

Père Lachaise cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (french: Cimetière du Père-Lachaise ; formerly , "East Cemetery") is the largest cemetery in Paris, France (). With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Notable figure ...

in Paris as a model. His plans included a recreational area and a green commons. That same year, together with his fellow teacher Johann Caspar Schug (1766–1818), he founded the "Olympic Society", devoted to cultivating art and literature, as well as preserving Cologne's unique dialect and humor. In 1812, Mayor passed along an order from the French government, engaging Wallraf to propose new, French names for the streets of Cologne. If possible, he was to use

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical ef ...

s from

Old High German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old Hig ...

and

Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. Hig ...

. To achieve this, he held frequent consultations with the printer and publisher, , who offered many helpful suggestions. He also took the opportunity to change mildly offensive names. For example; "Pißgasse" became "Passage de la Bourse". (Börsengässche). House numbering was reorganized according to the directions of General , to make addresses more logically sequential. In 1813, Thiriart published the first Street Directory in French; the ''Itinéraire de Cologne''. He died in 1824 and was buried at the cemetery he had designed. The work of cataloguing his collection took almost two years. It was exhibited from 1827 to 1860 in what was known as the "Wallrafianum". Several museums in Cologne later drew on his collection to begin their own. The largest part is now at the

. His manuscripts are preserved at the city's Historical Archives. His library of 14,000 prints was also bequeathed to the city and is now held by the .''Zwischen antiquarischer Gelehrsamkeit und Aufklärung. Die Bibliothek des Kölner Universitätsrektors Ferdinand Franz Wallraf (1748–1824)'' (= ''Kleine Schriften der Universitäts- und Stadtbibliothek Köln'' 18). Universitäts- und Stadtbibliothek Köln 2006, Ferdinand Franz Wallraf Statue in Front of MAK Cologne

Ferdinand Franz Wallraf Statue in Front of MAK Cologne

References

External links

* *
Von Wallraf gesammelte Handschriften
im Digitalen Historischen Archiv Köln
Weitere digitalisierte Archivbestände
zu Ferdinand Franz Wallraf im Digitalen Historischen Archiv Köln
Die Bibliothek Wallraf
in der Universitäts- und Stadtbibliothek Köln * Google Books:
Beiträge zur Geschichte der Stadt Köln und ihrer Umgebungen Von Ferdinand Franz Wallraf, Verlag M. DuMont-Schauberg, Köln 1818

Das Projekt ''Wallraf digital''
a
Lehrstuhl für Geschichte der Frühen Neuzeit
der Universität zu Köln {{DEFAULTSORT:Wallraf, Ferdinand Franz 1748 births 1824 deaths Clergy from Cologne 19th-century German Roman Catholic priests 19th-century German botanists 18th-century art collectors 19th-century art collectors German art collectors 18th-century German mathematicians 19th-century German mathematicians 18th-century German Catholic theologians 19th-century German Catholic theologians Rectors of the University of Cologne Scientists from Cologne 18th-century German botanists

Biography

References

Further reading

External links