Maria Schwarz (1921–2018) was a German architect and professor best known for her

church architecture Church architecture refers to the architecture of buildings of churches, convents, seminaries etc. It has evolved over the two thousand years of the Christian religion, partly by innovation and partly by borrowing other architectural styles as ...

. Maria Lang was born on 3 October 1921 in

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

, Germany. Her father, a contractor sparked her interest in architecture at a young age. In 1941, Lang enrolled in

RWTH Aachen University RWTH Aachen University (), also known as North Rhine-Westphalia Technical University of Aachen, Rhine-Westphalia Technical University of Aachen, Technical University of Aachen, University of Aachen, or ''Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hoch ...

, making her the first woman to study architecture at the school. She graduated for the university with a master's degree in 1946. In 1949, Lang moved to

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

to assist in the rebuilding of the city following World War II. In Cologne, Lang worked with fellow architect Rudolf Schwarz, whom she married in 1952. Following their marriage, Maria Schwartz became a partner in her husband's office, where the couple collaborated on a number of projects until Rudolf's death in 1961. In 1998 Schwartz joined the faculty of the

Technical University of Munich The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; german: Technische Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences. Establis ...

. Maria Schwarz died on 15 February 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schwarz, Maria 1921 births 2018 deaths German women architects 20th-century German architects 21st-century German architects People from Aachen RWTH Aachen University alumni Academic staff of the Technical University of Munich 20th-century German women 21st-century German women