Ortwin Gamber (born 21 March 1925) is an Austrian art historian who served as director of the weapons collection at the

Kunsthistorisches Museum The Kunsthistorisches Museum ( "Museum of Art History", often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts") is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, it is crowned with an octagonal do ...

from 1976 to 1986. He had previously volunteered and following his 1950 graduation, worked at the museum since 1945. He is also a noted weapon collector, and has written several books and articles on the subject.

Career

Ortwin Gamber was born on 21 March 1925 in Enns,

Upper Austria Upper Austria (german: Oberösterreich ; bar, Obaöstareich) is one of the nine states or of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, a ...

. Studying under

Karl Maria Swoboda Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer * Karl of Austria, last Austrian ...

( de), he obtained his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

from the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

in 1950, with the thesis ''Der Plattenharnisch im 15. Jahrhundert'' ("The

plate armor Plate armour is a historical type of personal body armour made from bronze, iron, or steel plates, culminating in the iconic suit of armour entirely encasing the wearer. Full plate steel armour developed in Europe during the Late Middle Ages, ...

in the 15th century"). He also studied from 1948 to 1950 at the Institut für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung ( de), passing the

Staatsexamen The ("state examination" or "exam by state"; pl.: ''Staatsexamina'') is a German government licensing examination that future physicians, dentists, teachers, pharmacists, food chemists, psychotherapists and jurists (i.e., lawyers, judges, public ...

with the thesis ''Die Innsbrucker Plattnerei von 1450 bis zum Tode Kaiser Maximilians I'' ("The Innsbruck Armoury from 1450 Until the Death of Emperor Maximilian I"); during his studies, from 1945 until 1950, he also volunteered at the weapons collection of the

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. Following his graduation, in 1950 Gamber was hired for a staff position at the Kunsthistorisches Museum. He was variously promoted over the succeeding quarter-century, and from 1976 until 1986 served as the director of the weapons collection there. In 1962, Gamber was awarded the

Theodor Körner Prize The Theodor Körner Prize ( German: ''Theodor-Körner-Preis'') is a set of annual Austrian awards bestowed by the Theodor Körner Fund in recognition of cultural and/or scientific advances. The prize is awarded at the University of Vienna. The pri ...

. The same year he was made an honorary member of the Arms and Armour Society ( de).

Publications

Gamber has written dozens of articles on the subject of arms and armour. The list below is incomplete; a more complete list appears in . *

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gamber, Ortwin 1925 births 20th-century Austrian historians 21st-century Austrian historians Austrian art historians Living people University of Vienna alumni People from Upper Austria