Arnold Wolff

Arnold Wolff (26 July 1932 – 24 December 2019) was a German architect. He was and head of the Dombauhütte of the Cologne Cathedral from 1972 to 1998. From 1986 to 1997, he was academic teacher for restoration and conservation at the Cologne University of Applied Sciences. Already in his childhood and youth he was interested in historical buildings. He attended the from 1942 to 1954, initially with interruptions due to the war. After one semester of teacher training at the Pädagogische Akademie in Cologne, Wolff studied architecture at the RWTH Aachen from November 1954, where he graduated in autumn 1961. In 1968, Wolff received his doctorate from the RWTH with a dissertation on the first construction period of the Gothic cathedral. With this work, he set new standards in the field of medieval architectural archaeology; its essential results are still current today and form the basis of every building history of architectural history of the Cologne Cathedral. In 1972 he succeeded his teacher Weyres in the office of the , which he held until the anniversary year 1998. During these years, not only were the cathedral archives reorganised, but also the Dombauhütte Köln was rebuilt and the in-house "Verlag Kölner Dom" was founded. In addition to the immense restoration and conservation work on the cathedral, a new appreciation of the artistic achievement of the 19th century also took place under his leadership. This primarily concerns the reinstatement of the large west window by Carl Julius Milde, which was created in the years from 1865 to 1870 and was expanded but damaged in the Second World War. Wolff also worked as an author and editor for the scientific research and popularity of Cologne Cathedral.

Wolff was married to Gerta Ramjoue (1935-2018), author of the city and museum guide Das römisch-germanische Köln (1981), which was published several times. They had three daughters and a son.

Awards 1998: . 2004: Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia. 2012: Honorary membership of the

Publications Chronologie der ersten Bauzeit des Kölner Domes 1248–1277. Dissertation, , vol.. 28/29 (1968). Der Dom zu Köln. Bearbeitet und ergänzt von Barbara Schock-Werner. Greven, Köln 2015. Das Chormosaik im Kölner Dom (Meisterwerke des Kölner Domes, Band 11). Verlag Kölner Dom, Cologne 2012, , (also in English: ). Arnold Wolff (ed.): Sulpiz Boisserée. Der Briefwechsel mit Moller, Schinkel and Zwirner. Verlag Kölner Dom, Greven, Cologne 2008.