ALBRECHT MEYDENBAUER - PIONEER OF PHOTOGRAMMETRIC DOCUMENTATION OF THE CULTURAL HERITAGE

In 1858, Albrecht Meydenbauer, a young architect, had the idea to use photographic images for the documentation of buildings. From this moment he worked with great enthusiasm for the technical realization of hi s idea, and he fought against many obstacle s for its acceptance as a documentation method. Meydenbauer was aware of upcoming risks for cultural objects. He was convinced that the most important cultural heritage objects should be recorded in such a way that they could even be reconstructed in cases of destruction. Photogrammetric images were the most effective way to reach this goal of a » Denkmalerarchiv« (Cultural Heritage Archive). In 1885 Meydenbauer succeeded, and the very first photogr ammetric institution worldwide was established in Berlin for the photogrammetric documentation of cultural heritage objects. Between 1885 and 1920 the » Mesbildanstalt« recorded about 2,600 objects in about 20,000 photogrammetric images on glass plates. This collection of historical photogrammetric images is absolutely uniq ue. In the following decades, in particular during and after World War II, the archive passed through an adventurous history. It ev en was displaced for some years to Moscow, before it came back to Berlin. Now the famous »Meydenbauer Archive« is under the care of the »Brandenburgisches Landesamt fur Denkmalpflege « (Office for the Preservation of Monuments of Culture of the Federal County of Brandenburg) in Waldstadt, a town about 30 km south of Berlin. From todays point of view Meydenbauer was not only one of the successful inventors of photogrammetry, but also a pioneer of cultural heritage documentation.