Renowned historian of architecture and TUM Emeritus of Excellence receives prestigious award

Prof. Winfried Nerdinger honored with Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

After studying architecture at TUM, Prof. Nerdinger obtained his doctorate in art history. In 1986 he was appointed as a professor of history of architecture at TUM and in 1989 became the director of TUM’s Architecture Museum.

Nerdinger played a decisive role in developing TUM's architectural collection and relocating it to a dedicated space in the Pinakothek der Moderne museum. He was also the driving force behind the establishment of the Architecture Museum of Swabia in 1995. Since 2002 he has been a member of the board of directors of the Pinakothek der Moderne museum in Munich, and since 2004 he has served as the director of the Visual Arts section of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts. He has worked as a visiting professor in Harvard and Helsinki.

In 2012 Winfried Nerdinger retired as a TUM professor, but maintains his ties to his alma mater as a TUM Emeritus of Excellence. The renowned historian of architecture is the founding director of the Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism, which opened in April 2015.

"You supported the construction of the documentation center from the very beginning," says science minister Spaenle in his citation. "That is just one example of your outstanding awareness of history and accountability." He also emphasized Prof. Nerdinger's remarkable research achievements, embodied in his more than 300 scientific publications: "As one of the world's most respected historians of architecture, you contribute to the understanding of architecture and its societal links through your much-admired writings on the history of architecture, art and culture."