Proceedings 18 th International Symposium CIPA 2001 
Potsdam (Germany), September 18 -21, 2001 
Letellier 
ter any intervention to 
heritage conservation 
tivities. The GCI and 
iccount the “levels of 
Conservation Process 
technical transfer and 
or a 5-Year Heritage 
ALBRECHT MEYDENBAUER - 
PIONEER OF PHOTOGRAMMETRIC DOCUMENTATION OF THE CULTURAL HERITAGE 
Jörg Albertz 
Technical University of Berlin, Photogrammetry and Cartography, EB 9 
Strasse des 17. Juni 135, D - 10623 Berlin, Germany 
E-mail: albertz@fpk.tu-berlin.de 
KEY WORDS: Meydenbauer, History, Architectural Photogrammetry, Messbildanstalt, Heritage Documentation 
AND CIPA 
ited during the CIPA 
the level of heritage 
ining and information 
ABSTRACT 
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 his idea, and he fought against many obstacles 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 »Denkmälerarchiv« (Cultural Heritage 
Archive). 
In 1885 Meydenbauer succeeded, and the very first photogrammetric institution worldwide was established in Berlin for the photo 
grammetric documentation of cultural heritage objects. Between 1885 and 1920 the »Meßbildamtalt« recorded about 2,600 objects 
in about 20,000 photogrammetric images on glass plates. This collection of historical photogrammetric images is absolutely unique. 
In the following decades, in particular during and after World War II, the archive passed through an adventurous history. It even 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 für 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. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
The history of architectural photogrammetry starts with Albrecht Meyden 
bauer. He was born in 1834 in Tholey, a little town in Germany. After his 
studies at the »Bauakademie« (School of Architecture) in Berlin, he be 
came a building surveyor of the Prussian government (Fig.l). One of his 
first assignments was the documentation of the cathedral in the city of 
Wetzlar. During this work it happened in September 1858 that Mey 
denbauer had an accident, and he almost fell down from the side-aisle of 
the cathedral (Fig.2). Following this dramatic episode it occurred to him 
that the direct measurements at the façade could be replaced by indirect 
measurements in photographic images. 
From now on, Meydenbauer devoted his activities to this idea. In 1860 he 
wrote a memorandum about the documentation of buildings through pho 
tography to the curator of cultural heritage in Prussia, von Quasi. He 
described that photographic images can store the object information in 
great details and with high accuracy. Meydenbauer was also aware of 
upcoming risks for cultural objects. Therefore he developed the idea of a 
»Denkmalerarchiv« (Cultural Heritage Archive) where the most important 
cultural heritage objects should be recorded in such a way that they could 
even be reconstructed in cases of destruction. However, he had a long and 
difficult way to go in order to develop methods and instruments for the 
technical realization of his idea. And he had to fight against many obstacles 
and critics, until his idea was accepted as a documentation method and he 
found governmental support and funding. 
Fig. 1: Albrecht Meydenbauer as a young architect 
2. THE DEVELOPMENT OF PHOTOGRAMMETRIC METHODS 
During the following years, Meydenbauer was working for railway construction and other offices. Therefore he had to use his free 
time to elaborate his method and to carry out practical experiments. His first idea was, that any good camera could be used for his 
method. But soon the shortcomings of such systems were evident, it became clear that commercial cameras could not fullfil the new 
task and that special-type cameras must be developed.