40 Years WTA E.V.

Greetings

On 22.10.2016 the celebrations for the 40th anniversary of the WTA e.V. took place in the library of the Literaturhaus in Munich. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Harald Garrecht, President of the WTA e.V., also welcomed some founding members to this special occasion.

State curator Dr. Roswitha Kaiser from the Rhineland-Palatinate State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments delivered a welcoming address from the Department for the Preservation of Historical Monuments.

For the celebratory speech, Mr. Dipl.-Rest. Kornelius Götz, chairman of the German mirror committee CEN 346, could be won.

His lecture "Tritt fest auf, mach´s Maul auf, hör bald auf. (Martin Luther)" on the significance of the activities of associations and societies in European standardization was very well received by the audience.

The WTA of course also used the celebrations as an opportunity to honour deserved members.

Toni Mack was awarded honorary membership as a founding member of the WTA e. V..

For 40 years now, he has been actively committed to the founding idea of the WTA and its statutory goals.

Dr. Horst Reul, member of the WTA e.V. since 1986, for many years head of the technical commission "Surface Technology" and afterwards deputy head of the technical commission, was awarded the "Goldene Ehrennadel" for his dedicated work for the WTA e.V..

Dr. Lothar Goretzki, a member of the WTA e.V. since 1990, took over as head of the technical commission "Natural Stone" in 1997, which he still heads today, and as head of the Certification Commission for Restoration Plaster in 1999. Now that he has retired professionally, he would also like to retire from leading positions in the WTA. He was also awarded the "Goldene Ehrennadel" for his special engagemen for the WTA e.V..

Of course a few words to the "jubilarian" may not be missing ...

and so ir.-arch. Els Verstrynge, assistant professor, WTA-NL/VL gave an overview of the importance of the work of WTA e.V. for Europe. The lecture "The significance of WTA for building maintenance and monument conservation in Europe" was prepared together with Prof. Dr. Ir. Dionys Van Gemert, President of the WTA from 1998 to 2001.

Also a review of the past 40 years of WTA e.V. should not be missing.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Hans-Peter Leimer, president of the WTA from 2001 to 2013 and honorary member since 2013, gave an overview of the 40 years of work of the WTA and its development from the "Munich Circle" to an internationally active association.

At the end there was, as usual for WTA events, a technical contribution.

Eddi Bromm, founding and honorary member of the WTA, gave an insight into the damage to the Literaturhaus and his restoration work on this object in the years 1995 - 1997.

Thanks to the support of the management of the Literaturhaus, it was also possible to visit the building afterwards.

With a joint dinner and an informal get-together, the event came to a nice conclusion.