Sarre, Friedrich Paul Theodor, 1865-1945

Friedrich Paul Theodor Sarre (22 June 1865, in Berlin – 31 May 1945, in Neubabelsberg) was a German Orientalist, archaeologist and art historian who amassed a collection of Islamic art. In 1895-96, inspired by Carl Humann, he conducted archaeological research in Phrygia, Lycaonia, and Pisidia, investigating architectural monuments and collecting epigraphic material. During two archaeological field seasons from 1911 to 1913 he excavated at Samarra, the 9th-century capital of the Abbasid dynasty, with Ernst Herzfeld. The two men published their findings in "Archäologische Reise im Euphrat-und Tigris Gebeit" ("Archaeological journey in the Euphrates and Tigris region"). He collected art from throughout the Middle East, especially from Persia and Constantinople. These items were put on exhibition in Berlin (1899), and later Paris at the Exposition des arts musulmans (1903). He donated most of his collection to the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin, where from 1921 to 1931 he was the director of its "Islamic department".