Niklas Maak
© Alberto Novelli
Niklas Maak
Niklas Maak was born in 1972 in Hamburg, where he studied art history under the Renaissance experts Martin Warnke and Andreas Beyer, before studying philosophy in Paris at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) under Jacques Derrida. He completed his PhD in 1988 with a dissertation on the concept of the draft in the work of Le Corbusier and Paul Valéry. From 1999 to 2001, Maak was an editor for art and architecture and a columnist for the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Since 2001, he has been a feature writer for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Maak also writes for publications such as The New York Times and Harvard Design Magazine. He is the recipient of the Egon Erwin Kish Prize and a former fellow at the Villa Massimo Germany Academy of Rome and the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin.
Niklas Maak was born in 1972 in Hamburg, where he studied art history under the Renaissance experts Martin Warnke and Andreas Beyer, before studying philosophy in Paris at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) under Jacques Derrida. He completed his PhD in 1988 with a dissertation on the concept of the draft in the work of Le Corbusier and Paul Valéry. From 1999 to 2001, Maak was an editor for art and architecture and a columnist for the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Since 2001, he has been a feature writer for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Maak also writes for publications such as The New York Times and Harvard Design Magazine. He is the recipient of the Egon Erwin Kish Prize and a former fellow at the Villa Massimo Germany Academy of Rome and the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin.
PUBLICATIONS
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Year of Publication: 2026
Niklas MaakYear of Publication: 2026
The Last Days of Beauty
At the highpoint of the Renaissance, Rome was the centre of the Western world. The Sack of Rome on 6 May 1527 marked the end of this epoch. Charles V’s soldiers stormed the walls of the city of Rome, enacting scenes of carnage unlike any other in the history of the city. The German Landsknechte laid waste to the city, Pope Clement VII was taken prisoner, the water supply destroyed, and the plague...
