Aloys Hirt (27 June 1759 – 29 June 1837) was a German art historian and archaeologist of Ancient Greek and Roman architecture. He was responsible for the King of Prussia's antiquities collection from 1798, and became the University of Berlin's first professor of art theory and art history in 1810. Life Hirt was born in the village of Behla near Hüfingen in the Swabian Baar region. The son of a wealthy rural family, he was able to attend secondary school (Gymnasium) at Villingen, educated by Benedictine monks. After the death of his first love, he entered a monastery for a while, before studying philosophy at the University of Nancy. Intending to get a degree in law and political science, he briefly studied it at the University of Freiburg soon afterwards. However, in 1779, he switched university to Vienna and subject to classics, staying 3 years. Italy In 1782 he moved to Rome and went on to live in Italy until 1796, visiting Venice, Florence, Naples, and Sicily. Hirt became increasingly interested in art, after reading Johann Winckelmann's works and being exposed to wide variety of art available for study in Italy. He worked as an archaeologist and from 1785 also as an established and knowledgeable cicerone (tour guide). His clients included Goethe, Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff, Margravine Louise of Brandenburg-Schwedt, Prince Nikolaus II Esterházy, Herder, Duchess Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, and the countess Wilhelmine von Lichtenau. Hirt also assimilated with the German expatriate community in Rome. Also in Rome, in 1791, he published a treatise on the Pantheon, Osservazioni istorico-architettoniche sopra il Panteon. In 1794 the received the title of a Princely Weimarian Councillor. Berlin His time in Italy ended with the onset of the Napoleonic Wars in 1796, when he was called to the Prussian Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Arts in Berlin. Raised to a Royal Prussian Councillor, he taught the "theory of art", and became an arts advisor to King Frederick William II, presumably with the patronage of Countess Lichtenau. In 1797, he made a public lecture outlining plans for a public museum in Berlin to contain the finest Prussian art treasures arranged by artistic 'school' for the edification of the art lover and public. The proposal were green-lighted by King Frederick William II and given royal patronage, which continued with his successor Frederick William III. Hirt settled on a site Unter den Linden (where