Wolfgang Hocquél was born in 1947 in Osterfeld/Thuringia. He spent his early years in Merseburg, where he graduated from high school in 1966. From 1968 to 1972 he studied at the Hochschule für Bauwesen (School of Civil Engineering) in Leipzig, graduating with a degree in engineering. In 1987, he received his doctorate in art history from Professor Ernst Ullmann in the Department of Fine Arts at Karl Marx University in Leipzig with the thesis "Leipziger Kaufmannshöfe, Messehäuser und Passagen“ (Leipzig Mercantile Courtyards, Trade Fair Buildings and Arcades). Since 1979, he has had various leading roles in the preservation of historical monuments in the Leipzig district. From 1991 to 2008, he was head of Leipzig Regional Council’s Department for Monument Preservation. He was the initiator of the 1st Leipziger Volksbaukonferenz (Leipzig People’s Building Conference) of 6/7 January 1990, which took place on the Agra site in Leipzig-Markkleeberg and initiated the democratic transition in Leipzig's building policy. The first priority was to stop the dramatic deterioration of the old building fabric. He played a decisive role in the foundation of the Kulturstiftung Leipzig (Leipzig Cultural Foundation) in 1990, in the establishment of the Zentrum für handwerkliche Denkmalpflege (Centre for the Preservation of Historic Buildings and Crafts) in Trebsen Castle near Grimma (1992) and in setting up the Europäische Messe für Stadterneuerung und Denkmalpflege (European Trade Fair for Urban Renewal and Monument Preservation), denkmal 1994 in Leipzig. His work in Leipzig also includes extensive writing and teaching activities in the fields of monument preservation and Leipzig's architectural history. From 2008 to 2015 he was managing director of the Kulturstiftung Leipzig. Today he works as a freelance consultant in monument preservation and is also active as an author.