After an apprenticeship as acarpenter, from 1948 to 1951, he studied architecture at theKarlsruhe Institute of Technology and he got a Doctorate in 1954 on the theme ofDevelopment of industrial building inBaden. From 1962 to 1967 he was the second director of theGerman Archaeological Institute inCairo and during this time he directed the excavations atAbu Mena byAlexandria. After hishabilitation in 1965 at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, in 1967 he was appointed full professor of history of architecture at theTechnische Hochschule Darmstadt. In 1976, he was elected the first director of the Istanbul Branch of theGerman Archaeological Institute (DAI). His main interests during this period were thetopography ofConstantinople and ancient Istanbul, the castles of the Eastern Mediterranean and the architectural history ofMiletus, where from 1974 until his retirement in 1988, he led the excavations. In thisIonian archaeological site he studied withBerthold Weber threeHellenistic temples andHeroa, and in addition early Christian buildings.
Das Theater von Epidauros,W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1961. (with Armin von Gerkan)
Mittelalterliche Befestigungen im südlichen Ionien. In:Istanbuler Mitteilungen. Bd. 11,ISSN0341-9142, 1961, S. 5–122.
Die Stadtbefestigungen von Izmir, Sigacik und Çandarli: Bemerkungen zur mittelalterlichen Topographie des nördlichen Ionien. In:Istanbuler Mitteilungen. Bd. 12, 1962, S. 59–114.
Burgen der Kreuzritter im Heiligen Land, auf Zypern und in der Ägäis.Deutscher Kunstverlag, München u. a. 1966.
Bildlexikon zur Topographie Istanbuls. Byzantion, Konstantinupolis, Istanbul bis zum Beginn des 17. Jahrhundert. Wasmuth, Tübingen 1977,ISBN3-8030-1022-5.
Von der Polis zum Kastron. In:Gymnasium. Bd. 93, 1986,ZDB-ID0017-5943, S. 435–475.
Griechisches Bauwesen in der Antike. Beck, München 1988,ISBN3-406-32993-4.
Die Häfen von Byzantion, Konstantinupolis, Istanbul. Wasmuth, Tübingen 1994,ISBN3-8030-1042-X.
Elfriede Müller-Wiener:Wolfgang Müller-Wiener (1923–1991). Sein Lebensweg aufgezeichnet für die Familie, seine Freunde und Mitarbeiter. s. n., Darmstadt 1995.
