Alexander of Branca

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Alexander Raimund Freiherr von Branca (born January 11, 1919 in Schwabing , Munich ; † March 21, 2011 in Miesbach ) was a German architect and artist .

family

Freiherr von Branca was the only son of the second marriage of his father, the officer and diplomat Wilhelm Freiherr von Branca (1870–1958) and the painter Hedwig Frankenburger (1890–1985), who became known under the name Hedwig Branca-Kent ; the marriage was divorced in 1922.

Alexander Freiherr von Branca was married to the daughter of Georg Enoch Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg , Theresa Freiin zu Guttenberg (1929–1953; one son), his second marriage to Carolina Bernasconi. This marriage resulted in a son and three daughters, including Benedicta von Branca .

He lived on a listed farm in Miesbach, where he died on March 21, 2011.

Life

The family lived in Schwabing . He attended the country school house in Neubeu. As the son of Protestant parents, he converted to Catholicism . During the Second World War in 1941 he attended evening classes at the Blocherer drawing and architecture school . Von Branca was a soldier, but was also interned in Gestapo custody during the Nazi regime . "During this time, faith gave him a lot of strength."

From 1946 to 1948 he studied architecture at the Technical University of Munich . In 1948 he continued his studies at the ETH Zurich . From 1951 he worked in his own architectural office in Munich. In 1953 he was the artistic director of the German Transport Exhibition in Munich and from 1972 to 1988 district home administrator of Munich. His office successor was his daughter Alexandra Freiin von Branca in 2006.

In 1970 he was appointed Knight of the Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher by Cardinal Grand Master Eugène Tisserant , the Dean of the College of Cardinals, and on December 5, 1970 in Cologne Cathedral by Lorenz Cardinal Jaeger , Grand Prior of the Order, and Alois Hundhammer , Governor in Germany , invested.

Understanding of architecture

Characteristic for his architecture are the use of large walls, facings with natural stone and the fortress character of his 29 church buildings. About the understanding of architecture The form follows the function says Freiherr von Branca:

Yes, the formula “form follows function” is wrong, it is simply a mistake. I also believe that Sullivan didn't just mean it materialistically or in relation to material, especially when one speaks of a church. What is the function of a church? The function of a church is to lead people out of dispersion and into gathering. If I want collection, the room has to be such that it allows collection. If function is understood this way, it could be formulated this way, but it is not understood that way or is not understood that way.

Important buildings and projects

Adoration Church on Mount Schoenstatt
Theresienwiese underground station in Munich
Munich subway station Marienplatz , extension in 2006
Entrance area of ​​the Hamburg International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea
The Schanzlturm in Passau
Interior of the Church of the Transfiguration of Christ in Rohrbach (Ilm)

Awards and honors

Exhibitions

literature

  • Alexander von Branca: Facets of a Life. Urfeld publishing house, Bad Tölz 2001, ISBN 3-932857-18-6 .
  • Architekturmuseum Schwaben (Ed.): Alexander Freiherr von Branca (1919), Augsburg 2019.
  • Karin Blum (ed.): Alexander von Branca - architecture for builders. Kastner publishing house, Wolnzach 2003, ISBN 3-936154-96-1 .
  • E. Burmeister, H. Caspari (arrangement): Alexander Freiherr von Branca. Cat. Exhib. Munich University of Applied Sciences, 1979.
  • Thomas von Nies: Alexander Freiherr von Branca on his 100th birthday, a pioneering church builder from Bavaria, in: Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation (Ed.): Monument Preservation Information, No. 171 (2019), pp. 39–42.

Web links

Commons : Alexander von Branca  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alexander Freiherr von Branca is dead ( Memento from March 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), BR-online from March 23, 2011. Retrieved on May 26, 2015.
  2. ↑ Dipl.-Ing. Alexander Freiherr von Branca Architect in conversation with Dr. Michael Schramm. (PDF, 39 kB) BR-alpha, January 26, 1998, accessed on August 8, 2015 .
  3. ↑ tz.de : Alexander von Branca is dead - He brought the world to the Oktoberfest. (web) tz.de, accessed on March 22, 2011 .
  4. ↑ Dipl.-Ing. Alexander Freiherr von Branca Architect in conversation with Dr. Michael Schramm. (PDF, 39 kB) BR-alpha, January 26, 1998, p. 5 , accessed on August 8, 2015 .
  5. ↑ Oberpostdirektion Freiburg im Breisgau. In: Post offices. Karl Krämer Verlag 1989.
  6. ^ Passauer Neue Presse , March 19, 2011, Passau local section, p. 22.
  7. ^ Evangelical Lutheran Gethsemanegemeinde Würzburg Heuchelhof. Gethsemanekirche-wuerzburg.de, April 16, 2010, accessed on September 18, 2010 .
  8. ↑ Kreis- und Stadtsparkasse Wasserburg ( Memento from May 26, 2015 in the Internet Archive ). Retrieved on May 26, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Branca, Alexander of
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Branca, Alexander Freiherr von; Branca, Raimund Alexander Wilhelm Maximilian Freiherr von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German architect
DATE OF BIRTH January 11, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH March 21, 2011
Place of death Miesbach