Friedrich Anton von Heynitz

Friedrich Anton von Heynitz as Saxon General Mining Commissioner (painting from 1772 by Anton Graff )

Friedrich Anton von Heynitz , also Heinitz (born May 14, 1725 in Dröschkau ; † May 15, 1802 in Berlin ) was one of the founders of the Freiberg Mining Academy and the most important Prussian economist of the 18th century. He is considered a reformer of the mining industry in Brunswick . His main achievement was the reorganization of mining and metallurgy in Prussia.

Life

Von Heynitz came from the Meissen nobility with the parent company of the same name near Meißen from a branch that was located on the Dröschkau manor . His father Georg Ernst von Heynitz (1692–1751) was a court advisor and inspector of the Meißen state school. His mother Sophie Dorothea, born von Hardenberg (1705–1775), is a great-aunt of the poet Friedrich von Hardenberg . His brother Carl Wilhelm Benno von Heynitz was the Saxon mining captain and curator of the Freiberg Mining Academy.

After completing his training at the Pforta State School , he began studying natural sciences and forestry in Dresden and mining, metallurgy and saltworks in Freiberg and Kösen . In 1747 he got a job with the Brunswick mining administration and in 1762 was appointed vice miner captain. He supervised the mining of the Lower Harz Mountains , which he revived with the establishment of mining arts .

Memorial plaque in Freiberg

In 1764 he followed Prince Xavier's call to Saxony and took over the management of the Saxon mining industry as General Mining Commissioner. A major step in his reform plans was the establishment of the Freiberg Mining Academy in 1765 together with Friedrich Wilhelm von Oppel . Due to discrepancies in the competencies of the Saxon saltworks management founded by him in 1772 , he resigned on October 4, 1774.

In 1777 Heynitz moved to Prussia , Friedrich II appointed him budget, war and directing minister and chief miner on September 9th . Heynitz was given extensive freedom here, which was necessary for the implementation of his plans. In addition to the mining and smelting department, Heynitz temporarily headed other departments, including the salt department between 1786 and 1796.

One of his first steps was a reform of the Bergakademie Berlin, which had existed since 1770, in 1778 . Heynitz called his nephew Friedrich Wilhelm von Reden to Berlin and in 1779 made him head of Silesian mining and metallurgy.

At first von Heynitz toured the country and got a comprehensive picture of the condition of the mines and smelters in Prussia. He ordered a systematic investigation . In 1792 he had the young Alexander von Humboldt employed as a mountain assessor for these purposes. In addition to restructuring the mining administration, he had mining aid funds set up and the existing miners' funds improved. The construction of the first German steam engine in 1783 according to Wattscher design was promoted by him with the approval of King Friedrich of Prussia. The construction of roads , waterways and the first railways improved the traffic routes to the mines, smelters and factories, examples being the Klodnitz Canal and the Rauendahler Schiebeweg . In addition to mining, he also gave special support to iron hammers, steel and brass works in Prussia and the Royal Porcelain Manufactory in Berlin .

One of his greatest successes was the modernization, together with speeches , of the mining and metallurgical industry in Silesia, which had fallen into disrepair after the wars . New ironworks were founded , such as the Friedrichshütte , Königshütte and Gleiwitzer Hütte. The disused ore mining in Tarnowitz was resumed and the first steam engine was introduced there in 1798. After attempts to fire the blast furnaces with coke began in 1789 , the first coke blast furnace in Europe went into operation in Gleiwitz in 1796.

In 1786 von Heynitz became the academic curator of the Berlin Art Academy , reformed the art academy , which had fallen into disrepair, and in 1790 gave it a new constitution. Despite decades of neglect of the academy and the decline of art in Prussia, there were many among Berlin-based artists, above all Daniel Chodowiecki , who were interested in a renaissance of art and the revival of an academy serving the “higher purpose”. Under von Heynitz, after decades of only sporadic meetings, weekly meetings as well as monthly, quarterly and annual conferences were brought into being. He is thus considered to be the “restorer and second creator” of the art academy. With the re-establishment of the art academy, Heynitz pursued a double strategy from the start: On the one hand, he wanted to set up the academy, as agreed with Friedrich II, as an economic and political service agency for the Prussian state. In addition to the next generation of artists, the academy was to train craftsmen, goods producers and manufacturers in the future and initiate a number of other measures to make the Prussian “national industry” independent from abroad, to increase its competitiveness and to “make art an important source bearable financial condition ”of the Prussian monarchy. Schools of arts and crafts subordinate to the academy have been set up at various locations. Overall, the entire artistic work in Prussia was subordinated to the Academy. As a teaching institution she taught painting, sculpture, architecture, mechanical sciences, copperplate engraving, shape cutting, composition, landscape painting and prospectus drawing and drawing "according to life". On the other hand, Heynitz pursued a much more advanced objective. He wanted to revive the academy as an association of the most excellent artists who research, discuss and learn together in order to perfect the arts. The model was based on the Greek tradition, and the new academy became a place for Platonic dialogue. Heynitz repeatedly pointed out "the ultimate purpose of the academy", which is to "make a well-founded and correct judgment on local as well as foreign art objects". For Heynitz, the reform of the academy was a milestone on the way to a “comprehensive change of consciousness” of the entire population, it was intended to spread a “feeling for the beautiful”.

Heynitz was awarded the Order of the Black Eagle in 1791 because of his services . In 1792 he became an honorary member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences . and he was also involved in founding the Berlin Building Academy in 1798.

The restless minister and chief miner remained in office until his death, and Friedrich Wilhelm von Reden was appointed his successor . Heynitz was buried in the city ​​parish church of Belgians in 1802 .

In his honor, pits (e.g. Heinitzgrube ), other mining structures and roads were named. One of the main coal seams in Upper Silesia was named Heynitzflöz . Near Neunkirchen in Saarland, the Heinitz tunnel , which was laid out in 1847, and the neighboring district of Heinitz were named after von Heynitz. A polder in the Rheiderland in East Friesland has had his name since 1795 . In Rüdersdorf , a lake created by the local opencast mine was named after Heynitz, which fell victim to the advancing opencast mining in the 1970s. The local high school is called "Friedrich-Anton-von-Heinitz-Gymnasium".

Heynitz was married in his first marriage to Eleonore Magdalene Juliane von Rheden (1735–1769) and then used with Julie. von Adelsheim born from Wreeden. No male heirs resulted from either marriage.

literature

• Benno von Heynitz: Contributions to the history of the von Heynitz family and their goods. 1st - 3rd Part. Written for the younger generation. 2nd edition, reworked and equipped with many pictures and letters in memory of the Saxon homeland. Self-published, Kirchrode 1971.
• Franziska Hirschmann: Forms of noble existence in the 18th century. Nobility between criticism and reforms. AVM, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-89975-914-3 .
• Johannes Mager: Friedrich Anton von Heynitz (1725–1802). Highlights from his life and family environment . In: The cut . tape 55 , no. 1 , 2003, ISSN  0003-5238 , p. 12-27 .
• Otto Steinecke:  Heynitz, Friedrich Anton von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 55, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1910, pp. 493-500.
• Walter Schellhas :  Heynitz, Friedrich Anton v. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1972, ISBN 3-428-00190-7 , pp. 96-98 ( digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Friedrich Anton von Heynitz  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Detailed biography
• Heinitz monument in Neunkirchen
• Literature by and about Friedrich Anton von Heynitz in the Saxon Bibliography

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hanno Beck: Alexander von Humboldt . I: From the educational trip to the research trip 1769-1804. Steiner, Wiesbaden 1959, p. 48 .
2. ^ Homepage of the AdK. Retrieved June 29, 2017 . 
3. ↑ Müller, Hans: The Royal Academy of Arts in Berlin 1696-1896. First part: From the justification by Friedrich III. from Brandenburg to the restoration by Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia, Berlin: Rich. Bong. 1896, p. 160.
4. ↑ Sedlarz, Claudia: scholars and artists and erudite artist at the Berlin Academy of Arts. In: Bailot, Anne (ed.): Networks of Knowledge, pp. 245–277, here p. 258.
5. ^ Members of the previous academies. Karl Friedrich Anton von Heynitz. Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities , accessed on April 4, 2015 .