Andreas Rudolph (master builder)

Andreas Rudolph , also Rudolphi , Rudolf or Rudolff , (born October 16, 1601 in Magdeburg , † December 14, 1679 in Gotha ) was a German architect , librarian and mathematician .

biography

Andreas Rudolph was the son of Magdeburg city architect Michael Rudolph (* Niederschlema ; † 1631 Magdeburg) and his wife Margaretha Schenck († April 26, 1631 in Magdeburg).

education

He grew up in a strictly Protestant family and was initially tutored by private tutors due to frequent illnesses and then attended a local school. Appropriately encouraged by his father, he was interested in mathematics. After attending the University of Helmstedt for about a year and a half from around 1621, he continued his mathematics studies in 1623 at the University of Leiden (Holland). There he learned together with Otto von Guericke . During this time he visited several Dutch fortresses, such as Bergen-op-Zoom . He fled the plague in Leiden to France in 1624 and also visited London . In Paris, like his travel companion Otto von Guericke, he fell ill with a fever. The intended migration to Italy was therefore not carried out. He returned to Magdeburg on November 30, 1624. In 1625 the plague broke out in Magdeburg, whereupon he moved to the country with his parents. In the winter of 1625, however, he returned to Magdeburg, as Wallenstein's troops moved into the territories of the ore monastery of Magdeburg and he supported his father in building the Magdeburg fortifications.

Activity in Magdeburg

On June 10, 1627 he married Anna Hackenberg († December 31, 1670 Gotha), daughter of the Magdeburg treasurer Andreas Hackenberg in Magdeburg. The marriage ultimately resulted in three daughters and three sons. After eight months of siege, the city was captured, sacked and destroyed on May 10, 1631 by General Tilly . In these fights, known as the Magdeburg Wedding , Rudolph's parents and second daughter were also killed. He himself was captured with his wife and his eldest, two-year-old child and brought to the Tillys camp near Fermersleben . When his house was looted, building documents for the Magdeburg fortifications were found. He was ordered to clean up a crack in the fortress found in the basement of the building for General Graf Wolf von Mansfeld . This improved Rudolph's position. He initially stayed with von Mansfeld as an engineer and then instructed Lieutenant Colonel von Mendik in fortification construction, for which he received considerable remuneration. Nevertheless, the Protestant Rudolph wanted to end his service with the Imperial Catholic troops as soon as possible and, after Tilly lost the Battle of Breitenfeld in September 1631, asked for his release in order to move with his family to relatives in Hamburg . Despite his initial acceptance, he was then refused to leave. He then fled down the Elbe with the help of a Magdeburg resident without consent and ended up in Hamburg.

Service with Duke Wilhelm of Saxony as a builder

From 1632 he worked as an engineer for Duke Wilhelm von Sachsen in Erfurt , who was in the Swedish service. He accompanied the duke on his campaign in the Eichsfeld . His tasks included the development of a plan to fortify Göttingen including the construction of outdoor facilities. However, the plan was not implemented, the duke moved quickly to Donauwörth , which had already been taken by the Swedes. Here, according to Rudolph's plans, entrenchments were built around the city. These were to serve the Swedes attacking in the direction of Lech in the event of a retreat. Rudolph fell ill on a subsequent march towards Augsburg . He only got back to the Swedish troops later, when they were in front of Munich . Rudolph set out the camp here. He then received permission to bring his wife and child, who had remained in Hamburg, to Erfurt. He himself returned to Erfurt in the duke's entourage. On the way there he took over the management of the fortification and storage work in Schweinfurt and Windsheim . Soon the Duke and with him Rudolph were ordered to Nuremberg , where the Swedish King Gustav Adolph was with his troops. Rudolph was supposed to go to Saxony with the king . However, due to illness on the way, Rudolph came to Erfurt for care. His recovery lasted until after the battle of Lützen on November 6, 1632 . Rudolph then resumed his service and took part in the ultimately failed siege of Kronach . Later he was given the task of fortifying Duderstadt and Gleichenstein . The work that had started on the Upper Gate of Duderstadt had to be abandoned, however, as Braunschweig appealed against this.

Librarian and master builder in Gotha

After the Peace of Prague , Rudolph asked for his release. He planned to return to Magdeburg and apply to Duke Georg von Braunschweig in Hanover , but then in 1636 accepted an offer from the Duke's brother, Ernst the Pious , who later became Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, as a valet and later librarian, what gave him the opportunity to live with his family again. The offer included an annual income of 80  florins as well as 15 bushels of grain, 10 bushels of barley and 5 fathoms of wood. In addition, he received a free apartment and a free table at the court.

Initially only working as a valet, he was soon entrusted with building up and managing the ducal library in Gotha, which he managed until 1665.

When Duke Ernst was planning the new construction of the Residenzschloss Friedenstein on the site of Grimmenstein Castle in Gotha, which was razed in 1567, Andreas Rudolph worked out a draft in 1641. A wooden model made for this is still preserved. It shows a three-storey four-wing complex, the corner risalites of which have the acute-angled ground plan of bastions . The inner courtyard is surrounded by arcades and the roof area is designed with dormitories with volute gables . The architecture is still based strongly on the design language of the German Renaissance . Rudolph's design was initially planned for execution, but when work on the foundation began in 1643, Duke Ernst had alternative designs made by other architects after visiting Weimar and Erfurt. He finally decided on the early baroque design by the Erfurt master builder Casper Vogell , based on French models . Thus, to his disappointment, Rudolph's design remained unrealized, but alongside Casper Vogell he continued to act as site manager for the new palace, which was completed in 1654. Rudolph then planned and supervised the construction of the fortress surrounding the castle, the casemates of which are still partially preserved today. In 1663, under his leadership, the city was secured by ramparts and moats.

After the great fire in Gotha in 1665, the town hall was rebuilt under his direction. The town hall is still the seat of the city administration in Gotha today. In 1675 he renewed the dilapidated Augustinian Church . The church of St. Trinitatis in Großbreitenbach , completely clad in slate, was built between 1679 and 1690 according to plans by Andreas Rudolphi and is the largest half-timbered church in Thuringia.

On December 14, 1679, Andreas Rudolphi died after a long illness in Gotha and was buried on December 18, 1679 in Cemetery I (also called Alter Gottesacker ) between Werderstrasse (today Bohnstedtstrasse) and Eisenacher Strasse. His tombstone disappeared when the cemetery was leveled in 1904.

literature

• Funeral sermon Andreas Rudolphi (No. R4375), in: Fritz Roth : Complete evaluations of funeral sermons and personal documents for genealogical and cultural-historical purposes . Volume 5, Boppard 1967.
• Frank Boblenz : On the influence of Wilhelm IV of Saxony-Weimar (1598–1662) on the development of architecture in Thuringia. - In: Residenzkultur in Thuringia from the 16th to the 19th century (PALMBAUM texts: Kulturgeschichte; 8). Bucha near Jena 1999, pp. 114-137. ISBN 3-931505-42-1
• Hermann Heckmann : Builder of the Baroque and Rococo in Thuringia . Berlin 1999, pp. 71-77.
• Albert Schumann :  Rudolphi, Andreas . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 29, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1889, pp. 574-577.