Arthur Meinig

Portrait of Arthur Meinig around 1883 (lithograph by Franz Würbel )

Wenckheim Palace (today: Erwin Szabó Capital Library) (1886–1889)

Andrássy Palace, Tiszadob (1885–1886 / 1890)

Károlyi Castle in Nagykároly ( Carei , now Romania), (1893–1896, reconstruction)

Adria Palace (1900–1902), Budapest (postcard)

Arthur Georg Meinig (Hungarian: Meinig Artúr) (born November 7, 1853 in Waldheim , Kingdom of Saxony ; † September 14, 1904 in Budapest , Austria-Hungary ) was an architect of German origin who was mainly active in Vienna and Hungary .

Life and work

Meinig was born as the 7th child of Carl Friedrich Meinig (citizen and innkeeper in Waldheim) and his wife Agnes Angelika Auguste born. Hofmann born.

He is said to have completed his architecture studies with a diploma in Dresden in 1870, but the training facility has not yet been determined. He then worked for the building inspector Hacault in the Saxon Ministry of the Interior and the architects Hugo Schönherr and Richard Weise . The latter built the Dresden Residenz Theater , so that Meinig already came into contact with the design of theater buildings here, which ultimately led him to Fellner & Helmer in Vienna. After moving there in 1875, he initially worked under the architect Krumpholz. Among other things, he was in charge of the construction of the kk civil girls' boarding school in Vienna, which was sponsored by the minister for culture and education Karl von Stremayr .

In 1879 Meinig joined the Viennese architects Fellner & Helmer, founded in 1873 . This had specialized in the construction of theaters and concert halls and carried out orders in Central Europe, but above all in Austria-Hungary . He is also listed as an architect in the Vienna address book from 1878 to 1880.

In 1883 Meinig moved to Budapest, for which there are address book entries as épitész / architect from 1885 to 1903, and soon became one of the favorite architects of the Hungarian aristocracy, for whom he designed stately city ​​palaces and country houses. Also several industrial and representative administration buildings in Budapest, such as the administration building of the Rimamurány-Sálgótarjáner Eisenwerk AG in Nádor utca 36 (V.) or the Adria -Palast at Szabadság tér (V.), which emerged as the winning design from a competition, were realized according to his designs. His buildings are in the neo-Gothic and neo-renaissance style, but above all in the neo-baroque style, which was dominant at the turn of the century and in which Meinig built on his experiences in Vienna. But the experiences of a study trip to England also flowed into his designs, for example with the reconstruction of the castle of Count Alois Károlyi in Stampfen (today: Stupava ). In 1898 he designed his first Art Nouveau building : the Allgemeine Sparkasse in the immediate vicinity of Nádor utca, the main thoroughfare of Budapest's banking district. Here a beehive decorates the facade as a symbol of (saving) diligence. In 1901 the pension fund followed - also in Art Nouveau style . He also used Hungarian folk art motifs for the facades of these buildings. Meinig worked with Julius Jungfer (1841–1908), the founder of the legendary “applied arts and metal goods factory”, which was one of the purveyors to the court , when designing the facade decorations at Palais Wenckheim .

Meinig, who acquired Hungarian citizenship in 1888, was a member of the Association of Hungarian Architects. In preparation for the participation of Hungary in the Paris World Exhibition of 1900 , he worked in the XII. Group "Public Buildings, Houses, Residential Facilities" next to u. a. Ignác Alpár with. The well-known Dresden architect Martin Pietzsch worked in his office from 1892 to 1894 .

A wife of the architect, who married several times in the 1880s, was Angéla Babarczi Schwartzer, who died in 1889 at the age of 19, granddaughter of the pioneer of Hungarian psychiatry , Ferenc Babarczi Schwartzer (1818–1889). Mine had a son and a daughter who died very young; both remained childless.

Buildings (selection)

The buildings listed below without a location were realized in Budapest. Exterior and interior views of most of the buildings can be found in the picture appendix to the dissertation by József Rozsnyai on the work of Arthur Meinig listed under literature .

• Emmer Palace (1885–1887)
• Andrássy Palace in Tiszadob (1885–1886 / 1890)
• Wenckheim Palace (today: Erwin Szabó Capital Library) (1886–1889)
• Andrássy mausoleum in Tőketerebes ( Trebišov , now Slovakia) (1891-1893)
• Hunyady Palace (1892-1894)
• Csekonics Palace (1893-1896, reconstruction)
• Park Club in the Stadtwäldchen (1893–1895)
• Károlyi Castle in Nagykároly ( Carei , now Romania), (1893–1896, reconstruction)
• Dungyerszky Palace (1899–1900)
• Adria Palace (1900–1902)
• Building of the Rimamurány- Salgótarjáner Eisenwerk AG

Grave in Budapest, Kerepesi temető (48 / 4-1-19)

Final resting place

Arthur Meinig , who died from a stroke at a young age, found his final resting place in Budapest's Kerepescher Friedhof .

Others

After the murder of Empress Elisabeth, Meinig contributed with a donation for the bronze memorial that was completed for her in her capacity as Queen of Hungary in 1907. The monument designed by György Zala stands today near the Elisabeth Bridge in Buda (Döbrentei tér).

literature

• József Rozsnyai: A magyarországi neobarokk építészet az Osztrák-Magyar Monarchia korában. Meinig Arthur munkássága (The neo-baroque architecture of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. The life and work of Arthur Meinig). Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest 2011 (Dissertation (Hungarian), digitized version (PDF))
• József Rozsnyai: Arthur Meinig, a Hungarian architect from Saxony . in: Acta historiae artium Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, Budapest 2008, No. 49, pp. 523-531

Web links

Commons : Arthur Meinig  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Short biography on the website Art (Hungarian)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Biographical information (and a portrait) of the artist is provided in the artist album published by Adolf Eckstein (1842–1904) in the Eckstein'schen Verlags-Anstalt Vienna in 1890 with portraits and résumés of well-known contemporary artists in folio format the page "Arthur Meinig (Budapest)." ( permalink.obvsg.at ).
2. ^ Adriatic Palace in Budapest on the Hungarian website "Műemlékem" .
3. ↑ Website Waldheim in Sachsen ( Memento of the original from January 19, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. with details of the “Gasthaus Zum Schweizerthal” operated by CF Meinig. 
4. ↑ The training location specified in the short biography of the Neue Zeitung (Budapest) Internet portal on this page - the Academy of Fine Arts construction school - has not yet been verified. Meinig is neither recorded in the local archive nor in the archive of today's Technical University of Dresden (structural engineering department) , which is also consulted .
5. ↑ For Meinig, Adolph Lehmann's general housing indicator for 1878 ( digital.wienbibliothek.at ) with Wiedner Hauptstrasse 45 (VI.), 1879 ( digital.wienbibliothek.at ) with Strozzigasse No. 11 and 1880 ( digital.wienbibliothek .at ) with the number 8 entries.
6. ↑ Entries are available in: Budapesti Czim- és Lakásjegyzék 1880-1928 for 1885 to 1889 ( library.hungaricana.hu with Ülloi út 22 (VIII.), 1890 ( library.hungaricana.hu ) with Muzeum-körút 39 (IV )., 1891 to 1898 ( library.hungaricana.hu ) with Mozsár-utcza 33 (VI.) And 1902 and 1903 ( library.hungaricana.hu ) with Nagy János-utcza 33 (VI).
7. ↑ The Nádor utca is described in detail in the Hungarian Wikipedia .
8. ↑ István Wagner: Jungfer - the "Master of the Iron Roses" in: Neue Zeitung (Ungarndeutsches Wochenblatt No. 48) of December 1, 2006, page 4 ( digitized version (PDF)).
9. ↑ Pester Lloyd of June 4, 1897 ( ANNO digitized version )
10. ↑ Compare the building history and view of the building on the website: Magical Hungary .
11. ↑ The mausoleum was built for the former Hungarian Prime Minister Count Gyula Andrássy in neo-Gothic style. It has a star vault . The sarcophagus in the mausoleum is the work of the Hungarian sculptor György Zala from the years 1893–1895. It contains the bones of Andrassy and his wife Catherine. Above the sarcophagus there are two bronze cartouches with the coat of arms of the count and his wife. Next to the sarcophagus is the small coffin of Tódor Andrássy (1857–1905). The souls of the dead are protected by the sculpture of an angel. Near the sarcophagus is the bronze sculpture of the mourning Helena, the wife of Count Lajos Batthyány .
12. ↑ The draft of the mausoleum impressed the Hungarian king so much that he asked Meinig to introduce himself. Compare the article in Pester Lloyd of May 4, 1896 ( ANNO digitized version ).
13. ^ Groundbreaking on June 17, 1901. In: Pester Lloyd , June 20, 1893 ( ANNO digitized version )
14. ↑ Illustration of the Park Club in Sport and Salon from July 6, 1901 ( ANNO digitized version )
15. ↑ He is mentioned in Pester Lloyd of August 30, 1916 ( ANNO digitalisat )
16. ↑ Pester Lloyd from November 1, 1901 ( ANNO digitized version )
17. ↑ Compare the Hungarian Wikipedia for Rimamurány-Sálgótarjáner Eisenwerk AG .
18. ↑ His death was reported in Pester Lloyd on September 18, 1904 ( ANNO digitized version ). At that time, according to the death notification, he was living in Nagy-János-utca 33 in VI. District .
19. ↑ According to an advertisement in Pester Lloyd of September 17, 1898, p. 11, Meinig donated 51 guilders for himself and his family  ( ANNO digitized version ).