Axel von Löwen

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Axel Graf
von Löwen

Axel von Löwen , baron since 1731 , count since 1751 , (born November 1, 1686 on Gut Öbysholm, Frötuna , † July 25, 1772 in Stralsund ) was a Swedish infantry general and governor general in Swedish Western Pomerania .

Life

Löwen was the son of the governor ( landshövding ) Otto Wilhelm Löwen. He decided very early on to pursue a military career. At the age of 17 he was taken over by the Swedish King Carl XII. Appointed to Elbing as a volunteer for fortress defense. In 1707 he served under Friedrich von Hessen and under General Erik Sparre and then became adjutant general to the Prince of Orange. In 1707 he married Sofia Carolina Piper. In 1712 Löwen took part in the defense of Wismar against Denmark .

He advanced to the position of general of the infantry and commander of all Finnish troops in the military until 1737, and earned some merit, which also earned him friendship with the king.

After the death of his first wife in 1732, he married Eva Horn af Ekebyholm (1716–1790), the daughter of the Reichsrat and Chancellery President Count Arvid Bernhard Horn , in 1735 , which was to be extremely beneficial for his political career. From 1839 he belonged to the Reichsrat , mediated skillfully between the two parties hattarna and mössorna , but also created political opponents in the process. His transfer as Governor General in Swedish-Western Pomerania in 1748 was therefore not only connected with the appreciation of his services to the Kingdom of Sweden; it was also the opportunity for his opponents to remove him from the political landscape in Stockholm .

Löwen succeeded Johann August Meyerfeldt in 1747 and remained Governor General until his suspension from service in 1766. His residence, the Löwensche Palais , was destroyed in the bombing raid on Stralsund on October 6, 1944 . In 1755 he acquired the Groß Schoritz estate .

Count Löwen died in Stralsund in 1772 and was buried in the church in Frötuna.

Collection and library

He devoted himself to literature , art and science in Stralsund . In addition to a systematic scientific library, he put on extensive collections of art, militaria and precious objects , which also included prominent gifts from his king , including some gems, a precious bible and a large portrait of Carl XII. counted, with whom von Löwen maintained an intimate relationship.

In the city archives Stralsund , where his estate maintained and its extensive library is kept, numerous receipts are received its book purchases. Afterwards he bought books for at least 3,636.36 Reichstaler from German booksellers and for at least 2,747.64 Reichstaler from Swedish dealers. He also had business relationships with Carl Ludwig Dähnert from Greifswald , Carl Urban Hjärne and Count Olof Törnflycht . One of the most outstanding acquisitions for his library is the manuscript of the Portuguese mathematician Francesco de Mello , which was made in Paris and dedicated to his king and patron Manuel I.

He bequeathed his collection to the city of Stralsund in a will of 1761, insisting on making it publicly available for public service . The collection initially remained in the large town hall in Stralsund's town hall, which is now called the Löwenscher Saal , and was first inventoried in 1795. The Protocollum inventationis lists 1,399 book titles, bundles of maps and copperplate engravings, 195 paintings and graphics, 24 ivory statues , game boards, trophies, weapons, including 22 rifles, 6 pairs of pistols, a huge model of a fortress, artillery instruments , and a number of fittings and mechanical machines - a total of several thousand individual parts. Only a fraction of it has remained. Improper storage, lending , the initially temporary evacuation of the hall in 1819 for the reception of the Prussian king and in 1849 the banishment to the town hall floor caused serious damage to the collection. In 1859 the decimated collection was loaned to the city's museum association. The most valuable pieces still in existence were relocated to Boldevitz during World War II and were lost there. After 1989 began to identify the pieces of the collection based on the inventory records of 1795 and his collection, such as seen in the permanent exhibition at the Cultural History Museum Stralsund to present.

The large library of the Löwen collection , with 1,669 titles (1,978 individual volumes) today, is one of the most extensive holdings in the historical library at the Stralsund city archive, which is housed in the Johanniskloster . However, individual volumes appeared on the antiquarian book market in 2012.

Awards

literature

  • Fritz Adler: The memories of Axel von Löwen , in: Karolinska Förbundets Årsbok , Lund 1929.
  • Ursula Hetzer: Axel Graf von Löwen and his collection. Kulturhistorisches Museum, Stralsund 1999.
  • Dietmar Gohlisch: Catalogus Bibliothecae Praetoris Axel von Löwen. (= Publication of the Stralsund City Archives. Volume 13). Scheunen-Verlag, Kückenshagen 2000, ISBN 3-929370-86-7 .
  • Gisela Klostermann: Archive Library at the City Archives, Löwensche Library , in: B. Fabian: Handbook of Historical Book Holdings in Germany , Vol. 16, Hildesheim, Zurich, New York 1996, pp. 231–260, here pp. 249–250.
  • Jürgen Geiß: Francesco de Mello [individual representation of the most valuable manuscript volume in the Löwen library] , in: Stralsunder Bücherschätze , Wiesbaden 2017, pp. 68–69.
  • Grete Grewolls: Who was who in Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania. The dictionary of persons . Hinstorff Verlag, Rostock 2011, ISBN 978-3-356-01301-6 , p. 5995-5996 .
  • Jürgen Hamel: The collection of scientific instruments , Kulturhistorisches Museum, Stralsund 2011.

Web links

Commons : Axel von Löwen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Burkhard Kunkel: The portrait of Carl XII. of Sweden. Acquisition and meaning of a previously lost painting . In: World Cultural Heritage . tape 1 . Stralsund 2010, p. 52-53 .
  2. Bernardo Mota, Henrique Leitão (ed.): Obras Mathematicas, Francisco de Mello , Lisbon 2014. ISBN 978-972-9376-31-3 ; Jürgen Geiß: Francesco de Mello [individual representation of the most valuable manuscript volume in the Löwen library], in: Stralsunder Bücherschätze, Wiesbaden 2017, pp. 68–69.
  3. Ursula Herzer: Axel Graf von Löwen and his collection. Kulturhistorisches Museum, Stralsund 1999, DNB 1058242512 .
  4. Burkhard Kunkel: “How it is now necessary to pay attention to monuments and their protection” - from collections of antiquities and world cultural heritage: Stralsund's contribution to the preservation of Pomeranian history . In: Marcin Majewski (ed.): Pomorze wczoraj - dzis - jutro: Miasta i miasteczka pomorskie . Stargard 2010, p. 115-131 .
  5. Klaus Graf : Schamlos: Stadt Stralsund also sold a book from the Graeflich Löwen collection. In: Archivalia. November 2, 2012, accessed July 10, 2013.