Caspar Theiss

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Caspar Theiss (often Caspar Theyß , * around 1510 , † around 1550 in Berlin ) was a master builder of the Renaissance in Berlin and the Mark Brandenburg .

Live and act

Little is known about his origins and training. Before Theiss came to the Mark Brandenburg, he probably worked in Torgau , Saxony . From there he went with or on the recommendation of his possible teacher Konrad Krebs , the master builder of Hartenfels Castle , to the electoral court of Joachim II in Berlin- Cölln in 1537/38 . It is first mentioned in a letter from citizens issued in 1539 . In 1540 the elector gave him a house in the former Heilige-Geist-Straße 10, which was owned by the Lehnin monastery until the secularization in 1539 . Together with the electoral councilor G. Brage, the builder Kunz (= Konrad) Buntschuh and the mint masters P. Mohlradt and A. Schenk, he ran the "Society for the Exploitation of Natural Resources of the Mittelmark", which received the privilege of the Elector in 1539 and the " Salzwerk Beelitz " founded. Theiss must also have been appointed mill master during that time.

At the court of Elector Joachim II between 1538 and 1540 he was entrusted with the construction management of the residential palace in "Cölln an der Spree", which Konrad Krebs had designed based on the model of Hartenfels Castle. In addition, numerous Renaissance buildings are ascribed to him, in which he played a decisive role, which means that “he can be seen as the main figure of the Brandenburg building industry of the Renaissance [...] up to the middle of the century [underts]”. His works included the construction of the spire (destroyed) of the St. Nikolai Church in Spandau , the Grunewald hunting lodge , the Grimnitz hunting lodge near Joachimsthal on the edge of the Schorfheide , the hunting lodge in Rüdersdorf , the Bötzow hunting lodge and others. Only a few of his buildings have been preserved and none of them are in their original state. In later times they were either reshaped with baroque style elements or torn down and replaced by new contemporary buildings. In Berlin, the Caspar-Theyß-Straße running through the districts of Schmargendorf and Grunewald - in an older spelling - is reminiscent of the master builder of the Renaissance.

Theiss died in Berlin around 1550 and found his final resting place in the Nikolaikirche cemetery . There was an epitaph on the north side, on the third pillar , which was probably made by the sculptor Hans Schenck until the 18th century . In capital letters incorporated Latin inscription read:

EPITAPHIUM CASPARIS THISSII. ILLUSTRISSIMI ELECTORIS JOACHIMI. ARCHITECTORIS PERITISSIMI ...
(Translation: epitaph of the famous Caspar Theiss, the elector Joachim's expert architect ...) 

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gert Streidt, Peter Feierabend: Prussia. Art and architecture. Könemann, Cologne 1999, p. 514.
  2. ^ Heinz Ladendorf: Theiss, Caspar . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General lexicon of fine artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 32 : Stephens – Theodotos . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1938, p. 589 .
  3. ^ Streidt / Feierabend: Prussia. Art and architecture. P. 61.
  4. ^ Ferdinand Schmidt : Prussia's history in words and pictures. Volume 2, Leipzig / Berlin 1882, p. 74.
    Johann Erich Biester: The master builder Kaspar Theis . In: New Berlin monthly . Friedrich Nicolai, Berlin / Stettin 1807, p. 12–27 , here p. 14 ( books.google.de ).
personal data
SURNAME Theiss, Caspar
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Theiss, Kaspar; Theiss, Caspar; Theiss, Kaspar; Theyss, Caspar; Theyss, Kaspar; Theyß, Caspar; Theyß, Kaspar; Theys, Casper
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German builder
DATE OF BIRTH around 1510
DATE OF DEATH around 1550
Place of death Berlin