Christoph Beyer (architect)

Christoph Beyer (* 15. July 1653 in Dresden , † 6. January 1741 in Steinigtwolmsdorf ) was a gentleman architect of the Baroque and electoral Saxon chief master builder .

Joachimstein Abbey Castle

Live and act

He was one of four sons of the wealthy chief tax accountant Johann Georg II and later owner of the Steinigtwolmsdorf manor , Andreas Beyer. He probably initially received training in court service and was employed as treasurer of the widowed Electress Wilhelmine Ernestine von der Pfalz , who resided with her sister Anna Sophie at Lichtenburg Castle near Prettin . In this context, he must also have dealt with construction tasks. What is unusual is that, without having gone through the classic career ladder of the Saxon construction department, he was immediately appointed vice master builder in 1692 by Johann Georg IV . Michael Plancke and later Johann Friedrich Karcher worked at his side as the second master builder . They were headed by Johann Georg Starcke and after him August Christoph Graf von Wackerbarth as chief inspectors. In 1693 the sovereign entrusted him with the design of an electoral palace in Leipzig . In 1696 Beyer rose to the position of first master builder and thus head of the construction department. From then on, he was subordinate to, among others, Matthäus Schumann as master builder, Johann Friedrich Karcher as head gardener, Johann Rockstroh as accounting officer for the Great Garden, Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann as conductor of the palace buildings, Balthasar Lange as conductor of the Great Garden and Balthasar Permoser as court sculptor.

From his time as Oberland master builder, there are no known large structures that Beyers designed and maintained. Rather, he was entrusted with repair and reconstruction work. In the long run, Beyer's penchant for a simple and reduced style could not be reconciled with the love of splendor of the King-Elector Friedrich August I. So it happened that in 1706 he resigned from the office of master builder. Persistent conflicts with the chief engineer Lambert Lambion , who represented the absent Wackerbarth, may have confirmed his decision.

Christoph Beyer moved in with his brother, the court legal advisor and senior consistorial advisor Dr. Andreas Beyer, back to his manor in Steinigtwolmsdorf. However, he did not give up construction and should now even create his main work. Chamberlain Joachim Sigismund von Ziegler und Klipphausen , whom Beyer had known since 1691 and had advised on the construction of the church tower in Radmeritz, among other things , drew him in as the leading architect for the construction of the Joachimstein Castle on his manor in Radmeritz from 1710 at the latest . Thanks to his good contacts at the Dresden court, Ziegler had already been able to engage Johann Friedrich Karcher and Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann to design building floor plans. However, Beyer's plan was implemented, but it represented a revision of Karcher and Pöppelmann's designs. The shell was completed around 1722, so that the aging client donated his “Free World Noble Evangelical Fräuleinstift” that year and had it confirmed by the sovereign. But the interior work and the design work should drag on until 1728. This year the inauguration took place and the first nuns moved in. In addition to Beyer, Karcher and Pöppelmann, numerous other high-ranking builders and artists of the Dresden Baroque were active in Joachimstein. To be mentioned here are above all Johann Christoph von Naumann , George Bähr , Johann Christian Kirchner , Johann Christoph Knöffel and Caspar Gottlob von Rodewitz .

Joachim Sigismund von Ziegler and Klipphausen and Christoph Beyer connected not only the work at the Dresden court and the building of Joachimstein, but also the lived religion, the charity for the poor, the agricultural interest as a manor owner and finally the fact that both remained unmarried throughout their lives connecting elements that promoted long-term friendship. Beyer would outlive Ziegler by six years.

literature

• Hans-Eberhard Scholze: Oberlandbaumeister Christoph Beyer - A contribution to the history of the electoral-Saxon supervisory authority, in: Scientific journal of the Technical University of Dresden 6 (1956/57), issue 1, pp. 39-49.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Richard Jecht: Joachim Sigismund von Ziegler and Klipphausen. Ceremonial address given on June 17, 1922 in Joachimstein, in: Neues Lausitzisches Magazin 98 (1922), p. 86