Christoph Dientzenhofer

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Christoph Dientzenhofer (Czech: Krystof Dientzenhofer, including: Dienzenhofer ) (* 7. July 1655 in St. Margarethen in Brannenburg , Electorate of Bavaria ; † 20th June 1722 in Prague ) was a German architect of the Baroque from the family of artists Dientzenhofer .

family

Christoph Dientzenhofer came from a mountain farming family in Upper Bavaria . About 1675 he became a journeyman on the roll and since 1678 with his four brothers Georg , Wolfgang , Leonhard and Johann and sister Anna, who this year Wolfgang Leuthner, a relative of the master builder Abraham Leuthner got married in Prague detectable. His training probably took place in the building works of Abraham Leuthner and Carlo Lurago .

He was the only one of the brothers to stay in Prague and on March 3, 1685 married Maria Anna Lang from Leitmeritz , widow of the master builder Johann Georg Achbauer the Elder . A year later he applied for citizenship of the Lesser Town in Prague , and in 1688 he was accepted into the guild of masons and stonemasons. Of his five children, the son Kilian Ignaz also became a well-known builder.

job

Břevnov: main portal of the monastery church

From 1682 to 1689 Christoph Dientzenhofer worked for Abraham Leuthner, with whom he remained lifelong friends, as a foreman on the construction of the monastery and the Waldsassen monastery basilica , under the supervision of his eldest brother Georg. When Georg died in 1689, Christoph took over the vacant site manager position. In the same year he worked as an independent master builder on the monastery buildings in Teplá . From 1698 to 1701 he was the successor of Abraham Leuthner fortress builder in Eger , then fortress builder in Prague, where he had been a master builder of his guild since 1695 and owned a profitable construction company.

In the following years he became a busy master builder in Prague and Bohemia, whose clients were predominantly monasteries and noble families. Abbot Othmar Daniel Zinke appointed him builder of the Břevnov and Braunau monasteries in 1709 .

His best-known work is the monastery church in Břevnov, consecrated to St. Margaret , and the St. Nicholas Church ( Kostel sv. Mikuláše ) in the Lesser Town of Prague, finished by his son .

Christoph Dientzenhofer was a. a. worked for the architects Giovanni Battista Alliprandi , Franz Maximilian Kaňka and Jean Baptiste Mathey . Through his work, also influenced by Guarino Guarini , he became a wealthy and respected citizen of Prague, where he was the owner of three houses. After his death he was buried in the St. Nicholas Church.

His bust was displayed in the Hall of Fame in Munich.

Post Comment

Although Christoph Dientzenhofer's works are among the most important contributions to the highly acclaimed Bohemian baroque architecture, individual 20th century Czech art historians have devalued his artistic and intellectual ability. You support yourself u. a. on a note in the monastery annals of the Teplá Monastery from 1691, in which it is said that the builder of the new monastery complex was Christoph Dientzenhofer, “a citizen of Prague from Bavaria who understood his art excellently and performed it in many places, but could not read and write ”.

This representation can only be based on an error or a mix-up of people, as there are numerous archival documents with Christoph's signature and there are also individual contracts that were drawn up and signed by him on behalf of Abraham Leuthner. Until the 1980s, his authorship of important works (nave of the Niklas Church, Břevnov monastery church, Smiřice monastery church, etc.) was in doubt. He was portrayed as a master bricklayer who was unable to carry out a design and therefore could only build according to the design of another architect and / or with his help. It was suspected that the real architect of these works was not yet known or perhaps Johann Blasius Santini-Aichl .

If Christoph had really been ignorant of writing and reading, he would undoubtedly not have obtained the office of old master of his guild in 1695, whose tasks also included the preparation of reports in building disputes and who was also a sworn expert.

Works

In Prague

  • St. Nicholas Church , Lesser Town in Prague (1703–1711; completed by Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer 1737–1752)
  • Loreto , Hradschin :
    • Walkways around the Casa Santa (1661–1696)
    • Church of the Nativity of Christ on the east side of the gallery (from 1717; completed by Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer and Johann Georg Aichbauer )
  • Břevnov Monastery : monastery building and church (1709–1715; interior design by Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer )
  • Jesuit high school (1711)

Outside of Prague

literature

Web links

Commons : Christoph Dientzenhofer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stefan Kummer : Architecture and fine arts from the beginnings of the Renaissance to the end of the Baroque. In: Ulrich Wagner (Hrsg.): History of the city of Würzburg. 4 volumes; Volume 2: From the Peasants' War in 1525 to the transition to the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1814. Theiss, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-8062-1477-8 , pp. 576–678 and 942–952, here: p. 631.
  2. ↑ Milada Vilímková, Johannes Brucker: Dientzenhofer. A Bavarian master builder family in the baroque era. Pages 81 and 84. Rosenheimer Verlagshaus, 1989, ISBN 3-475-52610-7
personal data
SURNAME Dientzenhofer, Christoph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dientzenhofer, Kryštof; Dienzenhofer, Kryštof; Ditzenhofer, Kryštof
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German builder of the baroque
DATE OF BIRTH July 7, 1655
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Margarethen (Bavaria) near Brannenburg , Electorate of Bavaria
DATE OF DEATH June 20, 1722
Place of death Prague