Ernst Georg Sonnin

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ernst Georg Sonnin , posthumous portrait of Johann Marcus David (1802)
Memorial plaque at the Michel in Hamburg
Michaeliskirche in Hamburg
Pastorate Westensee

Ernst Georg Sonnin (born June 10, 1713 in Quitzow ; † July 8, 1794 in Hamburg ) was an important engineer and architect in the Age of Enlightenment .

Life

After the death of his father, Ernst Georg Sonnin attended the Friedrichschule , which was newly founded in 1721 and became the Christianeum in 1738, from 1727 to 1731 in Altona, Denmark . He then studied in Halle and Jena , initially theology, then mathematics. After finishing his studies he came to Hamburg, worked as a private teacher for Latin and mathematics and founded a workshop for precision mechanical instruments. Due to his engineering skills, he was primarily entrusted with the repair and maintenance of churches, especially church towers. He was one of the first engineers to install the new Franklin lightning rods on church towers (St. Jakobi ) assembled and, by simple means, 'straightened' the then crooked church towers in Hamburg.

From 1750 to 1762, Sonnin and Johann Leonhard Prey built the second large Michaeliskirche in Hamburg in the Baroque style . From 1777 to 1786 he constructed the tower in wood with the copper cladding, as it is still typical for the building called "Michel" today.

In 1754 he built the manor house on Gut Kaden and the pastorate of Westensee . After that he was mainly involved in maintenance, for example at the Hamburg Cathedral in 1759/1760 , at St. Nikolai in 1762 and at St. Katharinen in 1770 . In 1763 he worked at Kiel Castle . Between 1775 and 1781 he built the late baroque St. Bartholomew Church in Wilster . In 1785, Sonnin was appointed to Lüneburg to work there as a town and saltworks master builder . Sonnin is also believed to be the builder of the Drostei in Pinneberg and the Palais Doos in Wilster, although his work here is not certain.

Sonnin also worked as an astronomer and tried to determine the exact geographical position of Hamburg from the roof of the Michaeliskirche, as this was shown on the maps with great deviations in the middle of the 18th century.

Sonnin was an important founding member of the Patriotic Society of 1765 in Hamburg, with whose help he also founded a school for master builders and builders. He was also a member of the first German Masonic Lodge Absalom to the 3 nettles in Hamburg. After his death in 1794 he was buried in the vault of the great St. Michaelis Church.

Literature (chronological)

Web links

Commons : Ernst Georg Sonnin  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michel compact ( Memento from September 9, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), kantorei-hamburg.de, accessed on June 9, 2012
  2. ^ R. Hootz (Ed.): Picture handbook of the art monuments Hamburg & Schleswig-Holstein , Deutscher Kunstverlag, 1981. Page 414
  3. ^ R. Hootz (Ed.): Picture handbook of the art monuments Hamburg & Schleswig-Holstein , Deutscher Kunstverlag, 1981. Page 425
  4. ^ J. Schramm, Sterne über Hamburg - The history of astronomy in Hamburg, 2nd revised and expanded edition, Kultur- & Geschichtkontor , Hamburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-9811271-8-8
  5. ↑ Ernst Georg Sonnin a Hamburg Freemason , Homepage: Die Hamburgische-Geschichte.de, by Jürgen J. Wenzel © 1998 - 2005 (accessed on March 19, 2012)
personal data
SURNAME Sonnin, Ernst Georg
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hamburg engineer and architect
DATE OF BIRTH June 10, 1713
PLACE OF BIRTH Quitzow
DATE OF DEATH July 8, 1794
Place of death Hamburg