Franz Ludwig Pfyffer

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Franz Ludwig Pfyffer in his uniform, anonymous portrait around 1770
Franz Ludwig Pfyffer in his Alpine costume. C. Müller after Christian von Mechel , around 1790

Franz Ludwig Pfyffer (born  May 18, 1716 in Lucerne ; †  November 7, 1802 ibid), Mr. zu Wyher, lieutenant general in French service, commander of the St. Ludwig order and co-founder of the Swiss Federal Military Society, was a Swiss statesman and military as well as mountaineer and Topographer . His relief of original Switzerland , the oldest large-scale three-dimensional representation of a mountain landscape, is considered a milestone on the way to modern cartography.

Life

Regimental flag of Franz Ludwig Pfyffer in France, 1763–1769

Franz Ludwig Pfyffer came from a branch of the Lucerne patrician family Pfyffer , who called himself Pfyffer von Wyher and went back to the great statesman and military leader Ludwig Pfyffer von Altishofen , known as the "Swiss King ". Like all his ancestors, Franz Ludwig Pfyffer graduated from the cadet school in Paris and was captain and company commander in the French Swiss Guard regiment of Erlach, which was used in the War of the Polish Succession and the War of Austrian Succession . Pfyffer distinguished himself twice through courage and bravery, which earned him the Commander's Cross of the Order of St. Ludwig. In 1752 he became a minor councilor for Lucerne and made a name for himself as a reorganizer of the Lucerne road network. From 1763 he was Colonel of the French Swiss regiment von Sonnenberg, became Maréchal de camp (Brigadier General) and in 1768 Lieutenant General. In 1779 he was one of the founders of the Federal Military Society, of which he was president from 1786 to 1789. In France, Pfyffer learned the benefits of engineering and surveying skills for artillery . The collection of fortress models once set up by King Louis XIV aroused great interest at Pfyffer, whereupon he took lessons in model building in Paris . On this basis, the famous relief of Central Switzerland was created between 1762 and 1786. In 1768 he gave up his regimental command and returned permanently to Lucerne.

In Switzerland, Franz Ludwig Pfyffer maintained friendly contacts with other enlightened representatives of the educated ancien régime, see above. a. to the learned historian and general Beat Fidel Zurlauben , to the mathematicians and aviation pioneers Franz Plazid and Franz Xaver de Schumacher in Himmelrich , who created the first geometric elevation plan for the city of Lucerne, to the physicist Horace-Bénédict de Saussure , who was the first to research the glacier regions on Mont Blanc roamed and met Charles François Exchaquet , who created the first plastic model of the Mont Blanc group.

Since 1741 Franz Ludwig Pfyffer was married to Marie Josse d'Hemel from Argenteuil , who achieved a certain local fame because of the episode of her apparent death. In Lucerne, the family lived in two houses at Mühleplatz, one of which is now the society house of the gentlemen to Schützen am Löwengraben. Wyher Castle near Ettiswil served the family as a summer residence.

Relief of the original Switzerland

As early as 1750, Pfyffer had created a relief of Pilate from cardboard lids and wax . In decades of work, the relief of the pre-Alpine and Alpine region around Lake Lucerne was created from 1762 to 1786 . The relief on a scale of approx. 1: 11,500 is 26 square meters (6.7 x 3.9 m, max. Difference in height: approx. 28 cm, i.e. without artificial elevation). It was composed of 136 individual elements. Pfyffer used wooden slats, remains of charcoal and pieces of brick as materials, the surface is modeled from a gypsum - sand mass and coated with a thin, painted layer of beeswax . The model is characterized by great attention to detail; Individual houses, paths and brooks (made of wires twisted in waves) can also be recognized.

Pfyffer worked out the data for the relief himself using triangulation . On his tours he made numerous sketches , 94 of them are still known today. The latest research has shown that Pfyffer worked far more systematically and precisely than previously thought. The relief not only served military-practical purposes, but above all expresses the fascination for the Alpine region. As a topographical achievement, it served as a model and starting point for other artists and cartographers , for example Jakob Joseph Clausner and Christian von Mechel ; and Alexander von Humboldt was encouraged it.

Until 1873 Pfyffer's work was in his private house on Löwengraben. Since then it has been on permanent loan from the Lucerne Corporation in the Museum of the Glacier Garden in Lucerne . Prominent contemporary visitors include: a. handed down:

In Hans Jakob Holzhalb's supplements to Johann Jacob Leus General Helvetian, Federal, or Swiss Lexicon it says:

«In the apartment of General Pfyffers von Wyer one of the most interesting things in Lucerne can be found; namely, the topographical representation of a large part of the Confederation, which he himself worked out with great effort and skill, and which is highly admired by connoisseurs. [...] The whole is correct down to the smallest detail, and contains not only all mountains, lakes, rivers, cities, villages and forests, but also every hut, hole, bridge, path; even every cross is presented precisely and clearly. "

Commitment to the Freedom Monument (1783–1796)

In 1783 Pfyffer arranged for Abbé Raynal , whose desired location on the Rütli could not be realized, to erect a freedom monument on the island of Altstadt in front of the Meggenhorn - the memorial is depicted in his relief with a metal pen. The monument itself was so badly damaged by lightning in 1793 that it was demolished.

literature

  • Andreas Bürgi: Relief of original Switzerland. Origin and meaning of the landscape model by Franz Ludwig Pfyffer . NZZ Libro, Zurich 2007, ISBN 9783038232575 .
  • Madlena Cavelti Hammer: Franz Ludwig Pfyffer's “ Flying High” - The Relief of Original Switzerland (1762–1786) . In: Thomas Klöti, Markus Oehrli, Hans-Uli Feldmann (ed.): Der Weltensammler. A current view of the 16,000 maps by Johann Friedrich von Ryhiner (1732–1803) . Verlag Cartographica Helvetica, Murten 1998 ( Cartographica Helvetica . Special issue 15), pp. 36-38.
  • Madlena Cavelti Hammer: Production and Effects of the Relief of Original Switzerland by Franz Ludwig Pfyffer . In: Cartographica Helvetica Heft 18 (1998) pp. 11-18 ( full text ).
  • Jana Niederöst: The relief of Original Switzerland by Franz Ludwig Pfyffer (1716–1802): 3D reconstruction, analysis and interpretation . Dissertation ETH Zurich, Zurich 2005 ( IGP Mitteilungen 89), ISBN 3-906467-56-2 , doi: 10.3929 / ethz-a-005026536 .
  • Franz Joseph Schiffmann:  Pfyffer von Wyher, Franz Ludwig . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 25, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1887, pp. 724-727.

Web links

Commons : Franz Ludwig Pfyffer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Swiss Federal Railways, 1974: The first relief in Switzerland. Retrieved October 19, 2019 .
  2. ↑ "Pfyffers Relief der Schweiz" in: Friedrich August Wilhelm Netto: Textbook of Geostereoplasty , or clear and systematic instruction on geo-, oro- and topographical geography, a new one that significantly facilitates teaching in geography and the associated sciences, Aids. Ludwig Oehmigke, Berlin 1826, p. 12ff.
  3. ^ Pfyffer relief. (No longer available online.) In: Models of the landscape. Lucerne Glacier Garden, archived from the original on November 7, 2017 ; accessed on November 1, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gletschergarten.ch
  4. ^ Beck, Hanno: Alexander von Humboldt's contribution to cartography . In: Wolfgang-Hagen Hein (Ed.): Alexander von Humboldt. Life and work . Boehringer, Ingelheim 1985, ISBN 3-921037-55-7 , pp. 239 .
  5. ↑ Holzhalb / Leu: Supplement to the general Helvetian-Federal or Swiss Lexicon , 1788, page 591.
  6. ↑ Margrit Wyder: "I hope it shouldn't come about." The short life of a Swiss Freedom Monument. In: NZZ , November 9, 2002 ( online version ).
personal data
SURNAME Pfyffer, Franz Ludwig
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pfyffer von Wyher, Franz Ludwig
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss politician and topographer
DATE OF BIRTH May 18, 1716
PLACE OF BIRTH Lucerne
DATE OF DEATH November 7, 1802
Place of death Lucerne