Franz Wilhelm Rabaliatti

Francesco (Franz Wilhelm) Rabaliatti (* 1714 in Rüthen ; † in March 1782 in Mannheim ) was an Italian-German architect and court architect of the Elector Karl Theodor . Along with Alessandro Galli da Bibiena , Johann Adam Breunig , Nicolas de Pigage and Johann Jakob Rischer, Rabaliatti is one of the most important baroque master builders in the Electoral Palatinate .

Life

origin

Franz Wilhelm Rabaliatti was born as the son of the stone carver Bartolomeo (Bartholomäus Vinzenz) Rabaliatti , who moved in 1703 from the Ferrara area to Rüthen in Westphalia, “which became an Eldorado for stone cutters and sculptors in the building boom after the Thirty Years' War due to the sandstone quarries. “He probably left his homeland in the early or mid-1740s and finally came to the Electoral Palatinate via France, where he learned the art of architecture, and from 1746 lived initially in Mannheim.

family

From Rabaliattis father, Bartholomew Vincent Rabaliatti, it is known that he in the years 1711 to 1720 during construction work in Castle Erpernburg , the surge Herringhausen , in Castle Körtlinghausen and Herdringen as a stonemason or as builders participated. His son was Kaspar Theodor Rabaliatti (* November 17, 1711; † 1766), a stonemason who was also born in Rüthen, who settled in Strasbourg in 1744 with his wife Maria Magdalena Rabaliatti (widowed seaman, née Schröder) and therefore a brother of Franz Wilhelm Rabaliatti was.

Franz Wilhelm Rabaliatti was married to a daughter of the Mannheim master mason Anton Nauß . Between 1749 and 1768 the couple had six sons and four daughters, all of whom were baptized in Mannheim. Three sons and two daughters died early. It is known that his son Sebastian Kaspar Rabaliatti , who was probably born in 1755, was godfather to his uncle Kaspar Theodor Rabaliatti . This confirms the family ties between Franz Wilhelm Rabaliatti and the family of the same name in Rüthen. It is known about Sebastian Kaspar Rabaliatti's further life that he was employed as a secretary at the court of Duke Wilhelm in Bavaria between at least 1782 and 1802 .

Professional career

In 1746, Franz Wilhelm Rabaliatti was first mentioned as a stonemason foreman by Alessandro Galli da Bibiena during the construction of the Mannheim Jesuit Church . Bibiena is considered to be Rabaliatti's teacher during his training as a master builder. Rabaliatti was appointed court architect by Elector Karl Theodor in 1747. The elector intended to expand his summer residence in Schwetzingen and also had plans for a completely new palace complex, which was ultimately rejected because the Mannheim palace was not yet completed. The new court architect was therefore initially responsible for the construction of various new objects in Schwetzingen Castle and also dealt with the urban planning of Schwetzingen, where he built many town houses and lived in his palace, which he built himself in 1755.

Rabaliatti carried out many of his building projects together with the Lorraine builder Nicolas de Pigage , who was appointed senior building director by Carl Theodor in 1752. Pigage had studied architecture in Paris and was superior to Rabaliatti with his new technical knowledge. The different views of the "artist" Rabaliatti and the "craftsman" Pigage repeatedly led to conflicts and a growing competitive relationship.

death

It is not known when and where Franz Wilhelm Rabaliatti died. He was buried on March 24, 1782 in Mannheim.

Created structures

Buildings in Schwetzingen Castle

According to Bibiena's original plans, Rabaliatti, under the direction of Guillaume d'Hauberat , completed the northern circle houses of Schwetzingen Castle from 1748 to spring 1750 , which were used as an orangery .

In contrast to the north building, the rooms of which were mainly used for wintering the potted plants and were therefore simply furnished, two richly decorated play and dance halls were set up in the south circular building, which was built between 1753 and 1755. Overall, the building was intended as a hunting lodge and was decorated with magnificent stucco work with hunting scenes by Giuseppe Antonio Albuccio .

Rabaliatti also designed the particularly elaborate wrought iron and partially gilded gate of the arboretum .

Building in Schwetzingen

Church tower of St. Pankratius

The master builder not only dealt with the expansion of the residence, but also intervened in the urban planning of Schwetzingen. So he built some town houses such as For example, the property known today as the Hirsch Palace , which was built in 1748 by order of the Elector Karl Theodor as a residence for the Jesuit father Franz Joseph Seedorf . As a confessor and advisor to the elector, Seedorf was the most powerful man at court. From 1818 to 1963 the building was used as the Hotel zum Goldenen Hirsch , which explains the current name.

From 1754 to 1756 Rabaliatti built the church tower of St. Pankratius after the old bell tower had to be demolished due to structural defects.

Rabaliatti Palace

Furthermore, in 1755 he built today's Palais Rabaliatti , his own house on the northwest corner of the palace square. The private stables , which originally housed twelve horses, has been preserved to this day. Trained in French construction, the electoral Palatinate chose high, narrow, arched windows for the facade of his house, the framing of which he profiled and provided with a keystone in the middle. The window sills that close within the window frames bear his personal touch. Rabaliatti paid special attention to the stairs in residential buildings. They are each made of red sandstone, the riser and step chosen in such a balanced ratio that you are literally carried upwards. In the layout of the stairs, Rabaliatti's role model was Balthasar Neumann , whom he met several times. After the builder's death, the palace was sold by Rabaliatti's heirs in 1781/82 for 6,250 guilders to the elector Karl Theodor, who in turn gave it to his illegitimate son Karl August , who later became Prince of Bretzenheim. In 1802 it was bought by the electoral court official Zeller and when in the following year the Electoral Palatinate on the right bank of the Rhine was transferred to Baden through the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss , the Palais Rabaliatti became the seat of the Schwetzingen district office in Baden. It has been privately owned since 1931.

In 1759 he was involved in the renovation of the stately poultry house.

Since Rabaliatti's lavish lifestyle was soon no longer sufficient for the old stables, he bought the stables on Carl-Theodor-Straße in 1759 for 30,000 guilders and converted it behind the back of chief building director Nicolas de Pigage. Among other things, he added corner pavilions for the accommodation of soldiers. The tense relationship between the two architects was fueled by this "intrigue", as Pigage called it.

Buildings in Mannheim

Mannheim observatory

From 1751 to 1760, Rabaliatti, together with Pigage, played a key role in the planning and implementation of the final construction phase of the Mannheim Palace.

In 1754 he built the Sodality Church, which was destroyed in the Second World War and stood behind the Palais Bretzenheim on today's A 3 square . Today the university library, built from 1986 to 1988, is located there.

The completion of the interior of the Jesuit Church in Mannheim, planned by da Bibiena and begun in 1733, dragged on for decades until Franz Wilhelm Rabaliatti, with the help of Nicolas de Pigage and Peter Anton von Verschaffelt, completed the work of da Bibiena, who died in 1748, in 1760.

Together with Johann Lacher , he built the Mannheim observatory from 1772 to 1774 (today the old observatory ). A five-storey octagonal tower built in classicist forms, which was available to the Jesuit , mathematician and court astronomer Christian Mayer . Today it is an artist's studio.

In 1753, Franz Wilhelm Rabaliatti built a baroque wash house for the body and table linen of the electoral court on today's property B 5, 19 .

Buildings in Heidelberg

The construction of the Jesuit church was started in 1711 by Johann Adam Breuning , who built the choir of the baroque hall church up to the chancel. The first construction phase ended in 1723 and construction work could only be resumed in 1749 thanks to the generosity of Elector Karl Theodor. The construction management of Breuning, who died in 1727, was now taken over by Rabaliatti, who covered the nave in 1750 and incorporated the high altar wall into the architecture in an unusual way. In 1751 he designed the exterior facade with the arch. The remaining work then dragged on until late autumn 1759. The steeple was not added until 1868-1872.

In addition, he built the Seminarium Carolinum , named after the Italian Cardinal Karl Borromeo , the last representative building that was built for the Heidelberg Jesuits . The building, created between 1750 and 1765, served as a Konvikt for Catholic students until 1825 . It was used as a madhouse from 1826 to 1878, after which the Carolinum was handed over to the Reich Military Treasury. In later years the district court was located in the west wing until 1936. Today the administration of Heidelberg University is housed there.

In connection with the aforementioned building project, Rabaliatti created an economic building for the Carolinum between 1763 and 1765 from a two-story predecessor building directly connected to the seminar building. In 1826 the outbuilding was used by the madhouse administration and also served the administrator as an apartment. After the Carolinum was handed over to the Reich Military Treasury, the baroque outbuilding was demolished in 1879. The current building was erected on the same site in March 1880. Around the turn of the century, the new house served as an officers' dining establishment. In 1936, the district court, which had been in the Carolinums until then, was moved to the building. After the district court moved out and the building was handed over to the university, plans began in 1968 for a renovation, which took place in 1970-74. Today the Institutes for Eastern European History and Art History of the University of Heidelberg are housed in this house.

Further structures in the Electoral Palatinate and beyond

Planning views of the parish church in Schriesheim

• From 1748 to around 1750 Rabaliatti was entrusted with the construction of the reformed parish church in Schriesheim . After severe destruction in the Thirty Years' War and the subsequent wars with France, the church was repeatedly repaired, but finally had to be demolished in 1748. As a simple Protestant church building, without a choir or aisles, it was rebuilt, roughly in the same floor plan as the previous building. Only one roof turret was planned by the administration. The community consisted of a stately church tower on the east side, which was destroyed by lightning in 1835. Then the tower was built in its current form.
• From 1750 to 1753, the Catholic Church of St. Michael was built in what is now the Maudach district of Ludwigshafen according to the plans of Rabaliatti and with the assistance of a master builder named Hoffmann .
• From 1751 to 1753 he renovated the commandant's house of the mountain fortress in Dilsberg, which still exists today, for the fortress commander Johann Friedrich von Zyllnhart .
• In 1752, Rabaliatti designed the first stone bridge (called Hoggemer Bruck or Schulzenbrücke ) in Hockenheim , which Fronbauers carved around 4,000 bricks from the former Wersau Castle to build. The Kraichbach and its side canal Mühlbach , which merged under the bridge, flowed under the two arches supported by a strong bridge pillar . A city scene with this bridge is one of the best known and earliest pictorial representations of Hockenheim. This picturesque bridge was replaced by a functional building as early as 1873 because the old bridge no longer met the increased traffic requirements. The builder was also responsible for the construction of another Hockenheimer bridge, namely the Zollbrücke , which was built in the 1750s to replace the sheep bridge that was destroyed by a flood in 1746 . This bridge also no longer exists today, as it was demolished and replaced at the end of the 19th century when the new Mühlbach was built.

• In 1754 he redesigned the former gate and guard house in Wachenheim an der Weinstrasse, built in the 16th century, as a large-volume plastered building with a crooked hip roof , which after the renovation served as a castle bailiff's house . In the first half of the 19th century the property was expanded in a late Classicist style and is now used as a residential building.
• In 1754/55 he built the ship of the Protestant parish church in Mutterstadt .

Interior view of the Jesuit Church in Friborg in Üechtland (Switzerland)

• From 1755 to 1757, with the help of the painter Franz Anton Ermeltraut and the plasterer Giuseppe Antonio Albuccio, he planned the rococo renovation of the interior of the Jesuit church Saint Michael in the Swiss Friborg , built between 1606 and 1613 in the late Gothic style , which was realized between 1756 and 1771.
• In 1755 Rabaliatti converted an empty dragoon barracks into a porcelain factory in Frankenthal on behalf of the Strasbourg faience master Paul Anton Hannong . In doing so, he created the structural conditions for the relocation of the Hannong factory, which was previously located in Strasbourg, in particular for the glaze mill and the kilns . This "Fabrique transparent porcelains", which existed until 1800, was financially supported by Elector Carl Theodor and received the monopoly status of a court manufactory. The Frankenthaler porcelain experienced a brilliant recovery in the following years.

Pfalzgrafenstein Castle in Kaub

• 1756 designed Rabaliatti the main tower of at Kaub located Pfalzgrafenstein and crowned it with a sweeping octagonal hood with an open lantern.
• In 1756 he was responsible for the renovation work on the gate tower of the Dilsberg mountain fortress.
• In the same year he built the Catholic St. Laurentius Church in Nussloch .
• In 1757 he planned the renovation of the local Catholic parish church in Pleisweiler .
• In 1758 he built the Catholic St. Joseph's Chapel, which is now in the row of houses on Oberstraße 39 in Bacharach . It was intended by Elector Carl Theodor as the house chapel of the Latin school of the Catholic grammar school and was consecrated in 1760. The three-axle building is from the neighboring and originally associated school houses the same time of origin, by pilasters and Walmgiebel with roof skylights with the same ridge height only slightly highlighted. Obviously, a Catholic church in the evangelical Bacharach should not stand out too clearly.
• In 1760 he built the Catholic parish Saint Stephen of at Edenkoben commune in Gleisweiler that a remarkable high altar contains the Rococo style.
• In 1763 he led the conversion of the former tithe barn in Lohrbach into a Catholic church.
• In the same year he completely renovated the Obrigheim Peace Church and expanded it. Rabaliatti left the late Gothic church in its floor plan with tower and nave . He put a new helmet on the tower and gave it its current shape and height of 45 meters. He left the nave unchanged except for a one meter increase. In addition, he broke in the large baroque windows and inserted two ox eyes in the new west gable to bring in more light. He gave the entrance a baroque shape. To access the new church warehouse, he added the stair tower on the north side of the tower. The builder completely redesigned the interior of the church. In the nave he built the galleries and the pulpit, drew in the stucco ceiling with a large hollow and renewed the chairs. He gave the choir a rib-less vault. The entire church was plastered inside and out and the inside was given a strong color scheme corresponding to the baroque.

Birkenau Castle

• From 1771 to 1779 he completed the construction of Birkenau Castle , which began in 1765 , although different information about the duration of the renovation and his participation in the construction exist. The late baroque castle in the village of the same name in Birkenau in the Weschnitz valley near Weinheim is a fairly simply structured, but still impressive two-storey building with an attached castle park.

Simultaneous church in Brauneberg

• From 1775 to 1777 Rabaliatti planned and built the Simultankirche in Dusemond (today Brauneberg ) near Bernkastel-Kues . At the time, one third of the construction costs were borne by the Protestant community and two thirds by the Catholics . The onion dome is the only church tower of its kind in the entire Moselle region .
• 1780 Rabaliatti was the Bauverantwortliche for an elegant and large-scale baroque palace in Kaub, which as since 1913 Blüchermuseum Kaub acts. The palace commissioned by Johann Külp was built in the very narrow row of houses on Metzgerstrasse (house number 6) as the Gasthaus Zur Stadt Mannheim . The building has ten axes with a mansard roof and two-axis gable . In the middle portal passage there is a delicate skylight grille . The north and south wings were built at the same time, the east wing followed in 1792. A beautiful wooden staircase leads to the first floor with the main rooms. In the four-axis hall there are canvas wallpapers with oil paintings (Jacob's and Joseph's story), in the room next to it there are hand-printed wallpapers with rural motifs from around 1800. The building was home to Blücher's headquarters when he and his troops at the turn of the year 1813/14 Pfalzgrafenstein crossed the Rhine. The two almost unchanged living rooms of Blücher were set up as the Blüchermuseum in 1913 and show a piece of living culture from around 1800 and personal belongings of the Prussian Field Marshal . The late baroque houses on the Rhine side on Metzgerstraße on the upper floor above the city wall, with an arbor-like passage instead of the medieval battlement , are probably due to Rabaliatti because of their structural relationship to the aforementioned palace.
• In 1783, after Rabaliatti's death, the nave of the Evangelical Church in Leutershausen , which he had planned, was built.

literature

• Wilhelm W. Hoffmann : Franz Wilhelm Rabaliatti, court architect of the Electoral Palatinate . Heidelberg 1934.
• Karlheinz Fuchs: Architecture in the German Southwest. Architects and builders from eight centuries . DRW-Verlag, 2004, ISBN 3-87181-491-1 .
• Sybille M. Derr: Star of Architecture . In: Schwetzinger Zeitung . September 12, 2008.
• Sabine Sipos: He left numerous traces in Schwetzingen . In: Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung . September 13, 2008.

Web links

Commons : Franz Wilhelm Rabaliatti  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Entry in the German Biographical Encyclopedia

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ulrich Grun: Xerxes von Westrem and the Körtlinghausen Castle . In: District of Soest (ed.): Calendar of the district of Soest . 2009, ZDB -ID 619151-4 , p. 43 .
2. ^ Ulrich Grun: Xerxes von Westrem and the Körtlinghausen Castle . In: District of Soest (ed.): Calendar of the district of Soest . 2009, ZDB -ID 619151-4 , p. 43 .
3. ^ Beginning of Rabaliatti's stay in the Electoral Palatinate
4. ↑ Who was Bartholomäus Rabaliatti who helped build the Herringhausen palace?
5. ↑ Eberhard Henneböle : Rabaliatti , in: the same, master builder, stone carver, carver and painter in Rüthen after the Thirty Years' War until around 1750 , Lippstadt 1974, p. 80
6. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from December 31, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) 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.  
7. ↑ [1]
8. ^ Franz Wilhelm Rabaliatti: court architect of the Electorate of the Palatinate. WW Hoffmann, C. Winters University Bookstore, 1934
9. ^ Münchner Zeitung, Verlag Vötter, 1783
10. ↑ Karl August Reichsfürst von Bretzenheim: the political biography of an apolitical , page 56.
11. ↑ Waschhaus in Mannheim ( Memento of the original from July 13, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Call of December 9, 2008)  
12. ↑ City information Schriesheim (accessed on November 16, 2014)
13. ↑ Church leader Ludwigshafen  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on December 17, 2008)  
14. ↑ Kommandantenhaus Dilsberg ( Memento of the original of June 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on December 17, 2008) 
15. ↑ Ernst Brauch: Hockenheim - a city in transition and upheaval . Self-published, Hockenheim 1965, pp. 73–80.
16. ↑ Parish Church in Mutterstadt (accessed December 14, 2008)
17. ↑ Porzellanmanufaktur in Frankenthal ( Memento of the original from January 16, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) 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. (accessed on December 18, 2008) 
18. ↑ Tower of Pfalzgrafenweiler Castle  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on December 27, 2008)  
19. ↑ Gate tower in Dilsberg ( Memento of the original from May 2, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on December 14, 2008) 
20. ↑ Parish church in Pleisweiler ( Memento of the original from November 1, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) 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. (accessed on December 14, 2008)  
21. ↑ Josefskapelle in Bacharach (accessed on December 17, 2008)
22. ↑ Parish church in Gleisweiler ( Memento of the original from January 17, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on December 14, 2008)  
23. ↑ Friedenskirche in Obrigheim (PDF; accessed December 18, 2008; 2.7 MB)
24. ^ Baroque palace in Kaub (accessed December 17, 2008)
25. ^ Residential houses on Metzgerstrasse in Kaub (accessed on December 17, 2008)