Hans Conrad Escher from Linth

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Escher around 1800. Red chalk drawing by Diethelm Heinrich Lavater
Hans Conrad Escher around 1820. Copper engraving by A. Bouvier (1836) after a drawing by Martin Esslinger
Escher three days before his death. Engraving after a drawing by Hans Jakob Oeri

Hans Konrad Escher von der Linth (born August 24, 1767 in Zurich ; † March 9, 1823 there ; until 1823 only: Johannes Konrad Escher ) was a Swiss scientist, civil engineer, silk manufacturer, painter, cartographer and politician.

life and work

As a descendant of the wealthy Zurich merchant family Escher vom Glas , he spent a sheltered youth. His father, Hans Caspar Escher (1729–1805), was the youngest son of the politician and diplomat Heinrich Escher (1688–1747). After training in Geneva by Jean-Pierre Vaucher , he went on an educational trip to France, England, Germany and Italy. In Göttingen he studied technology ( Beckmann ), statistics ( Schlözer ) and philosophy ( Lichtenberg ), and subsequently worked as a universal scholar in many fields of knowledge, in particular in political science and geology. He founded a political science teaching institute in Zurich, which was merged into the University of Zurich in 1833 .

Escher was imbued with the spirit of the Enlightenment, which he tried to implement both politically and practically. In the course of the Helvetic Revolution , he assumed an important leadership role for the Republicans and rose to the position of Helvetic Minister of War in the spring of 1802. After the fourth Unitarian coup on April 17, 1802, he resigned from his office. He then worked in the canton of Zurich as an education councilor as well as a government advisor on agricultural policy. With the establishment of the " Swiss Republican " (together with Paul Usteri ) and the introduction of the "Official Journal", he made significant contributions to the creation of a journalistic public.

His scientific interest lay mainly in the areas of geology and mineralogy. In 1806 he explored the area around the Aroser Rothorn , the top of which he also climbed. He left behind over nine hundred views and panoramas of Switzerland and the neighboring mountain areas. This most extensive work of watercolor landscapes created by a Swiss draftsman is mostly kept in the graphic collection of the ETH Zurich , a smaller part in the central library in Zurich .

Escher was buried in the later abandoned St. Anna cemetery on the Hohen Promenade private cemetery in Zurich. Since he had forbidden a tomb, his grave could no longer be found than it should be reburied.

The Linthwerk

His main work was the regulation of the Linth River . After he had dealt with the distress at Lake Walen as early as the 1790s as part of the Helvetic Society , he took over the management of the correction project on behalf of the Diet in 1804 . Construction work based on plans by Tulla began in 1807 and lasted until 1816.

Commemorative coin in honor of J. ( J ohann (-es) = Hans) Conrad Escher von der Linth (minted in 1823 )

The successful improvement of living conditions in the Linth region made Escher already during his lifetime, v. a. but after his death in 1823 it became an important symbol of Switzerland.

Honors

In 1821 Escher was elected by the Linth to be a member of the Leopoldina Academic Academy . In 1823 the Zurich government council granted his family the right to use the suffix "von der Linth". A commemorative coin was minted. The community of Bilten made him an honorary citizen. The primary school in Walenstadt , the Linth-Escher-Strassen in Bilten and Niederurnen and the Linth-Escher school in Niederurnen were dedicated to him. In Zurich , Lintheschergasse is dedicated to him. The canal that leads the Glarner Linth into the Walensee was formerly called the Molliser Canal and was renamed the " Escher Canal " by the daily statute of September 21, 1832 .

family

On his 22nd birthday, Escher married Regula von Orelli, who was one year younger than him. His son Arnold Escher von der Linth became professor of geology at the Polytechnic (today ETH Zurich ). His grandson Arnold Bürkli excelled as a Zurich city engineer, particularly with lake constructions.

Images and monuments

Painted pictures by Escher
Monuments in honor of Escher

There are monuments in honor of Escher in Walenstadt, Weesen and Ziegelbrücke.

  • Escher monument in Ziegelbrücke

  • Escher monument in Walenstadt , general view

  • Escher monument in Walenstadt, inscription

  • Escher monument in Walenstadt, base with high water marks

literature

  • Hans Conrad Escher von der Linth - Views and Panoramas of Switzerland 1780 to 1822 Atlantis Verlag, Zurich 1974
  • Ueli Haldimann (ed.): Hermann Hesse , Thomas Mann and others in Arosa - texts and images from two centuries , AS Verlag und Buchkonzept AG, Zurich 2001, ISBN 3-905111-67-5 , p. 9 ff.
  • Hans-Peter Höhener: The hand-drawn maps by Hans Conrad Escher from the Linth in the Zurich Central Library. In: Cartographica Helvetica Heft 29 (2004) pp. 5–15 full text
  • Alvin E. Jaeggli:  Escher von der Linth, Hans Conrad. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1959, ISBN 3-428-00185-0 , p. 647 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Heiner Keller: Escher's legacy in the Linth plain. Derived Waters - Unrestrained Hopes . here + now, Baden 2007, ISBN 978-3-03919-058-4
  • Severin Perrig: The dream of a canalized world - Hans Conrad Escher from Linth and the Linth Canal Works. Schweizerisches Jugendschriftenwerk Zürich, 2007. SJW No. 2249.
  • Daniel Speich Chassé : Linth Canal. The corrected landscape - 200 years of history . Baeschlin, Glarus 2002, ISBN 3-85546-142-2
  • Eric Werner, Les lieux du coeur, Un pasteur genevois sur les pas de Jean-Jacques Rousseau , Xenia, 2011, ISBN 978-2-88892-143-1 . (= Letters from Jean-Pierre Vaucher to Hans Conrad Escher).
Individual evidence
  1. ↑ Georg Thürer: St. [ie Sankt] Galler Geschichte: Culture, State Life and Economy in the Canton and City of St. Gallen from Primeval Times to the Present , Volume 2, 1st edition, ( Googlebooks, text preview )
  2. ↑ Regula Steinhauser-Zimmermann: The Escher Memorial in Ziegelbrücke , 2017, hans-konrad-escher.ch (Ed.), 2 pages, (pdf)
  3. ↑ hans-konrad-escher.ch - Historical description of the Escher monuments in Walenstadt and Weesen . ( archived )

Web links

Commons : Hans Conrad Escher von der Linth  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Escher von der Linth, Hans Conrad
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Escher, Johannes Konrad
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss scientist, civil engineer and politician
DATE OF BIRTH August 24, 1767
PLACE OF BIRTH Zurich
DATE OF DEATH March 9, 1823
Place of death Zurich