Hans Hillger

Hans Hillger ( also Johannes Hilger, Hilliger; born February 7, 1567 in Freiberg , † April 24, 1640 in Dresden ) was an electoral Saxon gun and bell caster, Dresden councilor and mayor .

Life

family

Crucifix by Hans Hillger on Charles Bridge in Prague

Hans Hillger came from a widespread family of bell and gun foundries . The family, which in the beginning also called themselves can pourers or can pourers, can be traced back to Saxony in the early 15th century. In 1412 a Hans Kanngießer was first mentioned in Freiberg. Various family members also appear as councilors in Freiberg, Dresden and Chemnitz .

In 1567 Hillger's grandfather, the Freiberg mayor Wolfgang Hill (i) ger (1511–1576), took over the electoral foundry in Dresden. Hillger's father Martin (1538–1601), who previously worked as a gun founder for Archduke Karl II of Inner Austria in Graz , then came to Dresden and worked here as an electoral gun founder. The foundry remained in family ownership for several generations and was also run by Hans Hillger, and later by his son Hans Wilhelm Hilliger (1605–1649). The rooms in the casemates under the Brühl Terrace are still there.

Hilliger married on October 10, 1592 with Margarethe Hilliger b. Crackau (* 1562, † 1600 in Dresden). Her daughter Christiana, the second wife of the Dresden councilor and pharmacist Joachim Müller (born March 19, 1569 in Torgau, † September 7, 1634 in Dresden), died on October 6, 1633 in Dresden. Hilliger married Sabina Vollradt in 1603. Their father, Hans Vollhardt (born July 29, 1546 in Prague, † December 12, 1605 in Dresden), was electoral Saxon feudal and court secretarius in Dresden; Her mother Sabina Hase was the daughter of Mayor Hans Hase and his wife Anna, a daughter of Mayor George Rüger . Hilliger married Sophie Blansdorf for the third time. She outlived her husband by nine years and died in 1649.

Professional and political activity

Hillger was baptized on February 8, 1567 in the town church of St. Petri in Freiberg. He initially apprenticed to his father and also became a bell and piece caster. After the death of his father, he took over the family business in 1601 and became an electoral Saxon gun founder. Several bell castings for churches in the Dresden area, but also art castings, can be identified from his workshop. One of his most important creations is a Calvary group for Charles Bridge in Prague , which is based in part on preliminary work by the sculptor Wolf Ernst Brohn .

Hans Hillger received Dresden citizenship in 1599 and became a member of the council in the same year. In 1608 he was elected one of the three mayors, who alternated between ruling - seated - resting mayors. He was the ruling mayor for the last time in 1638 and is mentioned for the last time in the council register a year later.

Works (selection)

• Bell of the Johanniskirche in Dresden (1605)
• Bell for the old Frauenkirche in Dresden (1619), melted down in 1917
• Epitaph Duke Albrechts von Holstein in the Kreuzkirche in Dresden (1613)
• Calvary group for Charles Bridge in Prague (1621)
• Crucifix for the Dresden Elbe Bridge (1628). This crucifix, which was sold to Prague, is not identical to the bridge cross built by Andreas Herold in 1670 , which has been missing since the Elbe floods in 1845.

literature

• Sieglinde Richter-Nickel: The venerable council of Dresden , in: Dresdner Geschichtsbuch No. 5, Dresden City Museum (ed.); DZA Verlag for Culture and Science, Altenburg 1999, ISBN 3-9806602-1-4 .
• Otto Richter : Constitutional and administrative history of the city of Dresden , Volume 1, Verlag W. Baensch, Dresden 1885.
• Horst Pohl: Hilliger. In: Neue Deutsche Biographie , Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot Publishing House, Berlin 1972, p. 157 f.
• Otto Hübner: The Hilliger family. In: Announcements of the Freiberg Altertumsverein with pictures from the past , issue 42, Gerlachsche Buchdruckerei, Freiberg 1904

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Johann Gottfried Michaelis: Monumenta Dresdensia, or grave and honor meal of the main city and Vestung Dresden .
2. ↑ Heinrich Constantin Gerlach, Konrad Knebel: Communications of the Freiberger Altertumsverein: with pictures from Freiberg's past , issues 34–39, Gerlachsche Buchdruckerei, Freiberg, 1898.
3. ^ Martin B. Lindau: History of the capital and residence city of Dresden from the earliest to the present time , Volume 2, Verlag Kuntze, 1859, p. 458
4. ^ Hugo Rokyta: The Bohemian Lands: Handbook of the monuments and memorials of European cultural relations in the Bohemian Lands. Vitalis Verlag, Prague, 1997, p. 227. ISBN 978-8085938234
5. ↑ Cornelius Gurlitt: Descriptive representation of the older architectural and art monuments of the Kingdom of Saxony. , 21st issue, Verlag CC Meinhold & Sons, 1900.

Web links

• Entry in the Stadtwiki Dresden

predecessor	Office	successor
Georg Bodecker (1607, 1610, 1613, 1616) Siegmund Otto (1619, 1622, 1625, 1628, 1631, 1634, 1637)	Mayor of Dresden 1608, 1611, 1614, 1617, 1620 1623, 1626, 1629, 1632 1635, 1638	Jakob Lehmann (1609, 1612, 1615, 1618) Conrad Schäfer (1621) Hans Jentzsch (1624, 1627, 1630) Paul Rötting (1633, 1636, 1639)