Johann Franz August Zimmermann

Grave column for carpenter

Johann Franz August Zimmermann (* 1751 or 1752; † May 6, 1774 in Weimar ) was a journeyman carpenter from Ilmenau who died at the age of 22 during rescue work during the castle fire in Weimar. He had saved the lives of numerous people. The funeral took place "with great sympathy from the whole city, including the ducal family". His tomb, a rejuvenating fluted column on the Zimmermann dedicated inscriptions, with an urn in the style of Louis XVI as a crown before the cash vault on the Jacobsfriedhof , the court sculptor created Martin Gottlieb Klauer . This tomb is quite remarkable because it is so elaborately designed it is to be regarded as an exception for this stand, as it must also be regarded as a sign of gratitude from a prince or princess, especially since Duchess Anna-Amalia had commissioned her court sculptor to do it. (One of the two inscriptions also reads: The citizen's loyalty ). The column is made of Berka red sandstone . In front of the column is the grave of Christiane Becker-Neumann in the wrought-iron enclosure. In the background is the cash register vault.

The Swabian poet Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart dedicated an obituary to Johann Franz August Zimmermann in his magazine " Deutsche Chronik " in 1775. It says:

"The carpenter who lost his life in the fire in the princely palace a year ago has now been erected a tomb of considerable size, which received everyone's approval and which does excellent honor to the artist Glauer (Martin Gottfried Klauer), at Berka an der ilm. Since it is well known that among the lowest classes of life there are people who are capable of great deeds, they should never be excluded from public honors which arouse general emulation. Merit remains merit, in a double coat as in a purple. "

Web links

Individual evidence

^ Gerhard R. Kaiser: Tiefurt: Literature and Life at the Beginning of Weimar's Great Time , Wallstein-Verlag Göttingen 2020, p. 226. ISBN 9783835336599
^ Walter Geese: Gottlieb Martin Klauer - Der Bildhauer Goethe , Leipzig 1935, p. 194.
↑ Gerd Seidel, Walter Steiner : Building stone and building in Weimar (= Standing Commissions Culture of the Weimar City Council and the Weimar-Land District Council in cooperation with the Weimar City Museum (ed.): Tradition und Gegenwart. Weimarer Schriften. Issue 32). Weimar 1988, ISBN 3-910053-08-4 , p. 73.
↑ Quoted from Gertrud Ranft: Historische Grabstätte: From Weimar's Classical Time (= Weimarer Schriften zur Heimatgeschichte und Naturkunde Volume 35), Weimar 1979, p. 13.

personal data
SURNAME	Zimmermann, Johann Franz August
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Journeyman carpenter
DATE OF BIRTH	1751 or 1752
DATE OF DEATH	May 6, 1774
Place of death	Weimar

[1] Gerhard R. Kaiser: Tiefurt: Literature and Life at the Beginning of Weimar's Great Time , Wallstein-Verlag Göttingen 2020, p. 226. ISBN 9783835336599

[2] Walter Geese: Gottlieb Martin Klauer - Der Bildhauer Goethe , Leipzig 1935, p. 194.

[3] Gerd Seidel, Walter Steiner : Building stone and building in Weimar (= Standing Commissions Culture of the Weimar City Council and the Weimar-Land District Council in cooperation with the Weimar City Museum (ed.): Tradition und Gegenwart. Weimarer Schriften. Issue 32). Weimar 1988, ISBN 3-910053-08-4 , p. 73.

[4] Quoted from Gertrud Ranft: Historische Grabstätte: From Weimar's Classical Time (= Weimarer Schriften zur Heimatgeschichte und Naturkunde Volume 35), Weimar 1979, p. 13.