Johann Friedrich Bauder
Johann Friedrich Bauder (born January 8, 1713 in Hersbruck ; † May 31, 1791 in Altdorf near Nuremberg ) was a trader, mayor of Altdorf and the discoverer of the local marble .
Life
Johann Friedrich Bauder was the son of the mayor and treasurer Konrad Bauder. In his hometown of Hersbruck he learned the craft of a gingerbread baker . As was customary for a journeyman at the time, he went on a journey. This led him through Bavaria, Austria, Moravia, Silesia, Brandenburg and Saxony.
In 1734 he settled in Altdorf, where he spent the rest of his life. In the same year he married Anna Maria Schmidt, the daughter of the city councilor Johannes Schmidt. At first Bauder successfully operated an iron trade in Altdorf, and in 1748 also a wine trade. Finally, there was also the hop trade. His greatest success, however, was the discovery of marble in the Altdorf area and its mining. He also made a name for himself as a fossil dealer. In 1748 Bauder was elected to the city council and in 1770 as senior mayor of Altdorf. He dealt intensively with the hop culture and with his achievements ensured a hitherto unprecedented flowering of hop growing in the area around Altdorf. Because of his book “Short treatise on the best way to build the hops”, published in 1776, the Elector of Bavaria Maximilian Joseph awarded him the title of a Bavarian commercial councilor. The Burghausen Society, to which he dedicated his treatise, appointed him a member. In 1776 Bauder resigned his mayor's office in order to concentrate fully on his other business. Johann Friedrich Bauder died on May 31, 1791. He was buried in the crypt hall of the church cemetery in Altdorf, next to his wife and their parents. His daughter Katharina Sabine (April 28, 1784 in Altdorf near Nuremberg; † March 27, 1862 in Erlangen) was married to the Erlangen theologian and university professor Leonhard Johann Bertholdt (1774-1822); the second daughter Anna Maria, who was married to the merchant Karl Friedrich Bauis, continued the marble trade after his death. But she could not keep it for long because the business was no longer profitable enough at that time.
Altdorf marble
The beginning of the "Altdorf marble", later also called "Bauderscher marble" after its discoverer, goes back to the year 1740. It was at this time that Bauder saw the special marble for the first time, which attracted attention due to its special color and, above all, petrified marine animals such as ammonites . This rock, which was "to be found back and forth in the field [...]", was used to build farmhouses because "cracks and fissures [...] made the stone unsuitable and only usable for bricking up". After Bauder had done some research, he learned that marble was in better condition on the Schwarzach and therefore bought a piece of land near Oberölsbach from a farmer. There he began with the dismantling, but had to stop it shortly afterwards because the government of Amberg issued a ban.
Therefore, Bauder finally looked in the areas around Nuremberg and found it "in deep trenches between Hagenhausen , Gnadenberg and Altdorf". He described himself as the discoverer of this “ammonite and belemnite marble”, although Johann Jakob Baier had already mentioned the presence of marble in this area in his “Oryctographia Norica” from 1708. In any case, Bauder was the first to mine, process and finally sell the Black Jura there. This took place in the form of furniture, baptismal fonts or tobacco boxes, to name just a few examples. Altdorf marble was popular and coveted in Bauder's time, including among the nobility, for example in the Rococo castle of Tettnang.
The discovery of a fossilized crocodile skull between 1773 and 1775 by Bauder caught the attention of the scientifically interested Johann Wolfgang von Goethe . He even wanted to acquire this skull. But his friend Johann Heinrich Merck got ahead of him. He bought the skull in 1783 for 200 Louisdor , which corresponds to around 3000 euros. Merck's anticipation did not harm the friendship of the two.
In 1819, while on his way home to Weimar, Goethe acquired a princely slab made of Altdorf marble. The tablet, which has since broken into seven pieces, is now being kept in the pavilion of Goethe's garden on Frauenplan in Weimar, along with other smaller tablets that Goethe later acquired.
Today, on the ground floor of the Culture City Hall in Altdorf, a large polished slab made of Altdorf marble and an information board remind of Bauder's life and work. These hung in today's Sparkasse branch until the mid-2010s, on the basis of which Bauder founded a stone processing company in 1753. In the chancel of the Laurentiuskirche is a baptismal font made of Altdorf marble, which Bauder donated to the church in 1754.
swell
- The father of Altdorf marble , Der Bote , September 14, 1991
- Further products made from Bauder marble , Der Bote, March 11, 2009, p. 4
- Birgit Matuschewski: Johann Friedrich Bauder - dealer, mayor and discoverer of Altdorf snail marble, from Albrächd Altdorf - Schwarzenbruck - Winkelhaid, September 2008 p. 32 f.
- Udo Kursawe: Goethe and Altdorf. The poet researcher Johann Wolfgang v. Goethe and the former Nuremberg university town of Altdorf , series of publications by the Altdorf City Archives, 2006
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Quotation from Johann Friedrich Bauder: Short but actual description of a precious and never-before-seen ammonite and belemnite marble recently found at Altdorf in Nuremberg
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bauder, Johann Friedrich |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Merchant, mayor of the city of Altdorf and discoverer of the marble there |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 8, 1713 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hersbruck |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 31, 1791 |
| Place of death | Altdorf near Nuremberg |