Johannes Schoch

Johannes Schoch (* around 1550 in Königsbach (Enzkreis); † 1631 in Strasbourg ) was a famous German Renaissance master builder whose architectural work took place primarily in Durlach , Strasbourg and Heidelberg . Johannes Schoch is considered one of the most important builders in southern Germany.

biography

Johannes Schoch was born around 1550 as the son of a head of an Anabaptist community in Königsbach. Practically nothing is known about his youth and his apprenticeship. Presumably he went on a journey as a journeyman craftsman, as was customary at the time, and thus came to Strasbourg. Schoch acquired citizenship in Strasbourg, where he married his wife Anna Knoll in 1572, and his work there as a journeyman carpenter is also known . Johannes Schoch soon rose to become mill master . Schoch also built various objects in his homeland between 1574 and 1576 for Erasmus von Venningen . In 1577, Johannes Schoch successfully applied as foreman of the municipal carpenter's yard in Strasbourg and as such was involved in the construction of the “new building”. A little later he built the large Stadtmetzig. The professional change occurred in 1582 when the Baden rulers offered him a position as a princely builder in Durlach. Perhaps this happened through Erasmus von Venningen, for whom Schoch had worked as a mill builder from 1574 to 1576. During this time, the Durlach grammar school was built. Schoch came back to Strasbourg as early as 1585, because there he was given the lucrative position of a wage lord. From 1590 to 1597 Schoch worked as a city architect in Strasbourg. In 1597 Schoch was dismissed from his office whereupon Elector Friedrich IV. Appointed him to Heidelberg. As the electoral court architect in Heidelberg, he worked there from 1601 to 1619 and built the Friedrichsbau , his most famous work. From 1620 the name Johannes Schoch reappeared in the role of Strasbourg city architect, but on September 15, 1627 he retired and spent the rest of his life in his adopted home in Strasbourg.

Significant buildings

Friedrichsbau of Heidelberg Castle

Gottesaue Palace Karlsruhe (rebuilt)

• Durlach high school, opened in 1586
• Gottesaue Palace in Karlsruhe
• Dolphin fountain in Ettlingen
• New building in Strasbourg, 1582–1585, today the seat of the Chamber of Commerce
• Salt house on Cathedral Square in Strasbourg
• Great Metzig in Strasbourg
• Front of the Friedrichsbau of Heidelberg Castle , 1602–1607
• Redesign of the Amberg Electoral Palace , 1603
• Old town hall in Gernsbach , 1617–1618 (authorship presumed based on style comparisons)

Appreciation

Johannes Schoch is the most famous son of Königsbach. In 1911, a memorial plaque was placed on the town hall of his birthplace. The inscription reads: "In memory of Johannes Schoch, the famous builder of the Friedrichsbau in Heidelberg Castle, who was born here". A street in Königsbach and the school in Königsbach-Stein are also named after Johannes Schoch.