Josef Hlávka

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Josef Hlávka

Josef Hlávka (born February 15, 1831 in Přeštice , † March 11, 1908 in Prague ) was a Czech architect, builder and patron .

Life

Josef Hlávka was born on February 15, 1831 in the West Bohemian town of Přeštice (Prestitz), 18 km south of Pilsen (Plzeň). After attending the grammar schools in Klatovy (Klattau) and Kolín as well as the secondary school in Prague, he first studied general engineering and building construction at the Prague Polytechnic (the forerunner of today's Czech Technical University ) from 1847 to 1851 , then from 1851 to 1854 architecture at the Academy of fine arts in Vienna. He completed an apprenticeship as a bricklayer at the Czech Viennese building contractor František Šebek and joined his construction office, which he took over as head in 1855. The grave monument to Šebek's wife is his first architectural design. In 1856 Hlávka received a scholarship for a three-year study trip through Europe. He visited Italy, Greece, France, England, Belgium and Germany.

Memorial plaque on the Vienna Opera Ring

After his return, he settled in Vienna and acquired the building license in 1860. While still alive, František Šebek Hlávka left his building office. The successful execution of the construction contract for the Vienna Lazarist Church established his reputation as one of the most prominent building contractors of the Vienna Ringstrasse era . In addition to around 140 private contracts, mainly apartment buildings , he realized the Academic Gymnasium and the Church of St. Othmar under the White Tanners , the court opera and the Archduke Wilhelm Palace (Deutschmeisterpalais) according to plans by the most renowned architects in Vienna . In 1864, Hlávka began building the residence of the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan in Chernivtsi . The building ensemble combined Byzantine and Moorish elements and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site .

In addition, Hlávka made a name for himself as a monument protector and was appointed correspondent in 1863 and curator of the Austrian Central Commission for the Preservation of Monuments in 1864; In 1898 he was appointed to the art council of the Ministry of Culture and Education . In 1866 Hlávka was appointed a member of the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. The utensils for laying the foundation stone of the court opera were handed over by Emperor Franz Joseph Hlávka and are kept in Lužany Castle.

His commitment to work meant that he suffered a nervous breakdown in 1869 and had to give up his construction company in 1873. He moved the center of his life to Bohemia and moved to the Lužany u Přeštic (Luschan in Bohemia) estate , 3 km south of his native town of Přeštice, which he had originally bought from his mother. From his wheelchair, he devoted his intellectual powers to promoting Czech science and art, which he supported with his immense fortune. In 1880 he had recovered to the point that he could resume his public work. In 1882 his first wife Marie, née Čermáková, died of tuberculosis.

As in Vienna, Hlávka later ran a salon in Prague, where prominent public figures frequented. In the summer half of the year, the castle in Lužany, which he had gradually rebuilt, became a refuge, especially for writers ( Julius Zeyer , Jaroslav Vrchlický ) and musicians (Bohemian Quartet with Josef Suk and Oskar Nedbal ). Antonín Dvořák composed his Mass in D major ( Lužanská mše ) for the inauguration of the new castle chapel designed by Hlávka and also conducted the world premiere; Hlávka's second wife Zdenka, née Havelková, and Dvořák's wife Anna sang the ladies' solos.

In the 1880s, Hlávka campaigned for the establishment of a national Czech Czech Academy of Sciences and Arts . After it was founded in 1890 (opened in 1891), which he made possible through a significant donation and through his excellent relationships with the Prague and Vienna government circles, Hlávka himself became the first president of the “Royal Bohemian Kaiser Franz Joseph Academy for Sciences, Literature and Art ”was chosen.

Other foundations involved the Economics Institute and the Hlávka Student Dormitory ( Hlávkova kolej ) in Prague (built according to a design by Josef Fanta , now owned by the Czech Technical University (ČVUT)). Hlávka also made a contribution to the expansion of the art college , where he practiced the appointment of painters Václav Brožík , Vojtěch Hynais and Julius Mařák . In addition, he was deputy chairman of the Modern Gallery Committee and a member of the Czech State Commission for Art and History.

In 1883, Hlávka was elected to the House of Representatives of the Reichsrat (the parliament of the western half of Austria-Hungary) in the curia of the large landowners for the constituency of Prestitz, and in 1886 to the Bohemian state parliament. In 1891 he moved to the manor house as a member of the Imperial Council appointed for life by the emperor . He was a supporter of the Old Czech Party , which advocated equal rights for the Czechs within the Habsburg monarchy .

Since his second marriage remained childless and his wife died before him, Hlávka brought all of his fortune into the "Josef, Marie and Zdenka Hlávka Foundation" which he established during his lifetime and which was the only foundation to survive the communist regime since the turn of 1989 he has again devoted himself unhindered to the promotion of the intellectual elite of the Czech people (Nadace "Nadání Josefa, Marie a Zdenky Hlávkových"). He also received numerous awards and honorary positions for the achievements of the second phase of his life. Josef Hlávka died after a short illness on March 11, 1908 in Prague and was buried in the self-designed family grave in Přeštice.

Works

Realized own designs

Chernivtsi: Former Archbishop's residence
  • Tomb for the wife of František Šebek (today in Trhová Kamenice , Chrudim district)
  • Bohemian State Brewery (Zemská porodnice) in Prague, Nové Město , Kateřinská (near Karlov ) (1862)
  • Residence of the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan with a seminary and church in Chernivtsi (Bukovina, today Ukraine; since 1950 seat of the state university , 1867–1874)
  • Armenian Catholic Church in Chernivtsi
  • Apartment building in Vienna, Inner City , Opernring 6
  • Apartment building in Vienna, Innere Stadt, Elisabethstrasse 12 (destroyed in World War II)
  • Reconstruction of the Lužany Castle with a new castle chapel
  • Apartment building in Vienna, Landstrasse , Löwengasse 22 (Hlávka's Viennese residence)
  • Apartment building in Vienna, Landstrasse, Kegelgasse 29
    Kegelgasse 29 1030 Vienna May 2008
  • Foundation houses in Prague, Nové Město, Vodičkova 17 (1869–1890)
  • Family grave Hlávka at the cemetery in Přeštice

Not realized own designs

  • National Theater in Prague (1854)
  • Main facade of the Duomo in Florence (1858)
  • Church in Kopfing im Innkreis (Upper Austria)

Realized foreign designs

Awards

  • 1867 Second architecture prize at the Paris World Exhibition for the residence in Chernivtsi
  • 1869 building council
  • 1891 senior building officer
  • 1900 Honorary doctorate from the Jagiellonian University in Cracow
  • 1906 honorary doctorate from the Czech Technical University in Prague
  • 1907 honorary citizen of the city of Prague
  • 2006 namesake for the asteroid (21539) Josefhlávka

Appreciation

With the Landesgebäranstalt in Prague and the residence of the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan in Chernivtsi, Josef Hlávka made a name for himself as an important architect of early historicism in the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. As one of the most important building contractors of the Vienna Ringstrasse era, he realized the designs of such prominent architects as Friedrich von Schmidt, Theophil Hansen, but above all Eduard van der Nüll and August Sicard von Sicardsburg (Vienna Opera). After an illness-related interlude, Hlávka used the wealth he had acquired for generous patronage , focusing on the development of a Czech elite and the promotion of Czech science. He went down in music history as a client of Antonín Dvořák's D major mass, and in literary history above all as a patron of the poets Julius Zeyer and Jaroslav Vrchlický and the Shakespeare translator Josef Václav Sládek . Several of the institutions he founded, some in great continuity, some newly founded, still exist today: the Czech Academy of Sciences , the Economics Institute, the Hlávka Student College and the Hlávka Foundation, which bundles his legacy. Josef Hlávka was a central figure in the cultural life of the Czechs at the end of the 19th century.

Since 1989 he has been rediscovered in his homeland as a representative of idealistically motivated patronage as well as a representative of a simultaneously nationally conscious and cosmopolitanism. The 100th anniversary of his death in 2008 was included in the list of UNESCO cultural anniversaries and celebrated with several conferences and exhibitions in Prague and Chernivtsi.

Special coin

  • 2008 200 crowns on the 100th anniversary of the death of Josef Hlávka: the front shows the gable of the Prague State Brewery, which was built by Hlávka. The bird wing in the coin image is supposed to mean protection and swing of the spirit. The reverse shows Hlávka's portrait with a full beard. Source: Coins & Collecting 5/2008, page 64.

bibliography

  • Hlávka Josef. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 2, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1959, p. 341.
  • A. Lodr: Josef Hlávka - český architekt, stavitel a mecenáš , Prague 1988
  • Wolfgang Bahr: Josef Hlávka - a Czech architect, master builder and patron in old Austria , in: Austria in history and literature, 48th year, issue 6, pp. 356–374

Web links

Commons : Josef Hlávka  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Minor Planet Circ. 55986
personal data
SURNAME Hlávka, Josef
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czech builder, architect and patron
DATE OF BIRTH February 15, 1831
PLACE OF BIRTH Přeštice
DATE OF DEATH March 11, 1908
Place of death Prague