Joseph Kranner
Joseph Kranner (born June 13, 1801 in Prague , † October 20, 1871 in Vienna ) was the first master builder of the St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague after construction work resumed in the 19th century.
Life
Kranner was born as the tenth child of the imperial court builder and master stonemason Johann Ludwig Kranner. He completed an apprenticeship as a stonemason and at the same time attended the Prague technical center. He then studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna . In 1822 he traveled to Venice and Rome to study. Because of his physical strength and courage, he was known there as "Prague Hercules". Kranner traveled to Paris via Marseille in 1824.
Kranner's first work as a master builder was the design of a family crypt for the Austrian State Chancellor Prince Metternich in Schloss Plaß . In 1828 he completed this project to the prince's full satisfaction. In the same year he took over the workshop of his late father, which he modernized. UA he introduced a more rational machine stone processing according to the French method.
In 1830 he received the certificate of qualification for "a master builder position in the royal capital Prague"; under August 19, 1833, the “civil right to operate the master builder” and under March 2, 1835 after “trial” production of the masterpiece, the official recognition as “master stonemason of the imperial and royal capital”.
Kranner shared an interest in the medieval buildings in his homeland with the historian František Palacký , the painter Joseph Hellich and the budding architect Hermann Bergmann . They planned to publish a work on the antiquities of Bohemia, published the "Archäologische Blätter" edited by Erasmus Wocel and Hellich, and in 1845 published the "Basics of Bohemian Antiquities".
Kranner subsequently designed a neo-Gothic monumental fountain on the banks of the Vltava , an equally monumental loyalty monument in Temesvár and also advocated the idea of expanding the St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague, taken by the art-friendly Canon Václav Michal Pešina .
In the aftermath of the events of 1848, national differences in Bohemia intensified. A "Catholic Association", which soon changed from the initially religious color to the Czech national one, announced a competition for a Cyril and Methodist church. Kranner's neo-Gothic project was ultimately rejected because of its supposedly "Germanic" style.
Around 1855 Kranner was involved in the construction management of the Vienna Votive Church .
In 1859 the first constituent assembly of the cathedral building association took place. At the second general assembly of the following year, on October 20, 1860, the chairman proposed Count Thun Kranner as master builder. On April 11, 1861, he received his appointment decree. At the general assembly on May 31, 1867, Kraner presented the complete project for the three-aisle expansion of the cathedral. After his death Josef Mocker took over the construction management.
literature
- Constantin von Wurzbach : Kranner, Joseph . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 13th part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1865, p. 129 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Rudolf Müller: Kranner, Joseph A. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 17, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1883, pp. 33-43.
- Joseph Kranner. In: Architects Lexicon Vienna 1770–1945. Published by the Architekturzentrum Wien . Vienna 2007.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kranner, Joseph |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Kranner, Josef |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Bohemian cathedral builder |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 13, 1801 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Prague |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 20, 1871 |
| Place of death | Vienna |