Karl von Fischer

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Karl von Fischer

Karl von Fischer , also Carl von Fischer (born September 19, 1782 in Mannheim , † February 11, 1820 in Munich ) was a German builder .

life and work

He was born the son of Karl Joseph von Fischer, the court advisor of the Princes of Bretzenheim , who was ennobled in 1790 .

Familiar with art, especially architecture , at an early age , the young von Fischer began his apprenticeship with Maximilian von Verschaffelt in 1796 . Three years later the student went to Vienna , where he perfected his artistic skills under the direction of the director of the building school, Ferdinand von Hohenberg , and the theater architect Joseph Platzer .

During this time, Abbé Salabert was commissioned to build a palace in Munich . Why the Abbé decided in favor of von Fischer remains in the dark. Possibly this was already known to the client from Mannheim.

With the construction of the Palais Salabert , he drew the eyes of higher circles. At the age of 25, on June 13, 1808, he was given the title of Professor of Architecture . Carl von Fischer was the first professor in the architecture department of the Munich Academy of Fine Arts . Written certificates of his teaching activities have not been received. Hardly anything is known about his work as a member of the building commission from 1809.

Significant for the tragedy of his life was the circumstance of the death of the chief construction commissioner Nikolaus Schedel von Greifenstein in 1810. Fischer received "the first-rate buildings temporarily for continuation". However, when he applied for the vacancy, he was turned down in favor of a stranger, Emanuel Joseph von Hérigoyen . For his efforts up to then he received only 250 guilders .

For the construction of the Walhalla and the Glyptothek , he submitted plans to Crown Prince Ludwig , some of which were incorporated into later plans - possibly the idea of ​​building the Walhalla in the form of a Doric peripteros - but were not allowed to be carried out by Fischer. However, together with the director of the Hofgarten, Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell, he was primarily responsible for the general plan for the redesign of Munich, which he was unable to complete. Even today, the Propylaea seem like an artificial end to an axis that was started and not yet completed. The Stiglmaierplatz , which, according to Fischer's plans, should represent an artistic unit with the Königplatz and the Karolinenplatz , attracts attention today at best as a traffic jam.

He still carried out the private buildings on Karolinenplatz himself. As the overall composition of the Maxvorstadt envisaged, he paid attention to “urban spaces criss-crossed by green spaces, as they were not realized anywhere else in classicism ”. All buildings fell victim to the turmoil of the Second World War or suffered severe damage, so that - despite protests from the population - they were demolished in the years after the war. This also happened with the remains of the late classical Maxtore in Regensburg, which he planned shortly before his death, at the southern end of the then newly built Maximilianstrasse . The western gate structures had to give way to the construction of a hotel as early as 1889. The eastern gate buildings housed a travel agency until 1955, with the pillared vestibule serving as a waiting area for tram drivers. All remaining buildings were demolished in favor of new post-war buildings.

The National Socialists tore down Carl von Fischer's house as early as 1937 so that they could make room for the NSDAP's “temple of honor” . The Palais Degenfeld , which until 1933 housed the papal nunciature , experienced the same fate . The Belvedere in the Biederstein Palace Park had to give way to a building by Leo von Klenze in 1828 .

Almost all of Carl von Fischer's construction activity - 36 private and public buildings - has disappeared. Only remnants of the facade for the hospital in front of the Sendlinger Tor , the National Theater and the Prinz-Carl-Palais still bear witness to the creative power of the great architect. Even these buildings are of course not completely true to the original. The National Theater, for example, burned down in 1823 and was rebuilt by Leo von Klenze based on plans by Carl von Fischer. It burned down a second time in the hail of bombs in 1944. The reconstruction looked identical from the outside, but a number of changes were made to the interior design.

The reasons for his untimely death in 1820 are not known exactly, but it was thought to have been lung cancer caused by tuberculosis . By this time he had long since been booted out by his opponents Klenze and Gärtner . Perhaps because he " refused to open up to the romantic historicism of the Ludovician era".

“The city lived for a long time from the store of his ideas. His general plan remained in effect for almost a century. Munich became an example of classicist urban architecture. The city expansion under Max Joseph I and Ludwig I owes its straight face to him. "

Karl Fischer found his final resting place in the Old South Cemetery in Munich (grave field 17-1-28) Location . Even his grave monument fell victim to the destruction of the Second World War. Today only an inconspicuous plaque on the edge of a replacement tombstone reminds of him.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Anton Baumgartner: Nekrolog auf Heinrich Karl von Fischer, kb Baurath and Professor , Munich, 1820 ( digitized in the Google book search)
  2. ^ Oswald Hederer: Karl von Fischer, Leben und Werk , Munich 1960 (= new series of the Munich City Archives, Volume 12), p. 59.
  3. ^ Karl Bauer: Regensburg Art, Culture and Everyday History . 6th edition. MZ-Buchverlag in H. Gietl Verlag & Publication Service GmbH, Regenstauf 2014, ISBN 978-3-86646-300-4 , p. 24 .
  4. ^ Adrian von Buttlar: Munich's forgotten reform classicism, for the 200th birthday of the architect Carl von Fischer . In: Münchner Stadtanzeiger number 101 of December 30, 1982, pp. 5 and 22.
  5. ^ Oswald Hederer: Karl von Fischer, Leben und Werk , Munich 1960 (= new series of publications of the Munich City Archives, Volume 12), p. 124.
personal data
SURNAME Fischer, Karl von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fischer, Carl von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German architect
DATE OF BIRTH September 19, 1782
PLACE OF BIRTH Mannheim
DATE OF DEATH February 11, 1820
Place of death Munich