Michael Kemmeter

Michael Kemmeter (incorrectly also Christian Kemmeter * Winter 1655 / 1656 in or near Regensburg , † in May 1729 in Berlin ) was a German carpenter and builder. It was praised by contemporaries especially for its roof and ceiling constructions for the German Church on Berlin's Gendarmenmarkt and the synagogue on Heidereutergasse . His son Johann Gottfried Kemmeter achieved the rank of building director of the Kurmärkische Kammer and rose to the position of Brandenburg building inspector.

Life

Michael Kemmeter was probably born in or around Regensburg in the winter of 1655/56. He probably also received his training as a carpenter here.

His name is mentioned for the first time in 1701 in connection with the gate of honor designed by Jean de Bodt for the court servants when Frederick I entered Berlin. The reasons for Kemmeter's emigration to Prussia are presumed to be both his religious affiliation with the Protestant faith and the great demand for craftsmen, which prevailed at the end of the 17th century as a result of the expansion of Berlin into a royal seat, which began under Friedrich I. Within the twenty years or so of his demonstrable work, Kemmeter worked with leading Berlin builders: Jean de Bodt, Martin Grünberg , Philipp Gerlach , Giovanni Simonetti and Johann Carl Stoltze .

According to an entry in the burial register of the Berlin-Cölln parish of St. Petri, Kemmeter died in May 1729 at the age of 73 ½ years "of a tumor"; his funeral took place on May 25, 1729.

plant

Friedrich Nicolai wrote in 1786 in his “Message from the builders, sculptors, copper engravers, painters, plasterers and other artists ...” that Kemmeter made “various good wooden buildings and artificial roofs in and around Berlin (...). In the course of his time in Berlin, he was demonstrably involved in a number of large building projects as a leading carpenter:

• Between 1704 and 1708 construction of the roof structure of the German Church on Gendarmenmarkt (Martin Grünberg, Giovanni Simonetti), a technically remarkable construction with a pentagonal floor plan (demolished in 1881/82 during renovation)
• 1714 Completion of the roof structure and the ceiling construction of the Old Synagogue in Heidereutergasse (destroyed in World War II)
• 1713 Assessment of the stability of the tower of the Parochial Church begun under Martin Grünberg together with the builder Philipp Gerlach and the master bricklayer Leonhard Braun the Elder. J.,
• 1714 presumably involved in the construction of the roof and vault construction of the Parochialkirche (Martin Grünberg), production of the tower dome completed in 1714.
• Between 1714 and 1718 execution of the roof structure and the staircase of the Cöllnischen town hall designed by Martin Grünberg (construction management Johann Carl Stoltze), repair work 1721 (removed in 1899)
• 1720–1722 carpentry work at the Georgen Hospital
• 1721–1722 Participation in the new building of the garrison church (Philipp Gerlach) together with the carpenter Säuberlich.

literature

• Simon Paulus: Who was the builder of the synagogue in Heidereutergasse? On the person of master carpenter Michael Kemmeter (1655 / 56-1729). In: Moritz Stern, history of the old synagogue in Berlin. Hermann Simon u. Harmen H. Thies (eds.), Hentrich & Hentrich, Teetz 2007, pages 309-344. ISBN 978-3-938485-66-8
• Johann Christoph Müller and Georg Gottfried Küster : Old and New Berlin. That is: Complete message from the city of Berlin, the same builders, location, churches, high school students (...). Johann Peter Schmid, Berlin 1752, pp. 640, 1027.
• Friedrich Nicolai: Message from the builders, sculptors, copper engravers, painters, plasterers, and other artists ... , Berlin / Stettin, 1786, p. 94
• Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker (eds.): General Lexicon of Fine Artists , Vol. 20, Leipzig 1927, p. 136
• Uwe Kieling and Uwe Hecker: Berlin architects and master builders until 1800 , Berlin 1983, p. 31
• Hermann Heckmann : Builders of the Baroque and Rococo in Brandenburg-Prussia , Berlin 1998, p. 321
• Rudolf Herz: Berlin Baroque. Buildings and master builders from the first half of the 18th century , Berlin 1928, pp. 70f
• Richard Borrmann: The architectural and art monuments of Berlin , Berlin 1893, p. 243
• Laurenz Demps: The Gendarmen-Markt , Berlin 1987