Nikolaus Gromann

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Duchess Anna Amalia Library Weimar

Nikolaus Gromann also: Nickel Grohmann (* around 1500; † November 29, 1566 in Gotha ) was court architect for the Saxon Elector Johann Friedrich I (the magnanimous) and was also among his descendants, who resided in Weimar , Gotha and Altenburg , when Builder active. He was in the service of the Ernestine branch of the Wettins for over 30 years .

Life

A letter he wrote to Johann Friedrich I in 1536 is the first written message from Gromann that has survived; he signed it as a stone mason . In 1537 he wrote in a report to the elector: After ifg (your princely graces) accepted me as a master builder to build Weyda. His teachers were Konrad Krebs (also called Kunz Krebs ; † 1540 in Torgau) and Andreas Günter († 1542 in Torgau), whose work he continued. Weida is mentioned as the first residence , in 1544 Gromann stated Gotha as the residence. Around 1550 he moved to Weimar, where he built his own house. He sold it in 1563 to move back to Gotha. There the elector had already chartered a few pieces of land in Gotha to him in 1553 . In 1543 Johann Friedrich I appointed him as a builder for life.

Castle chapel in Hartenfels Castle, Torgau

Gromann first attracted attention when he built the first Protestant church built after the Reformation from 1543 to 1544 : the castle chapel at Hartenfels Castle in Torgau. He skilfully integrated the gallery hall church into the medieval structure. After completion, Martin Luther personally consecrated the church in 1544. The drafts of the later new palace chapels for the Protestant princes in Dresden , Schwerin , Stettin , Heidelberg and Augustusburg were based on the model of the Torgau Palace Chapel . In 1552 Gromann executed his Torgau design again for the castle chapel of Grimmenstein Castle , which has not been preserved.

Gromann has supervised numerous construction sites in the Ernestine countries; in addition to castles, he has also built town halls, churches, fortifications, roads, bridges and wells.

One of Nikolaus Gromann's merits is the introduction of the Renaissance architecture in the Ernestine countries. In his early work, he expressed this in buildings that were still Gothic with Renaissance ornaments. Later he built masterful Renaissance buildings, which are considered to be his main works: the town hall in Altenburg and the so-called New Buildings , in Weimar the French Palace (today: Duchess Anna Amalia Library ) and in Heldburg the French building of the Veste Heldburg (today : German Castle Museum ). Gromann executed his design for the beautiful bay window on the living quarters of the elector on the north wing of the Torgau Palace in Heldburg again and, to the highest degree, from 1560 to 1564 on the French building of the fortress Heldburg. Today the two bay windows are called men's and women's bay windows . At the same time, the magnificent Altenburg town hall was built according to his design. He could no longer design the Gera town hall himself; Nikolaus Theiner took over from 1573 .

Gromann found his final resting place in Gotha Cemetery I (also called Alter Gottesacker ) between Werderstrasse (now Bohnstedtstrasse) and Eisenacher Strasse. When the cemetery was cleared in 1904 for the construction of the Stadtbad and Arnoldischule , his gravestone disappeared. Today a memorial plaque attached to the gymnasium of the Arnoldischule reminds of tombs on the old church, including that of Nikolaus Gromann.

buildings

Others

literature

  • Walther Scheidig :  Gromann, Nikolaus. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 7, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1966, ISBN 3-428-00188-5 , p. 125 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Lutz Unbehaun: Nikolaus Gromann and the palace construction under the Ernestines in the 16th century . In: Heiko Laß (Hrsg.): From the castle to the castle. Sovereign and aristocratic secular building in Thuringia in the 15th and 16th centuries (=  palm tree texts ). Kulturgeschichte 10, 2001, p. 133-150 .
  • Norbert Klaus Fuchs: The Heldburger Land - a historical travel guide. Rockstuhl Publishing House, Bad Langensalza 2013, ISBN 978-3-86777-349-2 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Veste Heldburg - Franconian lamp see: Norbert Klaus Fuchs: Das Heldburger Land - a historical travel guide ; Rockstuhl Publishing House, Bad Langensalza, 2013, ISBN 978-3-86777-349-2
personal data
SURNAME Gromann, Nicholas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Renaissance builder
DATE OF BIRTH around 1500
DATE OF DEATH November 29, 1566
Place of death Gotha