Rochus to Lynar

This article deals with the fortress builder Rochus zu Lynar. For other persons of this name see Rochus Friedrich zu Lynar .

The so-called Lynar plan of the Spandau Citadel from 1578

Rochus Quirinus Graf zu Lynar ( Italian Rocco Guerrini Conte di Linari ) (born December 24, 1525 in Marradi , Tuscany , †  December 22, 1596 in Spandau ) was an Italian fortress builder and military. He was the designer of the citadel of Metz, the fortress Peitz , the Wülzburg and the finisher of the citadel in Spandau .

Life

Guerrini, from a Florentine family who renounced the dignity of Count Linari in the 15th century , was a ten-year-old page to Duke Alexander of Florence , from 1540 a chamberlain to the Dauphin of France, later King Henry II.

Guerrini took part in the French army in the sieges of Metz and Diedenhofen and in the battle of Saint-Quentin . When he headed the defense of Metz as a colonel in 1552, his talent for engineering matters became apparent. Due to the knowledge he had gained in this area, he was made major general and general commissioner of all French fortresses and captain of a thousand arquebusiers in 1554 . In the years 1556-1560 he took part in the campaign against Spain. Here he was involved in the battle of St. Quentin and the capture of Diedenhofen, in which he was injured in the face and lost an eye. In 1560 he converted to the Protestant denomination. In 1563 he was with his garrison in the city of Metz and directed the further expansion of the fortress, especially the design of the new citadel.

Guerrini went several times as an envoy to German princely courts and after the beginning of the Huguenot Wars moved entirely to Germany, where he first went to Heidelberg in 1567 as Maréchal de Camp with his friend and comrade in arms, Count Palatine Casimir , and entered his service. In 1568 he was a colonel and councilor in the service of the Palatinate.

In Saxon service

In 1569 he changed to the service of August I , Elector of Saxony, as head artillery master and in command of all fortresses . From 1571 he used the title of Count "Linar" (his descendants are the Counts and Princes of Lynar , who have flourished to this day ).

In the Saxon royal seat he took care of the improvement of the Dresden fortifications . He moved the north-western front of the fortification to the suburban area, for which purpose the moat was relocated. He also replaced the older three small bastions there with two larger ones in the New Italian manner. In 1573 he rebuilt the Dresden armory , later the Albertinum . Lynar mastered the tasks set him brilliantly, but the working atmosphere under his leadership was bad. Complaints from local builders and craftsmen increased and led to the elector's distrust. These quarrels intensified and in the end Guerrini was no longer received by the elector. In 1574 he fell out of favor because of his Reformed ("crypto-calvinist") sentiments. Guerrini also completed the fortifications of the Saxon border fortress in Senftenberg . Later, despite his relocation to Spandau am Dresdener Hof under Christian I , Lynar was again a sought-after expert who provided designs for the improvement of the fortifications on the Königstein and in Dresden.

In Kurbrandenburg services

Aerial view of the Wülzburg fortress, which was built from 1590 largely according to Lynar's new plans

Memorial plaque on the house at Carl-Schurz-Strasse 35 in Berlin-Spandau

Bust of Count Rochus zu Lynar in Lübbenau

With Saxon consent, Count Lynar (spelling at that time: Linar) went into the service of Elector Johann Georg von Brandenburg in 1578 . On March 27, 1578 Lynar was appointed privy councilor, general and supreme artillery, ammunition, equipment and builder. He was also entrusted with the supervision of artillery, ammunition and armories in all Brandenburg fortresses. For this he received an extraordinarily high salary, including one thousand thalers, court clothing for eight people, fodder for eight horses and numerous natural products. Lynar improved the fortifications in the Mark, set up a powder mill in Spandau, raised the salt system and introduced numerous branches of industry first in Berlin.

In the summer of 1578 he and his family moved to Spandau in a house given by the Elector in the city center and supervised the expansion of the Spandau fortress , which had already begun, and designed new construction phases. His services for this citadel lay in particular in the creation of building regulations that were intended to increase discipline and effectiveness on the construction site. In 1580 he was confirmed in his previous position for life by the Elector and appointed Major General and Privy Councilor. In the same year the palace in Berlin was expanded under his direction.

On March 10, 1580, Elector Johann Georg instructed Chamber Master Leonhardt Stöern in Küstrin and Count Lynar to go together to Peitz to visit the fortress there and to draw up an inventory of the armory, which was completed on March 21, 1580. Lynar was probably appointed governor of the Peitz fortress in the same year and, among other things, had to take care of the affairs of the fortress there. He is currently the first verifiable governor of the Peitz Fortress and the spiritual father of the later renovation work on the fortress. Lynar apparently commuted between the construction sites in Berlin, Spandau and Peitz in the following years. On July 30, 1590 he received the order from Elector Johann Georg to expand the fortress Peitz. The expansion lasted until 1596 and can be described as a masterpiece of fortification architecture.

Almost at the same time, Lynar was called in by Margrave Georg Friedrich the Elder of Brandenburg-Ansbach and Kulmbach to advise on the construction of the Wülzburg fortress ( Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen district , Bavaria). Lynar made a new design and a building model , after which the Wülzburg was completed from 1590 to 1605. In addition to the Spandau Citadel, the Wülzburg Fortress is the best preserved building in Lynar.

During the expansion works in Peitz, Lynar was appointed governor in Spandau in 1593. Lynar donated the altar of the St. Nikolai Church in Spandau.

From around 1590 Lynar worked on a treatise on artillery and fortification, but it has been lost and probably never got beyond the first section.

Three days before his 71st birthday, Rochus Quirinus Graf zu Lynar died on December 22, 1596 in Spandau and was buried on January 4, 1597 in the crypt of the Nikolaikirche.

The noble family Lynar (counts and princely lineages), based in Lübbenau in Lower Lusatia, descends from him.

drawings

For his plans, Lynar used one or more professional draftsmen as employees in a kind of "construction office". Drawings clearly by his hand are currently not verifiable. The numerous final drawings mentioned in the files are also largely lost. The tradition is very unsystematic.

• Reconstruction planning for Sonnenstein Castle above Pirna. Floor plan of the cellar, around 1573, paper 19.2 × 67.3 cm. Owner: Sächsisches Staatsarchiv, Hauptstaatsarchiv Dresden, 12884 cards and cracks, signature / inventory no .: Schr. 012, F 002, no. 007n

• Planning for the further construction of the Spandau fortress (so-called Lynar plan), 1578, paper

List of works

1561 - 1561: Metz, Citadel (demolished in 1802); Lynar's first known construction

1568f .: Billigheim (Südliche Weinstrasse district), work on the city fortifications (destroyed)

1569f .: Dresden, two bastions at the castle (mostly destroyed)

1570 - 1573: Dresden, carriage house and wall at the armory (destroyed)

1570: Dresden, Münzkunst am Schloss (destroyed)

1570: Dresden, sawmills, east of the new bastions (destroyed)

1570: Ostra (Dresden-Friedrichstadt), barn of the Vorwerk (destroyed)

1570: Weidenhaim (Torgau district), hunting lodge (destroyed)

1571: Stolpen (Sebnitz district), repair and re-roofing of the castle's chapter tower (preserved as a ruin)

1571: Wolkenstein (= Wolchenstein; Zschopau district), repairs to the castle (preserved with later changes)

1571: Torgau, repairs to Hartenfels Castle (preserved)

1571: Stolpen (Sebnitz district), vault of the parish church, cost estimate (1723-1728 removed)

1571: Freiberg / Saxony, report on the repair of the grave monument of Elector Moritz (dated 1553) in the cathedral erected in 1563 (preserved)

1571: Schwarzenberg (= Schwartzbergk; district of Schwarzenberg), repairs to the hunting lodge (the main extension was carried out from 1555 to 1558, has been preserved)

1571: Lichtenwalde (= Lichtwalde; Hainichen district), improvements to the castle (extensively rebuilt in the 18th century)

1571: Stollberg / Saxony (Stollberg district), repairs to the castle (probably not preserved)

1571ff .: Freiberg / Saxony, overhead management of the reconstruction of Freudenstein Castle (rebuilt preserved)

1571 - 1573: Augustusburg hunting lodge (Flöha district), work on the castle begun in 1567 by M. Lotter (preserved)

1572: Königstein (Pirna district), Eisenhammer (destroyed)

1572: Sitzenroda (Torgau district), repairs to the castle (destroyed)

1572: Lochau (Saalekreis), work on the castle (destroyed)

1573: Pirna, work on the residential buildings of Schloss Sonnenstein

1573: Dresden, powder mill and water art, east of the new bastions (destroyed)

1573: Dresden, horse stable (destroyed)

1573: Leipzig, Pleißenburg , inspection and expert opinion (destroyed except for the round tower included in the New Town Hall)

1573: Annaburg (Sessen district), visit to the castle under construction (preserved)

1573ff .: Wittenberg, expert opinion on the castle, fortifications and mill (Lynar's designs never carried out)

1575ff .: Königstein Fortress (Pirna district), Lynar's part in the design controversial, he certainly made a Ravelin (broken off in 1735)

1575 - 1580: Kassel, city fortifications, Lynar's part in the design controversial (destroyed)

1575f .: Friedelsheim (Bad Dürkheim district), castle, probably only a small part of Lynar's participation (partially preserved)

1576f .: Dessau, south and east wing of the Residenzschloss (destroyed)

1578: Berlin-Spandau, powder mill (broken off in 1619)

1578ff .: Berlin-Spandau, redesign and extension of the citadel , north bastions and north kurtine, parts of the west and east kurtine, warehouse building (preserved)

1578ff .: Berlin-Spandau, Lynars Stadthof, so-called castle, including older town houses (demolished in 1805)

1578ff .: Berlin-Grunewald, repairs to the roofing of the Grunewald hunting lodge and outbuildings, securing the surrounding area (preserved)

around 1579: Oranienburg (then Bötzow), work on the castle (destroyed)

1579: Zehdenick (Gransee district), iron works (destroyed)

around 1579: Küstrin / Kostrzyn (Poland), fortress , Lynar's share not documented in detail (two bastions preserved)

1579ff .: Berlin, palace, transverse building between the two courtyards, also construction and renovation work on other parts (destroyed)

1580ff .: Peitz (Cottbus district), expansion of the bastioned castle, the "upper fortress " of the Peitz fortress (only battery tower preserved)

1580: Berlin-Köpenick, advice on structural damage to the castle (rebuilt)

1580: Beelitz (= Belitz; Potsdam district), salt works (destroyed)

1581 - 1583: Kassel, Zeughaus , attribution to Lynar controversial (destroyed)

1582: Brandenburg, appraisal of the tower of the Katharinenkirche in danger of collapsing

1590: Wülzburg (Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen district), new planning for the further construction of the fortress (preserved) (plan set preserved)

1590: Bad Liebenwerda (Bad Liebenwerda district), fortification planning (nothing known about execution)

1590: Herzberg (Herzberg district), fortification planning (nothing known about execution)

1590 - 1595: Peitz (Cottbus district), city fortifications (destroyed)

1591 - 1595: Senftenberg (Senftenberg district), bastioned castle (preserved fortifications, probably 17th century)

1591: Ziegenhain (Schwalm-Eder-Kreis), expansion of the fortress , maybe not until the 17th century (a ski jump preserved)

Bust in the Siegesallee

For the former Berliner Siegesallee , the sculptor Martin Wolff designed a marble bust of Rochus zu Lynars as a side figure in monument group 21 to the central statue for Elector Johann Georg, unveiled on December 18, 1901. The statue shows the Elector with a plan of the Spandau Citadel. Lynar himself is shown in splendid armor and with a map and compass in his right hand.

literature

• Lionel von Donop :  Lynar, Rochus Guerini Graf zu . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 19, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1884, p. 733 f.
• Hans Brendicke: Count Rochus' to Lynar stay at the court of Johann Georgs von Brandenburg. Report on a lecture by P. Wallé on April 9, 1892. Communications from the Association for the History of Berlin, year 1892, pp. 47–48.
• Richard Korn: War architect Count Rochus zu Linar , Dresden 1905.
• Thomas Biller: The "Lynarplan" and the emergence of the Spandau citadel in the 16th century (historical floor plans, plans and views of Spandau, supplement 3), Berlin 1981. Online edition
• Thomas Biller: Rochus Guerini Graf zu Lynar . In: Ribbe, Wolfgang (Ed.): Builders, Architects, Urban Planners. Biographies on the structural development of Berlin, Berlin 1987, pp. 13–34. Online edition
• Thomas Biller: Architecture and Politics of the 16th Century in Saxony and Brandenburg. Rochus Guerini Graf zu Lynar (1525-1596) - life and work . In: The Bear of Berlin. Yearbook of the Association for the History of Berlin 40 (1991), pp. 7–38. Online edition
• Daniel Burger: The state fortresses of the Hohenzollern in Franconia and Brandenburg in the age of the Renaissance , Munich 2000.
• Rocco di Linar and the Mathematica Militaris of the Dresden Fortification - Urban planning from image to spatial planning, in: Italians in Elbflorenz, Intern. Symposium from May 30th - June 1st 1997, ed. by Barbara Marx, Amsterdam-Dresden 1999.

Web links

• Article about him in the Berliner Zeitung

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cf. Carlo Denina: Rivoluzioni della Germania . tape IV . Florence 1804, p. 311 . with the indication of the place of birth Marradi / Toscana. Lynar  1). In: Heinrich August Pierer , Julius Löbe (Hrsg.): Universal Lexicon of the Present and the Past . 4th edition. tape 10 . Altenburg 1860, p. 649 ( zeno.org ).
2. ↑ geschkult.fu-berlin.de  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ Werner Forkert: Senftenberger retrospectives. Interesting facts from Senftenberg's history . Bookstore "Glück Auf", Senftenberg 2006.
4. ^ Thomas Biller: The Wülzburg. Architectural history of a renaissance fortress Deutscher Kunstverlag , Munich 1996, ISBN 3-422-06154-1 (PDF; 140 MB).
5. ↑ Online access with catalog data
6. ↑ List of works based on Biller 1987, pp. 32–34.
7. ↑ according to Korn 1905.
8. ↑ Uta Lehnert: The Kaiser and the Siegesallee. Réclame Royale . Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-496-01189-0 , p. 177 .

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