Nikolaus Gromann

Town Hall in Altenburg

French or Green palace at Weimar, picture from 1991, later Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek

Today: Ducess Anna Amalia library at Weimar

The courtyard of the castle Veste Heldburg in 1872, left the Französischer Bau(French Building)

Veste Heldburg above town Heldburg

Hunting lodge Fröhliche Wiederkehr(happy retourn) at Wolfersdorf

Nikolaus Gromann (c. 1500; † November 29, 1566 in Gotha ) was a master builder for the Kurfürst Johann Friedrich (der Großmütige).

Background

He was over 30 years in the service of the Ernestine branch of the Wettin . A 1536 by Johann Friedrich I directed him to the first letter is handed a written message from Gromann, he push it as stone metz . In 1537 he wrote in a report to the elector : After me i.f.g. ( Your princely grace ) is assumed to be a builder to Bauwen Weyda . His teachers were Konrad ( also Kunz ) Krebs ( † 1540 in Torgau ) and Andreas Günter ( † 1542 in Torgau ), whose work he continued . As a first residence is called Weida . 1544 is Gotha hisresidenc, in 1550 he moved to Weimar, where he builds his own house . Which he sold in 1563 to move back to Gotha. Already in 1553 the Elector there he had some pieces of farmland to Gotha securitized. 1543 calls him Johann Friedrich I. as a builder for life. Special attention was given to Gromann first time to 1545 when he built the first built after the Reformation Protestant Church : the chapel at Schloß Hartenfels in Torgau . The Emporensaal- church he added skillfully into the medieval structure . Luther dedicated himself to completing the church. The model of the Torgau Castle Church based the designs of the later buildings of the Castle Chapel Protestant princes in Dresde, Schwerin, Stettin(Szczecin), Heidelberg and Augustusburg . 1552 Gromann has once again made his Torgau similar design for the chapel of the castle Grimmenstein, which unfortunately was not preserved . Gromann supervised many construction sites in the Ernestine countries, in addition he built castles and town halls, churches, fortifications, roads, bridges and fountains.

The particular merit of Nikolaus Gromann is the introduction of Renaissance design in the Ernestine countries. In his early work he expressed it in another gothic buildings executed by Renaissance decorative forms . As late work he built masterful Renaissance building, which are considered his masterpieces : the Town Hall in Altenburg and the so-called New buildings in Weimar, the Grünes Schloß (now the “Duchess Anna Amalia Library” ) and the Französischen Bau of the Veste Heldburg ( today : German Castle Museum under construction) . Gromann has executed his design for the beautiful bay window in the living apartments of the elector on the north wing of the Schloß Torgau and again at its best from 1560 to 1564 at the Französischer Bau of the Veste Heldburg twic . Today, the two bay windows are men's and women called bay . At the same time his design was created by the magnificent Town Hall of Altenburg . His design of Gera town hall he could not run itself, which took over from Nikolaus Theiner 1573 .

Buildings

• 1536/37 Conversion of Osterburg of Weida (get rebuilt)
• 1543-1545 Palace Hartenfels and church of palace in Torgau, together with Cunz Krebs, Gromann built the north wing of the castle and the palace church, which was the first Protestant church (received)
• 1548-1552 hunting lodge Fröhliche Wiederkunft(happy return) in Wolfersdorf, in the Holzland (get rebuilt)
• 1549 Palace Stadtroda in the Stadtroda (destroyed by fire in 1638)
• 1549 Cranachhaus in Weimar (obtained, faithful to the original reconstruction after bomb damage in 1945)
• 1550 reconstruction of the palace of the Wartburg in Eisenach (rebuilt receive)
• 1550 reconstruction of the Weimar Stadtschloss (portal of the gatehouse receive)
• 1554-1560 alterations at the Veste Coburg in the Coburg (get rebuilt)
• 1552 construction of the 80 m deep castle well on the Leuchtenburg
• 1552/53 fortifications and castle Grimmenstein in Gotha (destroyed in 1567)
• 1554 Schloss Ehrenburg in the Coburg (south wing and stair tower received)
• 1554 Duchess Anna Amalia Library in Weimar, then called the Green palace or French building (rebuilt receive)
• 1555 grave plate for Lucas Cranach the Elder (obtained, situated in the Herderkirche)
• 1555-1557 expansion and strengthening of the castle walls Schloss Herbsleben
• 1557-1559 Collegii in Jena (Jena University halls of residence)
• 1560 Old Castle of Dornburger castles in Dornburg / Saale (received)
• 1560-1564 expansion of the Veste Heldburg, construction of the French building of the fortress in the Heldburg (gotta fire in 1982, faithful to the original reconstruction since 1990, 2013: restored; furnishings with the Deutsches Burgenmuseum (German Castle Museum), Opening: September 8, 2016) and construction of the 114 meter deep castle well
• 1562 Rathaus(town hall) in the Altenburg (received)
• 1563 reconstruction of the Leuchtenburg near Kahla (rebuilt receive)
• 1573-1576 Rathaus in Gera, designed by Grohman, construction by Nikolaus Theiner (received)

Secondary literature

• Lutz Unbehaun: Nikolaus Gromann und der Schlossbau unter den Ernestinern im 16. Jahrhundert.. In: Heiko Laß (Hrsg.): Von der Burg zum Schloss. Landesherrlicher und Adeliger Profanbau in Thüringen im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert (=Palmbaum Texte. Kulturgeschichte 10). 2001, S. 133-150.
• Norbert Klaus Fuchs: Das Heldburger Land–ein historischer Reiseführer (The Land of Heldburg – a Historical Guide); Verlag Rockstuhl, Bad Langensalza 2013, ISBN 978-3-86777-349-2

References

• Die Veste Heldburg - Fränkische Leuchte siehe: Norbert Klaus Fuchs: Das Heldburger Land–ein historischer Reiseführer; Verlag Rockstuhl, Bad Langensalza, 2013, ISBN 978-3-86777-349-2