!!!Semper, Gottfried

b. Hamburg-Altona (Germany), Nov. 29, 1803, 
d. Rome (Italy), May 15, 1879. Architect and art theorist. Studied in 
Goettingen and Munich, then worked in Regensburg and 1826-1830 in 
Paris; subsequently trips to Italy and Greece, where he proved that 
antique works were polychrome; professor in Dresden in 1834; met R. 
Wagner. S. had to flee in 1849 because of his participation in the 
uprisings of 1848 and went to Paris and London, where he worked for 
the World Exhibition in 1851. Taught in Zurich from 1855-1871. In 1869 
consultant for the construction of the Vienna court museums. He was 
finally commissioned to build the Hofburg Imperial Palace, the 
Burgtheater (including the depot of stage properties) and the Court 
Museums with C. von  Hasenauer. Moved to Vienna in 1871, in 1876 
withdrew from building site supervision after differences with 
Hasenauer and spent most of the rest of his life in Rome. S. was the 
most important architect and theorist of  Historicism in the 
German-speaking countries after K.F. Schinkel. He had great influence 
on European theatre construction and the establishment of museums of 
arts and crafts and contributed considerably to the spread of 
neo-Renaissance.

!Further works
Dresden: synagogue, 1840; opera, 1841 (burnt down in 
1869, reconstruction with his son Manfred S. in 1878, destroyed in 
1945, reconstructed in 1985); paintings' gallery, 1855. - Switzerland: 
Eidgenoessisches Polytechnikum university in Zurich, 1864; townhouse 
in Winterthur, 1870. - Villas, sketches (town planning, arts and 
crafts). - __Publications:__ Vorlaeufige Bemerkungen ueber bemalte 
Architektur und Plastik bei den Alten, 1834; Wiss., Ind. und Kunst, 
1852; Der Stil in den techn. und tecton. Kuensten, 2 vols., 1860/1863.

!Literature
G. S., exhibition catalogue, Munich %%sup 2/%1980; M. 
Froehlich, G. S., 1991; H. Laudel, G. S. Architektur 
und Stil, 1991; M. Froehlich, G. S., 1991; H. F. 
Mallgrave, G. S. Architect of the 19th Century, 1996.



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