Grave of Alois Negrelli1 Wiener Zentralfriedhof

Nikolaus Alois Maria Vinzenz Negrelli, Ritter von Moldelbe (born Luigi Negrelli; 23 January 1799 – 1 October 1858) was a Tyrolean

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

and

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

pioneer mostly active in parts of the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

.Entry Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB)
(German)

Biography

Alois Negrelli was born Luigi Negrelli as the seventh of ten children to an Italian-speaking father and a German-speaking mother in Fiera di Primiero (German ) in the

Dolomites The Dolomites ( ), also known as the Dolomite Mountains, Dolomite Alps or Dolomitic Alps, are a mountain range in northeastern Italy. They form part of the Southern Limestone Alps and extend from the River Adige in the west to the Piave Va ...

. The village is situated in the

Trentino Trentino (), officially the Autonomous Province of Trento (; ; ), is an Autonomous province#Italy, autonomous province of Italy in the Northern Italy, country's far north. Trentino and South Tyrol constitute the Regions of Italy, region of Tren ...

(), once the south of the

County of Tyrol The (Princely) County of Tyrol was an Imperial State, estate of the Holy Roman Empire established about 1140. After 1253, it was ruled by the House of Gorizia and from 1363 by the House of Habsburg. In 1804, the County of Tyrol, unified with th ...

(then with the

, today in northern

). Being in part of ''Welschtyrolean'' heritage ( Romance-speaking southern Tyroleans), the father and one of his older sisters actively supported the Tyrolean Rebellion of 1809, led by

Andreas Hofer Andreas Hofer (22 November 1767 – 20 February 1810) was a County of Tyrol, Tyrolean innkeeper and Droving, drover who became the leader of the 1809 Tyrolean Rebellion during the War of the Fifth Coalition. He was subsequently captured and exe ...

against the occupation of their homeland by French and Bavarian troops. Alois's father was held prisoner for years, finally returning home in 1814. The family, having lost a substantial part of their wealth, struggled at first to enable good education and safe livelihood for Alois and his siblings. This toil was facilitated by governmental authorities in recognition of their commitment.Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Österreich
(German) Alois Negrelli received an Austrian scholarship and went to secondary school in Feltre in 1812, together with his brothers. He later studied in

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

and

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

in 1817, the capital of the Crownland of Tyrol.

Civil engineering

After beginning his career in 1818 as assistant to the Department of Construction in Innsbruck,

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, he also worked in

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( ; ; , , or ) is the westernmost States of Austria, state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is the state with the second-highest popu ...

from 1825 onwards residing in

Bregenz Bregenz (; ) is the capital of Vorarlberg, the westernmost states of Austria, state of Austria. The city lies on the east and southeast shores of Lake Constance, the third-largest freshwater lake in Central Europe, between Switzerland in the wes ...

. Negrelli constructed the ''Gschwendtobel-Brücke'' in Lingenau, a covered wooden bridge still in existence, and earned a reputation for taking part in the channelisation of the Alpenrhein and of the various Austrian and Swiss interests connected therewith.Österr. Biographisches Lexikon - Negrelli-Moldelbe Alois
p. 56 (German) He moved to Switzerland in 1832 and took part in the erection of various constructions in the Canton of St. Gallen. In 1835, Negrelli was called to

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

,Alois von Wolfgang Bahr: ''Der Ingenieur aus Primör''
in Austria-Lexikon (German) where he continued with similar activity, notably working on the ''Münsterbrücke'' (Munster Bridge) crossing the

Limmat The Limmat is a river in Switzerland. The river commences at the outfall of Lake Zurich, in the southern part of the city of Zurich. From Zurich it flows in a northwesterly direction, continuing a further 35 km until it reaches the river A ...

together with Ferdinand Stadler, who was responsible for the carpentry. Stone bridges were still built over a wooden timber frame at this time. He also created the new ''Kornhaus'' (granary) in 1839 which later became the first ''Tonhalle'' (concert hall) of Zürich. In 1895 it was replaced by a newly constructed second building for this purpose.

Railway construction

Beginning in 1836 Negrelli started planning a first railway line in this country. The Swiss Northern Railway was built years later in 1846 from Zürich to

Baden, Switzerland Baden (German language, German for "Thermal bath, baths"), sometimes unofficially, to distinguish it from Baden (disambiguation), other Badens, called Baden bei Zürich ("Baden near Zürich") or Baden im Aargau ("Baden in the Aargau"), is a town ...

, under his supervision. At around this time he was also appointed to different governmental commissions, working for other cantons. During a journey to England, France and Belgium he, like many other engineers, studied recent advances in railway construction and subsequently published his ideas of adapting this technology to mountainous regions in papers, receiving wide attention in the industry.Österr. Biographisches Lexikon - Negrelli-Moldelbe Alois
p. 57 (German). In 1837 he advocated the creation of the railway Innsbruck– Kufstein in Tyrol and made preliminary plans for it, upon which the project was later based.Österr. Biographisches Lexikon - Negrelli-Moldelbe Alois (German)
Negrelli returned to working in Austria in 1840. He was chosen as inspector general for the private Emperor Ferdinand Northern Railway, and the Northern State Railway in 1842. He was responsible for the construction of the railway lines from

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

via

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

to the German border in direction of

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

, and via

Ostrava Ostrava (; ; ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 283,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rivers: Oder, Opava (river), Opa ...

to the Polish border in direction of

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

. Negrelli prepared the railway to the then Austrian

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

and the extension to the Russian border further east. He led the construction of the Negrelli Viaduct between 1846 and 1849, a railway bridge crossing the

Vltava The Vltava ( , ; ) is the longest river in the Czech Republic, a left tributary of the Elbe River. It runs southeast along the Bohemian Forest and then north across Bohemia, through Český Krumlov, České Budějovice, and Prague. It is com ...

(Moldau) river in Prague, with 1,110 m the longest bridge of its kind in Europe until 1910 Negrelli's authority in railway matters was of particular relevance in the process of decisions to have the mountainous Semmering railway built by a fellow engineer, Carl von Ghega, in 1848 and his advice was requested for projects by various other states like the

Kingdom of Württemberg The Kingdom of Württemberg ( ) was a German state that existed from 1806 to 1918, located within the area that is now Baden-Württemberg. The kingdom was a continuation of the Electorate of Württemberg, which existed from 1803 to 1806. Geogr ...

and the

Kingdom of Saxony The Kingdom of Saxony () was a German monarchy in Central Europe between 1806 and 1918, the successor of the Electorate of Saxony. It joined the Confederation of the Rhine after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, later joining the German ...

in Germany. In 1849, Negrelli was to travel to the then Austrian Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia with the task to oversee work on public buildings, railways and telegraph lines, and heading a commission regulating traffic on the river Po. In 1850 he was awarded for his services and received a

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify their generation, official position, military rank, professional or academic qualification, or nobility. In some languages, titles may be ins ...

of nobility with the designation '' Ritter von Moldelbe'', chosen by himself in memory of his times working on the rivers

/Moldau and

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...

. After arriving back in Vienna in 1855, Negrelli was appointed inspector general of the newly founded Imperial Royal Privileged Austrian State Railway Company until 1857. It would later become the ''Staats-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'' (State Railway Company), one of the biggest railway enterprises of the Austrian Empire.

Channelisation projects in Egypt

Negrelli, like many other engineers of his time, had thought about possibilities to build an artificial waterway to connect the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

with the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

from 1836 onwards.Mentioned in a lecture for the (Imperial-Royal Geographical Society), end of March 1857
''Mittheilungen der Kaiserlich-Königlichen Geographischen Gesellschaft''
''Bericht über die Durchstechung der Landenge von Suez (...)'' (Abhandlung IV, p. 68/276 ff.), 1857. (German) In 1846 he had been invited by Barthélemy Prosper Enfantin to the Société d'Études du Canal de Suez and took part in the exploration tour to the isthmus of Suez in 1847. Because of the outbreak of

revolutions of 1848 The revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the springtime of the peoples or the springtime of nations, were a series of revolutions throughout Europe over the course of more than one year, from 1848 to 1849. It remains the most widespre ...

and the following years, and other circumstances the had to cease activities, Negrelli himself being sent to Lombardy–Venetia at that time. In 1855 Negrelli was invited by Ferdinand de Lesseps to participate again, now in the International Commission for the piercing of the isthmus of Suez (). Consisting of thirteen experts from seven countries who were to examine the plans made by Linant de Bellefonds it had to advise on the feasibility of and on the best route for a canal project. Negrelli formed part of the surveying group travelling to Egypt in late 1855 and early 1856. In the final deliberations of the commission in Paris at the end of June 1856, his principal ideas of a canal without

lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...

s and a northern entry further to the west prevailed. A comprehensive final report was produced, including plans and profiles, according to which the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal (; , ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, Indo-Mediterranean, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest ...

was later to be built by the

Suez Canal Company Suez (, , , ) is a seaport city with a population of about 800,000 in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez on the Red Sea, near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal. It is the capital and largest city of the ...

, established in late 1858 by Lesseps.''Percement de l'isthme de Suez. Rapport et Projet de la Commission Internationale''. Documents Publiés par M. Ferdinand de Lesseps.
Troisième série. Paris aux bureaux de l'Isthme de Suez, Journal de l'Union des deux Mers, et chez Henri Plon, Éditeur, 1856. Digitization on Google Books (French) The Suez Canal project, as the first of its kind in modern times, caused headlines. Since the had presented their report in 1856 critics were agitating against it to a great degree, among them

Robert Stephenson Robert Stephenson , (honoris causa, Hon. causa) (16 October 1803 – 12 October 1859) was an English civil engineer and designer of locomotives. The only son of George Stephenson, the "Father of Railways", he built on the achievements of hi ...

, son of railway pioneer George Stephenson. Negrelli and others declared active support. The quarrel between defenders and repudiators went on for a time, this exchange was followed by publications throughout Europe, especially in France, Austria and the United Kingdom.

ANNO (Austrian Newspapers Online) AustriaN Newspapers Online (ANNO) is a project run by the Austrian National Library (''Österreichische Nationalbibliothek'') for the conservation of historic newspapers, whereby particularly important and popular newspapers are scanned in and made ...

''Die Presse'', 1858-06-06, p. 2
comment on Stephenson and others speaking before the House of Commons. (German)ANNO, ''Klagenfurter Zeitung'', 1858-06-23, p. 2 f.
comment on Negrelli's reply to his colleague Stephenson. (German).ANNO, ''Mechanics Magazine'', 1858-08-07, p. 3 ff.
Stephenson's reaction to Negrelli at length. (English). Negrelli was prevented from travelling to Egypt another time and meeting with Lesseps, who went to London, in June 1858. Feeling unwell, he used his leave from work to stay in a health resort for recovery. On the way back, Negrelli was able to attend a congress on railway development held in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

before he arrived at home in

. Already seriously ill by September, he managed to write one last reply on the comments of Stephenson. Negrelli's response was published in the ''Oesterreichische Zeitung'' (''Austrian Gazette'') on 26 September 1858.ANNO, ''Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung'', 1858-09-29, p. 2
(Comment on Negrelli's response in ''Austrian Gazette'') (German). Alois Negrelli von Moldelbe died in the morning hours of 1 October 1858 at age 59, probably from food poisoning causing bacterial infection. His death occurred only weeks shy of witnessing the establishment of the Suez Canal Company, and just half a year before the works on the canal project were to officially begin.ANNO (Austrian Newspapers Online), ''Morgen-Post'', 1858-10-03, p. 2
''** Hofrath Ritter v. Negrelli (...) passed away the day before yesterday (Friday) at morning 9 o'clock.'' (translated from the German text).ANNO, ''Die Presse'', 1858-10-05, p. 5
''Alois Ritter v. Negrelli, k.k. Ministerialrath, 59 yrs.,'' (...) ''Darmbrand'' ( clostridial necrotizing enteritis) (translated from German text). In his book ''Transportation and Communication of Egypt'', Negrelli wrote in 1856 about the Suez Canal:"eLibrary Austria Project, University of Vienna"
(translated from the German text).

The connection of the two seas by a maritime canal, shortening the route between Europe and the rich countries of the Old World located at the Indian Ocean, not only for the development of global trade but also for the increase of cabotage (domestical shipping) for Egypt, related to the prosperity of inbound welfare to this country so blessed, is an undeniable necessity.

Selected works

*''Gutachten über den Bau einer obenfahrbarn Brücke über die Limmat in Zürich, eines neuen Kornhauses und Hafens'', 1834 (German) *''Ausflug nach Frankreich, England und Belgien zur Beobachtung der dortigen Eisenbahnen, mit einem Anhange über Anwendung von Eisenbahnen in Gebirgsländern'', L. Negrelli, Oberingenieur der Kaufmannschaft in Zürich, Frauenfeld 1838 (German)
digitised
at

Austrian Literature Online Austrian Literature Online (ALO) is an Austrian digitization project by the University Library of Innsbruck, the University Library of Graz and the University of Linz. ALO is, together with Project ANNO, by the Austrian National Library, the ...

*''Die Eisenbahnen mit Anwendung der gewöhnlichen Dampfwägen als bewegende Kraft über Anhöhen und Wasserscheiden sind ausführbar. Ein auf Erfahrungen begründeter und praktisch dargestellter Vorschlag.'' Beck'sche Universitäts-Buchhandlung, Vienna 1842 (German)
digitised
at Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf, Digital Library *''Über Gebirgseisenbahnen'' ("About Railways in mountainous Areas"), Vienna 1842 (German) *''Die Münsterbrücke in Zürich'', Vienna 1844 (German) *''Die gegenwärtigen Transport- und Kommunikationsmittel Egyptens, mit Beziehung auf die beantragte Durchstechung der Landenge von Suez'' ("Means of Transportation and Communication of Egypt"), Alois Negrelli von Moldelbe, Vienna 1856 (German)

References

External links

*
Alois Negrelli
information at Architekturzentrum Wien {{DEFAULTSORT:Negrelli, Alois 1799 births 1858 deaths People from Trentino Engineers from Austria-Hungary Suez Canal Italian civil engineers