Carl Gotthard Langhans (15 December 1732 – 1 October 1808) was a

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n master builder and royal

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. His churches, palaces, grand houses, interiors, city gates and theatres in

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

(now

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

and elsewhere belong to the earliest examples of

Neoclassical architecture Neoclassical architecture, sometimes referred to as Classical Revival architecture, is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy, France and Germany. It became one of t ...

in Germany. His best-known work is the

Brandenburg Gate The Brandenburg Gate ( ) is an 18th-century Neoclassical architecture, neoclassical monument in Berlin. One of the best-known landmarks of Germany, it was erected on the site of a former city gate that marked the start of the road from Berlin t ...

in Berlin, national symbol of today’s Germany and German reunification in 1989/90.

Life

Langhans was born in Landeshut, Silesia (now Kamienna Góra in Poland). He was not educated as an architect. He studied law from 1753 to 1757 in Halle, and then mathematics and languages, and engaged himself autodidactically with architecture, at which he concentrated primarily on the antique texts of the Roman architecture theorist

Vitruvius Vitruvius ( ; ; –70 BC – after ) was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work titled . As the only treatise on architecture to survive from antiquity, it has been regarded since the Renaissan ...

(and the new version by the classics enthusiast

Johann Joachim Winckelmann Johann Joachim Winckelmann ( ; ; 9 December 17178 June 1768) was a German art historian and archaeologist. He was a pioneering Hellenism (neoclassicism), Hellenist who first articulated the differences between Ancient Greek art, Greek, Helleni ...

whose works prompted the

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

). His draft for "Zum Schifflein Christi" (1764), the Protestant Church in Groß-Glogau, earned him his first recognition as an architect. In the same year, he received an appointment as building inspector for the Count of Hatzfeld, whose war-ravaged palace Langhans rebuilt to his own design between 1766 and 1774. Through the intervention of the Count of Hatzfeld, he also became known in the royal court in Berlin. As his first work in the service of the royal family, he built in 1766 the stairwell and the Muschelsaal in Rheinsberg Palace. From 1775 until 1788, Langhans headed the building authority for the Prussian province of Silesia. In 1788, King Frederick William II of Prussia appointed him as first director of the royal building commission in Berlin. He immediately commissioned him with a draft for the Brandenburg Gate, which was built accordingly between 1788 and 1791, replacing the earlier simple guardhouses which flanked the original gate in the Customs Wall. Its design is based on the Propylaea, the gateway to the

Acropolis An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. The

Greek Revival architecture Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

had been prompted by the research and publications of classics enthusiast

. Another influential late classicist architect was David Gilly, an architectural advisor in the Royal Building Department, who was younger than Langhans and overtook him in terms of modernity, but did not outlive him, leaving a considerably smaller life's work. Gilly was a teacher of the young

Karl Friedrich Schinkel Karl Friedrich Schinkel (13 March 1781 – 9 October 1841) was a Prussian architect, urban planning, city planner and painter who also designed furniture and stage sets. Schinkel was one of the most prominent architects of Germany and designed b ...

who would dominate the next generation of Prussian architects. Langhans died on his estate at Grüneiche (Dąbie after 1945 and part of Śródmieście borough of Wrocław) near Breslau.

Family

In 1771, Langhans married Anna Elisabeth Jaeckel, the daughter of a jurist in Breslau. They had five children: daughters Louise Amalie and Juliane Wilhelmine, a son, theater architect Carl Ferdinand, as well as two other children, who died soon after birth. From 1782 he lived with his family in his in-laws' house at Albrechtstraße 18 in Breslau. In 1788, they moved to

, where he built his own house and lived at Charlottenstraße 31 (now 48), at the corner of Behrenstraße.

Study trips

Toward the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, it was a great dream for every artist to undertake a trip to Italy in order to be able to study the antique buildings with one's own eyes. The fulfillment of this dream was not granted only to

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

and Schinkel, but Langhans, too, was able to afford a trip in 1768 and 1769 thanks to the support of the Count of Hatzfeld. When he was later assigned to be the head of the Breslau war and dominion chamber, he visited England, Holland, Belgium, and France on behalf of and at the expense of the king.

Images of works

Evangelical Church „Schifflein Christi“ in Głogów Glogau 1926.jpg, Głogów, Lutheran church (1764) Regierungsgebäude und Dominikanerkirche in Breslau.jpg,

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

(Breslau) Palais Hatzfeld (1765) Pałac w Samotworze (599661).JPG, Schloss Romberg, Silesia (1776) Palac w pawlowicach.JPG, Mielżyński Palace, Poland (1778) SM Brzeg Dolny pałac ID 598392(0).jpg, Schloss Dyhernfurth (1780–1785) PałacWallenbergow1.jpg, Wallenberg-Pachaly Palais, Breslau (1785) Wałbrzych kościół ewangelicki Plac Kościelny 27.07.2011 p.jpg, Lutheran Church in Waldenburg (1785) SM Syców kościół ewangelicki ID 596433.jpg, Lutheran Church in Syców (1785) 2010-07-27 Mohrenkolonnaden.jpg, Mohrenkolonnaden at Mohrenstraße, Berlin (1787) Berlin, Tierarzneischule, Anatomisches Theater, Langhans, Seitenansicht.jpg, Anatomical theater of the veterinary school, Berlin (1787) SchlosstheaterCharlottenburg.jpg, Theater building of Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin (1787) Teehaus Belvedere im Charlottenburger Schlossgarten.jpg, Belvedere at Charlottenburg (1788) Berlin - Marieekiirch a Fernsehtuerm.JPG, Spire of St. Mary's Church, Berlin (1789) Blick in den Ovalen Saal.JPG, Oval Room at Marmorpalais, Potsdam (1789) Brandenburger Tor morgens.jpg, Brandenburger Tor in Berlin (1789) Schloss Bellevue DSC8334.jpg, Oval Ballroom at Bellevue Palace, Berlin (1790) Orangerie Neuer Garten.jpg, Orangery in the New Garden, Potsdam (1791–93) Gotische Bibliothek.JPG, Gothic Library in the New Garden (1792–94) Dzierżoniów, Kościół Maryi Matki Kościoła - fotopolska.eu (166579).jpg, Lutheran Church in Reichenbach (1795) Żeliszów - dawny kościół ewangelicki.jpg, Lutheran Church in Giersdorf (1796) Kościół św Andrzeja Boboli.jpg, Lutheran Church in

Rawicz Rawicz (; ) is a town in west-central Poland with 21,398 inhabitants as of 2004. It is situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship (since 1999); previously it was in Leszno Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is the capital of Rawicz County. History The ...

(1802) Berlin Gendarmenmarkt 1815.jpg, Royal National Theater at Gendarmenmarkt, Berlin (1800) Kehnert Gutshaus Hofseite 2011-09-18.jpg, Kehnert Manor House (1803)

Life

Family

Study trips

Images of works

References

Further reading