Charles (Carlo) Francesco Bassi (12 November 1772,

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

– 11 November 1840,

Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

) was a Finnish architect of Italian descent. He was the first professionally trained architect who permanently worked in present-day Finland. He worked, both as an independent architect and as an official responsible for planning new churches, in a

Neoclassical style Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...

Life

Charles Bassi was the brother of

ballet dancer A ballet dancer is a person who practices the Art (skill), art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet. They rely on years of extensive training and proper technique to become a part of a professional ballet company. B ...

Giovanna Bassi Giovanna Bassi (1762–1834) was an Italian ballerina who spent the majority of her career in Sweden. She was regarded as the prima donna of the Swedish Ballet during the Gustav III of Sweden, Gustavian age. Biography Giovanna Bassi was born i ...

and came with her from present-day Italy to Sweden in 1783. Initially, he was employed by the Swedish King

Gustav III Gustav III (29 March 1792), also called ''Gustavus III'', was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of King Adolf Frederick and Queen Louisa Ulrika of Sweden. Gustav was a vocal opponent of what he saw ...

as a

page Page most commonly refers to: * Page (paper), one side of a leaf of paper, as in a book Page, PAGE, pages, or paging may also refer to: Roles * Page (assistance occupation), a professional occupation * Page (servant), traditionally a young m ...

but started studying architecture at the

Royal Swedish Academy of Arts The Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts (), commonly called the Royal Academy, is located in Stockholm, Sweden. An independent organization that promotes the development of painting, sculpture, architecture, and other fine arts, it is one of seve ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

in 1784. His principal teacher was

Louis Jean Desprez Louis Jean Desprez (occasionally but incorrectly ''Jean Louis Desprez'') (28 May 1743–18 March 1804) was a French painter and architect who worked in Sweden during the last twenty years of his life. Biography Desprez, who was born in Auxe ...

. He was awarded prizes at the academy in 1788 and 1790, and after finishing his studies left for an eight-year-long study trip to Italy and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. He thereafter returned to Stockholm and began his career as an assistant to

Carl Christoffer Gjörwell Carl Christoffer Gjörwell (the younger; 19 January 1766 – 14 November 1837) was a Swedish architect. He was a city architect in Stockholm, Sweden, between 1804 and 1837. Biography Gjörwell was born in Stockholm, Sweden. He was the son of ar ...

in his position as city architect of Stockholm. Gjörwell and Bassi had studied together at the academy and knew each other. In 1802 Bassi travelled to Finland (at the time a part of Sweden) to supervise the construction of a new building for the

Royal Academy of Turku The Royal Academy of Turku or the Royal Academy of Åbo was the first university in Finland, and the only Finnish university that was founded when the country still was a part of Sweden. It was founded in 1640. In 1809, after Finland became a ...

designed by Gjörwell. The finishing of the construction of the building was delayed until 1815 and by that time Bassi had already established himself as an independent architect in

. He never returned to Sweden but settled permanently in Finland (which in 1809 had been lost by Sweden to Russia following the

Finnish War The Finnish War (; ; ) was fought between the Gustavian era, Kingdom of Sweden and the Russian Empire from 21 February 1808 to 17 September 1809 as part of the Napoleonic Wars. As a result of the war, the eastern third of Sweden was established a ...

). At first he was active as an independent architect, notably in Turku, and was in 1810 appointed as the head of a government agency () responsible for producing plans for new church buildings. He kept his position and in 1821 moved with the agency to the new capital of the

Grand Duchy A grand duchy is a country or territory whose official head of state or ruler is a monarch bearing the title of grand duke or grand duchess. Prior to the early 1800s, the only Grand duchy in Europe was located in what is now Italy: Tuscany ( ...

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

. He took his leave in 1824 and was succeeded by

Carl Ludvig Engel Carl Ludvig Engel or Johann Carl Ludwig Engel (3 July 1778 – 14 May 1840) was a German architect whose most noted work can be found in Helsinki, which he helped rebuild. His works include most of the buildings around the capital's monumental ce ...

. He moved back to Turku and continued working as an independent architect there until his death in 1840.

Architecture

Bassi worked in a Neoclassical style and had a significant impact on the architecture of Finland in several ways. Notably, the city centre of Turku with its pronounced Neoclassical architecture contains several buildings by Bassi and was to some extent shaped by his work. In Sweden, where he began his career, only a single building can be safely attributed to Bassi's hand: Aske Manor in

Uppland Uppland is a historical province or ' on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The name literally ...

. In Finland, Bassi continued to work in the restrained form of Neoclassicism which was popular in Sweden (sometimes called ''Gustavian'' after King

) and practised by his friend and co-worker Gjörwell. It stands in contrast to the more elaborate Neoclassicism that was later to become popular in Finland through the influence from

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, practised e.g. by his successor Carl Ludvig Engel. Wiurila Manor has been described as the best example of Bassi's architecture from the 1810s. At Joensuu Manor he designed a granary which is the first secular

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

building in Finland (1813). The churches designed by Bassi usually followed local tradition in their design, as this was often requested by the parishes. Most of them are restrained, cross-shaped churches. Among the later works of Bassi, the main building of

Åbo Akademi University Åbo Akademi University ( , ) is the only exclusively Swedish language multi-faculty university in Finland (or anywhere outside Sweden). It is located mainly in Turku (Åbo is the Swedish name of the city) but has also activities in Vaasa. Å ...

in Turku has been proposed as the most accomplished. It displays possible influences from the architecture of Carl Ludvig Engel in the centrally placed

colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curv ...

on the facade. Architects of a younger generation influenced by him include Pehr Johan Gylich and Charles Johnsson.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bassi, Charles 1772 births 1840 deaths 19th-century Finnish architects Immigrants to Sweden Architects from Turin Architects from the Russian Empire Italian emigrants to Finland