Herman Major Schirmer (20 June 1845 – 11 April 1913) was a Norwegian architect, educator and historian of art. He has been described as "one of the chief ideologues" of Norwegian romantic nationalism. He was also a diligent writer and Norway's first national antiquary.

Biography

Schirmer was born in

Kristiania Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022, an ...

(now Oslo), Norway. He was the son of the architect

Heinrich Ernst Schirmer Heinrich Ernst Schirmer (27 August 1814 – 6 December 1887) was a German-born architect most noted for his work in Norway. Schirmer worked in Norway from 1838 to 1883 and left his mark on a number of public buildings. He contributed significant ...

(1814–1887) and his wife Sophie Ottilia Major (1821–61). His brother was architect Adolf Schirmer and his uncle psychiatrist Herman Wedel Major. At the age of 15, Schirmer was educated in drawing by the German-Norwegian architect and painter Franz Wilhelm Schiertz. Two years later, he worked in his father's architect office before receiving a travel grant from the government in 1866. He travelled to

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 ...

to study architecture and history of art at the

Dresden Academy of Fine Arts The Dresden Academy of Fine Arts (German language, German ''Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden''), often abbreviated HfBK Dresden or simply HfBK, is a vocational university of visual arts located in Dresden, Germany. The present institutio ...

. He also travelled to Italy, Switzerland and Sweden at the end of the 1860s. Even though Schirmer was not an overly prolific architect, he did design the Bergens Kreditbank Building (commonly known as ''Banco Rotto'') in Bergen in 1876. He also designed ''Heftyevillaen på Frognerseteren'', a villa in the neighborhood of

Frognerseteren Frognerseteren is a neighborhood of Oslo, Norway, located within Nordmarka. It is a popular starting point for recreational hiking and skiing in Oslo. Frognerseteren (station), Frognerseteren Station is the terminal station of the Holmenkollen Lin ...

in Oslo (1867); and Eventyrgården at Kristian IVs gate in Oslo (1873). Schirmer preferred teaching and studying architecture to designing structures. He became most famous through his work at the Royal Drawing School, which he renamed to Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry in 1911. Schirmer taught at the school for 39 years, from 1873 to 1912, where he had a large influence on architecture in Norway. He notably drew the first draft for the preservation of the

Nidaros Cathedral Nidaros Cathedral () is a Church of Norway cathedral located in the city of Trondheim in Trøndelag county. It is built over the burial site of Olav II of Norway, King Olav II ( 995–1030, reigned 1015–1028), who became the patron saint of th ...

. In 1891, he founded Yngre Arkitektforening ("Younger Architect Association"). He chaired the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments from 1899 to 1911, and published many treatises in the society's yearbook. Schirmer was also a diligent writer who penned ''Kristkirken i Nidaros'' ("The Christchurch in Nidaros") and ''Femti daterede norske bygninger fra middelalderen'' ("Fifty Dated Norwegian Buildings From the Middle Ages"). On 3 June 1905, he married Annette Magdalene Riis Wiese (1874–1927).In 1913, five months before his death, he was appointed the first national antiquary of Norway.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schirmer, Herman Major Academic staff of the Oslo National Academy of the Arts 1845 births 1913 deaths Norwegian art historians Art Nouveau architects Burials at Old Aker Cemetery Architects from Oslo