John von Collas born Jean de Collas (11 November 1678 – 16 June 1753) was a late

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

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 ...

of the 18th century.

Biography

Collas was born in Sedan to Antoine de Collas (died 1693) and Elisabeth née de Vilain (died 1681). He was a French

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

, his father was a counsellor of William III of Orange, the later

William III of England William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 1650 – 8 March 1702), also known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of County of Holland, Holland, County of Zeeland, Zeeland, Lordship of Utrecht, Utrec ...

. After the

Edict of Fontainebleau The Edict of Fontainebleau (18 October 1685, published 22 October 1685) was an edict issued by French King Louis XIV and is also known as the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The Edict of Nantes (1598) had granted Huguenots the right to prac ...

of 1685 the family was forced to flee from France and moved to the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and further to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 1688. Collas grew up at the estates of

William Russell, 1st Duke of Bedford William Russell, 1st Duke of Bedford (August 1616 – 7 September 1700) was an English nobleman and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 until 1641 when he inherited his Peerage as 5th Earl of Bedford and removed to the House o ...

and became a Page of Russell’s Granddaughter Mary Butler (1646–1707), he carried the train of

Mary II of England Mary II (30 April 1662 – 28 December 1694) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England, List of Scottish monarchs, Scotland, and Monarchy of Ireland, Ireland with her husband, King William III and II, from 1689 until her death in 1694. Sh ...

(1662–1694) at her coronation in 1689. Aged 22, John von Collas was a member of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

and started a journey to

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. Initially on his way through he arrived in

Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...

in autumn 1701 and decided to stay in

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

. He became a

Royal Prussian The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918. Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signi ...

Engineer, counsellor, director of the Geometer and respected scholar. He was involved in the design of the Wesel citadel. He was mentioned as a member of the

Prussian Academy of Sciences The Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences () was an academy established in Berlin, Germany on 11 July 1700, four years after the Prussian Academy of Arts, or "Arts Academy," to which "Berlin Academy" may also refer. In the 18th century, when Frenc ...

in 1704.

Collas became the landlord of several estates in East Prussia like Dommelkeim (1703–1753), Naujeninken (1703–1731), Brandwehten (1703–1731), Perkuhnen (1717–1731), Sauerwalde (1720–1731), Laugallen (1718–1731), Kraupischkehmen, (1718–1731), Weißenstein/ Gutenfeld (1721–1753) and owned houses in

Wehlau Znamensk (; ; ; ) is a rural locality (a settlement) in Gvardeysky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Pregolya River at its confluence with the Lava River east of Kaliningrad. Population figures: Histo ...

(1721–1753) and Borchersdorf (1724–1753), in total he possessed about 2,720

Hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

. Collas was a successful architect and projected the baroque palaces of Finckenstein, Friedrichstein,

Dönhoffstädt Drogosze Palace ( or ; ) is a baroque palace in Drogosze, in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in Poland, constructed between 1710 and 1714. It was the seat of the Dönhoff family, members of the Prussian nobility. The palace was one of the so-ca ...

and Jäskendorf. Collas married Charlotte Pelet (27 February 1700 - 29 December 1751), daughter of the merchant Pierre Pelet, owner of Weißenstein-Gutenfeld manor, and Maria Elisabeth née Salomon on 30 April 1716 in Königsberg. He died at his manor at Weißenstein.

External links

Finckenstein Palace
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collas, John Von 1678 births 1753 deaths People from Sedan (sub-unit of France) French emigrants 18th-century German architects German Baroque architects People from Sedan, Ardennes People from the Kingdom of Prussia

Biography

See also

External links