Carl Wilhelm Ernst Schäfer (born 18 January 1844 in Kassel - 5 May 1908 in Carlsfeld, district of Brehna in the former district of Bitterfeld) was a German architect and university professor.[1][2][3]

Schäfer in 1900
The spires added to Meissen Cathedral

Schäfer became the most important representative of the late Gothic Revival in Germany. He created several churches: Modification of the Catholic Propsteikirche St. Gertrude of Brabant in Wattenscheid (1869-1872), Catholic parish church of St. Nikolai in Lippstadt (1873-1875), Protestant church in Bralitz (1889-1890), Catholic parish church of St. John Baptist in Birkung (1885-1893), Old Catholic Church in Karlsruhe (1895-1897).[4][5]

As a monument conservator, he led the reconstruction of the Friedrichsbaues of Heidelberg Castle (1890-1900), the Romanesque monastery church of St. Gangolf in Münchenlohra in Nordhausen (1882-1885) and the Church of Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune in Strasbourg (1897-1901). He added the pair of 81 metre spires to the Meissen Cathedral in a highly convincing neo-Gothic style from 1903 to 1908. This now forms a critical part of the Meissen World Heritage Site.

In 1871, he had built a fountain on the property of his lawyer Carl Grimm in Marburg.[6]

References edit

  1. ^ Karl Caesar: Karl Schäfer In: Badische biographies Bd. 6, Winter, Heidelberg 1927, pp. 597-604
  2. ^ "Biografie von Karl Schäfer (1844-1908)". saebi.isgv.de (in German).
  3. ^ "Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek". portal.dnb.de (in German).
  4. ^ Jutta Schuchard: Carl Schäfer (1844-1908). Life and work of the architect of the Neugotik. Dissertation. University of Marburg 1974. Prestel, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-7913-0373-2.
  5. ^ Encyclopedia of Art. Volume VI. Leipzig 1994, ISBN 3-363-00049-9 .
  6. ^ Angela Karasch : The Carl Shepherd Building of the Freiburg University Library (1895-1903) (= writings of the University Library Freiburg im Breisgau Bd. 9). Freiburg 1985