Karl Magnus Vitberg (26 January 1787 — 24 January 1855) was a Russian Neoclassical architect of Swedish stock.

Biography

Vitberg was born in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. As a young man he was a member of Alexander Labzin's

Masonic lodge A Masonic lodge, often termed a private lodge or constituent lodge, is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also commonly used as a term for a building in which such a unit meets. Every new lodge must be warranted or chartered ...

, the "Dying Sphinx", and studied Boehmist theosophy. The lodge, which had been the first to reopen, in 1800, was ordered closed in 1822. Vitberg won a design competition and in 1817 had the satisfaction of witnessing the groundbreaking ceremony for his neoclassical

Cathedral of Christ the Saviour The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour ( rus, Храм Христа́ Спаси́теля, r=Khram Khristá Spasítelya, p=xram xrʲɪˈsta spɐˈsʲitʲɪlʲə) is a Russian Orthodox cathedral in Moscow, Russia, on the northern bank of the Moskv ...

, a monument to the resistance to the

French invasion of Russia The French invasion of Russia, also known as the Russian campaign, the Second Polish War, the Army of Twenty nations, and the Patriotic War of 1812 was launched by Napoleon Bonaparte to force the Russian Empire back into the continental block ...

in 1812. In order to undertake this project, Vitberg had converted to the

Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

, as stipulated by

Tsar Alexander I Alexander I (; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1801, the first King of Congress Poland from 1815, and the Grand Duke of Finland from 1809 to his death. He was the eldest son of Emperor Paul I and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg. The son of G ...

. After his conversion, Vitberg changed his name from Karl Magnus to Aleksandr Lavrentyevich (russian: Александр Лаврентьевич Витберг), after the monarch. Though construction of Vitberg's cathedral on the

Sparrow Hills Sparrow Hills (russian: Воробьёвы го́ры, ), formerly known as Lenin Hills (, ) between 1935 and 1999, is a hill on the right bank of the Moskva River and one of the highest points in Moscow, reaching a height of above the river ...

was begun in 1826, a new emperor, Nicholas I abandoned the "Masonic" plan for a less "Roman Catholic" neo-Byzantine construction. The architect was accused of bribery and exiled to Vyatka, an isolated city halfway between Moscow and the

Ural Mountains The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western ...

. There his most successful work was accomplished, among which were his monumental gates for the Alexander Garden (1836) and the

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral Alexander Nevsky Cathedral may refer to the following (alphabetically by country, then by town): * Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Baku in Azerbaijan * Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia in Bulgaria * Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Tallinn, Estonia * Al ...

(1839–1848). A fellow-exile there was

Alexander Herzen Alexander Ivanovich Herzen (russian: Алекса́ндр Ива́нович Ге́рцен, translit=Alexándr Ivánovich Gértsen; ) was a Russian writer and thinker known as the "father of Russian socialism" and one of the main fathers of agra ...

, who made friends with Vitberg, portrayed him sympathetically in ''My Past and Thoughts'', and was briefly influenced by Vitberg's strain of mystical thought.Mark Pittaway, ''The Fluid Borders of Europe'', 2003:230. Vitberg Cathedral

Vitberg was eventually allowed to return to Moscow, but found little work, and died in poverty and official neglect. The

Russian neoclassical revival Russian neoclassical revival was a trend in Russian culture, most pronounced in architecture, that briefly replaced Eclecticism and Art Nouveau as the leading architectural style between the Revolution of 1905 and the outbreak of World War I, coexi ...

in the late 19th century contributed to a reappraisal of his architectural legacy. An exhibition, ''Alexander Witberg (1787–1855). En Arkitekurhistorisk Installation'' was mounted in Stockholm from 1993 to 1994.

References

External links

*
''The Memoirs of Academician Vitberg'' (Moscow, 1872)

Vitberg's Fateful Design, Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior, 36-58
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vitberg, Aleksandr 1787 births 1855 deaths Architects from Saint Petersburg Russian people of Swedish descent Russian neoclassical architects Imperial Academy of Arts alumni Awarded with a large gold medal of the Academy of Arts