BASA-PD-1190K-1-41-1-Josef Schnitter, 1900

Josef Schnitter ( bg, Йосиф Шнитер, ''Yosif Shniter''; 16 October 1852–26 April 1914) was a Czech–

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

architect, engineer and geodesist credited with shaping the modern appearance of

Plovdiv Plovdiv ( bg, Пловдив, ), is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, standing on the banks of the Maritsa river in the historical region of Thrace. It has a population of 346,893 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is the c ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

's second-largest city. Schnitter was born in the small town of

Nový Bydžov Nový Bydžov (; german: Neubidschow) is a town in Hradec Králové District in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 7,000 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone ...

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...

(today in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

). He graduated from the University of Technology's Faculty of Construction in the imperial capital

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and then moved to the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

, where he converted to the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...

. Schnitter arrived in Bulgaria during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 and assisted the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...

as an engineer, designing the

pontoon bridge A pontoon bridge (or ponton bridge), also known as a floating bridge, uses float (nautical), floats or shallow-draft (hull), draft boats to support a continuous deck for pedestrian and vehicle travel. The buoyancy of the supports limits the maxi ...

s used in the crossing of the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

and the fortification equipment employed by the Russians in the

Siege of Plevna The siege of Pleven, was a major battle of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, fought by the joint army of Russia and Romania against the Ottoman Empire. After the Russian army crossed the Danube at Svishtov, it began advancing towards t ...

. Schnitter was injured at

Pleven Pleven ( bg, Плèвен ) is the seventh most populous city in Bulgaria. Located in the northern part of the country, it is the administrative centre of Pleven Province, as well as of the subordinate Pleven municipality. It is the biggest ...

and received a sabre from General

Eduard Totleben Franz Eduard Graf von Tottleben (russian: Эдуа́рд Ива́нович Тотле́бен, tr. ; – ), better known as Eduard Totleben in English, was a Baltic German military engineer and Imperial Russian Army general. He was in char ...

, who commanded the siege, as a recognition of his contribution to the siege's success. Even before the Treaty of San Stefano was signed on 3 March 1878 and Bulgaria was liberated from Ottoman rule, Schnitter was dispatched to Plovdiv by the Russians. He settled in the city, which was the capital of autonomous Eastern Rumelia until the Unification of Bulgaria in 1885, and, after a brief private practice, served as Plovdiv's head architect and municipal chief of engineering from 1878 until his death in 1914. Schnitter was married to Elisabeth Maria Friederike Baumann from Windsheim in Germany who was staying in Plovdiv's Old Town en route to

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

. According to the story, he met his future wife when the crumbs she threw out of her window landed on Schnitter, who was touring the buildings he had constructed. His best man was Slovene scholar

Anton Bezenšek Anton Bezenšek (15 April 1854 – 11 December 1915) was a Slovene linguist, journalist, shorthand expert, and lecturer, who spent most of his life in Bulgaria. He is known as the scholar who adapted the Gabelsberger shorthand system to the Sou ...

who spent two decades teaching in Plovdiv. The architect acquired Bulgarian citizenship in 1906. Josef Schnitter died of bronchopneumonia in 1914; he got sick while overseeing the repair of the city water conduit. He was interred in the Plovdiv Central Cemetery. Maria Schnitter, head of the

Plovdiv University Plovdiv ( bg, Пловдив, ), is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, standing on the banks of the Maritsa river in the historical region of Thrace. It has a population of 346,893 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is the c ...

's Faculty of Philosophy and History, is his great granddaughter. In 2006, Josef Schnitter was posthumously declared an

honorary citizen Honorary citizenship is a status bestowed by a city or other government on a foreign or native individual whom it considers to be especially admirable or otherwise worthy of the distinction. The honour usually is symbolic and does not confer an ...

of Plovdiv and in early 2009, plans were announced to erect a monument to the architect in the city; the monument will be sculptured by Tsvyatko Siromashki. A street in Plovdiv is also named after the architect.

Works

Schnitter designed Plovdiv's entire post-Liberation city plan (1888–1891), including its main street, today's

Prince Alexander Prince Alexander may refer to: * Alexander, a character from the ''King's Quest'' series of video games * Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone, born as Prince Alexander of Teck * Alexander Karađorđević, Prince of Serbia (r. 1842–1858) * Ale ...

Street, which he intended to be wide. However, he was persuaded by the City Council to narrow it to . His other projects include: *

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...

of Saint Demetrius' Church * bell tower of Saint Petka's Church * bell tower of the Holy Mother of God Church (1880–1881) * Saint George's Church (1881–1883) * Saints Cyril and Methodius' Church (1882–1884) * the new church in

Batak Batak is a collective term used to identify a number of closely related Austronesian ethnic groups predominantly found in North Sumatra, Indonesia, who speak Batak languages. The term is used to include the Karo, Pakpak, Simalungun, Toba, ...

* the current

Neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range o ...

City Art Gallery building (former Main Girls' School, 1879–1881) * the current Museum of Natural History building (former Plovdiv municipality building, 1880) * the house where writer Ivan Vazov lived *

Yoakim Gruev Joakim Gruev ( bg, Йоаким Груев, died 1912) was a Bulgarian teacher and translator. He was born on 9 September 1828 in the town of Koprivshtitsa. He was a teacher at the leading Bulgarian high school in Plovdiv Plovdiv ( bg, Пловд ...

's house * Dragan Manchov's house (1887) * Sveshtarovi brothers' house (1888) * Ivan Gerdzhikov's house (1890) * Ivan Andonov's house (1891) * Orozdi Bak commercial house building (1896–1897) * Metropol Hotel * Konstantin Naydenovich's house (1905–1906) * Plovdiv municipality engineering department building

Gallery

File:St. Bogoroditza plovdiv.jpg, Bell tower of the Holy Mother of God Church File:Plovdiv Art Gallery P5030085.JPG, City Art Gallery building File:Cyril and Methodius Church Plovdiv (1).JPG, Saints Cyril and Methodius' Church File:BatakChurch.JPG, The new church in Batak File:Saint George's Church Plovdiv.jpg, Saint George's Church in Plovdiv File:Saint Petka's church.jpg, Saint Petka's church in Plovdiv

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schnitter, Josef 1852 births 1914 deaths People from Nový Bydžov Czech architects Bulgarian architects Geodesists Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy Bulgarian people of Czech descent History of Plovdiv Bulgarian engineers TU Wien alumni