Chrystian Piotr Aigner (1756 in

Puławy Puławy (, also written Pulawy) is a city in eastern Poland, in Lesser Poland's Lublin Voivodeship, at the confluence of the Vistula and Kurówka Rivers. Puławy is the capital of Puławy County. The city's 2019 population was estimated at 47,4 ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

– 9 February 1841 in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

) was a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

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 ...

and theoretician of architecture.

Life

Chrystian Piotr Aigner acquired extensive knowledge of architecture in the course of several journeys to

that he made in the company of his patron and subsequent collaborator and friend

Stanisław Kostka Potocki Count Stanisław Kostka Potocki (; November 1755 – 14 September 1821) was a Polish nobleman, politician, writer, public intellectual and patron of the arts. Life Potocki was a son of General and starost of Lwów, Eustachy Potocki and Ann ...

. He studied in Italy. Later, during a long association with the city of

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, he created many Classicist buildings in the

capital. A member of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

's Academy of St. Luke, and of the

Warsaw Society of Friends of Learning The Warsaw Society of Friends of Science ( pl, Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Nauk, ''TPN'') was one of the earliest Polish scientific societies, active in Warsaw from 1800 to 1832. Name The Society was also known as ''Warszawskie Królewskie Towarzyst ...

, and from 1817 a professor of architecture at

Warsaw University The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...

, he was active in Warsaw until 1825 and in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

before leaving for Italy for good in 1827. Aigner at first applied the decorative forms of early Neoclassicism (Marynka's Palace in

) or made reference to the works of

Andrea Palladio Andrea Palladio ( ; ; 30 November 1508 – 19 August 1580) was an Italian Renaissance architect active in the Venetian Republic. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily Vitruvius, is widely considered to be one of ...

(the façade of St. Anne's Church in Warsaw). In a later period, he reworked patterns drawn directly from the architecture of Antiquity (the Puławy

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

; St. Alexander's Church in

), and even erected

Neogothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

structures (the Gothic House in Puławy). He also published a pattern book, ''Budowy kościołów...'' (Church Building...), which exerted a great influence on Polish sacral architecture in the first half of the 19th century. Aigner's work represents a mature classicism, inspired directly by Italian influences, and later enriched by

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

and Romanticism, Romantic influences. The Romantic influences, reflecting a growing interest in Poland's past, were expressed chiefly through the use of

forms and enriched spatial arrangements (palaces with Rotunda (architecture), rotunda in a corner). His theoretical writings include "''Rozprawa o świątyniach u starożytnych i o słowiańskich''," ''Roczniki Towarzystwa Warszawskiego Przyjaciół Nauk'' ("A Treatise on Ancient and Slavic Temples," Annals of the

), 1808. During the Kościuszko Uprising, Aigner wrote ''"Krótka nauka o kosach i pikach"'' ("A Brief Treatise on Scythes and Pikes"), which provided a theory for operating on the field of battle with formations of War scythe, scythemen and pikeman, pikemen.

Works

*Classicist palace in Olesin, Puławy County (1782–1830), with

*Palace in Igołomia *Palace in Zarzecze, Przeworsk County *Remodeling of Łańcut Castle *Church in Międzyrzec Podlaski *Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski, Czartoryski residence in

(Church of the Assumption of Mary, Assumption, Gothic House, Temple of the Sibyl, Marynka's Palace), 1785–1810 *Church of St. Alexander in Suwałki *Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Żyrzyn *Epitaph of Bishops of Kraków, Kraków Bishop Kajetan Sołtyk in Wawel Cathedral *Classicist manor house in Bachorza manor, Bachorza In

: *Krasiński Palace in Ursynów (1785–86), with

, rebuilt in 1858 by Zygmunt Rozpędowski *Remodeling of Leszno, Warsaw, palace (1785–88), probably only the interiors * St. Alexander's Church, 1818–25 *Façade of St. Anne's Church (1786–88), with

; rebuilding of bell tower, 1816 *Façade of St. Andrew's Church *Remodeling of the Warsaw Arsenal (1792) *Remodeling of main entrance hall at Wilanów Palace (1792) *Villa of Izabela Lubomirska at Krzeszowice (1792) *Library of Ignacy Potocki (1788), no longer extant, at site of Warsaw's Hotel Bristol in Warsaw, Hotel Bristol *Remodeling of Natolin, Natolin Palace (1808) *Morysin Summer Palace, near Wilanów, with

*Mint on ''ulica Bielańska'' (demolished in 1905 by Russian Empire, Russian Imperial authorities) *Royal Baths Park#Observatory, Warsaw University Astronomical Observatory *Remodeling of the Presidential Palace, Warsaw, Presidential Palace (formerly, "Viceregal Palace"), 1818–19 Information from the :pl:Chrystian Piotr Aigner, Polish Wikipedia article, 14:07, 22 August 2009, edition.

Gallery

File:Pulawy palac czartoryskich.jpg, Czartoryski palace,

File:Pulawy palac marynki.jpg, Marynka's Palace, Puławy File:Pulawy swiatynia sybilli.jpg, Temple of the Sibyl, Puławy File:Pulawy kosciol wniebowziecia nmp.jpg, Church of the Assumption, Puławy File:Pulawy domek gotycki.jpg, Gothic House, Puławy File:Pałac Prezydencki w Warszawie 2020.jpg, Presidential Palace, Warsaw File:Kościół św. Aleksandra w Warszawie 2018.jpg, St. Alexander's Church,

File:Kościół św. Anny w Warszawie 2020.jpg, St. Anne's Church, Warsaw File:Warsaw University Astronomical Observatory 1.jpg, Royal Baths Park#Observatory, Warsaw University Astronomical Observatory File:Łańcut - Pałac.jpg, Łańcut Castle File:Międzyrzec podlaski kościół św mikołaja fasada.jpg, St. Nicholas' Church, in Międzyrzec Podlaski. Neoclassicist façade by Aigner.

Notes

References

* T. Jaroszewski, ''Chrystian Piotr Aigner, architekt warszawskiego klasycyzmu'' (Chrystian Piotr Aigner: Architect of Warsaw Classicism), Warsaw, 1970. *"Aigner, Chrystian Piotr," ''Encyklopedia Powszechna PWN'' (PWN Universal Encyclopedia), volume 1, Warsaw, Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1973, p. 32. *"Aigner, Chrystian Piotr," ''Encyklopedia Polski'' (Encyclopedia of Poland), Kraków, Wydawnictwo Ryszard Kluszczyński, 1996, , p. 12.

External links

"Chrystian Piotr Aigner," in ''Biographies of Persons Connected with Puławy'' (in Polish)

by Zygmunt Vogel (1764–1826), in Polish {{DEFAULTSORT:Aigner, Chrystian Piotr 1756 births 1841 deaths Architects from Warsaw People from Puławy 19th-century Polish architects