Franciscus Pahr (died 1580) was an Italian architect who worked in

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

from the 1550s. He is remembered above all for his work in

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...

where he contributed to the

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

and

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

."Franciscus Pahr"
Historiesajten. Retrieved 3 October 2013. He refurbished the Upsala castle completely after the fire of 1572. Pahr was from a family of architects who worked in Germany and Sweden during the later part of 16th century and were instrumental in introducing

Renaissance architecture Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek and ...

to northern Europe. One of the first projects in this genre in Germany was Pahr's work at Uppsala.

Biography

Pahr was almost certainly the son of master builder Jacob Pahr from Milan and the brother of Johan Baptista Pahr, Christoffer Pahr and Dominicus Pahr. Pahr was described to have "come from Milan via Brieg, Güstrow and Rostock". The Pahr family brought Italian and German

to Sweden. In the 1550s, together with his father and Dominicus, Pahr contributed to building the Silesian

Brzeg Castle Brzeg Castle is located in Brzeg, Opole Voivodeship, within the Polish part of the Silesia region. Now a museum, the structures includes the Piast dynasty mausoleum. Geography Brzeg Castle is located on a cliff to the west of the Oder River, in ...

Brzeg Brzeg (; Latin: ''Alta Ripa'', German: ''Brieg'', Silesian German: ''Brigg'', , ) is a town in southwestern Poland with 34,778 inhabitants (December 2021) and the capital of Brzeg County. It is situated in Silesia in the Opole Voivodeship on the ...

and supervised the construction of fortifications at

Rostock Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, c ...

and

Schwerin Schwerin (; Mecklenburgisch dialect, Mecklenburgian Low German: ''Swerin''; Latin: ''Suerina'', ''Suerinum'') is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Germany, second-largest city of the northeastern States of Germany, German ...

. He probably also built the Castle of Löwenberg (now

Lwówek Śląski Lwówek Śląski (; german: Löwenberg in Schlesien; szl, Ślůnski Lwůwek) is a town in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship in Poland. Situated on the Bóbr River, Lwówek Śląski is about NNW of Jelenia Góra and has a population of about 9,000 i ...

)."Franciscus Pahr"
Riksarkivet. Retrieved 3 October 2013. In 1558, he entered into an agreement with Duke Ulrich of Mecklenburg-Güstrow to build a castle in

Güstrow Güstrow (; la, Gustrovium) is a town in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is capital of the Rostock district; Rostock itself is a district-free city and regiopolis. It has a population of 28,999 (2020) and is the seventh largest town in Me ...

, which he supervised until 1565. He used brick as the main building material. In 1572, King Johan III of Sweden invited Pahr and his older brother Domenicus Pahr (''de Pari''), to build the Upsala castle. After the castle's fire, Pahr was retained to rebuild it as Domenicus had become sick; he oversaw the rebuilding process in 1572. The garden plan for this castle was also designed by Pahr. In 1573, he took over the building of the new

Stockholm Palace Stockholm Palace or the Royal Palace ( sv, Stockholms slott or ) is the official residence and major royal palace of the Swedish monarch (King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia use Drottningholm Palace as their usual residence). Stockholm Palac ...

after Anders Larsson Målare became ill. In 1578, he supervised work on the restoration of

Uppsala Cathedral Uppsala Cathedral ( sv, Uppsala domkyrka) is a cathedral located between the University Hall of Uppsala University and the Fyris river in the centre of Uppsala, Sweden. A church of the Church of Sweden, the national church, in the Lutheran tra ...

which had also been damaged by the 1572 fire, reconstructing the towers in the Renaissance style. In August 1580, Pahr died before completing this assignment. His son, Dominicus Pahr, was a German architect.

References

;Bibliography * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pahr, Franciscus Architects from Milan Swedish architects Renaissance architects 1580 deaths 16th-century Swedish people 16th-century births