User:Martin J. Němeček/sandbox

Martin J. Němeček/sandbox

Monument of Adalbert Lanna the Elder stands on Sady public park in České Budějovice, Czechia, near the western end of Lanna Street. It was created between 1866 and 1879 in C. k. artistic foundry in Wieden under the artistic direction of Franz Pönninger. It was paid for mostly by money collected from the public. The collection was initiated by Budějovice city council in order to honor the city's native Adalbert Lanna the Elder. It is the oldest public monument in České Budějovice and one of the few that survived the melting of bells and metal statues during the World War Two. In May 1945, it was torn down by a mob, heavily damaged and put away in seclusion. Monument's partial restoration and re-erection took place in 1993.

History

Process of inception

After the death of Adalbert Lanna the Elder, prominent citizens of the city gathered in Budějovice in January and agreed to establish a Committee for the establishment of a monument to A. Lanna in Budějovice. Among the members of the ten-member Comitee were, for example, the industrialist Carl Hardtmuth, the mayor of the city Eduard Claudi, the lawyer Wendelin Rziha, the factory owner Johann Stegmann or the chairman of the Budějovice Chamber of Commerce and Industry Josef Schier. The Comitee obtained permission for a public collection ("subskripce" in archaic Czech) from the Bohemian Governor Richard Belcredi and sent out advertisements to a wide range of newspapers. Vendelín Grünwald, Hynek Zátka and Bishop of České Budějovice Jan Valerián Jirsík were also invited to the process of establishing the monument. Jirsík proposed to build an orphanage instead of a monument, which in his opinion would be a more appropriate way to honour Lanna's memory, but he was not listened to.

Already in February 1866, the director of the Vienna C. k. artistic foundry Anton Fernkorn came forward with an offer to create the monument. Money was rapidly being collected, among the biggest contributors was Lanna's friend, Johann Adolf II, prince of Schwarzenberg, who resided in nearby Hluboká Castle. After a break caused by the Prussian-Austrian War and the cholera epidemic in České Budějovice another meeting of the Comitee was organized. This meeting was also visited by Wenzel Rosenauer, a deputy of the Imperial Council who spent most of the time in Vienna, where he managed to get promises of other significant contributions, among others from the procurator of the Lanna company Moritz Gröbe or Anton Banhans (the future minister of agriculture). At the time, the Comitee still hesitated with the commission of the monument, but in the end it was awarded to the C. k. artistic foundry in Wieden, which was in the meantime taken over from Fernkorn by his successor Franz Pönninger. In July 1868, Franz Pönninger sent his first proposed design from Vienna, which already included in it's composition a relief running around a cylindrical base, on which the statue of Adalbert Lanna the Elder would stand. In the course of the project, further modifications were made, until finally in March 1874 Franz Pönninger committed to a budget of 20,500 austrian guldens and the promise of constructing the monument during the autumn of the following year.

Detail of the head

In August, Pönninger visited Budějovice and agreed with members of the Comité to place the monument in the newly emerging city park on the site of the former fortification (městské Sady). Erhard Ackermann, an experienced stonemason working in the area of Smrčina, who also collaborated with Pönninger, for example, on the monument], was chosen to make the stone parts of the monument Archduke Johann in Styrus. The autumn 1875 deadline was not met, in December Pönninger had a painting portrait of Vojtěch Lanna the elder by Bartoloměj Čurn sent from Budějovice to Vienna, so that he could better model Lanna's head. The date of the unveiling ceremony was repeatedly moved. After the symbolic casting of the iron pillars and chains of the monument in the Vojtěšská huť (founded by Lanna), the final date was determined - Saturday, May 24, 1879.

The celebration began with a a service in the monastery church of the Sacrifice of the Virgin Mary, which was celebrated by Bishop Jirsík of Budějovice. All the ceremonial guests then went in a procession to the decorated area in front of the covered monument, the mayor and chairman of the Comité Eduard Claudi gave his speech and the author of the monument Franz Pönninger himself then unveiled the monument. A number of singing societies performed, the two main Budějovice singing associations (Liedertafel and Beseda) exceptionally broke their mutual boycott and both performed. Wreath-laying followed. For example, railway manager Georg Löw, Prague politician Franz Schmeykal, Prague banker Karl Amadeus Ritter von Zdekauer, Labský spolek or Lodní spolek z Ústí nad Labem. A smaller group of selected guests then went to a banquet at the German Federal House. A letter of apology was read from Bavaria Royal Privy Council Dr. Friedrich Scanzoni von Lichtenfels from Würzburg, who was Lann's relative and spent part of his life in Budějovice. A series of toasts followed in honor of Vojtěch Lanna the Elder. His son Vojtěch Lanna the Younger was named an honorary citizen of the city and on this occasion he presented the city with a contribution of 10,000 guilders to the orphans' fund.

The České Budějovice photographer Johann Rundensteiner was also present at the festive events, who captured it in his pictures. Quality photographs of the newly unveiled monument were also taken by Josef Woldan.

First period of existence

portrait statue

Already three months after the unveiling of the monument, Franz Pönninger had to answer to the city council about complaints about the rust stains that were forming on the monument. Mutual correspondence regarding technical defects then continued for at least the next four years. During this time, other sculptural works were added to the city's Gardens - statue of the goddess Diana (1881)< ref>Binder – Kovář (2020), p. 54</ref> and then a monument with a bust of Joseph II. by Viktor Oskar Tilgner (1883) as one of the reactions to the announcement of Stremayr's decrees.

Monument to Joseph II. was torn down and thrown into the Mlýnské stoky after the proclamation of the Czechoslovak Republic, Lann's monument remained without harm. He even survived the Second World War, when they were collected in the protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia Translation types Text translation Source text y velké kovové předměty a taveny pro vojenské účely. Krom pražského pomníkového úřadu se o zachování pomníku zasloužil také budějovický vládní komisař Fridrich David. Pomník Vojtěcha Lanny staršího byl tehdy jediným bronzovým pomníkem v okrese, který byl ze seznamu vyškrtnut. 5,000 / 5,000 Translation results Translation result y large metal objects and melts for military purposes. In addition to the Prague monument office, the Budejovice government commissioner Fridrich David was also responsible for preserving the monument. The monument of Vojtěch Lanna the elder was then the only bronze monument in the district that was removed from the list.

Tearing down and clearance

monument with summer flower beds

Although the monument survived both world wars, it was pulled down 16 days after the German surrender in May 1945. At night, while the crowd was watching, after wrapping chains and ropes around it, it was hitched to a tractor and pulled to the ground behind assistance of the engineers Soviet Army. The entire Sets were awaiting major modifications that began in September 1946 and ended two years later later. Originally, they were to be carried out by prisoners from the concentration camp for Germans, who were waiting there for the their displacement, but in the end it was decided to assign these works to prisoners from [ [České Budějovice Prison|budějovice prison]] in Justice Palace. The statue of the goddess Diana disappeared and the classical arbor called Templ was torn down after almost 130 years of its existence.

The damaged Lann monument was moved to Lanna's shipyard, from where it then reached the yard of the ZŠ Dukelská and was finally stored in bavorovicky depositories South Bohemian Museum.

In 1963, the České Budějovice monument preservation worker Karel Kakuška started working on a proposal for the restoration of the monument, but the whole long process did not have time to finish until the events of 1968, after which the restoration of the monument to the Budějovice entrepreneur and an industrialist was again out of the question.

Recovery

In 1991, the vandalized monument was transferred from the property of the South Bohemian Museum to the property of the city. It was subsequently transferred to the garden of the house of academic sculptor Ivan Tlášek in Libníči, who carried out its restoration. New thinner posts and chains were also cast and the entire monument was newly built deeper in the park than its original position and rotated so that its front edge is no longer parallel to street corner. The entire monument was ceremoniously unveiled again on October 2, 1993

Elements of the monument

one of the volutes separating the inscriptions

The entire monument is 664 cm high, of which the figure of Lanna is 269 cm. The base of the statue is made of red granite imported from the Bayreuth area and was created according to the design of Franz Pönninger by the stonemason Erhard Ackermann from Weissenstadtu.

Inscriptions

The granite plinth is followed by a bronze plinth with four text tables separated by volutes. On the south (front) side is the inscription Adalbert Lanna. There are two quatrains on the east and west sides.

In the east:

 Freudig und rastlos schaffend
 entrang Er dem Boden die Schätze
 ebnet den Fluthen die Bahn
 sie zu tragen ans Meer.

To Czech:
He worked joyfully and tirelessly,
he robbed the earth of her treasures,
he straightened the courses of the rivers,
to carry them to the sea.

File:The statue of Vojtěch Adalbert Lanna in České Budějovice (Q57416341) 04.jpg

detail of the western side of the plinth

On the West:

 Warmherzig gab Er der Heimath
 Rath, Help and Example,
 ihrer Jugend das Beste:
 eine Stätte der Bildung.

To Czech: He gave heartily to his homeland
advice, help and example,
to her youth the best:
a place for education.

File:Adalbert Lanna – monument in B&W (08).jpg

back side of plinth

On the back of the monument is written in large letters:

 Gewidmet
 von der
 City of Budweis
 1879

In honor: "Dedicated by the city of Budějovice 1879".

Down on the left:

 Invented and modeled
 F. Pönninger

In Czech: Invented and modeled by F. Pönninger.

File:Adalbert Lanna – monument in B&W (13).jpg

first relief scene

File:Adalbert Lanna – monument in B&W (14).jpg

second relief scene

Bottom right:

 K. k. Kunst Erzgiesserei
 Rohlich und Ponninger Wien.

Into Czech: C. k. art foundry Röhlich and Pönninger Vienna.

Cylinder reliefs

[[File:M Translation types Text translation Source text 5,000 / 5,000 Translation results Translation result monument of Adalbert Lanna the Elder (7).jpg|thumb|upright|third relief scene]]

fourth relief scene

The next floor of the monument is a cylinder with reliefs. No official author's commentary on the meaning of the reliefs in their finished form has survived, and they are therefore fully open to interpretation. The scenes proceed from the frontal (southern) side towards the right, the beginning and end of the cycle is defined by a strongly protruding column on the western side.

In the first scene, there is the figure of the Old Man and the figure of the Young Man, who are opposites to each other. The Young Man's kneeling assistant holds a compass and the standing assistant originally leaned on a vertical two-man lumberjack saw. It was not renewed during the restoration of the monument in 1993. The young man is probably an idealized representation of Vojtěch Lanna the elder himself. The innovation, progress and scientificity of Lann's entrepreneurial activities are probably emphasized here, compared to the old, obviously repeated tradition of doing things as they have been done since ancient times.

The second scene shows two female figures dressed in flowing draperies with two children in front of them. The female figures are allegorical depictions of the confluence of two rivers that played a major role in the business activities of Vojtěch Lanna the Elder - the bare-haired Vltava leans towards the more powerful Elbe. The meaning of the two boyish figures is not at all clear, the wooden boat is probably a reference to the hundreds of river boats that were produced in the Budejovice Lanna's Shipyard and which transported Lanna's goods on both rivers (Vltava and Elbe) to Hamburg at. It is possible to assume that the relief was not restored to its original state. The amphora of the allegorical Vltava probably also "flowed water" earlier, and the boy on the left could pull the boat by the string with his raised left hand.

In the third scene, two male figures stand side by side. A man on the left holds a bowl, a measuring stick at his waist, and stacked barrels in the background at his feet. This is probably a Shop personification. A man on the right in a work apron leans on a hammer and anvil, a hoist and gears can be seen in the background. So he is probably personification of Industry. Both personifications generally refer to the two main branches of Lanna's activity, but perhaps also directly to the Budějovice Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which Lanna co-founded in 1851 after returning from the London's first World Exhibition.

In the last scene, two putti are pulling the third one, who is driving through the glory gate in a chariot. The putti with a wreath in his hair has his left arm attached with a bracket, probably again the result of a rough repair in 1993. Similarly, the position of the right arm of the chariot-riding putto is doubtful. The whole scene is perhaps a kind of combination of the traditional iconographic type of the posthumous apotheosis of the protagonist (antique chariot passing under a festoon into the blossoming [[Elysium|Elysia] ]) and of the emerging iconographic type railway allegory (a powerfully smoking torch carried in front and a putto pouring out along the path horn of plenty - a symbol of the economic prosperity that the railway is supposed to bring).

Sculptural portrait

The statue of Vojtěch Lanna the elder stands at the very top of the monument and looks down at the viewer. With his left hand he holds a drapery that partially covers his civilian period clothing. His attribute as a c. k. shipmaster is depicted at his left leg - a pier pole wrapped in a rope.

Possible Foreshadowing and Related Works

monument of Friedrich Wilhelm III. in Berlin's Tiergarten from 1849 by Friedrich Drake

Franz Pönninger could have used, for example, the Friedrich Wilhelm III monument in Berlin's Tiergarten from 1849 by Friedrich Drake or even older London monuments - admiral monument Horatio Nelson]] of 1818 by John Flaxman or the William IV Monument at the junction of King William Street and Cannon Street unveiled in 1844. All these monuments could Pönninger personally seen during his foreign trip in 1862.

Among the formal Translation types Text translation Source text ně příbuzná soudobá díla patří například pomník arcivévody Maxmiliána v Terstu od Johanese Schillinga, edinburský pomník Johna Platta od D. W. Stevensona, janovský pomník lékaře Davida Chiossoneho od Santa Saccomanna nebo brémský [[válečný 2,477 / 5,000 Translation results Translation result related contemporary works include, for example, monument of Archduke Maximilian in Terste by Johanes Schilling, edinburgish monument of John Platt by D. W. Stevenson, Genoese David Chiossone Monument by Santa Saccomanna or Bremen war memorial by Karl Keil. Only a little later are two monuments from the Berlin Tiergarten - Johann Wolfgang Göthe monument by Fritz Schaper and monument of Queen Luisa of Prussia Mecklenburg-Střelické by Erdmann Encke. From the Czech environment, the similarity cannot be denied monument of Karel Havlíček) in Kutná Hora by Josef Strachovský, which was unveiled four years ago (1883 ) after Lann's monument.

In the work of the author of the monument - Franz Pönninger - the Budějovice monument to Vojtěch Lanna the Elder is one of the most important commissions he worked on, and bears comparison with his other two monuments completed only a little earlier - monument of Vienna mayor Ondřej Zelinka in Vienna's City Park and the archduke Johann fountain monument standing in the main square of Strastria.

Literature

• Blacksmith, Daniel (2000), Stories of Budejovice monuments, České Budějovice{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• German, Martin (2023). Monument to Vojtěch Lanna the Elder in České Budějovice (Thesis). České Budějovice: Faculty of Philosophy of the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice. {{cite thesis}}: Unknown parameter |leader= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |thesis_type= ignored (help)

External links

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