Volume 39, Number 11 · June 11, 1992
The Master Builder
By Gordon A. Craig
BOOKS DISCUSSED IN THIS ESSAY
Karl Friedrich Schinkel: A Universal Man 31–October 27, 1991
An exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, July
Karl Friedrich Schinkel: A Universal Man
Catalog of the exhibition, edited by Michael Snodin
Yale University Press in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum, 218 pp., $40.00
Karl Friedrich Schinkel
by Helmut Börsch-Supan
Bühnentwürfe Stage Designs, Ernst and Son, Vol. II, 32 plates pp., DM 360 the set
Collection of Architectural Designs, including designs which have been executed and objects whose execution was intended
by Karl Friedrich Schinkel
Princeton Architectural Press, 174 pp. of text 174 plates pp., $60.00
Reise nach England, Schottland und Paris im Jahre 1826
by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, edited with an introduction and notes by Gottfried Riemann, an essay by David Bindmann
C.H. Beck (out of print), 376 pp.
In an episode in Erwin Strittmatter's Ole Bienkopp, one of the most interesting novels to appear during the lifetime of the German Democratic Republic, the Communist Party secretary of the Duchy of Ruppin in Mark Brandenburg becomes annoyed with the presence, in the marketplace of the town of Gransee, of a memorial to Queen Luise of Prussia. Erected by the townspeople in 1811, to commemorate the fact that the much-loved queen's funeral cortege paused for a night in Gransee on its way to Berlin from Mecklenburg, where she died, the Luisendenkmal was a catafalque resting on a high stone pedestal, with a golden crown at its head. Over the coffin there was a Gothic baldachin of iron in the shape of a tabernacle, and the whole was enclosed by ornamental iron railings. The district secretary could see no reason why this melancholy edifice should still be casting a shadow over the marketplace and, reflecting that old iron is always useful, he sent some laborers to demolish it. As the first hammer hit the railings, however, a window flew up in the building across the square, and the town dentist shouted indignantly, 'You are desecrating Schinkel!'[1]
Review, 5015 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |