KLENZE, Leo von

The Liberation Hall (Befreiungshalle) is a Neoclassical monument on the Michelsberg hill above the town of Kelheim in Bavaria, built by Leo von Klenze between 1836 and 1844. It stands upstream of Regensburg on the river Danube at the confluence of the Danube and the Altm�hl, i.e. the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal. It was commissioned by King Ludwig I of Bavaria to commemorate the victory over Napoleon in the Liberation War (Befreiungskriege) of 1813-15. It is a round structure articulated by lesenes.

Designing the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, Klenze opted for an Italian Renaissance style for the elongated building, with pronounced corner wings, involving large round arched windows that allows light into the side rooms on the upper floorThe large rooms in the centre of the upper floor are top-lit, allowing the best possible lighting for the paintings there.

The photo shows the eastern fa�ade.

Designing the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, Klenze opted for an Italian Renaissance style for the elongated building, with pronounced corner wings, involving large round arched windows that allows light into the side rooms on the upper floorThe large rooms in the centre of the upper floor are top-lit, allowing the best possible lighting for the paintings there.

The photo shows part of the eastern fa�ade.

Designing the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, Klenze opted for an Italian Renaissance style for the elongated building, with pronounced corner wings, involving large round arched windows that allows light into the side rooms on the upper floorThe large rooms in the centre of the upper floor are top-lit, allowing the best possible lighting for the paintings there.

The photo shows the southern fa�ade.

In his reshaping of Munich as a modern royal seat, Ludwig I of Bavaria drew on sundry historical styles for palace building. Thus he commissioned from Leo von Klenze a royal palace using forms of the Florentine Renaissance. The outline of fa�ade of the realized palace, the Residenz, follows that of the Palazzo Pitti, while the articulation and rusticated masonry were taken from the Palazzo Ruccelai.

In 1813, a competition was launched by King Ludwig II for the construction of the Glyptothek in Munich. The objective was to create a modern museum of art in an appropriate style with specific sequence of rooms and suitable lighting. Designs in different styles were submitted, and the king opted for Leo von Klenze’s classical version with an Ionic octastyle and low side wings articulated by framed figural niches.

Georg Friedrich Ziebland built the art exhibition building opposite von Klenze’s Glyptothek (1815-30) on K�nigsplatz in the same classical style in order to preserve the unity of the square. The square was finally completed by the Doric/Egyptian propylaeum designed by von Klenze in 1846-53.

The photo shows the main fa�ade of the Glyptothek on K�nigsplatz in Munich.

The Liberation Hall (Befreiungshalle) is a Neoclassical monument on the Michelsberg hill above the town of Kelheim in Bavaria, built by Leo von Klenze between 1836 and 1844. It stands upstream of Regensburg on the river Danube at the confluence of the Danube and the Altm�hl, i.e. the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal. It was commissioned by King Ludwig I of Bavaria to commemorate the victory over Napoleon in the Liberation War (Befreiungskriege) of 1813-15. It is a round structure articulated by lesenes.

One of the three largest halls in the New Hermitage, the Hall of Italian Schools got its other name - the Large Skylight Hall - from the glazed ceiling conceived by Klenze and implemented by Russian architects.

The Englischer Garten is a large public park in the centre of Munich, stretching from the city centre to the northeastern city limits. It was created in 1789 by Sir Benjamin Thompson (1753–1814), later Count Rumford (Reichsgraf von Rumford), for Prince Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria. Thompson’s successors, Reinhard von Werneck (1757–1842) and Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell (1750–1823), advisers on the project from its beginning, both extended and improved the park.

The Englischer Garten is one of the world’s largest urban public parks, larger than New York’s Central Park. The name refers to its English garden form of informal landscape, a style popular in England from the mid-18th century to the early 19th century.

When Sckell moved to Munich in 1804, he was raised to the rank of Court Garden Director by the new ruler, Maximilian Joseph. Now he was able to start work on transforming a huge stretch of land, more than five kilometres in length, into a harmonious and rhythmically subdivided park.

Sckell wanted only to retain staffage buildings - those used for decorative rather than purely functional purposes - in Neoclassicist style. The sentimental and exotic motifs, built in 18th century, were to be removed. Sckell died in 1823, and his ideas on staffage buildings were realized by Leo von Klenze.

One of Klenze’s most imposing buildings is the Monopteros on the artificial mound near the Hofgarten, built in 1838. It is a little round temple where Ludwig I had a memorial tablet installed to Karl-Theodor and Maximilian I.

In 1813, a competition was launched by King Ludwig II for the construction of the Glyptothek in Munich. The objective was to create a modern museum of art in an appropriate style with specific sequence of rooms and suitable lighting. Designs in different styles were submitted, and the king opted for Leo von Klenze’s classical version with an Ionic octastyle and low side wings articulated by framed figural niches.

Georg Friedrich Ziebland built the art exhibition building opposite von Klenze’s Glyptothek (1815-30) on K�nigsplatz in the same classical style in order to preserve the unity of the square. The square was finally completed by the Doric/Egyptian propylaeum designed by von Klenze in 1846-53.

The photo shows the main fa�ade of the Propylaeum on K�nigsplatz in Munich.

When Ludwig von Sckell moved to Munich in 1804, he was raised to the rank of Court Garden Director by the new ruler, Maximilian Joseph. Now he was able to start work on transforming a huge stretch of land, more than five kilometres in length, into a harmonious and rhythmically subdivided park, the Englischer Garten.

Sckell wanted only to retain staffage buildings - those used for decorative rather than purely functional purposes - in Neoclassicist style. The sentimental and exotic motifs, built in 18th century, were to be removed. Sckell died in 1823, and his ideas on staffage buildings were realized by Leo von Klenze.

In the public park, on the bank of the Kleinhesseloher Lake, rises the Sckell Memorial, which was built to designs by Leo von Klenze, and erected shortly after the death of Sckell, the great garden architect. The inscription reads: “To the great master of fine garden art, who crowned his lasting achievements to promote the purest enjoyment of the earth with this park, his Sovereign Max Joseph caused this memorial to be set. MDCCCXXIV.”

Leo von Klenze is best known as an architect and one of the most important proponents of Greek Revival architecture in Germany during the first half of the 19th century. In addition to his architectural work, he was also an accomplished painter and draughtsman. He travelled to Italy frequently where he made numerous sketches of the landscape and architecture.

This ideal view was painted in 1846 from a sketch the artist made in 1843. It had two purposes. First it demonstrated Klenze’s competence in the reconstruction and care of historical monuments in Athens, which was then governed by a member of the Bavarian royal family, and second, the measurements he took on the spot provided data for the propylaeum on K�nigsplatz in Munich.

Since the French Revolution, there had been great enthusiasm for monuments of every kind in Germany. Most of the projects for monuments to rulers, national monuments, and many others, remained purely notional, and were either never executed or only realised on a small scale. The great minds of the German nation was the subject of probably the most impressive monument project of the early 19th century, the Valhalla of the Germans built by Leo von Klenze on the Danube near Regensburg in 1830-42.

In 1814, the Bavarian King Ludwig I had proclaimed a competition, for which Gothic designs were also entered. However, Ludwig favoured a Doric peripteral on the model of the Parthenon on the Acropolis in Athens. It now dominates a riverside site at the head of a cascade of steps. Inside, the temple is designed in a thoroughly modern way as a hall with wall piers and top lights, while busts and statues of famous German people line the walls.

The Doric temple of the exterior opens up in the interior into a large hall, divided into three parts by wall piers and top-lit through an open roof. Several tiers of marble busts of famous Germans line the walls. The gallery level carries the names of people from the Dark Ages and medieval times who left no portraits behind. The Valkyrie caryatides in the loggias were carried out to designs by Klenze. In the centre of the entrance to the side rooms, the enthroned figure of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, founder of Valhalla, was installed in 1890, blocking the uninterrupted view into the opisthodomus and the scenery outside the window.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 4 minutes):

Richard Wagner: Die Walk�re, Ride of the Valkyries

In 1814, the Bavarian King Ludwig I had proclaimed a competition, for which Gothic designs were also entered. However, Ludwig favoured a Doric peripteral on the model of the Parthenon on the Acropolis in Athens. It now dominates a riverside site at the head of a cascade of steps. Inside, the temple is designed in a thoroughly modern way as a hall with wall piers and top lights, while busts and statues of famous German people line the walls.

The Doric temple of the exterior opens up in the interior into a large hall, divided into three parts by wall piers and top-lit through an open roof. Several tiers of marble busts of famous Germans line the walls. The gallery level carries the names of people from the Dark Ages and medieval times who left no portraits behind. The Valkyrie caryatides in the loggias were carried out to designs by Klenze. In the centre of the entrance to the side rooms, the enthroned figure of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, founder of Valhalla, was installed in 1890, blocking the uninterrupted view into the opisthodomus and the scenery outside the window.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 4 minutes):

Richard Wagner: Die Walk�re, Ride of the Valkyries

Leo von Klenze is best known as an architect and one of the most important proponents of Greek Revival architecture in Germany during the first half of the 19th century. In addition to his architectural work, he was also an accomplished painter and draughtsman. He travelled to Italy frequently where he made numerous sketches of the landscape and architecture.