Alois Negrelli
Encyclopedia
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
and railroad pioneer in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
.
Biography
He was born as Luigi Negrelli in the village Fiera di PrimieroFiera di Primiero
Fiera di Primiero is a comune in Trentino in the northern Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about 60 km east of Trento....
(Primör), in County of Tyrol
County of Tyrol
The County of Tyrol, Princely County from 1504, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, from 1814 a province of the Austrian Empire and from 1867 a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary...
(then part of the Austrian Empire
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
- today Trentino, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
), went to secondary school in Feltre
Feltre
Feltre is a town and comune of the province of Belluno in Veneto, northern Italy. A hill town in the southern reaches of the province, it is located on the Stizzon River, about 4 km from its junction with the Piave, and 20 km southwest from Belluno...
and studied in Padua
Padua
Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
and Innsbruck
Innsbruck
- Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus...
, then the capital of the Crownland of Tyrol. After beginning his career in Innsbruck, he lived for some time in Bregenz
Bregenz
-Culture:The annual summer music festival Bregenzer Festspiele is a world-famous festival which takes place on and around a stage on Lake Constance, where a different opera is performed every second year.-Sport:* A1 Bregenz HB is a handball team....
, Vorarlberg
Vorarlberg
Vorarlberg is the westernmost federal-state of Austria. Although it is the second smallest in terms of area and population , it borders three countries: Germany , Switzerland and Liechtenstein...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, where he earned a reputation in the channelization of the Alpenrhein and of the various Austrian and Swiss interests connected therewith. He moved to Switzerland in 1832 where he continued similar works in the Canton of St. Gallen
Canton of St. Gallen
The Canton of St. Gallen is a canton of Switzerland. St. Gallen is located in the north east of Switzerland. It covers an area of 2,026 km², and has a population of . , the population included 97,461 foreigners, or about 20.9% of the total population. The capital is St. Gallen. Spelling...
. In 1835, he was called to Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
, where he executed various works, notably the Munster Bridge together with Ferdinand Stadler
Ferdinand Stadler
Ferdinand Stadler was a Swiss architect of the generation before Gottfried Semper. All his buildings are in Switzerland, mainly Zurich, except for the Christuskirche in Nazareth and an apartment in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse. His most notable designs include the City Church in Glarus and the...
who was responsible for the carpentry. Stone bridges were built over a wooden timber frame at this time. He also started to draw plans for the first Swiss railroad, the Swiss Northern Railway, from Zurich to Baden, which several years later were built under his supervision. During a journey to England, France and Belgium, he studied the new railways and subsequently published his ideas of adapting this technology to mountainous regions in some papers receiving wide attention in the industry.
He returned to working for Austria in 1840, and until 1857 was inspector for the Austrian Northern Railway
Northern Railway (Austria)
The Emperor Ferdinand Northern Railway was the name of a former railway company during the time of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Its main line was supposed to connect Vienna with salt mines in Bochnia near Kraków...
and the Austrian state railways. He was responsible for the construction of the railway from Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
via Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
to the German border in the direction of Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
and via Ostrava
Ostrava
Ostrava is the third largest city in the Czech Republic and the second largest urban agglomeration after Prague. Located close to the Polish border, it is also the administrative center of the Moravian-Silesian Region and of the Municipality with Extended Competence. Ostrava was candidate for the...
to the Polish border in the direction of Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
and prepared the railway to the then Autrian Lviv
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
and of the extension to the Russian border further east. He led the construction of the Negrelli Viaduct in Prague between 1846 and 1849. This railway bridge with its 1110 m was the longest bridge in Europe until 1910. Negrelli's authority in railway matters was material in the making of the decision to have the Semmering railway
Semmering Railway
The Semmering railway, Austria, which starts at Gloggnitz and leads over the Semmering to Mürzzuschlag was the first mountain railway in Europe built with a standard gauge track. It is commonly referred to as the world's first true mountain railway, given the very difficult terrain and the...
built by Carl von Ghega and his advice on railway matters was requested by various other states like the Kingdom of Württemberg
Kingdom of Württemberg
The Kingdom of Württemberg was a state that existed from 1806 to 1918, located in present-day Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was a continuation of the Duchy of Württemberg, which came into existence in 1495...
and the Kingdom of Saxony
Kingdom of Saxony
The Kingdom of Saxony , lasting between 1806 and 1918, was an independent member of a number of historical confederacies in Napoleonic through post-Napoleonic Germany. From 1871 it was part of the German Empire. It became a Free state in the era of Weimar Republic in 1918 after the end of World War...
.
In 1849, he was sent to the then Austrian Lombardy-Venetia, with the task of overseeing public buildings, railways and telegraph lines construction, and traffic on river Po. During that time he received the title
Title
A title is a prefix or suffix added to someone's name to signify either veneration, an official position or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may even be inserted between a first and last name...
Ritter
Ritter
Ritter is a designation used as a title of nobility in German-speaking areas. Traditionally it denotes the second lowest rank within the nobility, standing above "Edler" and below "Freiherr"...
von Moldelbe, a name he chose himself in memory of his times working on the rivers Vltava
Vltava
The Vltava is the longest river in the Czech Republic, running north from its source in Šumava through Český Krumlov, České Budějovice, and Prague, merging with the Elbe at Mělník...
/Moldau and Elbe
Elbe
The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
. He returned to Vienna in 1855 where he was appointed General Inspector of the Austrian railways.
In 1846 he had been invited by Barthélemy Prosper Enfantin
Barthélemy Prosper Enfantin
Barthélemy Prosper Enfantin was a French social reformer, one of the founders of Saint-Simonianism.-Early life:...
to the Société d'Études du Canal de Suez
Société d'Études du Canal de Suez
The Société d'Études du Canal de Suez was a society set up in 1846 by the Saint-Simonist Prosper Enfantin in Paris to study the Isthmus of Suez and the possibility of a Suez Canal....
and took part in the exploration tour to the isthmus of Suez in 1847. In 1855 he was invited by Ferdinand de Lesseps
Ferdinand de Lesseps
Ferdinand Marie, Vicomte de Lesseps, GCSI was the French developer of the Suez Canal, which joined the Mediterranean and Red Seas in 1869, and substantially reduced sailing distances and times between the West and the East.He attempted to repeat this success with an effort to build a sea-level...
to the International Commission for the piercing of the isthmus of Suez
International Commission for the piercing of the isthmus of Suez
The International Commission for the piercing of the isthmus of Suez was the commission consisting of various European experts convened in 1855 by Ferdinand de Lesseps as instructed by the viceroy of Egypt Muhammad Sa'id in order to ascertain the feasibility of a canal between the Mediterranean...
(Commission Internationale pour le percement de l'isthme des Suez) consisting of thirteen experts from seven countries who were to examine the plans already made by Linant de Bellefonds
Louis Maurice Adolphe Linant de Bellefonds
Louis Maurice Adolphe Linant de Bellefonds better known as Linant Pasha was an explorer of Egypt and, as the chief engineer of Egypt's public works, 1831–1869, the chief engineer of the Suez Canal.- Life and work :Having taken advantage of a sound education that emphasized mathematics,...
and to advise on the feasibility of and on the best route for the canal. Negrelli formed part of the surveying group travelling to Egypt. In the final deliberations of the Commission in Paris in 1856, his ideas of a canal without lock
Lock (water transport)
A lock is a device for raising and lowering boats between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a fixed chamber in which the water level can be varied; whereas in a caisson lock, a boat lift, or on a canal inclined plane, it is...
s and a northern entry further to the west prevailed. The Commission then produced a comprehensive final report including plans and profiles according to which the Suez Canal
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...
was later built by the Suez Canal Company
Suez Canal Company
The Universal Suez Ship Canal Company was the Egyptian corporation which was formed by Ferdinand de Lesseps during 1858, constructed the Suez Canal between 1859 and 1869, and owned and operated it for many years thereafter...
established in late 1858 by Lesseps.
Negrelli was prevented by a serious illness from visiting Egypt another time and died in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
on 1 October 1858, some weeks before the Suez Canal Company was established and half a year before the works on the canal were started.
In his book about Transportation in Egypt Negrelli wrote about the Suez Canal:
...The connection of the two seas with a canal is not only a necessity for free trade by shortening the route between Europe and the old rich countries of the Indian Ocean but also for increase of coastal navigation and economic prosperity of this blessed country (Egypt)... (eLibrary Austria Project (translated from the German text))
Works
- Ausflug nach Frankreich, England und Belgien zur Beobachtung der dortigen Eisenbahnen, mit einem Anhange über Anwendung von Eisenbahnen in Gebirgsländern, L. Negrelli, Oberingenieur der Kaufmannschaft in Zürich. Frauenfeld,1838
- Die gegenwärtigen Transport- und Kommunikationsmittel Egyptens mit Beziehung auf die beantragte Durchstechung der Landenge von Suez, Alois Negrelli von Moldelbe, 1856 ("Transportation in Egypt")
- Die Eisenbahnen mit Anwendung der gewöhnlichen Dampfwägen als bewegende Kraft über Anhöhen und Wasserscheiden sind ausführbar. Ein auf Erfahrungen begründeter und praktisch dargestellter Vorschlag. Beck'sche Universitäts-Buchhandlung, Vienna 1842
- Über Gebirgseisenbahnen, Vienna 1842
- Gutachten über den Bau einer obenfahrbarn Brücke über die Limmat in Zürich, eines neuen Kornhauses und Hafens, 1834
- Die Münsterbrücke in Zürich, 1844