Lauritz de Thurah
Encyclopedia
Laurids Lauridsen de Thurah, known as Lauritz de Thurah (4 March 1706 - 5 September 1759), was a Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 architect and architectural writer. He became the most important Danish architect of the late baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

 period. As an architectural writer and historian he made a priceless contribution to the understanding of both Denmark's architectural heritage and building construction in his day.

de Thurah was a self-taught architect who learned much of what he knew by studying the inspiring buildings he saw on his travels outside Denmark between 1729 and 1731. He brought home the baroque style, which was then popular, but was quickly losing way to rococo. Throughout his life he maintained a loyalty to the baroque, even as the world around him continued to change and he lost work assignments to others who mastered the newer, more popular styles.

Youth and early life

Lauritx de Thurah was born Laurids Lauridsen Thura in Aarhus
Aarhus
Aarhus or Århus is the second-largest city in Denmark. The principal port of Denmark, Aarhus is on the east side of the peninsula of Jutland in the geographical center of Denmark...

, the third son of parish priest Laurids Thura, later Bishop of Ribe
Ribe
Ribe , the oldest extant Danish town, is in southwest Jutland and has a population of 8,192 . Until 1 January 2007, it was the seat of both the surrounding municipality, and county...

, and wife Helene Cathrine de With. He was educated at home by the elder Thura, a literate scholar and able teacher. By chance he come into contact with the royal house when King Frederik IV
Frederick IV of Denmark
Frederick IV was the king of Denmark and Norway from 1699 until his death. Frederick was the son of King Christian V of Denmark and Norway and Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel .-Foreign affairs:...

 called on the Bishop, and chose the boy and his older brother Didrich for military service. In 1719 he went to Copenhagen as a military cadet
Cadet
A cadet is a trainee to become an officer in the military, often a person who is a junior trainee. The term comes from the term "cadet" for younger sons of a noble family.- Military context :...

, a landkadet in Danish, to receive an education for the Engineer Corps at the Military Cadet Academy (Landkadetakademiet).

He was employed in 1725 as Assistant Resident Engineer in the Holstein
Holstein
Holstein is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is part of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of Germany....

 Engineering Corps, and he moved to Rendsburg
Rendsburg
Rendsburg is a town on the River Eider and the Kiel Canal in the northeastern part of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the capital of the Kreis of Rendsburg-Eckernförde. As of 2006, it had a population of 28,476.-History:...

 where he served from 1725-1729.

Architectural studies and travels

With an interest in improving his lot in life by eventually coming into an architectural career, he enthusiastically studied the local building style, and petitioned the king for a royal grant to study civil architecture on a longer travel to foreign lands. In order to attain this he made carefully detailed drawings of Rendsburg's fortifications, churches and houses, and a preliminary construction drawing for a suspension bridge
Suspension bridge
A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders. Outside Tibet and Bhutan, where the first examples of this type of bridge were built in the 15th century, this type of bridge dates from the early 19th century...

.

The king was impressed, and promised to give him funds, but instead he gave Thura and his friend Lieutenant Holger Rosenkrantz additional surveying and drawing assignments. Finally Thura, after having sent the king many reminders to his promised financial assistance, went to Copenhagen and was put to a final test, before receiving the economic grant so he and Rosenkrantz could travel.

Thura also made drawings and measurements of the newest castle in Denmark, Fredensborg
Fredensborg Palace
Fredensborg Palace, , is a palace located on the eastern shore of Lake Esrum in Fredensborg on the island of Zealand in Denmark. It is the Danish Royal Family’s spring and autumn residence, and is often the site of important state visits and events in the Royal Family...

, which were given as a gift to the Count of Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...

, before he traveled.

Thura and Rosenkrantz left in 1729, and visited a number of German cities, including Kassel
Kassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...

, where they made careful studies and measurements of buildings. They traveled further to Italy, France, Holland and England before returning to Denmark in 1731.

Career in Denmark

After his return home, Thura rose rapidly up the ranks. He became Resident Engineer in 1732. In 1733 he was named Royal Building Master with supervisory responsibility for royal buildings on Zealand and on Lolland
Lolland
Lolland is the fourth largest island of Denmark, with an area of 1,243 square kilometers . Located in the Baltic sea, it is part of Region Sjælland...

-Falster
Falster
Falster is an island in south-eastern Denmark with an area of 514 km² and 43,398 inhabitants as of 1 January 2010. Located in the Baltic sea, it is part of Region Sjælland and is administered by Guldborgsund Municipality...

. At the same time he was promoted to Captain in the Engineering Corps.

In 1732-1736 he designed and built the royal Palace in Roskilde
Roskilde
Roskilde is the main city in Roskilde Municipality, Denmark on the island of Zealand. It is an ancient city, dating from the Viking Age and is a member of the Most Ancient European Towns Network....

, also known as the Yellow Palace, on the site of the old Bishop’s palace east of Roskilde Cathedral
Roskilde Cathedral
Roskilde Cathedral , in the city of Roskilde on the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark, is a cathedral of the Lutheran Church of Denmark. The first Gothic cathedral to be built of brick, it encouraged the spread of the Brick Gothic style throughout Northern Europe...

. The four-wing baroque building became the headquarters of the Duke of Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...

 during the English siege of Copenhagen
Battle of Copenhagen (1807)
The Second Battle of Copenhagen was a British preemptive attack on Copenhagen, targeting the civilian population in order to seize the Dano-Norwegian fleet and in turn originate the term to Copenhagenize.-Background:Despite the defeat and loss of many ships in the first Battle of Copenhagen in...

 in 1807, and now houses the Museum of Contemporary Art.

In 1733-1739 he worked on the first remodelling and expansion of Hirschholm Palace
Hirschholm Palace
Hirschholm Palace, also known as Hørsholm Palace, was a royal palace located in present-day Hørsholm municipality just north of Copenhagen, Denmark...

 for King Christian VI
Christian VI of Denmark
Christian VI was King of Denmark and Norway from 1730 to 1746.He was the son of King Frederick IV of Denmark and Norway and Louise of Mecklenburg-Güstrow. He married Sophia Magdalen of Brandenburg-Kulmbach and fathered Frederick V.-The reign and personality of Christian VI:To posterity Christian...

 and his consort Queen Sophie Magdalene
Sophia Magdalen of Brandenburg-Kulmbach
Sophia Magdalene of Brandenburg-Kulmbach was queen-consort of Denmark and Norway as the wife of King Christian VI of Denmark and Norway.-Background:...

.

In 1734-36 de Thurah built the Eremitage Palace
Eremitage Palace
The Eremitage Palace or Eremitage Hunting Lodge is located in Dyrehaven north of Copenhagen, Denmark. The palace was built by architect Lauritz de Thurah in Baroque style from 1734 to 1736 for Christian VI of Denmark in order to host royal banquets during royal hunts in Dyrehaven.- Name :Never...

, palatial hunting lodge overlooking Jægersborg Dyrehave north of Copenhagen, and facing east over the Øresund
Oresund
The Sound , is the strait that separates the Danish island Zealand from the southern Swedish province of Scania. Its width is just at the narrowest point between Helsingør, Denmark, and Helsingborg, Sweden...

 to Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

. The grey-stone house with copper-clad mansard roof replaced another hunting lodge named "Hubertus", which had been built nearby in the 17th century. The original design featured an elevator-table, similar to a dumbwaiter
Dumbwaiter (elevator)
Dumbwaiters are small freight elevators intended to carry objects rather than people. Dumbwaiters found within modern structures, including both commercial and private buildings, are often connected between two floors...

), which could be raised from the cellar up to the dining room. In this way servants stayed in the cellar kitchen, where they prepared and set the table, and then it could be hoisted up to the dining room through a hatch in the floor. Diners would then eat unattended by servants or "en eremit". that is "in the hermit style". The lodge is still in use to this day for special occasions.

But already after only a couple of year’s service back in Denmark, Thura began to feel that his baroque style had gone out of fashion. He felt that baroque was losing ground to rococo
Rococo
Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...

, a style mastered by another force in contemporary Danish architectural circles, Nicolai Eigtved
Nicolai Eigtved
Nicolai Eigtved, also known as Niels Eigtved, , Danish architect, introduced and was the leading proponent of the French rococo style in Danish architecture during the 1730s-1740s. He designed and built some of the most prominent buildings of his time, a number of which still stand to this day...

, who would be Thura’s colleague and rival throughout most of his career. Eigtved, who returned to Denmark from his travels in 1735, became the king’s preferred architect, and Thura felt himself being more and more set to the side.

In 1736 Thura was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. He participated, along with German architect Elias David Hausser
Elias David Häusser
Elias David Häusser was a German-Danish architect working in the Baroque and Rococo styles. He is most known for designing the first Christiansborg Palace which was almost completely destroyed in a fire in 1794...

 and Nicolai Eigtved, in the interior construction of (the first) Christiansbrog Palace. He designed some of the interiors in the Queen’s apartments 1737-1740, but these were lost in the fire of 1794. He also created plans for the main staircase, the chapel, the marble bridge, the pavilions and the riding grounds, which were never realised.

On 19 October 1740 he married Anna Rosenørn, daughter of a General Major, and is conferred nobility under the name "de Thurah".

In 1741 de Thurah elevated the roof of the main building at Fredensborg Palace
Fredensborg Palace
Fredensborg Palace, , is a palace located on the eastern shore of Lake Esrum in Fredensborg on the island of Zealand in Denmark. It is the Danish Royal Family’s spring and autumn residence, and is often the site of important state visits and events in the Royal Family...

. In 1742 he was named to the Building Commission, and took on supervisory responsibility for royal buildings on Zealand and Funen
Funen
Funen , with a size of 2,984 km² , is the third-largest island of Denmark following Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy, and the 163rd largest island of the world. Funen is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 454,358 inhabitants . The main city is Odense, connected to the...

.

In 1743-1744 he designed the final rebuilding of Hirschholm Palace, the most impressive building project of the period, known as "the Versailles
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles , or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. In French it is the Château de Versailles....

 of the North". The same year work was completed on the tower and spire for the Church of Our Lady
Church of Our Lady (Copenhagen)
The Church of Our Lady is the cathedral of Copenhagen and the National Cathedral of Denmark. It is situated on Vor Frue Plads and next to the main building of the University of Copenhagen....

, in Copenhagen, partially after a drawing by Vincents Lerche. The building, however burned down during the bombardment of Copenhagen
Battle of Copenhagen (1807)
The Second Battle of Copenhagen was a British preemptive attack on Copenhagen, targeting the civilian population in order to seize the Dano-Norwegian fleet and in turn originate the term to Copenhagenize.-Background:Despite the defeat and loss of many ships in the first Battle of Copenhagen in...

 in 1807, and was rebuilt by Christian Frederik Hansen
Christian Frederik Hansen
Christian Frederik Hansen , known as C.F. Hansen, was the leading Danish architect between the late 18th century and the mid 19th century, and on account of his position at the Royal Danish Academy of Art the most powerful person in artistic circles for many years...

.

In 1744 de Thurah was promoted to Colonel. His three-volume work Den danske Vitruvius was published in 1746-1749, containing almost 400 drawings and measurements of buildings in Copenhagen and royal castles and other interesting buildings in Denmark, with Danish, German and French text.

Frustrated by his losing assignments to Eigtved, he petitioned the king in 1747 for a new non-architectural position, but this was rejected.

In 1748 de Thurah was asked to assist on the building of a new spire on the Lambert van Haven
Lambert van Haven
Lambert van Haven was a Danish architect, master builder and painter. He was born in Bergen, the son of the artist Solomon van Haven who had already succeeded in winning the favour of the Danish monarchy....

 designed Church of Our Saviour in the Christianshavn
Christianshavn
Christianshavn is an artificial island neighbourhood located in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was founded in the early 17th century by Christian IV as part of his extension of the fortifications of Copenhagen. Originally it was laid out as an independent privileged merchant's town with inspiration from...

 district of Copenhagen. He chose a design inspired by the Sant’ivo della Sapienza
University of Rome La Sapienza
The Sapienza University of Rome, officially Sapienza – Università di Roma, formerly known as Università degli studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a coeducational, autonomous state university in Rome, Italy...

 church he had seen in Rome many years before. The new design however was much more costly than the king's original plan, and this led to a fierce rivalry between de Thurah and Eigtved over the choice of building material. The king finally sided with de Thurah.

That same year de Thurah’s wife died. He married again on January 16, 1750, to Christiane Marie de Kiærskiold, heiress to Børglum Kloster. He felt overlooked and pressured by colleague Eigtved, and so he pulled back on his career. He moved out of Copenhagen to the estate at Børglum Monastery in Jutland
Jutland
Jutland , historically also called Cimbria, is the name of the peninsula that juts out in Northern Europe toward the rest of Scandinavia, forming the mainland part of Denmark. It has the North Sea to its west, Kattegat and Skagerrak to its north, the Baltic Sea to its east, and the Danish–German...

 with his wife.

de Thurah’s masterpiece, the ornate, spirall-staircased spire on Our Saviour’s Church, topped with globe and figure, was completed in 1752, and can still be seen high-above Christianshavn to this day.

In 1753, after his retirement from the Engineering Corps, he was named General Major. That same year he gave up his responsibility for royal buildings on Zealand, that being taken over by Nicolai Eigtved. In 1754 he was named General Building Master, while Eigtved took over as Royal Building Master.

The six year older Eigtved died that same year, causing de Thurah to be called back into service as the leading architect of the day.

de Thurah was assigned the completion of work in Eigtved’s Frederiksstad district centred around Amalienborg, including the last two palaces on the eastern side of the square, and in 1754-1758 he designed and built the four pavilions at Frederiks Hospital
Frederiks Hospital
The royal Frederiks Hospital was Denmark's first hospital in the present-day meaning of the word. It was founded by king Frederik V and financed by the earnings from the Norwegian Postal Service....

, now housing the Danish Museum of Art & Design, which Eigtved had begun in 1752. He also built a house for himself in the district at 25 Amaliegade. from 1755–57

He also tried to get plans approved for Frederik's Church
Frederik's Church
Frederick's Church , popularly known as The Marble Church is a church in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is located just north of Amalienborg Palace....

, the centerpiece of the Frederiksstad area. He wanted to build a stone dome in the style of Michelangelo
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...

. The work eventually went to French neoclassical
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...

 architect Nicolas-Henri Jardin
Nicolas-Henri Jardin
Nicolas-Henri Jardin , neoclassical architect, was born in St. Germain des Noyers, Dept. Seine-et-Marne, France, and worked seventeen years in Denmark as an architect to the royal court...

.

He died during the night of 5 September 1759 in Copenhagen, and is buried in Trinity Church (Trinitatiskirke).

Writings

Parallel to his work as a practicing architect, de Thurah wrote several important treaties on Danish architecture. In 1735 de Thurah received a royal grant to collect information and to write a comprehensive work on architecture in Denmark, detailing all the royal buildings in the country. This work, eventually called Den Danske Vitruvius
Den Danske Vitruvius
Den Danske Vitruvius I-II is a richly illustrated 18th century architectural work on Danish monumental buildings of the period, written by the Danish Baroque architect Lauritz de Thurah. It was commissioned by Christian V in 1735 and published in two volumes between 1746 and 1749...

 (English: The Danish Vitruvius
Vitruvius
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio was a Roman writer, architect and engineer, active in the 1st century BC. He is best known as the author of the multi-volume work De Architectura ....

) (1746–48), would take up increasing amounts of his time as his architectural assignments diminished. Another central work of architectural importance by de Thurah is Hafnia Hodierna
Hafnia Hodierna
Hafnia Hodierna, Eller Udførlig Beskrivelse om den Kongelige Residentz- og Hoved-Stad Kiøbenhavn is an engraved architectural work on Copenhagen, published by the Danish architect Lauritz de Thurah in 1748...

, published in 1748.

Additionally, he published illustrated books about Bornholm
Bornholm
Bornholm is a Danish island in the Baltic Sea located to the east of the rest of Denmark, the south of Sweden, and the north of Poland. The main industries on the island include fishing, arts and crafts like glass making and pottery using locally worked clay, and dairy farming. Tourism is...

, Christiansø, Amager
Amager
Amager is a Danish island in the Øresund. The Danish capital, Copenhagen, is partly situated on Amager, which is connected to the much larger island of Zealand by five bridges.-History:...

, Saltholm
Saltholm
Saltholm is a Danish island in the Øresund, the strait that separates Denmark and Sweden. It is located to the east of the Danish island of Amager in Tårnby municipality and lies just to the west of the sea border between Denmark and Sweden. It is 7 km long and 3 km wide, covering an...

, and Samsø
Samsø
Samsø is a Danish island in the Kattegat off the Jutland Peninsula. Samsø is located in Samsø municipality. The community has 4,300 inhabitants called Samsingers and is 114 km² in area. Due to its central location, the island was used during the Viking Age as a meeting place...

 between 1756 and 1758).

Selected works

  • Eremitage Palace
    Eremitage Palace
    The Eremitage Palace or Eremitage Hunting Lodge is located in Dyrehaven north of Copenhagen, Denmark. The palace was built by architect Lauritz de Thurah in Baroque style from 1734 to 1736 for Christian VI of Denmark in order to host royal banquets during royal hunts in Dyrehaven.- Name :Never...

     (1734–36)
  • Four pavilions at Frederiks Hospital
    Frederiks Hospital
    The royal Frederiks Hospital was Denmark's first hospital in the present-day meaning of the word. It was founded by king Frederik V and financed by the earnings from the Norwegian Postal Service....

     (1754–58)
  • Gammel Holtegård
    Gammel Holtegård
    Gammel Holtegård is a former country house in Rudersdal Municipality north of Copenhagen, Denmark, today operated as an art exhibition space. It was built by the Danish Baroque architect Lauritz de Thurah for his own use in 1757...

     (1756–57)
  • Hirschholm Palace
    Hirschholm Palace
    Hirschholm Palace, also known as Hørsholm Palace, was a royal palace located in present-day Hørsholm municipality just north of Copenhagen, Denmark...

     (1733–44, demolished)
  • Spire of the Church of Our Saviour (1749–52)
  • Yellow Palace (1732–1736)

External links

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