1797 | The Turkish Tower

If you ever thought 'minarets are like pencils' read on...


Mavi Boncuk |


Ferdinand Runk | The Turkish Tower in the Park at Eisgrub, c. 1822. Gouache height 50 cm, width 75 cm


The linking element be-tween all these estates was the design of their gardens, which, while conforming to the English model, d a synthesis between the gardens with their architectural features and the use of the landscape for purposes of agriculture and forestry. The most famous building in Eisgrub/Lednice is probably Turkish Tower with its minaret by Joseph Hardtmuth[1]. It is 60 metres high and stand as a viewing point at the end of the big park. Construction started in 1797 in the marshy meadows of the Thaya River. 


Runk studied in the landscape class of Johann Christian Brand (1722–1795) at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. His scenes and “snapshots” of life on the princely estates are notable not only for their faithful detail and precise perspective but also for their impressive rendering of light effects and reflections on water.






[1] Joseph Hardtmuth (February 13, 1758, Asparn an der Zaya - May 23, 1816, Vienna) was a successful Austrian architect, inventor and entrepreneur. Joseph Hardtmuth embarked on his artistic careerin the studio of Joseph Meissl, who from 1787 hadserved as court architect to Prince Franz Josef I von Liechtenstein. Hardtmuth inherited his teacher’s post after the latter’s death in 1790. His first important project for the House of Liechtenstein was commissioned in 1792 by Prince Alois I: the Liechtenstein Palace in Herrengasse. Thereafter, he was commissioned to oversee all architectural projects on the Liechtenstein estates. In the park at Eisgrub he erected a Temple to the Sun and a Turkish
Tower.


In 1792, Hardtmuth established a pencil factory in Vienna after he succeeded in creating an artificial graphite pencil by mixing powdered graphite with clay. Until that time, whole pieces, cut from graphite, were glued in between wood and were imported from England. With the new method, graphite of inferior quality could be used in pencil manufacturing, lowering the price and making the product more accessible for the masses. His company Koh-i-Noor Hardtmuth still exists.