User:Eli185/Max Fleischer (Architect)

Max Fleischer (born March 29, 1841 in Prostějov, Moravia, Austrian Empire; died December 8, 1905 in Vienna) was an Austrian architect.

Life
Max Fleischer first studied at the Vienna University of Technology and then moved to the Academy of Fine Arts in 1863. Here Fleischer studied under August Sicard von Sicardsburg and Eduard van der Nüll. After completing his training, Fleischer took a position in the architect's office of the city hall builder Friedrich von Schmidt and was thus involved in the construction of the new Vienna City Hall; his head is therefore depicted to the right of the main entrance to the so-called Volkshalle. In 1887 Fleischer went into business for himself. Fleischer became known as the designer of three neo-Gothic synagogues in Vienna as well as other Jewish houses of worship in Budweis and Pilgrams. Fleischer also created other prayer houses in other styles in Lundenburg, Krems and Nikolsburg. Fleischer often chose Gothic stylistic elements to emphasize the integration of Judaism into bourgeois cultural society. Other works by Fleischer included funerary monuments for Adolf Fischhof and Salomon Sulzer and the funeral hall in Gliwice.

Fleischer was a member of the Wiener Bauhütte from 1865, the Österreichischer Ingenieur- und Architekten-Verein from 1870, the Genossenschaft der bildenden Künstlers Wien (Künstlerhaus) from 1871 and co-initiator of the Gesellschaft zur Sammlung jüdischer Kulturgüter (Society for the Collection of Jewish Cultural Assets), which led to the founding of the Jewish Museum in 1895. Fleischer received the citizenship of the city of Vienna in 1883, was awarded the Golden Cross of Merit with the Crown in the same year, and was appointed a building councilor in 1904.

The architect Johann Miedel (1860-1945) was trained and later influenced in his work as a synagogue builder by Max Fleischer. Miedel therefore also completed some commissioned works still begun by Fleischer (Synagogue Jewish Cemetery in Brno) and took over Fleischer's Vienna studio after his death.

Most of his works were destroyed during the November pogrom in 1938. In Vienna, only the former patient synagogue of the old General Hospital survived as a facade. Today it belongs to the campus of the University of Vienna and was transformed into the art object "Denk-Mal Marpe Lanefesh".

On November 20, 2008, a memorial plaque was unveiled in memory of Max Fleischer at Neustiftgasse 64 in Vienna's 7th district.

Buildings



 * Krems an der Donau, Synagoge Krems
 * Wien, Synagoge im alten AKH Wien
 * Wien, Synagoge Neudeggergasse
 * Wien, Synagoge Schmalzhofgasse
 * Wien, Vereinssynagoge Müllnergasse
 * Gleiwitz, Synagoge und Kirkut (Begräbnishalle) – Neuer Jüdischer Friedhof Gleiwitz (Szobiszowice)
 * Brünn, Neue Synagoge und Trauerhalle auf dem jüdischen Friedhof Brünn
 * Břeclav, Synagoge mit Stadtmuseum und Galerie Břeclav
 * Wien, 14. Bezirk, Sofienalpenstraße 11, erbaut 1873
 * Synagoge in Budweis, erbaut 1887/88
 * Synagoge in Pelhřimov, erbaut 1890/91
 * Jüdische Trauerhalle (Mikulov), 1898
 * Wien (Döbling), Ruthgasse 21, Israelitisches Mädchenwaisenhaus (1889–1891)
 * Wien, Stubenring 4, fertiggestellt 1906

Literature

 * Bob Martens: Virtuelle Rekonstruktion dreier Synagogen von Max Fleischer in Wien. In: David. Heft Nr. 74, September 2007
 * Niessner, Georg; Schilling, Peter: Virtuelle Rekonstruktion dreier Synagogen in Wien von Max Fleischer. Schmalzhofgasse 3, Wien VI, Neudeggergasse 12, Wien VIII, Müllnergasse 21, Wien IX. Dipl.-Arb. Wien 2004
 * Niessner, Georg; Schilling, Peter: Virtuelle Rekonstruktion dreier Synagogen in Wien von Max Fleischer. Schmalzhofgasse 3, Wien VI, Neudeggergasse 12, Wien VIII, Müllnergasse 21, Wien IX. Dipl.-Arb. Wien 2004