Giovanni Antonio Viscardi

Giovanni Antonio Viscardi (27 December 1645 – 9 September 1713) was a Swiss architect of the baroque, who worked mostly in Bavaria.

Biography

Der Bürgersaal in Munich^[1]

Dreifaltigkeitskirche (Trinity Church) in Munich

Giovanni Antonio Viscardi was born in San Vittore, Grisons. He was descended from a family which provided several architects who had worked in Bavaria, Styria and Mainz.

He started his career as a Superintendent to Enrico Zuccalli before 1675; in 1678 he was appointed master mason and in 1685 chief architect. Dismissed in 1689, Viscardi worked as an independent architect until he became Zuccalli's successor as chief architect of the Bavarian court in 1706 with the Austrian occupation of Bavaria; he died, aged 67, in Munich, while still in office.^[2]

Chief works

Kloster Fürstenfeld

• Mariahilfkirche at Freystadt Abbey (1700–08)
• New church of St. Mary of Fürstenfeld Abbey (1701-?) (completed in 1747).)^[3]
• Schäftlarn Abbey
• Expansion of Benediktbeuern Abbey
• Expansion of the Palace of Nymphenburg (1702 - )
• Bürgersaal in Munich (1709/1710)
• Dreifaltigkeitskirche in Munich (1711–1714).)^[4]

References

1. Der Bürgersaal in München, seit der Weihe des Hochaltars am 13. Mai 1778 inoffiziell auch "Bürgersaalkirche" genannt, ist der Bet- und Versammlungssaal der Marianischen Männerkongregation »Mariä Verkündigung« am Bürgersaal zu München. Er wurde 1709/10 nach Plänen von Giovanni Antonio Viscardi erbaut. Seit 1778 wird der Saal als Kirche genutzt.
2. Fleming, John, et al. (1972) The Penguin Dictionary of Architecture; 2nd ed. Harmondsworth: Penguin; p. 301
3. Fleming, John, et al. (1972) The Penguin Dictionary of Architecture; 2nd ed. Harmondsworth: Penguin; p. 301
4. Fleming, John, et al. (1972) The Penguin Dictionary of Architecture; 2nd ed. Harmondsworth: Penguin; p. 301