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George Bhr - This page is about the German architect; 'George Baehr' is also the name of an American physician.
George Bhr (b. 15 March 1666 in Frstenwalde, Germany; d. 16 March 1738 in Dresden, Germany) was a German architect. Life George Bhr was born into a poor family, the son of a weaver. The village priest, however, helped pay for his education, and Bhr was able to become a carpenters apprentice in Lauenstein, Saxony. In 1690, Bhr went to Dresden to start work as a carpenter. His dream was to go to Italy and see the famous buildings there, so in his spare time he studied mechanics, calling himself both an artist and a mechanic, and designing not only castles and palaces but also sketches of organs. In 1705, aged 39, Bahr was named Dresdens City Master Carpenter, although he did not even have a master carpenters certificate. One of Bhrs main goals was to modernise the citys churches. He believed that the existing buildings did no justice to Protestant church services in particular. His first building was the parish church in the Loschwitz area of Dresden, a building in the shape of a stretched-out octagon, completed in 1708. The Dresden Waisenhauskirche (Orphanage Church) was built around 1710, followed by the Dreifaltigkeitskirche (Trinity Church) in Schmiedeberg, in the Ore Mountains, 1713-1716. Between 1719 and 1726 the church in Forchheim was built, as well as more in Knigstein, Hohnstein and Kesselsdorf (all in Saxony) and a considerable amount of housing in Dresden. But Bhr is most famous for designing the Frauenkirche in Dresden. He was given the task in 1722; in 1726, the design was approved and work began. From 1730, Bhr became the first in Germany to go by the title of Architect. Whilst working on the Frauenkirche, Bhr also oversaw the building of the Dreiknigskirche (Church of the Three Kings) in Dresdens Neustadt area the church had however been designed by Matthus Daniel Pppelmann. George Bhr did not live to see the Frauenkirche completed he died, aged 72, on March 16 1738. He was buried in the churchs vaults. In 2004, a memorial was built to him in the castle at Lauenstein, where he learned his trade. Bhr, George Bhr, George
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