Laurynas Gucevičius

Laurynas Gucevičius ( _pl. Wawrzyniec Gucewicz; 1753 - 1798) was an 18th century architect born in the federal part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and most of his designs were built therepl icon cite web | author= | title=Gucewicz, Wawrzyniec | publisher=Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN | year=2006 | work=Nowa encyklopedia powszechna PWN |url=http://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/26491_1.html|accessdate=2006-07-18}] . Scholars consider him the first professional Lithuanian architect.In his youth he travelled to Italy and Paris and other countries in Western Europe, where he studied architecture from the notable contemporary neo-classical French architects, Jacques-Germain Soufflot and Claude Nicolas Ledoux. Later he served as a professor at the Jesuit Academy of Vilnius, the predecessor of the University of Vilnius. Among the best known of his works are the refurbished Vilnius Cathedral, the town hall and the summer palace of bishops in Verkiai. The monumentality of forms and volume, the harmony with surroundings and a special treatment of antique architectural forms are the characteristics of his style.

Biography

Born in the village of Migonys ( _la. Migance)As evidenced by the original baptismal record preserved in a local church: _la. "babtisavi infantem n(omi)ne Laurentium patris Symoni Masulis et Matris Catharinae Masulowa de villa Migance"; as cited in: lt icon cite journal | author =Edmundas Rimša | year =2003 | month =May | title =Dėl Lauryno Gucevičiaus pavardės (On the surname of Laurynas Gucevičius) | journal =Literatūra ir menas | volume = | issue =2950 | url =http://ct.svs.lt/lmenas/?leid_id=2950&kas=straipsnis&st_id=2378 | accessdate =2006-07-17 ] near Kupiškis, in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. His father was a peasant Simonas Masiulis ( _la. Symoni Masulis), sometimes also called by the name of Stuoka after his stepfather. He was baptized as Laurynas Masiulis. His mother, Kotryna Žekonytė Masiulienė ( _pl. Catherine Masulowa née Ziekonaycia), died early in his youth and her relative and his godmother Ona Baltušytė Gucevičienė ( _pl. Anna Gucewicz née Baltušytė), supported him and financed his studies. After her he inherited the surname of Gucewicz/Gucevičius. He attended local schools at Kupiškis and Palėvenė, and then the gymnasium (high school) at Panevėžys. In 1773 he joined the Academy of Vilnius under his Polish name,Dubious|date=March 2008 although most probably he also spoke Lithuanian. He studied engineering, attended the lectures on architecture held by Marcin Knackfuspl icon cite web | author=Warsaw University Library (corporate author) | title=Gucewicz Wawrzyniec (Migańce, 1753 - 1798) | publisher=Warsaw University Library (BUW) | year= | work=Biogramy architektów (Biographical notes on architects) | url=http://www.buw.uw.edu.pl/zbspec/Ryciny/rysunki/biogramy.htm#gucewicz | accessdate=2006-07-19 ] . Around that time, he also became a missionary monk. He graduated in 1775, and in the following year received a royal scholarship from King Stanisław August Poniatowski. Along with a large number of other young Polish artists and architects of the time (among them Piotr Aigner, Szymon Bogumił Zug, Stanisław Zawadzki, Efraim Szreger and Jakub Kubicki), he went to Rome, where he spent a year studying the classical architectureen icon cite book | author=Adam Zamoyski | title =The Polish Way: A Thousand-Year History of the Poles and Their Culture | year =1987 | pages =241 | publisher =John Murray | location =London | id =ISBN 0531150690 | url=http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0781802008/ref=sib_books_ref/102-9795864-1854516?ie=UTF8&keywords=Gucewicz&v=search-inside ] en icon cite book | author =Annette Rathje | title =The Rediscovery of Antiquity: The Role of the Artist | year =2004 | pages =419 | chapter =Polish Artists and the Emergence of Archaeology | chapterurl =http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN8772898291&id=-up2dc9Q9jkC&pg=PA419&lpg=PA419&dq=Gucewicz&sig=Rie_JL3DRqDRNEfB-tyCIiea3Ys | publisher =Museum Tusculanum, University of Copenhagen | location =Copenhagen | id =ISBN 8772898291 ] . In the following years he travelled through the countries of Western Europe, where he attended lectures on architecture and learned from the works of the most renowned architects of the time. He visited France, Denmark, Sweden and various German states. Finally, he spent a year and a half studying in Paris under the guidance of Jacques-Germain Soufflot and Claude Nicolas Ledoux. On his return, he was hired by Bishop Ignacy Jakub Massalski, for whom he designed and built the episcopal palace in Verkiai, later known after its later owners, the Wittgenstein family. The palace and the surrounding architectural complex, the work on which was commenced by Gucewicz's tutor Knackfus, is currently considered one of the most valuable classicist complexes in Lithuaniaen icon cite web | author= | title=Verkiai Regional Park | publisher=Administration of Verkiai and Pavilniai Regional Parks | year= | work=Verkiai and Pavilniai Regional Parks' website | url=http://www.pavilniai-verkiai.lt/pagr.php?id=eng_verepa | accessdate=2006-07-18] .

In 1789 Gucewicz became a professor of architecture and topography at the "Artillery and Engineering Corps' School of Wilno". In 1794 he also returned to his Alma Mater, where he became a professor of civilian architecture and held the chair in engineering. In 1794, at the outbreak of Kościuszko's Uprising, Gucewicz joined the ranks of the local civil guard and took part in the Wilno Uprising against the Russian garrison. He also became one of the leaders of the local militia formed out of volunteers. Heavily wounded in a skirmish near Ašmiany (modern Belarus), he was demobilised. Following the Partitions of Poland, when Vilnius was annexed by Imperial Russia, the new authorities expelled Gucewicz from the academy for his part in the uprising. However, in 1797 he returned there, this time as a head of the newly-founded separate chair of architecture lt icon cite book | author =Alfredas Bumblauskas | coauthors = | title =Senosios Lietuvos istorija 1009-1795 (History of Lithuania) | year =2005 | editor = | pages = | chapter = | chapterurl = | publisher =Paknys | location =Vilnius | id =ISBN 9986830893 ] .

Around that time Gucewicz created the most renowned of his works. First was the new town hall of Vilnius, completed around 1799en icon cite book | author =Iwo Cyprian Pogonowski | title =Poland: An Illustrated History | year =2000 | pages =134-135 | publisher =Hippocrene Books | location =London | id =ISBN 0781807573 | url = ] . He also constructed a similar, yet smaller town hall in Widze near Bratslav (modern Vidzy, Belarus). Between 1777 [Some sources mention 1783 as the starting date] and in 1801 he worked to rebuild the Vilnius Cathedral (which had undergone many reconstructions, and had been partially Baroque) in the neoclassical style. It is sometimes said, that his reconstruction of the cathedral, modelled after a Roman temple, pre-dated the work of Thomas Hamilton and James Playfair, two notable Scottish architects to introduce classicism in the United Kingdomen icon cite book | author =Banister Fletcher | coauthors =et.al. | title =Banister Fletcher's A History of Architecture | year =1996 | editor =Dan Cruickshank | pages =998 | chapter =Austria, Germany and Central Europe | chapterurl =http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0750622679&id=Gt1jTpXAThwC&pg=PA998&lpg=PA998&dq=Gucewicz&sig=AcYFj5XIv2WLUDPEjTPaT8gBoV0 | publisher =Architectural Press | location = | id =ISBN 0750622679 | url = ] .

He is also credited with a number of other projects, although their actual authorship is not documented. Among them is the palace of the Tyzenhaus family in Rokiškis (completed in 1801), the reconstruction of the castle in Raudonė for its contemporary owner, Fario de Castro, and several merchant houses in Kretinga, as well as the manor house in Čiobiškis. He is also thought to have prepared projects of palaces for other notable magnate families of the time, including Radziwiłł, Sapieha, Pac, Chomiński and Scypion, though the World War II losses in the preserved archives make the matter difficult to settle definitivelypl icon cite book | author =Stanisława Sawicka | coauthors =Teresa Sulerzyska | title =Straty w rysunkach z gabinetu rycin Biblioteki Uniwersyteckiej (Losses in the drawings of the Hall of Plates of the Warsaw University Library) | year =1960 | pages =64 | publisher =Warsaw University | location =Warsaw] . He was also the author of a topographic map of the western part of the city of Vilnius. He died December 10, 1798 and was buried in the Rasos Cemetery, Vilnius, though knowledge of the exact burial location has been lost [http://www.voruta.lt/article.php?article=424 lt icon Juozas Lebionka. "Laurynas Gucevičius palaidotas Rasos" (Laurynas Gucevičius is buried in Rasos). Voruta, No. 20 (542), 23 October 2003] ] . In his last will he dedicated all of his projects to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and most of the surviving sketches and designs are currently held in the library of Warsaw Universitycite web | author= | title=Wawrzyniec Gucewicz (1753-98) | publisher=Warsaw University | year=2005 | work= | url=http://www.buw.uw.edu.pl/zbspec/Ryciny/rysunki/gucewicz.htm | accessdate=2006-07-18 Dead link|date=September 2007] pl icon cite book | author =Teresa Sulerzyska | title =Katalog rysunków z Gabinetu Rycin Biblioteki Uniwersyteckiej w Warszawie (Catalogue of the Hall of Plates of the Warsaw University Library) | volume=II | year =1969 | pages = | chapter = | chapterurl = | publisher =Warsaw University | location =Warsaw ] .Dubious|date=March 2008

Legacy

The architect's life and creations inspired Lithuanian poet Justinas Marcinkevičius to write the play "The Cathedral".

Notes and references

::In-line:::Monographs:
# cite book | author =Eduardas Budreika | title =Architektas Laurynas Stuoka Gucevicius | year =1954 | pages =167 | | publisher =Valst. Polit. Ir Moksl. Lit. L | location =Vilnius | id = | url = | format = | accessdate =
# cite journal | author =Stanisław Lorentz | year =1958 | month = | title =Na marginesie monografii | journal =Biuletyn Historii Sztuki | volume =XX | issue =3/4
# cite book | author =Eduardas Budreika | title =Architektas Laurynas Stuoka Gucevicius | year =1965 | chapter=Laurynas Stuoka-Gucevicius, 1753-1798 | pages =58 | publisher =Mintis | location =Kaunas | id = | url = | format = | accessdate =
# cite book | author =Eduardas Budreika | title =Verkių rūmai | year =1982 | chapter=Laurynas Stuoka-Gucevicius, 1753-1798 | pages =61 | publisher =Mintis | location =Vilnius | id = | url = | format = | accessdate =

::Books:
# cite book | author =Tomas Venclova | title =Vilnius City Guide| year = 2006
chapter=Ensemble of the Verkiai estate | pages=215| publisher= R. Paknys Publishing House | location=Vilnius