Nikolaus Gromann
Nicholas Grohman (* 1500, † November 29, 1566 in Gotha ) was court architect for the Elector John Frederick I ( the Magnanimous ), and was also among his descendants, who resided in Weimar, Gotha and Altenburg, as builders worked. He stood over 30 years in the service of the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty. A 1536 by Johann Friedrich I directed him to letter is the first recorded written message Gromanns, he signed him as a stone metz. In 1537 he wrote in a report to the elector: After me ifg ( Your princely grace ) is assumed to be a builder to bauwen Weyda .. His teachers were Konrad ( also Kunz ) Cancer († 1540 in Torgau ) and Andreas Günter († 1542 in Torgau ), whose work he continued. As a first residence Weida is called. 1544 are Grohman Gotha as a residence, in 1550 he moved to Weimar, where he builds his own house. This he sold in 1563 to move back to Gotha. Already in 1553 the Elector There he had several pieces of arable to Gotha securitized. 1543 calls him Johann Friedrich I as a builder for life. Special attention was given to Grohman first time when he built to 1545, the first built after the Reformation Protestant church: the chapel at Schloss hard rock in Torgau. The gallery hall church he added skillfully in the medieval structure. Luther was ordained personally after completion, the church. On the model of the Torgau Castle Church is oriented the designs of the later castle chapels newbuildings of the Protestant princes in Dresden, Schwerin, Stettin, Heidelberg Castle and Augustus. 1552 Grohman has once again performed his Torgau similar design for the chapel of the castle Grimm stone, which unfortunately was not preserved. Grohman supervised many construction sites in the Ernestine countries, besides castles he has also built town halls, churches, fortifications, roads, bridges and fountains.
The particular merit Nicholas Gromanns is the introduction of Renaissance architecture in the Ernestine countries. In his early work he expressed it at even gothic buildings executed by Renaissance decorative forms. As late work he then built masterful Renaissance building, which are considered his major works: the Town Hall in Altenburg and the so-called New buildings in Weimar the French castle (now Duchess Anna Amalia Library ) and in Heldburg the French construction of the Citadel Heldburg ( today: German castle Museum under construction). Grohman has executed his design for the beautiful bay window to the living apartments of the elector on the north wing of the castle in Torgau Heldburg again and at its best from 1560 to 1564 at the French construction of the fortress Heldburg twice. Today, the two bay windows are men and a woman named bay. At the same time fish was the design the magnificent Altenburger City Hall. His draft Gera town hall he could not run itself, which took over in 1573 Nicholas Theiner.