Carlo Lurago

Carlo Lurag (also: Loragho, Luraghi, Luragho; * 1615 Pellio Superiore, Val d' Intelvi, † October 22, 1684 in Passau ) was an Italian architect, builder and Stuckator, who worked mainly in Bohemia.

Life

Carlo Lurag belongs to the group of Lombard architects and visual artists that are mentioned because of their origin from the area around Lake Como also Comasken, and who worked mainly in Bohemia, but also in Silesia, in Austria and southern Germany. Along with Giovanni Domenico Orsi de Orsini and Francesco Caratti he was one of the most important architects of the Czech Baroque.

Lurag comes from a widely ramified family of artists. His parents were Giovanni Antonio Lurag and wraparound, born Lurag. About his youth and his education is not known. He married - probably in the Val d' Intelvi - Elisabeth (NN) and had two sons who died young.

At the age of 23 years the trained Stuckator came to Prague and entered the service of the Jesuit order, for which he led from 1638 to 1640 by the transformation of the Gothic and stucco Salvator Church on the cross Herrenplatz.

In 1648 he acquired the civil rights and the freedom of trade of Lesser Town and established a well-organized construction company, where he employed the necessary builder and his nephew Francesco Anselmo Lurag made a co-owner. This made him one of the busiest architects of his time and got orders from religious institutions and by the nobility for large construction projects that were partly carried out partly according to his plans for other architects.

Lurago most extensive project was 1654-1679 Prague Clementinum, which probably originated from a design by Francesco Caratti and with the help of the foreman Martino Lurag. In addition, he was employed from 1649-1659 along with Santino Bussi and Giovanni Pieroni on Prague fortification in the imperial service.

In the Passau Cathedral in 1662 largely destroyed by fire the twin western facade and a new nave were built since 1668 by Lurago plans, in which a sequence of flat elliptical domes on pendentives was built for the first time. This vault solution has become the model of many other buildings in the High and Late Baroque. Francesco della Torre, royal Prague Hofsteinmetz, organized all the stone work. The precious stucco decoration was created in collaboration with Giovanni Battista Carlone and Antonio Carlone.