Fossati brothers

Gaspare Fossati ( born October 7, 1809 in Morcote (Ticino), † September 5, 1883 in Morcote ) was an architect of classicism, which was primarily known for the restoration of the Hagia Sophia under Sultan Abdülmecid I..

Life and work

Gaspare grew up in a family of architects. After his studies at the Accademia di Brera and travel, on which he produced lithographs, he went in 1833 at the age of 24 years, according to St. Petersburg, where he worked with Luigi Rusca and was influenced by the classicists Carlo Rossi. During this time he designed, among other things, the Italian church in Moscow, a church in Kronstadt and the Benardaki villa located on Nevsky Prospekt. In 1836 he was appointed court architect of the Tsar. He married Ruscas daughter and was sent to Istanbul in 1837 to design the Russian embassy in Constantinople Opel.

Unlike in Italy, Fossati could succeed on the low-saturated Istanbul architect market. During the construction phase, numerous side quests were so Gaspare was his step- brother Alessandro Rusca and his 17- year-old brother Giuseppe Fossati, also a graduate of the Accademia di Brera deal with. Gas Pares brother Giuseppe built in Istanbul, the Church of the Holy Spirit (Santo Spirito ) and several private and public buildings; together with his brother, the Dutch and the Spanish Embassy.

Since Gaspare had developed a reputation as an architect, Sultan Abdülmecid I. was aware of him, and let him 1845-1849 build the new Ottoman university located next to Hagia Sophia. After completion of the works he commissioned him with a complete restoration of the Hagia Sophia, which was conducted from 1847 to 1849.

Gaspare returned despite numerous orders in 1862 returned to Milan, where he was a member of the Commission establishing the Galleria and Piazza Duomo, among others. He died in 1883 in his hometown Morcote.

The Milan Via Fratelli Fossati was named in 1935 by Gaspare and Giuseppe.