Early life (to 1834) Semper was born into a well-to-do industrialist family in
Hamburg in 1803. When French troops occupied the city in 1806 during the
Napoleonic Wars, the family moved to nearby
Altona, at the time part of
Denmark. The Synagogue's exterior was built in romanesque style so as not to call attention to itself. The interior design included not only the Moorish inspired wall decorations but furnishings: specifically, a silver lamp of eternal light, which caught Richard Wagner and his wife Cosima's fancy. They gave a great deal of effort to have a copy of this lamp. Semper's student,
Otto Simonson would construct the magnificent
Moorish Revival Leipzig synagogue in 1855. Certain civic structures remain today, such as the Elbe-facing
gallery of the
Zwinger Palace complex. He designed the Dresden Hoftheater in 1841, which burned down in 1869. It was rebuilt in 1878 by his son to Semper's plans and today is called the
Semperoper. Other buildings also remain indelibly attached to his name, such as the Maternity Hospital, the Synagogue (destroyed during the Third Reich), the Oppenheim Palace, and the
Villa Rosa built for the banker Martin Wilhelm Oppenheim. This last construction stands as a prototype of German villa architecture. On September 1, 1835, Semper married
Bertha Thimmig. The marriage ultimately produced six children. A convinced Republican, Semper took a leading role, along with his friend
Richard Wagner, in the
May 1849 uprising which swept over the city. He was a member of the Civic Guard (Kommunalgarde) and helped to erect barricades in the streets. When the rebellion collapsed, Semper was considered a leading agitator for democratic change and a ringleader against government authority and he was forced to flee the city. He was destined never to return to the city that would, ironically, become most associated with his architectural (and political) legacy. The Saxon government maintained a warrant for his arrest until 1863. When the Semper-designed Hoftheater burnt down in 1869, King
John, on the urging of the citizenry, commissioned Semper to build a new one. Semper produced the plans but left the actual construction to his son, Manfred. "What must I have done in 48, that one persecutes me forever? One single barricade did I construct - it held, because it was practical, and as it was practical, it was beautiful", wrote Semper in dismay.
Post-revolutionary period (1849–1855) After stays in
Zwickau,
Hof,
Karlsruhe and
Strasbourg, Semper eventually ended up back in Paris, like many other disillusioned Republicans from the 1848 Revolutions (such as
Heinrich Heine and
Ludwig Börne). In the fall of 1850, he travelled to London, England. But while he was able to pick up occasional contracts — including participation in the design of the funeral carriage for the
Duke of Wellington and the designs of the Canadian, Danish, Swedish, and Ottoman sections of the 1851
Great Exhibition in the
Crystal Palace — he found no steady employment. If his stay in London was disappointing professionally, however, it proved a fertile period for Semper's theoretical, creative and academic development. He published
Die vier Elemente der Baukunst (
The Four Elements of Architecture) in 1851 and
Wissenschaft, Industrie und Kunst (
Science, Industry and Art) in 1852. These works would ultimately provide the groundwork for his most widely regarded publication,
Der Stil in den technischen und tektonischen Künsten oder Praktische Ästhetik, which was published in two volumes in 1861 and 1863.
Zürich period (1855–1871) '' in 1865
Hauptgebäude (main building) Concurrently with the onset of the industrial revolution, the
Swiss Federation planned to establish a
polytechnical school. As the principal judge for the
competition held to select a design for the new building, Semper deemed the submitted entries unsatisfactory and, ultimately, designed the building himself. Proudly situated (where fortified walls once stood), visible from all sides on a terrace overlooking the core of
Zürich, the new school became a symbol of a new epoch. The building (1853–1864), which despite frequent remodeling continues to evoke Semper's concept, was initially required to accommodate not only the new school (known today as the
ETH Zurich), but the existing
University of Zurich, as well. In 1855, Semper became a professor of architecture at the new school and the success of many of his students who attained success and renown served to ensure his legacy. The Swiss architect
Emil Schmid was one such student. With his income as a professor, Semper was able to reunite his family, bringing them to Zürich from Saxony. The City Hall in
Winterthur is among other buildings designed by Semper in Switzerland. In 1861, Semper and his family were awarded Swiss citizenship by the Swiss municipality of
Affoltern am Albis in return for the planning and construction of their main church's bell-tower. This citizenship was later confirmed by the Zürich cantonal government in December 1861 and with these new Swiss passports in hand, Semper was once again able to travel and finally also visit Germany, after the warrant for his arrest had been cancelled in May 1863. Semper provided
Bavaria's
King Ludwig II with a conceptual design for a theatre dedicated to the work of
Richard Wagner to be built in Munich. The project, developed from 1864 to 1866, was never realized, although Wagner 'borrowed' many of its features for his own later theatre at
Bayreuth.
Later life (from 1871) 's portrait of Gottfried Semper shortly before his death Already in 1833, there were first plans in Vienna for the public presentation of the Imperial Art Collections. With the planning of the
Vienna Ring Road, the museum question became pressing again. Works forming the imperial art collection were scattered among several buildings. Semper was assigned to submit a proposal for locating new buildings in conjunction with redevelopment of the Ring Road. In 1869, he designed a gigantic 'Imperial Forum' which was not realized. The National Museum of Art History and the National Museum of Natural History were erected, however, opposite the Palace according to his plan, as was the Burgtheater. In 1871, Semper moved to Vienna to undertake the projects. During construction, repeated disagreements with his appointed associate architect (
Karl Freiherr von Hasenauer), led Semper to resign from the project in 1876. In the following year, his health began to deteriorate. He died two years later while on a visit to Italy and is buried in the
Protestant Cemetery, Rome. as it is today == Works (selected) ==