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Welcome to the
Nicolas-François de Blondel Page
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"François Blondel, was born in 1617 and died in 1686. He was a French
architect. In 1672 he became director of the Academy of Architecture. Blondel's
writings, which exerted great influence, include Cours d'architecture enseigné
dans l'Académie royale d'architecture (2 vol., 1675–83) and Nouvelle
Manière de fortifier les places (1684). He advocated a strict adherence
to a classical and rationalist doctrine of architecture.
His nephew, Jacques
François Blondel,. 1705–74, opened the first French private
school of architecture in 1739. As architect to the king he devised
plans for the civic beautification of Metz and Strasbourg. He designed
the town hall and Place d'Armes at Strasbourg and the west portal of the
cathedral at Metz. His published works include L'Architecture Française
(1752), valuable for its engraved views of buildings that no longer exist,
and Cours d' Architecture; ou, Traité de la Décoration (6
vol., 1771–77)."
Source: "The Colombia Encyclopedia" Sixth Edition
Nicholas-François Blondel designed and built
the Porte St-Denis Arch in 1672. This arch was probably the inspiration
for the later Arch of Triumph that Napoleon commissioned around 1806.
The work on the Arch of Triumph was not completed until 1836.
Porte St-Denis
The icon on the left is the link to the "Catalog of the Scientific Community" web site concerning Nicholas-François Blondel. This is a very good and well written site and a "must" visit! Or, review the following extract from that web site!
Nicholas-François Blondel
7. Means of Support:
Compiled by:
Richard S. Westfall
Department of History and Philosophy
of Science
Indiana University
Extraction from the book:
"5000 Years of Architecture
in Malta"
by Leonard Mahoney
(Malta, 1996)
Blondel, Mederico (1628-1698). French Architect and engineer
who worked for the order of the "Knights
of Malta." #
1 Alison Hoppen says that Blondel came to Malta in 1659 but
Denis de Lucca identifies him with 'the French engineer who stayed in the
island', referred to in A.O.M. 258 f.41v., dated 31 September 1645, having
probably come in the entourage of some French engineers who visited the
island in that year. Blondel succeeded Buonamici in 1657, but it
was only on 7 June 1659, i.e. after Buonamici's departure, that blondel's
salary as resident engineer was approved. Mederico Blondel was the
son of Louis Blondel de Croisettes, ordinary architect in things military
to the French king, and brother to the famous Francois Blondel, who rose
to the rank of Field Marshal in the French army and ran his own school
of architecture until be became Professor and first President of the Academie
de l'Architecture. Mederico was made Knight of Grace of the French
Langue and remained in the Order's service until his death in 1698, but
was absent from the island on sick leave for prolonged periods in the late
1660s and 1670s. He designed St Mary of Jesus, Valletta (1689).
He also designed or was involved in: St. Francis, Valletta (completed 1681);
St. Rocco, Valletta (1681); the Carmelite Church, Mdina (1660-72).
He was involved in the remodelling of the Auberge d'Italie and St. Catherine
of Italy, Valletta.
"The Cottonera Lines, named after Grand Master Nicholas Cotoner, who commissioned their construction, were effectively the most ambitious work of fortification ever undertaken by the knights of St John in Malta. Built as a result of the fall of Candia to the Turks in 1670 and the rekindled the fear of a Turkish invasion, these consisted of a massive trace of eight large bastions, encircling the Sta. Margherita and San Salvatore hills and joining the extremities of the old fronts of Vittoriosa and Senglea. Work on the Cottonera Lines began in August 1670 continued incessantly for a decade until the death of the grand master in 1680, by which time the main body of the enceinte had already been laid down under the supervision of Mederico Blondel, the Order’s resident engineer. The funds allocated for the Cottonera fortifications had run out and the new grand master ordered the cessation of the project. As a result the ravelins and cavaliers, together with the ditch and the covertway that were originally proposed by Valperga, were never constructed. The project remained virtually abandoned until well into the eighteenth century when some effort was made to bring the works to completion." | |
Mederico Blondel supervised the construction of this massive fortification. |
Source: http://www.fortressexplorer.org/bhfmalta.html February 25, 2003 |
Sources:
Prof. Denis De Lucca
Director
International Institute for Baroque Studies
Monica Floridia
Executive Officer
Faculty of Architecture & Civil Engineering
University of Malta - MALTA - MSD 06
"5000
Years of Architecture in Malta"
by Leonard Mahoney
(Malta, 1996)
Jacques François Blondel
The following is a poor computer translation of the french text this material was written in; however, it is the best we can do for now! To view to original French web site this material was extracted from please click on the image of the hotel.
The town hall was built in 1769 to 1771 by the architect Blondel, presumably Jacques François Blondel. A complementary part, with the site of the Saint-Gorgon church, occupied today by the Office of Tourism, was completed only in 1788. The building has a long frontage of 92 meters is matched by the arcades and two fore-parts, surmounted decorated pediments, before the Revolution these were the weapons of the king and the City. On the frontage, under the inscription "Town hall", one may distinguish the inscription, engraved in stone, the name of the place at the time of the revolution. In English it translates to: "Place of the Law". It has a majestic, decorated staircase of a superb wrought iron slope and two statues, Justice and Prudence, that blend in with the large complex. In the building are suspended medallions representing the famous Messins, of the end of the Average Age in the middle of the XIXe century such as: Pilâtre de Rozier, first aeronaut in balloon, Sebastien the Clerk (engraver of Louis XIV) or... Antoine Louis (surgeon, inventor of the guillotine).
See Also: Mairie de Metz
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