View source for Max Berg

{{Short description|German architect and urbanist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox architect
| image = Max Berg portrait.jpg
| image_size = 
| caption = 
| nationality = German
| birth_name = Max Paul Eduard Berg
| birth_date = {{birth date|1870|4|17|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Stettin]], [[German Empire]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1947|1|22|1870|4|17|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Baden-Baden]], [[Allied-occupied Germany]]
| significant_buildings = [[Hala Stulecia|Jahrhunderthalle]]
| signature = Signature_of_Max_Berg.svg
}}'''Max Berg''' (17 April 1870 – 22 January 1947) was a German [[architect]] and [[urban planning|urban planner]].

== Biography ==
[[Image:Elektrownia Wodna Wrocław I.jpg|thumb|left|Hydroelectric plant in [[Wrocław]]]]

Berg was born in Stettin (now [[Szczecin]], Poland) in [[Pomerania]], then part of the [[German Empire]]. He attended the [[Technische Hochschule]] in [[Charlottenburg]] (today [[Technische Universität Berlin]]), where he was taught by [[Carl Schäfer]] who favoured [[Gothic architecture]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Schäfer, Carl|url=https://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000076380|access-date=22 April 2021|website=Grove Art Online|year=2003|language=en|doi=10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T076380|last1=Schuchard|first1=Jutta|isbn=978-1-884446-05-4}}</ref> Berg was also taught by [[Franz Adickes]] (1846–1915), an important urban planner.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Berg, Max|url=https://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000008062|access-date=22 April 2021|website=Grove Art Online|year=2003|language=en|doi=10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T008062|last1=Bölling|first1=Claudia|isbn=978-1-884446-05-4}}</ref>

In 1909 Berg was appointed senior building official in Breslau (now [[Wrocław]], Poland), in [[Silesia]]. His most notable contribution to architecture is the Jahrhunderthalle ([[Hala Stulecia (Wrocław)|Centennial Hall]]) built between 1911 and 1913 as part of a series of works commemorating the 100th anniversary of the [[Battle of Leipzig|1813 War of Liberation]] against [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon Bonaparte]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Centennial Hall in Wrocław|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1165/|access-date=22 April 2021|website=UNESCO World Heritage Centre|language=en}}</ref> The Hall, an important early landmark of European reinforced concrete buildings, survived World War II, and in 2006 was designated a [[UNESCO World Heritage Site]].<ref name=":0" />

Other works in [[Wrocław|Breslau (Wrocław)]] include the market hall (a huge concrete structure of elliptical arches, but appearing more traditional externally) and a large office building on the SW corner of the [[Market Square, Wrocław|Main Market Square]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Odkrywamy Wrocław: Dawna Miejska Kasa Oszczędności|url=https://www.tuwroclaw.com/wiadomosci,odkrywamy-wroclaw-dawna-miejska-kasa-oszczednosci,wia5-3266-7592.html|access-date=22 April 2021|website=www.tuwroclaw.com|language=pl}}</ref>

In 1925, the year he retired from his architectural career for Christian mysticism, Berg moved to [[Berlin]] and then to [[Baden-Baden]], where he died in 1947, aged 76.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Max Berg {{!}} German architect|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Max-Berg|access-date=22 April 2021|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
* {{portal-inline|Architecture}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Literature ==

* Iwona Bińkowska, Marzena Smolak, ''Nieznany portret miasta.'' Wrocław 1997.
* Jerzy Ilkosz, Beate Störtkuhl (eds.), ''Wieżowce Wrocławia 1919–1932.'' Wrocław 1997, {{ISBN|83-908067-0-3}}.
* Jerzy Ilkosz: ''Die Jahrhunderthalle und das Ausstellungsgelände in Breslau. Das Werk Max Bergs.'' München 2006, {{ISBN|3-486-57986-X}}.
* Otto Schubert, "Berg, Max Paul Eduard". In ''Neue Deutsche Biographie'' (NDB). vol. 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, {{ISBN|3-428-00183-4}}, S. 75 f. (Digitalisat).
* Eckhard Wendt: ''Stettiner Lebensbilder'' (= ''Veröffentlichungen der Historischen Kommission für Pommern.'' Reihe V, Band 40). Böhlau, Köln/Weimar/Wien 2004, {{ISBN|3-412-09404-8}}, S. 56–57.

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Max Berg}}
* {{Structurae person|id=d000256|name=Max Berg}}
** {{Structurae|id=20000363|title=Century Hall}}
* [https://www.artnet.com/library/00/0080/T008062.asp biography]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berg, Max}}
[[Category:1870 births]]
[[Category:1947 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Szczecin]]
[[Category:19th-century German architects]]
[[Category:Concrete pioneers]]
[[Category:People from the Province of Pomerania]]
[[Category:Technische Universität Berlin alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century German architects]]