Benedikt Rejt - Prague, Czech Republic
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Benedikt Rejt (1450 – between 1531 and 1536), was a leading medieval architect in Bohemia, today's Czech Republic
Waymark Code: WMTP15
Location: Hlavní město Praha, Czechia
Date Posted: 12/20/2016
Views: 30
Benedikt Rejt built Vladislav Hall (1497–1500) in Prague Castle, St. Barbara's Church, Kutna Hora, (1482) and other buildings in Late Gothic and early Renaissance style.
There is little information about Benedikt Rejt from historical sources. The dates of birth and death are unclear as well as the place of origin or early life activity. All the knowledge of his life comes from a few documents, especially those of a judicial character. From these sources it is obvious that Benedikt Rejt was a renowned architect and baumeister (Latin: magister operis, "master builder") whose opinion was highly valued at court, where he was called to review work of other contemporary architects.
He was considered an authority in the field of architecture. In 1518, Benedikt Rejt was a chairman and key participant at the congress of architects and stonemasons from all of Central Europe in Annaberg, Saxony. Many hints in historical sources are disputable. According to some of them Rejt came to Prague as a military engineer to rebuild the Prague Castle fortification (he may have built the walls of the castles Rabí and Švihov as well). He then became famous for his skills in the art of Late Gothic vaults, in which art he reached one of the peaks in all medieval architecture. Earlier he was considered an inventor of the tent roof of cathedrals (now typical for churches in Kutná Hora and Louny), but it has been discovered from medieval pictures that their use was more common, and Rejt was probably not an exclusive builder of them.
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