The Baroque master
Jakob Prandtauer is considered the most significant builder of monasteries of his time. On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of his death, he is being celebrated with a commemorative stamp featuring Melk Abbey.
Jakob Prandtauer was born in 1660 in Stanz bei Landeck in Tyrol as the son of a mountain farmer. He trained as a mason and also worked as a sculptor. After his marriage in 1692, he moved to St. Pölten. He was first commissioned with renovation work in the 1690s. His main work is seen as the building of the abbey church and the entire monastery complex in Melk, which he worked on from 1702 until his death. He died in 1726 in St. Pölten.
Alongside Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt, Jakob Prandtauer is considered one of the most important architects and master builders of the Baroque period in Austria. Prandtauer was mainly involved in the building of monasteries, but also built village churches, palaces, bridges and garden and pleasure houses, many of them in the St. Pölten area. His best-known works include newbuilds and renovations, especially in Melk, Herzogenburg, Seitenstetten, St. Florian, Garsten, Klosterneuburg and Dürnstein abbeys as well as the Christkindl and Sonntagberg pilgrimage churches, sometimes also working with other builders such as his nephew and pupil Joseph Munggenast. In contrast to many of his colleagues, Prandtauer was able not only to design artistically challenging buildings in his own unmistakeable style but also to carry out and supervise the building work himself with all its technical challenges.
