Bruno Schmitz (21 November 1858 - 27 April 1916) was a German architect best known for his monuments in the early 20th century. He worked closely with sculptors such as Emil Hundrieser, Nikolaus Geiger and Franz Metzner for integrated architectural and sculptural effect.
His single most famous work is the massive 1913 Völkerschlachtdenkmal (Monument to the Battle of the Nations) located in Leipzig, Saxony, designed with local architect Clemens Thieme. The Monument was inaugurated in 1913 by Wilhelm II, German Emperor. Bohemian sculptor Franz Metzner designed the architectural figures, including the powerful and strangely scaled Masks of Fate in the monument's crypt.
Artistic commissions
Apart from the Völkerschlachtdenkmal (Monument to the Battle of the Nations) in Leipzig, Schmitz designed the Kyffhäuser Monument and the Kaiser Wilhelm Monument at Porta Westfalica, bringing him the distinction of designing the three largest war monuments in Germany. All of them are rough, primitive masonry structures in a style that blends Romanesque precedents with modernist touches, and all of them are associated with German nationalism in the period before World War I.[citation needed]
Schmitz's daughter Angelica Schmitz (1893–1957) was the wife of the Ukrainian-American sculptor Alexander Archipenko.
Emil Hundrieser's colossal Equestrian statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I atop the Deutsches Eck was severely damaged in World War II. A copy by Raymond Kittl was installed in 1993.
