LELEWEL, Jan Paweł
* 26. 6. 1796, Warsaw, Poland
† 9. 4. 1847, Bern, Switzerland
civil engineer
L. finished the Artillery and Engineering Technical College in Warsaw in 1810. From 1815 onwards, he was an officer of the engineer corps and participated in the modernisation of the Zamość fort. With the illustrations to the work of his brother Joachim, a known historian (History of Antiquity, 1818), L. became the pioneer of the lithographic technique in Poland. From 1824 to 1830, in collaboration with Prądzyński, he built the Augustow Canal, which linked the Vistula River with the Neman River. L. also built two raft devices: Swoboda and Niemnowo.
After the rebellion of 1830 was stifled, he emigrated to Switzerland, where he carried out measurement and land improvement works. In 1937, he was appointed chief engineer of the canton of Bern. He designed and built several roads, bridges and canals, among others also the canal between the lakes Turn and Brienz near Interlaken, and built roads from Bern to Lucerne, and from Bern to Basel. On the river Aar near Bern stands a lock and a large stone bridge, the so-called »Tiefenaubrücke“, which was built after his death. In Bern, he managed a technical bureau, where young workers were educated. L. was also engaged in architectonic sketches of drafts, and the execution of urbanistic plans. His are the urbanistic plans for the town of Bern, the plans for the building of the Cantonal Administration, the post office, and other important buildings.
