228 years ago today, in 1784 on the 29th day of February, Leo von Klenze (Franz Karl Leopold von Klenze) was born. A German neoclassicist architect, he also studied public building finance, designed and arranged museum galleries of ancient art, and was an accomplished painter. His ability for sharp observation worked with his gift to improve upon nature – a talent that led him to design the streets, squares, and buildings which established Munich as the Bavarian capital. He also worked on preserving the Acropolis in Athens. In 1816, he began work as the court architect of Bavarian King Ludwig I, who influenced Leo with his passion for Hellenism - a neoclassical movement distinct from other Roman or Greco-Roman forms of neoclassicism that emerged after the European Renaissance. In 1838 he was commissioned by the Russian Emperor to design the New Hermitage, a public museum that housed the Romanov collection of paintings, books, coins and medals, prints and drawings in St. Petersburg, Russia.
(images of Leo vonKlenze and New Hermitage Museum ) courtesy of Wikipedia
Honorable Mention: While he’s not a Leap Year baby, Architect Frank Gehry was born the day before on February 28, in 1929.
(image of Guggenheim Museum in Spain, courtesy of Wikipedia)
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