Antonin Aichel

Antonin Aichel (Anton Aichel, Antonio Akel or Aychel) was an Italian mason working in the Czech lands. He was grandfather of Jan Blazej Santini Aichel.

Antonin came from a little town Roveredo (today in Italy) on the bank of the Lake Lugano. Roveredo is situated in South Tyrol that had belonged to Austria by the end of the World War I and was named Aichel during Antonín's life. That is why he attached it to his first name in the Czech lands.

He came to Prague in the 30th of the 17th century in order to occupy himself with masonry. He married Kristyna Ostova from Pilsen in Lesser Town Parish Church of St Wenceslas on 6 November of 1635, with wedding witnesses Santini de Bossi, Melchior Meer, the architect Carlo Lurago and Matej Valkoun, the associate highest burgrave in the Prague Castle.

Judging by the names of his wedding or his children's christening witnesses, historians deduce that Antonin worked in the Lurago's building company as a specialist during construction of the central wing of the Prague Castle, according to the plan by Giuseppe Mattei, most probably under command of the master Melchior Meer and the foreman bricklayer Santin de Bossi. Historians estimate that Antonin excelled in handicraft skills and enjoyed a good reputation.

After his wedding, Antonin settled in Lesser Town. He moved to Vlasska Street in the Prague's Old Town between the years 1648 and 1650, where the son Carl Antonio Aichel was born on 16 January 1650 and the next son Santini Aichel in October 1652.

Although Antonin Aichel was trained “just” in masonry, he was the first one from the three generations of Aichels working on buildings that are included in the World Cultural Herigage List nowadays.

Extracted from http://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton%C3%ADn_Aichel