Biography

German architect. He was apprenticed in 1586 to the mason and master builder Jörg Schmidt in Strasbourg, but during the upheavals of the Strassburger Bischofskrieg religious war (1592-1604) Riedinger may have left Strasbourg to travel. In 1595 he stayed at Ansbach, Bavaria, where he helped to build a fortress, possibly the one at Wülzburg, near Weissenburg (completed 1599; destroyed).

In 1605 Riedinger was commissioned to rebuild the castle at Aschaffenburg, in the electorate of Mainz, which had been destroyed by fire in 1552. The new castle, the Schloss Johannisburg, is Riedinger's principal work. His patron was the Archbishop and Elector of Mainz, Johann Schweickard von Kronberg (reg 1604-26). More than any other palace of the archbishops of Mainz, Riedinger's symbolized the prestige of the highest prince of the church at the time of the Counter-Reformation. Work on the palace began in February 1614. It is a strictly symmetrical structure with four blocks built around a square courtyard. The four corners of the building are emphasized by prominent towers (h. 52 m), with lanterns rising high above roof level. Schloss Johannisburg is a showpiece of German Renaissance palace architecture. Illustrations of the imposing palace rising over the River Main were published in 1616 by Riedinger in a collection of engravings.

In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, influenced by French and Italian architectural theory, several other buildings with a similar plan were built in south-western Germany, especially in the Roman Catholic territories. To this extent, Riedinger was following the local tradition, with which he may first have become acquainted on his travels. He may also have gained some of his knowledge from the works of Jacques Androuet du Cerceau (i) and the Pérelles, who published similar designs in the 16th and 17th centuries respectively.