Karl Ernstberger

Who was Karl Ernstberger?

Karl Ernstberger was a German Bohemian architect active in western Bohemia, predominantly in Karlovy Vary.

Ernstberger had studied at the Art Academy in Vienna, under professor Otto Wagner. After the studies he worked for architect Leopold Bauer and helped to design buildings of Austro-Hungarian National Bank in Vienna, Priesnitz spa in Lázně Jeseník and commerce chamber house in Opava. In 1913 he became independent architect. Their designs for the government building in Chernivtsi in Bukowina and for the National Library and Museum in Sofia, Bulgaria obtained awards.

At the beginning World War I Ernstberger was sent to the Eastern Front and a member of a Kaiserjäger unit and participated in the Battle of Galicia. In 1917 he was made the leader of a group building monuments of fallen soldiers. He designed a monument of mountain infantry in Bolzano, their museum in Runkelstein Castle in what was Austro-Hungarian Tyrol and their monument and cemetery in Huijcze Galicia.