Gustav Friedrich Hetsch (28 September 1788 – 7 September 1864) was a German-born, Danish architect

Architect

An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

.

Hetsch was born in Stuttgart

Stuttgart

Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....

 and studied at the University of Tübingen and in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, where his teacher was Charles Percier

Charles Percier

Charles Percier was a neoclassical French architect, interior decorator and designer, who worked in a close partnership with Pierre François Léonard Fontaine, originally his friend from student days...

. After finishing his studies, he worked for Jean-Baptiste Rondelet

Jean-Baptiste Rondelet

Jean-Baptiste Rondelet was an architectural theorist of the late Enlightenment era and chief architect of the church of Sainte-Geneviève. He published a treatise on Architecture between 1805 and 1816. He grew up and helped the world build the Panthéon. Which is still a site today standing 10...

 on the Church of Sainte-Geneviève

Panthéon, Paris

The Panthéon is a building in the Latin Quarter in Paris. It was originally built as a church dedicated to St. Genevieve and to house the reliquary châsse containing her relics but, after many changes, now functions as a secular mausoleum containing the remains of distinguished French citizens...

. In 1812 he was recalled to Stuttgart, but soon left for Italy, where he continued his studies and met the Danish architect Peder Malling. It was Malling who in 1815 inspired Hetsch to come to Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

, where he taught at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, eventually advancing to Professor of Architecture.

One of Hetsch's first major projects was the interior decoration of the rebuilt Christiansborg Palace, where Christian Frederik Hansen

Christian Frederik Hansen

Christian Frederik Hansen , known as C.F. Hansen, was the leading Danish architect between the late 18th century and the mid 19th century, and on account of his position at the Royal Danish Academy of Art the most powerful person in artistic circles for many years...

 was the principal architect. Though most of his accomplishments were in the area of decorative art, Hetsch also designed the Great Synagogue

Great Synagogue (Copenhagen)

The Great Synagogue is the main synagogue of the Jewish community in Copenhagen, Denmark. The synagogue is defined by its unique architecture around the Ark of the Law. During the first half of the 19th century, synagogues continued to be built in the classical tradition but there began to be a...

 (1833) and St. Ansgar's Church

St. Ansgar's Cathedral

Saint Ansgar's Cathedral in Copenhagen, Denmark is the principal church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Copenhagen, which encompasses all of Denmark, including the Faroe Islands and Greenland.-History:...

 (1842) in Copenhagen. In parallel with his duties at the academy he held several other positions, including that of artistic director of the Royal Porcelain Factory (1828–1857).