page_title: Heinrich von Brühl
section_title: Legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Heinrich von Brühl / Legacy
caption_attribution_description: Polski: Pałac Brühla w WarszawieEnglish: Brühl Palace in Warsaw
context_page_description: Heinrich, count von Brühl, was a Polish-Saxon statesman at the court of Saxony and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and a member of the powerful German von Brühl family. The incumbency of this ambitious politician coincided with the decline of both states. Brühl was a skillful diplomat and cunning strategist, who managed to attain control over of Saxony and Poland, partly by controlling its king, Augustus III, who ultimately could only be accessed through Brühl himself.
  Polish historian and writer Józef Ignacy Kraszewski wrote a novel under the title Count Brühl, in which he described Heinrich as an oppressive and stubborn dictator, who, with greed, but also great determination, unsuccessfully attempted to gain control of the entire nation.
  It is widely believed that Brühl had Europe's largest collection of watches and military vests; attributed to him was also a vast collection of ceremonial wigs, hats and the largest collection of Meissen porcelain in the world. He had also one of the biggest collection of kabbala books in Europe.
context_section_description: Brühl died at Dresden on 28 October 1763, having survived his master only for a few weeks. The new elector, Frederick Christian caused an inquiry to be held into his administration. His fortune including large palaces at Pförten (present-day Brody), Oberlichtenau and Wachau-Seifersdorf was found to amount to a million and a half talers, and was sequestered but afterwards restored to his family. The inquiry showed that Brühl owed his immense fortune to the prodigality of the king rather than to unlawful means of accumulation.
  His profusion was often beneficial to the arts and sciences.  The famous Meissen porcelain Swan Service was made for him, with over 2,200 pieces, now dispersed to collections around the world. In 1736 the architect Johann Christoph Knöffel had begun to build a city palace and terrace for the count on the bank of the Elbe in the heart of Dresden. This was originally called "Brühl's Garden" and is today known as Brühl's Terrace. The Brühl Palace at Warsaw was rebuilt according to the designs by Joachim Daniel von Jauch from 1754 to 1759.
  Brühl was a dedicated collector and protector of the arts - Francesco Algarotti called him a Maecenas. He owned a large gallery of pictures, which was bought by Empress Catherine II of Russia in 1768, and his library of 70,000 volumes was one of the biggest private libraries in the Holy Roman Empire.
  Brühl was portrayed by Johannes Riemann in the 1941 film Friedemann Bach.
caption: Brühl Palace in Warsaw, one of the largest palaces and one of the finest examples of rococo architecture in pre-war Poland
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