1. Alois Negrelli was born Luigi Negrelli as the seventh of ten children to an Italian-speaking father and a German-speaking mother in Fiera di Primiero in the Dolomites.
15 Facts About Alois Negrelli
1. 2.
Alois Negrelli received an Austrian scholarship and went to secondary school in Feltre in 1812, together with his brothers.
3.
Alois Negrelli later studied in Padua and Innsbruck in 1817, the capital of the Crownland of Tyrol.
4.
Alois Negrelli constructed the Gschwendtobel-Brucke in Lingenau, a covered wooden bridge still in existence, and earned a reputation for taking part in the channelisation of the Alpenrhein and of the various Austrian and Swiss interests connected therewith.
5.
Alois Negrelli moved to Switzerland in 1832 and took part in the erection of various constructions in the Canton of St Gallen.
6.
In 1835, Alois Negrelli was called to Zurich, where he continued with similar activity, notably working on the Munsterbrucke crossing the Limmat together with Ferdinand Stadler, who was responsible for the carpentry.
7.
Alois Negrelli created the new Kornhaus in 1839 which later became the first Tonhalle of Zurich.
8.
Alois Negrelli was chosen as inspector general for the private Emperor Ferdinand Northern Railway, and the Northern State Railway in 1842.
9.
Alois Negrelli was responsible for the construction of the railway lines from Vienna via Prague to the German border in direction of Dresden, and via Ostrava to the Polish border in direction of Krakow.
10.
Alois Negrelli prepared the railway to the then Austrian Lviv and the extension to the Russian border further east.
11.
In 1855 Alois Negrelli was invited by Ferdinand de Lesseps to participate again, now in the International Commission for the piercing of the isthmus of Suez.
12.
Alois Negrelli formed part of the surveying group travelling to Egypt in late 1855 and early 1856.
13.
Alois Negrelli was prevented from travelling to Egypt another time and meeting with Lesseps, who went to London, in June 1858.
14.
Alois Negrelli's response was published in the Oesterreichische Zeitung on 26 September 1858.
15.
Alois Negrelli's death occurred only weeks shy of witnessing the establishment of the Suez Canal Company, and just half a year before the works on the canal project were to officially begin.