Johann Balthasar Neumann (listenⓘ; c. 27 January 1687 – 19 August 1753), usually known as Balthasar Neumann, was a German architect and military artillery engineer who developed a refined brand of Baroque architecture, fusing Austrian, Bohemian, Italian, and French elements to design some of the most impressive buildings of the period, including the Würzburg Residence and the Basilica of the Fourteen Holy Helpers (called Vierzehnheiligen in German).

In 1712, he attended lessons on geometry, architecture and land surveying and joined the local military, in which he remained until his death, then holding the rank of colonel of the artillery.

In 1718, he travelled through northern Italy to study buildings and briefly worked on civilian construction projects at Milan (details not known).

At Paris and Versailles he met with royal architects Germain Boffrand and Robert de Cotte and consulted them on the Würzburg projects.

Another work of this period was the church at Kloster Holzkirchen (1728–30) where he combined features of the French, Italian and German Baroque.

Among his work for the Elector of Trier are the Dikasterialgebäude of Ehrenbreitstein Fortress (1739–1748) and the summer palace Schönbornslust (1748–1752, demolished 1806) at Kesselheim, also near Koblenz.

[1] As a builder of churches, Neumann recurred to Guarino Guarini, the architecture of his native Bohemia and its transmittance to Franconia by Johann Dientzenhofer.

The final German 50 Deutsche Mark note showed a picture of him together with the famous staircase located in the Residence of Würzburg.