Hortus Palatinus
Encyclopedia
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
garden in the Italian Renaissance
Italian Renaissance garden
The Italian Renaissance garden was a new style of garden which emerged in the late 15th century at villas in Rome and Florence, inspired by classical ideals of order and beauty, and intended for the pleasure of the view of the garden and the landscape beyond, for contemplation, and for the...
style attached to Heidelberg Castle
Heidelberg Castle
The Heidelberg Castle is a famous ruin in Germany and landmark of Heidelberg. The castle ruins are among the most important Renaissance structures north of the Alps....
, Germany. The garden was commissioned by Frederick V, Elector Palatine
Frederick V, Elector Palatine
Frederick V was Elector Palatine , and, as Frederick I , King of Bohemia ....
in 1614 for his new wife, Elizabeth Stuart
Elizabeth of Bohemia
Elizabeth of Bohemia was the eldest daughter of King James VI and I, King of Scotland, England, Ireland, and Anne of Denmark. As the wife of Frederick V, Elector Palatine, she was Electress Palatine and briefly Queen of Bohemia...
, and became famous across Europe during the 17th century for the landscaping
Landscape engineering
Landscape engineering or landscaping is the application of mathematics and science to shape land and waterscapes. It can also be described as green engineering, but the design professionals best known for landscape engineering are landscape architects...
and horticultural techniques involved in its design. At the time it was known as the 'Eighth Wonder of the World', and has since been termed 'Germany's greatest Renaissance garden.'
Construction
The Hortus Palatinus was commissioned by Frederick VFrederick V, Elector Palatine
Frederick V was Elector Palatine , and, as Frederick I , King of Bohemia ....
the ruler of the Palatinate, a leading member of the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
and the head of the Protestant Union
Protestant Union
The Protestant Union or Evangelical Union was a coalition of Protestant German states that was formed in 1608 to defend the rights, lands and person of each member....
, with a martial family tradition stretching back several centuries. Frederick had spent the winter of 1612 in England, where he married Elizabeth Stuart
Elizabeth of Bohemia
Elizabeth of Bohemia was the eldest daughter of King James VI and I, King of Scotland, England, Ireland, and Anne of Denmark. As the wife of Frederick V, Elector Palatine, she was Electress Palatine and briefly Queen of Bohemia...
, the daughter of King James I. Although the match had a political purpose - effectively uniting the Protestant lines of England, the Palatinate, the Dutch House of Orange-Nassau
House of Orange-Nassau
The House of Orange-Nassau , a branch of the European House of Nassau, has played a central role in the political life of the Netherlands — and at times in Europe — since William I of Orange organized the Dutch revolt against Spanish rule, which after the Eighty Years' War...
and Denmark - the two were genuinely in love, and remained a romantic couple throughout the course of their marriage. Frederick returned to Heidelberg
Heidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
, his capital, ahead of his bride and set about transforming his castle, creating an 'English wing' for her, a monkey
Monkey
A monkey is a primate, either an Old World monkey or a New World monkey. There are about 260 known living species of monkey. Many are arboreal, although there are species that live primarily on the ground, such as baboons. Monkeys are generally considered to be intelligent. Unlike apes, monkeys...
-house, a menagerie
Menagerie
A menagerie is/was a form of keeping common and exotic animals in captivity that preceded the modern zoological garden. The term was first used in seventeenth century France in reference to the management of household or domestic stock. Later, it came to be used primarily in reference to...
- and the beginnings of a new garden in the Italian Renaissance
Italian Renaissance garden
The Italian Renaissance garden was a new style of garden which emerged in the late 15th century at villas in Rome and Florence, inspired by classical ideals of order and beauty, and intended for the pleasure of the view of the garden and the landscape beyond, for contemplation, and for the...
style popular in England at the time.
Frederick had met the English gardener Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones is the first significant British architect of the modern period, and the first to bring Italianate Renaissance architecture to England...
and the French engineer Salomon de Caus
Salomon de Caus
Salomon de Caus was a French engineer and once credited with the development of the steam engine.Salomon was the elder brother of Isaac de Caus. Being a Huguenot, he spent his life moving across Europe....
at King James' court. De Caus had been involved in constructing a Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
garden for the Prince of Wales, Prince Henry
Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales
Henry Frederick Stuart, Prince of Wales was the elder son of King James I & VI and Anne of Denmark. His name derives from his grandfathers: Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley and Frederick II of Denmark. Prince Henry was widely seen as a bright and promising heir to his father's throne...
at Richmond Palace
Richmond Palace
Richmond Palace was a Thameside royal residence on the right bank of the river, upstream of the Palace of Westminster, to which it lay 9 miles SW of as the crow flies. It it was erected c. 1501 within the royal manor of Sheen, by Henry VII of England, formerly known by his title Earl of Richmond,...
, but this project had been halted following the Prince's death in 1612. De Caus was also a favourite of Elizabeth Stuart's, having been her tutor before her marriage. From July 1614 onwards de Caus began work in Heidelberg on a new set of gardens. Some writers suspect that de Caus transferred many of his potential ideas from the Richmond project to Heidelberg, applying them on a larger scale.
One major challenge that the engineers faced was the uneven ground - the steep, mountainous terrain around the castle had to be flattened and levelled up into a huge multi-leveled terrace. The result - a large 'L' shape around the castle - was then furnished between 1614 and 1619 with statues, grotto
Grotto
A grotto is any type of natural or artificial cave that is associated with modern, historic or prehistoric use by humans. When it is not an artificial garden feature, a grotto is often a small cave near water and often flooded or liable to flood at high tide...
s, plants, flowers and tall trees, surrounded in turn by the Heidelberg forest. The lay-out of the various exotic plants, many from the then recently discovered tropics
Tropics
The tropics is a region of the Earth surrounding the Equator. It is limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at S; these latitudes correspond to the axial tilt of the Earth...
, reflects their geographical origins and religious connotations. De Caus was also particularly proud of the orange tree
Orange (fruit)
An orange—specifically, the sweet orange—is the citrus Citrus × sinensis and its fruit. It is the most commonly grown tree fruit in the world....
grove he created, populated with thirty sixty year old orange trees specially transferred using his own methods, a significant horticultural accomplishment during the period. Other dramatic features included a water organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
in imitation of the Roman writer Vitruvius
Vitruvius
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio was a Roman writer, architect and engineer, active in the 1st century BC. He is best known as the author of the multi-volume work De Architectura ....
' design, clockwork
Clockwork
A clockwork is the inner workings of either a mechanical clock or a device that operates in a similar fashion. Specifically, the term refers to a mechanical device utilizing a complex series of gears....
-driven musical automata
Automaton
An automaton is a self-operating machine. The word is sometimes used to describe a robot, more specifically an autonomous robot. An alternative spelling, now obsolete, is automation.-Etymology:...
birds who sang as nightingales and cuckoos, mazes and a recreation of the legendary animated statue of Memnon. The result was a hugely impressive Baroque garden in the Italian Renaissance style, dubbed by contemporaries the 'Eighth Wonder of the World'.
Symbolism
The elaborate and ornate Hortus Palatinus have been interpreted in various ways. The dominant modern interpretation of the Hortus Palatinus is that is a 'magic' or 'hermetic' garden. In this model, drawing on de Caus's alleged mysticMysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
al Rosicrucian background, the complex gardens become an allegory of Rosicrucian thought, a 'botanical cosmos
Cosmos
In the general sense, a cosmos is an orderly or harmonious system. It originates from the Greek term κόσμος , meaning "order" or "ornament" and is antithetical to the concept of chaos. Today, the word is generally used as a synonym of the word Universe . The word cosmos originates from the same root...
', containing a coded secret deep in their design. In this interpretation, the gardens are intended to capture 'a universal vision, based on a union of the arts, science and religion', combined with 'an ancient tradition of secret wisdom handed down over the ages'.
Another popular modern interpretation believes that the gardens were designed consciously to communicate a powerful, symbolic political message. Frederick V had political ambitions beyond the Palatinate; as the head of the Protestant Union
Protestant Union
The Protestant Union or Evangelical Union was a coalition of Protestant German states that was formed in 1608 to defend the rights, lands and person of each member....
and the senior Elector
Prince-elector
The Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Roman king or, from the middle of the 16th century onwards, directly the Holy Roman Emperor.The heir-apparent to a prince-elector was known as an...
within the Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
he had hopes for wider hegemony across Germany. In 1619 Frederick would challenge Emperor Ferdinand II
Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand II , a member of the House of Habsburg, was Holy Roman Emperor , King of Bohemia , and King of Hungary . His rule coincided with the Thirty Years' War.- Life :...
for control of Bohemia
Kingdom of Bohemia
The Kingdom of Bohemia was a country located in the region of Bohemia in Central Europe, most of whose territory is currently located in the modern-day Czech Republic. The King was Elector of Holy Roman Empire until its dissolution in 1806, whereupon it became part of the Austrian Empire, and...
. Frederick's gardens accordingly symbolised a hugely powerful ruler, mimicking the Roman emperors; the iconography
Iconography
Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek "image" and "to write". A secondary meaning is the painting of icons in the...
stresses the role of Frederick as a powerful ruler driving the creation of the gardens, 'toppling the peaks of the mountains' and dominating nature as he restructures the world around him. Even the water in the garden, shown in the statues to be commanded by Neptune
Neptune
Neptune is the eighth and farthest planet from the Sun in the Solar System. Named for the Roman god of the sea, it is the fourth-largest planet by diameter and the third largest by mass. Neptune is 17 times the mass of Earth and is slightly more massive than its near-twin Uranus, which is 15 times...
, is in turn surmounted by images of Frederick commanding Neptune himself.
An alternative interpretation of the gardens argues that - although made in the English style - de Caus designed them with the broad European late Renaissance style firmly in mind, drawing on his experiences of north Italian, and particularly Tuscan gardens. In this minority interpretation, the political symbols and metaphors of the garden are of less importance than the underlying topoi
Literary topos
Topos , in Latin locus , referred in the context of classical Greek rhetoric to a standardised method of constructing or treating an argument. See topos in classical rhetoric...
of similar looking gardens across Europe - de Caus was building a garden emulating - and trying to exceed in size and scope - other popular gardens of the day.
Destruction of the garden
By 1619, the Hortus Palatinate had become 'Germany's greatest Renaissance garden', although it was still not fully completed. 1619, however, saw Frederick V's war with Emperor Ferdinand IIFerdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand II , a member of the House of Habsburg, was Holy Roman Emperor , King of Bohemia , and King of Hungary . His rule coincided with the Thirty Years' War.- Life :...
over the kingdom of Bohemia
Kingdom of Bohemia
The Kingdom of Bohemia was a country located in the region of Bohemia in Central Europe, most of whose territory is currently located in the modern-day Czech Republic. The King was Elector of Holy Roman Empire until its dissolution in 1806, whereupon it became part of the Austrian Empire, and...
; soundly defeated at the battle of the White Mountain, Frederick and Elizabeth were forced to flee the Empire for a life in exile in the Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
. The Hortus Palatinate project was halted indefinitely, with de Caus leaving for 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...
.
Heidelberg and the gardens suffered badly during the ensuing Thirty Years War; the ornate gardens were used as an artillery base for attacking the city. By the time that Frederick's son, Charles Louis
Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine
Charles Louis, , Elector Palatine KG was the second son of Frederick V of the Palatinate, the "Winter King" of Bohemia, and his wife, Princess Elizabeth, daughter of King James I of England ....
was returned to the lower Palatinate in 1648, the principality was in dire economic straits - pleasure gardens were a low priority for the new ruler. The Hortus Palatinate became ruins and today are considered a popular, romantic tourist attraction. The gardens, as represented in de Caus' original designs, were recreated digitally at the European Media Laboratory in Heidelberg in 2003.
External links
- Hortus Palatinus by Salomon de Caus 1620 - plans for the gardens.
- The 3D digital recreation of the gardens by the European Media Laboratory in Heidelberg.