1st International Horticultural Exhibition

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The 1st International Horticultural Exhibition was an exhibition of horticultural companies and landscape gardeners with international participation . It took place from May 7th to 16th, 1887 in Dresden .

Idea and preparation

The initiators of the exhibition were the Saxon Society for Botany and Flora Horticulture , the horticultural society "Feronia" , and the gardening association for Dresden and the surrounding area , which was established in Dresden in the first third of the 19th century . In the first half of 1886 they decided to hold a large horticultural exhibition and to prepare for it founded a commission of the International Horticultural Exhibition , to which about 20 horticultural experts belonged. The aim was, on the one hand, to promote the local garden culture, and on the other, to acquire or expand new sales markets for the Saxon nurseries abroad. The show was intended to compete with the garden shows organized every five years in Ghent , Belgium , and to make Dresden a new center for plant breeding and keeping.

The Saxon Ministry of Finance made part of the Great Garden available for the exhibition . In addition, the Ministry of the Interior approved 20,000 marks for the preparation. Additional funds were raised for the procurement of honorary prizes by the Dresden city administration and various private donors and associations. The art and commercial gardener Traugott Jacob Herrmann Seidel and the garden engineer Max Bertram took over the planning and management of the preparatory work .

Exhibition area

For the 1st International Horticultural Exhibition, a total of 26 pavilions were built on an area of ​​approx. 11.2 hectares, mostly wood, glass and fabric being used as building materials. Contrary to the original plans, the costs for this amounted to over 45,000 marks instead of 24,000. The exhibition area extended between the main avenue of the Great Garden, the Kaitzbach and Lennéstraße, where the main entrance was also located.

The exhibition area was designed based on the example of a romantic English landscape garden and was accessed via curved paths. In the center was a 1000 square meter pond with a fountain. There were also numerous flower borders, groups of trees and bushes and an artificially created watercourse. Heaped hills, small bridges, artificial waterfalls and exotic plantings should give visitors the impression of an ideal landscape.

For the 26 pavilions, various mostly historicizing styles were used, which corresponded to the taste of the time. The largest building was the 88 meter long main hall with a cross-shaped floor plan and six towers. The roof between the two main towers was designed as a viewing platform. Inside the hall were native and exotic potted plants, palms , azaleas and rhododendrons . There were also various types of roses , with the Souvenir de Victor Hugo roses and the $ 5,000 rose , which were bred in 1886, causing a sensation. Busts and “patriotic” sculptures complemented the plant show. In the side halls there were exhibitions of the fruit and vegetable gardeners.

In the smaller pavilions, there were various special cultures such as orchids and cacti to be seen. One hall was exclusively available to the Dresden garden cultures. There was also a literature pavilion, a show pavilion for flower binding , two winter houses and the king's pavilion . The two-story literature pavilion in oriental style and with Persian paintings was one of the attractions of the exhibition. While textbooks and publications on horticulture could be viewed on the upper floor, there were sales and rehearsal rooms for fruit and berry wines in the basement. An industrial hall presented garden furniture, vases, planters and technical accessories for horticulture.

For the catering of the visitors, there was a separate restoration building on the exhibition grounds, which also housed a post and telegraph station. In addition, there were various cafes, kiosks and snack bars spread across the area.

A machine hall was located near the main entrance to supply the exhibition grounds with electrical light. The Chemnitz company E. Bartsch took over the installation of the lighting system, the power machines themselves came from Karlsruhe. The entire area could be illuminated in the evening with thousands of lamps. Contemporary descriptions praised the multi-colored “artificial sun” on the tower of the main hall, which “reminded the viewer of the wonderful fairy tale world of the Orient”.

execution

The opening of the exhibition took place on May 7th, 1887 in the presence of the Saxon King Albert , who had also assumed the patronage. Lord Mayor Paul Alfred Stübel gave the speech. Only invited guests of honor, including members of the Saxon court and other royal houses, foreign envoys and public figures, were allowed to take part in the opening event. Following the opening event, there was a gala dinner in the “Great Bar” in the Great Garden.

In the afternoon, the paying guests were allowed to enter the premises. Admission was 1 mark for adults and 50 pfennigs for children. Multiple visitors could also purchase season tickets. In the evenings, entry was reduced to 50 pfennigs from 7 p.m. It was open daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thanks to the grant of 2000 marks by the city of Dresden, school classes could also visit the exhibition free of charge. Additional horse-drawn tram lines were used to cope with the crowds . External visitors could reach Dresden by special train at reduced prices.

During the exhibition there was a comprehensive supporting program on the site. Up to four concerts were held every day in the specially built music pavilion. There were also lectures and specialist events for horticultural specialists and tradespeople. I.a. there was a congress of the Association of German Rose Friends and an assembly of conifer growers who agreed on the uniform naming of conifers. In the presence of 60 garden engineers, the Association of German Garden Artists was founded, whose association statute came from Friedrich Bouché . Thousands of curious onlookers were drawn to a meeting of around 1000 “Velocipede riders” of the Dresden cycling club on the first Sunday after the opening. Visits from prominent guests were also part of the supporting program. a. of the President of the German Reichstag and several princely couples. On May 12th, there was also a steamboat trip on the Elbe steamer Pillnitz , in which horticultural specialists from all over Germany took part.

A total of over 500 exhibitors took part in the 1st International Horticultural Exhibition, with 80 companies from Dresden and the surrounding area. The foreign participants came from a. from Russia , Belgium , the United Kingdom , the Netherlands and Austria-Hungary .

Because of the great popularity, the organizers decided to extend the show, which was originally planned to run until May 15th, by one day, with the additional proceeds going to the Albertverein for charitable purposes. In total, an estimated 200,000 visitors visited the horticultural exhibition. The total proceeds after deducting all costs amounted to 126,799.50 marks.

Award ceremony

To recognize special achievements in the field of horticulture, a jury commission was set up during the exhibition, which decided in several days of deliberations to award the honorary prizes and medals. Six departments were defined for this:

1. Plants
2. Binders, dried flowers, mourning, room and table decorations
3. Vegetables, fresh and pickled fruits, fruit and berry wines
4. Garden plans and architecture
5. Conservatories, horticulture and equipment
6. mechanical equipment

These were also divided into competition groups in order to ensure better comparability. A total of 800 prizes were awarded in the plants area alone, which was three quarters of the total number of prizes. These mainly consisted of various types of ornamental plants such as palms, orchids, anthuriums, azaleas and roses as well as conifers and other woody plants.

The highest award given was the “Great Golden Prize Coin”, which was given to the Graeflich-Hardenberg garden administration as well as to exhibitors from Ghent, Hanover and Erfurt.

End of the exhibition

On May 16, 1887, the 1st International Horticultural Exhibition was closed. The dismantling began the following day with a large plant auction in front of the main hall. The buildings themselves were also auctioned and could continue to be used by the buyers after they were dismantled. The exhibition area was then returned to its original state. The profit generated by the exhibition later formed the basis for the 2nd International Horticultural Exhibition in Dresden (1896). There was a third such show in 1907.

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of “ Flora ”, the anniversary horticultural exhibition in 1926 took place as part of the annual show of German labor in Dresden , 10 years later the short tradition of the national garden shows was established in the city with the 1936 Reichsgartenschau .

swell

  • Gerald Kolditz: 1st International Horticultural Exhibition in Dresden 100 years ago , in: Saxon Latest News , May 15, 1987 ff.