Carl Heinrich Gentzsch

Rock stairs or so-called eye of a needle

Carl Heinrich Gentzsch (1735–1805) was a court gardener in Weimar . Together with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe he built the so-called eye of the needle in the park on the Ilm opposite the place where the body of the court lady Christiane Henriette Sophie von Laßberg , who committed suicide on January 17, 1778 in the Ilm, was found. Goethe had actually wanted to create a memorial for them, but that did not happen.

Gentzsch was not regarded as an original garden designer, but had a great deal of botanical knowledge, for which he was definitely appreciated by Goethe. From 1769 Gentzsch was in the service of Weimar, from 1781 court gardener in Weimar. In this capacity he played a major role in the creation of the Ilmpark. He was also involved in the design of the park in Tiefurt Castle and Park . According to Effi Biedrzynski, up to 105 day laborers and craftsmen were subordinate to him around 1875. Like the other court gardeners Johann Friedrich Reichert (1738–1797) and Johann Gottlieb Bleidorn (1749–1792), he was under the supervision of Friedrich Justin Bertuch . He also took care of the greening of the abandoned Weimar city fortifications.

His son Johann Christoph Carl Gentzsch was also active in Weimar horticulture, which was mainly involved in the supervision of park structures.

literature

• Effi Biedrzynski : Goethe's Weimar: The lexicon of people and scenes , Artemis & Winkler Verlag, Mannheim 2010, p. 103 f.

Web links

• Friedrich Justin Bertuch (1747–1822): publisher, writer and entrepreneur in classical Weimar , edited by Gerhard R. Kaiser, Siegfried Seifert, Max Niemeyer Verlag, Tübingen 2000, p. 631.
• Susanne Müller-Wolff: A landscape garden in the Ilmpark: The history of the ducal garden in Weimar. Cologne- / Weimar / Vienna 2007. ISBN 978-3-412-20057-2