Hesperides Gardens

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Balthasar Derrer's Hesperides Garden in St. Johannis, Johannisstrasse 43. Watercolor from the genealogical book of the Nuremberg patrician Derrer family, 1626–1711.

The Hesperides Gardens are several baroque gardens in the St. Johannis district of Nuremberg . They were part of a green belt along the city ​​wall , which encompassed 360 differently used gardens and formed the basis for the development of a high-quality garden culture at the gates of the imperial city of Nuremberg . The emergence of noteworthy collections of citrus plants was thereby favored. The green areas were laid out by patrician families and merchants in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries after the fruit, vegetable and herb gardens in the old town were gradually developed. The magnificent pleasure gardens separated the newly created suburbs from the old town. The city wall formed the physical limit. Well-to-do citizens have lived in St. Johannis since early modern times and brought a touch of southern culture to their gardens. The patricians and merchants based their garden design on the example of the nobility. Small ornamental gardens were built in the Renaissance and Baroque styles and equipped with a large number of fountains and figures made of sandstone. In the lavishly designed gardens there were valuable and exotic collections of lime and bitter oranges.

location

Excerpt from the Homann Plan of the City of Nuremberg, which shows the Hesperides Gardens north of the Hallerwiese (1773)

The garden plots of the Hesperidengärten are located west of Nuremberg's old town in the St. Johannis district between Johannisstrasse and Hallerwiese . The complex of former community gardens north of the Pegnitz has only a few remaining areas and relics of the former magnificent furnishings. The narrow, rectangular gardens are orthogonal, oriented north-south to Johannisstrasse. The former summer houses of the patricians and merchants form the structural border of the small areas.

The gardens can be entered via the entrances Johannisstraße 47 and Riesenschritt 26 (three interconnected gardens behind houses no. 43–47) and Johannisstraße 13.

history

Surname

Illustration of the bergamot fruit from the work Nürnbergische Hesperides by Johann Christoph Volkamer

The name of the Hesperides Gardens comes from Greek mythology .

The Hesperides (Greek Esperídes) were nymphs and gardeners in mythical times. Their task was to guard the golden fruits growing in the garden of the same name. The golden apples were considered the property of the gods and should give eternal youth and immortality . Greek mythology said that Gaia planted the apple tree in honor of Zeus' marriage to Hera in a garden across the western ocean. Herakles , famous for his strength, was charged with the eleventh act of heroism to steal the fruits of the gods from the gardens of the Hesperides. But Prometheus advised Heracles that the Titan Atlas should steal the three golden apples in its place, as they were guarded by the 100-headed dragon Ladon . With a trick, Heracles convinced Atlas to pick the apples and passed the task. In the early modern period , citrus fruits were associated with golden apples.

Nuremberg Hesperides

Many of the gardens became famous for the two-volume work on citrus fruits by the businessman and passionate botanist Johann Christoph Volkamer , which contained a variety of illustrations and was published under the name Nürnbergische Hesperides 1708–1714. The publication represents the first systematic description of the citrus genus and an important source work on historical garden art. The book title led to the transfer of the ancient Hesperid saga to the Nuremberg public gardens.

14th to 18th century

Hesperides garden with water features, sculptures, shaped hedges and citrus fruits

Gardens were laid out in St. Johannis as early as the 14th century.

In the 14th to 15th centuries, patrician families and religious orders cultivated fruit, vegetable and herb gardens within the city wall. The focus of the horticultural use was in the Lorenz old town , south of the Pegnitz. Due to medieval trade, the population grew towards the end of the 15th century and the green areas were given up in favor of building land. The council of the imperial city of Nuremberg had to provide replacement areas at the request of garden lovers. After the end of the First Margrave War , in 1449 , a green wreath of community gardens developed around today's old town of Nuremberg. In the area of ​​the so-called Burgfriedens , an 800 to 1300 meter wide buffer strip along the Nuremberg city ​​wall , a forward line of palisades ( Landwehr ) was built for defense purposes . In 1632 the defense system was reinforced with earthworks. This defensive zone was used agriculturally by farmers - as a field, meadow, fruit and vegetable garden - and first belonged to the lords of the castle and later the margraves .

Sculpture in the Hesperides Garden

Another factor in the flourishing of Nuremberg's garden culture was the sale of land owned by the Teutonic Order to the imperial city of Nuremberg. The properties in question were located in the west of the city and directly bordered the city wall. After the areas were parceled out, towel plots on a vineyard slope in today's St. Johannis district were sold to citizens of Nuremberg. These gardens near St. Johannis represent the starting point for today's Hesperides Gardens. 360 gardens developed in many places within the garden ring and formed a circle of viridarius. The names of the districts - such as gardens near Wöhrd and gardens behind the fortress - still bear witness to the former garden splendor.

The Nuremberg garden culture was significantly influenced by Italy in the 16th and 17th centuries, as Nuremberg merchant families increasingly traveled to Italy. Until the 18th century, Nuremberg garden design was based on the Italian gardens of the late Renaissance. The cultivation of citrus fruits, especially bitter oranges, followed the Italian model. Citrus plants were cultivated in 70 percent of the gardens in Burgfrieden. Even smaller gardens have been equipped with one to several dozen of these exotic plants.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Hesperides Gardens were redesigned in Baroque style based on the Dutch and Italian models.

20th century

At the beginning of the 1980s, some of these gardens were reconstructed with the help of the St. Johannis Citizens' Association and the Nuremberg Horticultural Office. In the baroque garden at house number 13 there is a bricked historical garden house. The exhibition inside is open from April to October.

See also

literature

  • Nehring, Dorothee: The Hesperidengärten in Nuremberg's St. Johannis district . Verlag Universitätsbuchhandlung Korn & Berg, Nuremberg, 1985, ISBN 3-87432-099-5 .
  • Theo Friedrich: From the Hesperidengarten to the Volkspark. Garden culture and urban green maintenance from the Middle Ages to the present in Nuremberg . Edelmann Verlag, Nuremberg 1993, ISBN 3-87191-181-X .
  • Jochen Martz: On the development of citrus culture in Nuremberg's gardens - from the beginnings to the 19th century . In: Nuremberg Hesperides and orangery culture in Franconia . Volume 7. Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2011, pp. 95 f, ISBN 3-86568-670-2 .
  • Heinrich Hamann: Johann Christoph Volkamer's "Nürnberge Hesperides" . In: Nuremberg Hesperides and orangery culture in Franconia . Volume 7. Verlag Imhof, Petersberg 2011, p. 9 f, ISBN 3-86568-670-2 .

Web links

Commons : Hesperides Gardens  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Dorothee Nehring: The Hesperides Gardens in St. Johannis . Korn & Berg, Nuremberg 1985, ISBN 3-87432-099-5 , pp. 8-9 .
  2. ↑ a b c Angela Jekosch: Herakles Taten 11: Hesperiden. January 20, 2009, accessed March 9, 2019 .
  3. ↑ a b c d Uwe A. Oster: Golden apples of the Hesperides. DAMALS.de, May 18, 2011, accessed March 9, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Historic Nuremberg Gardens - Baroque Garden - Hesperides Garden. Bayern-Online, accessed on March 3, 2019 .
  5. ↑ a b c Jochen Martz: On the development of the citrus culture in Nuremberg's gardens - from the beginnings to the 19th century. Ed .: Arbeitskreis Orangerien in Deutschland eV Volume 7 . Imhof, Petersberg, ISBN 3-86568-670-2 , p. 95 f .
  6. ^ Theo Friedrich: From the Hesperidengarten to the Volkspark: Garden culture and urban green maintenance from the Middle Ages to the present in Nuremberg . Edelmann Verlag - Korn & Berg Universitätsbuchhandlung GmbH & Co.KG, Nuremberg 1993, ISBN 978-3-87191-181-1 , p. 8-9 .
  7. ↑ Nuremberg Baroque Gardens - Hesperides Gardens. Verkehrsverein Nürnberg eV, accessed on March 3, 2019 .
  8. ^ Theo Friedrich: From the Hesperidengarten to the Volkspark: Garden culture and urban green maintenance from the Middle Ages to the present in Nuremberg . Edelmann Verlag - Korn & Berg Universitätsbuchhandlung GmbH & Co.KG, Nuremberg 1993, ISBN 978-3-87191-181-1 , p. 11 .
  9. ↑ Orangery Culture Series, Volume 7 Nuremberg Hesperides and Orangery Culture in Franconia. Orangeries in Germany Association, accessed on September 17, 2017 .
  10. ↑ Michael Diefenbacher, Rudolf Endres (ed.): Stadtlexikon Nürnberg . 2nd Edition. Tümmel Verlag, Nuremberg 1999.
  11. ^ Hesperides Gardens and Nuremberg Baroque Gardens. Tourismusverband Franken eV, accessed on March 4, 2019 .

Coordinates: 49 ° 27 '28.3 "  N , 11 ° 3' 49.1"  E