Oriental period

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Image of a Semper Augustus, which achieved the highest prices at the height of the tulip mania. (Illustration from the 17th century)

In Central European gardening, the time between 1560 and 1620 is referred to as the oriental period . During this period of the Renaissance , a large number of mostly exotic ornamental plants were introduced in order to design gardens and parks. Tulips , hyacinths and daffodils , which were imported from southern and southeastern Europe to Central Europe, played a special role .

The first tulip probably came to Vienna from Constantinople in 1554 in the luggage of a Habsburg diplomat. This plant spread very quickly. As early as 1559, an Augsburg merchant was cultivating tulips in his garden. However, the botanist Carolus Clusius played a special role in the distribution of tulips in particular. As director of the Botanical Garden in Leiden, Holland , he planted tulip bulbs and sent tulip bulbs to his correspondence throughout Europe. As early as the 1610s, there was a first wave of speculation with tulips in France. However, the tulip mania reached its peak after the end of the Oriental period. From 1632 to 1637, tulips were the most sought-after object of speculation.