Bitter orange garden (Leonberg)
The Leonberger Pomeranzengarten is one of the few surviving examples of a court garden from the Renaissance in Germany .
history
On behalf of the Duchess Sibylla von Württemberg , the widow of Duke Friedrich I , Heinrich Schickhardt built a pleasure garden in the style of the Italian Renaissance in front of the Leonberg Castle . On the south side of the castle, a rectangular terrace with a double flight of stairs leading to the valley was laid out in 1609 . Small defensive tower-like pavilions with a pointed pyramid roof marked the corner points of the garden. The terrace was divided into two almost square areas of equal size, connected by axes. A bowl fountain accentuates each center. In the main axis there is a magnificent fountain with an obelisk and dolphins . This obelisk also bears a dedication from Schickhardt to Duchess Sybilla: “Anno sixteen hundred no / took this place / how wild it was / it was made out of the Lustiggart / such a pleasure and adornment / you have water far away gfiert " .
The two garden areas are each geometrically divided several times and symmetrically related to one another. However, there is no architectural relationship between the palace and the garden. In order to maintain the durability of the bed shapes derived from circles, triangles and rectangles, they were framed with natural stone. As in the time of the Renaissance, the garden is planted with aromatic and medicinal plants as well as flowers. The eponymous bitter oranges were grown in buckets that were in the central axis of the garden in summer. A bitter orange house stood on the site of today's arcade for wintering.
A spacious orchard was laid out below the garden terrace and a kitchen garden right next to the terrace . These parts were not restored, as was the formerly richly furnished fountain grotto at the foot of the staircase.
After the death of Duchess Sibylla, the castle was used several times as a widow's residence. From 1743, however, it had lost the character of a princely residence. The garden served as an allotment garden, then fell into disrepair and was forgotten. At the beginning of the 1970s, the foundations of the garden came to light again during clearing work. By 1980 it was then able to be reconstructed on the basis of original plans, building findings and conclusions by analogy.
For the 400th anniversary of the garden, restoration and renovation work was carried out again in 2009 based on the latest findings from archival documents. Among other things, the spatial delimitation of the central axis by means of two pillars with obelisks was restored. The balustrades and the equipment of the grotto were renewed. In addition, the planting was revised.
literature
- Alfons Elfgang: Leonberg bitter orange garden. In: Elisabeth Szymczyk-Eggert (Hrsg.): Gardens and parks in Stuttgart. Ulmer, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-8001-6515-5 , p. 169 ff.
- Harald Schukraft and Erhard Hehl: Renaissance in Baden-Württemberg. Perspectives of an architecture. DRW, Leinfelden-Echterdingen 1996, ISBN 3-87181-293-5 .
Web links
- Bitter orange garden ( memento from December 31, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) on Schlösser-Magazin.de
- City of Leonberg, the bitter orange garden
- The bitter orange garden in Leonberg on a journey through time BB .
Individual evidence
- ↑ What is the fountain all about? Leonberger Kreiszeitung, August 22, 2016.
Coordinates: 48 ° 48 ′ 3.4 " N , 9 ° 0 ′ 44" E