Vatican gardens

View of St. Peter's Basilica from the Vatican Gardens

The Vatican Gardens (Italian Giardini Vaticani ) cover about half of the 44 hectares of the territory of the Vatican City . They are located in the west of the Papal States and house several buildings of the same.

Geography and vegetation

Map of the Vatican: The Vatican Gardens on the left

The gardens, which extend over around 20 hectares (200,000 m²), mainly cover the Vatican Hill , which rises up to 60 m above the surrounding residential areas of the city of Rome . They are bounded in the north, south and west by the Leonine Wall .

The west of the Vatican City is characterized by rugged terrain, which is caused by the porous, ocher-colored tuff . Under the rock there are springs that guaranteed the Pope a safe water supply in earlier times and also support the subtropical, dense vegetation of the gardens.

Much of the Vatican Gardens is designed by human hands. Large lawns cover especially the flatter part near St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museums . When the popes' need for courtly and artistic representation increased during the Renaissance , well-tended flower beds were created. This was increasingly continued in the Baroque . There are also cactus plants planted on a slope (rock garden) with a length of approx. 100 meters.

The area between the Leonine Wall and the seat of the Vatican administration is the most pristine part of the gardens: the hilly terrain is characterized by dense forests of pine , pine , holm oak , cypress , cedar and palm trees . The gardens are criss-crossed by an extensive network of paths. In the westernmost part of the Vatican City, on a bastion of the Leonine Wall, is the Vatican Heliport , which connects the Vatican City with the international airports of Rome Fiumicino and Rome Ciampino .

history

Gardens on the Vatican Hills were first built under Pope Nicholas III. mentioned. At the end of the 13th century medicinal plants were grown there like in a monastery garden . But other useful plants such as fruit and vegetables thrived in this “hortus conclusus” and in the far north, near today's Vatican Pinakothek , you can still see the medieval chicken yard. Vatican City was never self-sufficient, but a certain amount of self-sufficiency had always been important, which is why there was a functioning bakery near the Sistine Chapel that processed the grain grown in the Vatican Gardens until the 1980s.

In the late Middle Ages, however, the gardens lost their economic function until the Vatican regained importance as a residence after the exile of the Popes in Avignon around 1420. Innocent VIII showed a remarkable interest in the green areas at the end of the 15th century - but now to relax and find peace. From 1485 he had a belvedere typical of Rome , an airy high seat over the roofs of the city, on the highest north-eastern tip of the Leonine city, to enjoy the better air, the wide view of the Albanian mountains up to Monte Soracte and the tranquility of the Enjoy official business. The building, which has a large loggia , was painted with frescoes by Andrea Mantegna , Pinturicchio and Pier Matteo d´Amelia , but most of these were removed during renovations in the 18th century. Today the Belvedere Palace is part of the Vatican Museums.

The Casina of Pius IV.

In 1559 Pius IV showed a marked interest in the gardens: he laid out a decorative Renaissance garden in the northern part, in the center of which he had a country house, the Casina , built, which was designed by Pirro Ligorio in the Mannerist style.

In addition to numerous other designs of the gardens during the Renaissance, Pope Gregory XIII erected. from 1578 the tower of the winds , which served as an observatory for the astronomical basis of his calendar reform.

An important innovation for the Vatican Gardens was the supply of fresh water from Lake Bracciano , 40 kilometers away , which since 1607 has fed a number of water features and gushing fountains designed by the Dutch.

Since the second half of the 17th century, the green areas were used more and more for botanical purposes. Clement XI. tried to plant botanical rarities that thrive well in the subtropical climate.

With the increasing popularity of English landscaping in the 19th century, large areas of the Vatican Gardens were also designed according to these models, from around 1850 onwards.

A garden path

Pius IX and Leo XIII. who, due to the political tensions with the new Kingdom of Italy from 1871 and the accompanying collapse of Vatican sovereignty, increasingly felt like prisoners, gave the gardens extensive care and design.

Leo XIII. founded the Vatican Zoo in 1888, which initially mainly housed aviaries with songbirds. After the Primate of Africa had given the pontiff gazelles , ostriches and pelicans on the occasion of his priestly jubilee , additional enclosures were created for them. In 1890 he had a summer residence built on the heights in the central part of the gardens, which he himself referred to as "my little Castel Gandolfo ", referring to the papal summer residence on Lake Albano .

According to the Lateran Treaty of 1929, Pius XI. , also to demonstrate the regained sovereignty of the Vatican City, the architect Giuseppe Momo with the construction of various buildings in the monumental-cool style of the Mussolini era, which, however, caused a further urbanization of the Vatican Gardens. The Governor's Palace , the Vatican Railway Station and the Papal Ethiopian College were built .

The next intervention in the gardens took place in 1976, when under Paul VI. the Vatican Heliport was built, which since then has mainly connected the Vatican City with the Ciampino International Airport and the summer residence Castel Gandolfo.

Fountain in the Vatican Gardens

Shell fountain

There are numerous ornately designed fountains in the gardens; During the Renaissance and Baroque in particular, numerous ornate fountains were built in the gardens, reflecting the popes' artistic need for representation:

Eagle fountain
Fountain and water games of the Casino di Pio IV.
Shell fountain (Vatican)
Putti Fountain (Vatican)
Sacrament fountain (Vatican)
Triton Fountain (Vatican) , in the rose garden
Josefsbrunnen (Vatican) , built in 2010 and Pope Benedict XVI. dedicated

Buildings in the Vatican Gardens

Mater Ecclesiae Monastery

Leonine Wall

Broadcasting center Marconi

the Johannesturm

the Pontifical Ethiopian College

the governorate palace

Church of Santo Stefano degli Abissini

Vatican Radio Directorate

the Vatican train station

the Vatican Court of Justice

Casino di Pio IV ; Seat of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences

Others

Part of the Vatican Gardens can be visited on a guided tour (only by appointment).

The Technical Services Directorate of the Governorate of Vatican City ( Governatorato SCV - Direzione dei Servizzi Technici - Servizio Giardini ) is responsible for the maintenance of the site .

Pope Benedict XVI After resigning from office on February 28, 2013, he initially retired to the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo . After renovations in the Mater Ecclesiae monastery in the Vatican Gardens, he moved into the monastery building on May 2, 2013 - together with his four former housekeepers ( consecrated virgins of the lay association Memores Domini ) and his private secretary Archbishop Georg Gänswein , where they lived until they abdicated.