DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16633#0198
i78
History of Garden Art
The French feeling for lines and wide spaces came into Saxony with Augustus; and
first and foremost in his mind was the thought of building a new castle as his residence.
According to the plans made by his architect Poppelmann, it ought to have been one
of the grandest of the kind. The area can only be computed now by the original orangery,
which, because of its enclosed situation, was named Zwinger (cage) (Fig. 499). It was
characteristic of the time that they should have begun with the orangery; and only when
one considers the Zwinger as that can one understand the plan of the building. In the
seventeenth century orangeries were made in more and more lordly fashion. People
specially liked to make use of them in summer, when the trees were standing in the garden,
as comfortable cool rooms for guests; and later on they mostly connected a grand dining-
hall with the conservatories where the trees were kept, and made greenhouses in a semi-
circle on both sides, so that they could be approached that way, and fetes could be held
there in the winter as well. A good example is seen in the end orangery at Castle Gaibach
(Fig. 472), where the semicircular greenhouses have beyond them semicircular berceaux*
In the decoration of these buildings they felt that they could give free play to their
fancy. Before now Salomon de Caus in his plan for the first stone orange-houses at
Heidelberg hung his pillars with flowers and foliage. Taken all in all, we may say that in
the Dresden Zwinger we find the plan most highly developed. The design shows a repeat
of the semicircular nursery galleries, widened on the sides by straight wings. Thus an
enormous garden court is shut in by corridors, which are interrupted by four correspond-
ing monumental gate-pavilions (Fig. 499, Plan A, R, K, L). In the four corners fete-
rooms were built, these also in accordance with the ground-plan, unsurpassable in size
and splendour: a great dining-hall with an ante-chamber (F), a theatre also with an
ante-chamber (E), a grotto-room (N), and a nymphseum with a bath-room (M, Q) filled
out these corners. The architect, to judge by his plan, had intended the whole court to
be treated as a garden parterre, with basins in the middle and water-devices at the sides.
It is clear from the ornamentation of the south side as it then was, i.e. fountains and statues,
that a plan for a gigantic nymphaeum was hovering in his thoughts. In the summer this
parterre was further decorated with the treasures from the greenhouses. But as a real
nymphaeum such as they had in the Renaissance days there was made a small court for
a bathing-room—a place lying deep and cool, with alcoves fitted out with fountains, and
statues between its pillars. Opposite this room a cascade fell over some steps between
the statues into a semicircular basin. The middle was occupied by a large tank and
fountain, and even in its neglected state at the present day it makes a fine picture
(Fig. 500). When the plans for the castle were more and more advanced, the galleries
also were made use of for fetes. The orangery was at a greater distance, and the garden
court was used also as a place for show processions, tournaments, and the like.
While the king was busying himself with these far-reaching building plans, he spurred
on his nobles to other extravagant works. They built away cheerfully, and the more it
cost the better, for they knew the king would be delighted to buy their estates at a high
price and give them to one or other of his mistresses. The Dutch, or Japanese palace
(Fig. 501), so called because of its famous porcelain collections, was built by the minister,
Count von Flemming, apparently with the idea that, if the king's buildings were com-
pleted, there should be a fine garden scheme leading from the royal castle to the Elbe,
and on to his own grounds, which lay upon its banks. In 1717 the king bought the place,
History of Garden Art
The French feeling for lines and wide spaces came into Saxony with Augustus; and
first and foremost in his mind was the thought of building a new castle as his residence.
According to the plans made by his architect Poppelmann, it ought to have been one
of the grandest of the kind. The area can only be computed now by the original orangery,
which, because of its enclosed situation, was named Zwinger (cage) (Fig. 499). It was
characteristic of the time that they should have begun with the orangery; and only when
one considers the Zwinger as that can one understand the plan of the building. In the
seventeenth century orangeries were made in more and more lordly fashion. People
specially liked to make use of them in summer, when the trees were standing in the garden,
as comfortable cool rooms for guests; and later on they mostly connected a grand dining-
hall with the conservatories where the trees were kept, and made greenhouses in a semi-
circle on both sides, so that they could be approached that way, and fetes could be held
there in the winter as well. A good example is seen in the end orangery at Castle Gaibach
(Fig. 472), where the semicircular greenhouses have beyond them semicircular berceaux*
In the decoration of these buildings they felt that they could give free play to their
fancy. Before now Salomon de Caus in his plan for the first stone orange-houses at
Heidelberg hung his pillars with flowers and foliage. Taken all in all, we may say that in
the Dresden Zwinger we find the plan most highly developed. The design shows a repeat
of the semicircular nursery galleries, widened on the sides by straight wings. Thus an
enormous garden court is shut in by corridors, which are interrupted by four correspond-
ing monumental gate-pavilions (Fig. 499, Plan A, R, K, L). In the four corners fete-
rooms were built, these also in accordance with the ground-plan, unsurpassable in size
and splendour: a great dining-hall with an ante-chamber (F), a theatre also with an
ante-chamber (E), a grotto-room (N), and a nymphseum with a bath-room (M, Q) filled
out these corners. The architect, to judge by his plan, had intended the whole court to
be treated as a garden parterre, with basins in the middle and water-devices at the sides.
It is clear from the ornamentation of the south side as it then was, i.e. fountains and statues,
that a plan for a gigantic nymphaeum was hovering in his thoughts. In the summer this
parterre was further decorated with the treasures from the greenhouses. But as a real
nymphaeum such as they had in the Renaissance days there was made a small court for
a bathing-room—a place lying deep and cool, with alcoves fitted out with fountains, and
statues between its pillars. Opposite this room a cascade fell over some steps between
the statues into a semicircular basin. The middle was occupied by a large tank and
fountain, and even in its neglected state at the present day it makes a fine picture
(Fig. 500). When the plans for the castle were more and more advanced, the galleries
also were made use of for fetes. The orangery was at a greater distance, and the garden
court was used also as a place for show processions, tournaments, and the like.
While the king was busying himself with these far-reaching building plans, he spurred
on his nobles to other extravagant works. They built away cheerfully, and the more it
cost the better, for they knew the king would be delighted to buy their estates at a high
price and give them to one or other of his mistresses. The Dutch, or Japanese palace
(Fig. 501), so called because of its famous porcelain collections, was built by the minister,
Count von Flemming, apparently with the idea that, if the king's buildings were com-
pleted, there should be a fine garden scheme leading from the royal castle to the Elbe,
and on to his own grounds, which lay upon its banks. In 1717 the king bought the place,