KKK

Castle Gardens in the 18th century

After the death of Johann Christian I. von Eggenberg (1710) and the end of the Eggenberg dynasty in 1719, the property of Český Krumlov was acquired by Adam Franz zu Schwarzenberg. Rich documentation, deposited in the Krumlov castle archives, tells us much about the appearance of the garden at that time.

Plan of the Summerhouse Bellarie at the Český Krumlov Castle Gardens

The inventory from 1721, for instance, provides the following inventory of the garden :

  • Summer - house Bellarie
  • iron grillwork with the coat of arms of the prince
  • corridor between both new parts
  • espalier of roses and highclimbing bushes
  • espalier of two high trees and vineyard clusters
  • main espalier from birdseed and groups of vine clusters
  • spirals of the vineyard
  • flowerbeds
  • green vases with juniper
  • waterfall with green vases
  • middle spirals with small fruit trees and floral decoration.


From 1730 work on the so-called water engine began, and this engine was to provide a sufficient quantity of water to the castle pond and garden\'s fountains (see Castle Waterworks). The engine was finished in the autumn of 1731 and supplied up to 170m3 of water daily until 1827, when it definitively broke down.

The sculpture of the wooden dolphin on the iron pedestal in the centre of the pond remarks back to 1731, when there were several fountains, the swing, the arbour, a ground for playing skittles, and the shed for the swans.

In 1732 a theatre celebration was being prepared for the occasion of the visit of the emperor Charles VI. There was to have been around 130 actors and musicians performing on the open stage, but the celebration never took place due to the tragic death of prince Adam Franz zu Schwarzenberg during a hunt near Brandýs nad Labem on the 10th of June 1732.

In 1741, the rule over the Schwarzenberg domain was taken over by Joseph Adam zu Schwarzenberg. The period of his reign (1741-1782) represents another period of bloom of the Český Krumlov castle since the time of last Rosenbergs. The entire complex of the castle buildings and gardens was transformed in the style of Viennese rococo. The young prince began his activity in Český Krumlov by building the winter riding hall (see Castle No. 178 - Castle Riding Hall) between 1744 and 1746 . In the same period the interior of the summer manor Bellarie was reconstructed as well as the castle pond.

In 1746 the roofed skittle playing court in the pattern of the playing court in the Zlatá Koruna monastery was built on the terrace of the summer riding school.

The appearance of the garden is shown in detail on the plan of the garden from 1750, drawn up by princely surveyor Jan Jiří Plansker. This document is important in that it shows the garden in the period just before its next modification and shows the early baroque form of the garden.

The area of the lower garden was divided into squares with the paths passing through diagonally. In the middle of the squares were placed basins with fountains. The dominant feature of the entire starlike composition was the eight-edged basin in the centre of the garden, emphasised by the arcade wooden building on an eight-squared ground plan with climbing plants and formed hedges.

Detail of plan of Castle Gardens in Český Krumlov from 1750

The upper garden, according to the above-mentioned plan, contained a large square pond with a fountain on the little island, two square full boscets (little forests planted on geometrical ground plans), boscets with a trout pond, another boscet divided by diagonal and rectangular paths in the form of stars, and boscets with floral beds. In front of the Bellarie was placed a brodery parterre, and on the sides of the summer manor two little forests were formed. On the north-eastern edge of the garden there were two squares with brodery while the trees were cut and shaped into cones. Side paths were bordered with hornbeam lanes 4 Viennese feet high (about 7.6 metres ! ).

After 1750 the Krumlov castle garden was changed into the rococo style. This period is connected with names of the architect Andreas Altomonte and especially of the sculptor and the garden architect Jan Antonín Zinner (around 1708-1763 ). J. A. Zinner became the princely inspector of the Schwarzenberg gardens in 1749, thus enabling him to use not only his talent but also his experiences which he had acquired in the services of prince Evžen Savojský during the foundation of the gardens at his hunting castle in Schlosshof as well as in the Viennese Belvedere. This garden seems to have served as a model for the rococo adaptation of the then early baroque courtly garden of Krumlov.

Detail of plan of Castle Gardens in Český Krumlov from 1779

For Viennese gardens of high baroque and rococo, originally linking Italian and French impulses, certain composition principles were characteristic, albeit simplified, in the case of the Krumlov castle gardens :

  • a composition of mostly long and narrow gardens fixed to one long deep centre
  • a terrain built into the terraces, terraces adjacent to the building of the castle were covered with brooder or different kinds of parterres
  • a monumental staircase, fountains with sculptural decoration, and other kinds of small garden architecture situated on the frontal edges of the terraces
  • architectonic elements over the vegetation part of the gardens dominated the final impression

Progress of garden modification was documented by written sources from the Krumlov archives.

In 1752 a square maze was established between the Bellarie and a small forest by the castle pond. In the middle a pavillion was built (today\'s musical pavillion), the ceiling of which was decorated with allegorical paintings of the motives of the four seasons. Seedlings of hornbeams were brought from Libějovice for planting the maze.

Between 1750 and 1753, in addition to a new parterre and sally terrain in the basement of the Bellarie, a new fountain on the boundary of the upper garden and the lower parterre was also created. The cascade fountain was built on the design of the architect A. Altomonte with the participation of the sculptors Matyáš Griessler and J. A. Zinner.

The summer manor Bellarie was also built. In 1754 Josef Fortini worked up a design for adaptations, but this was not carried out. Bellarie was then evidently adapted by a project of A. Altomonte between 1755 and 1757.

In 1762 the fountain was completed with a balustrade on both sides. On its sill were placed 20 different decorative vases. Later between 1765 and 1766 M. Griessler built a staircase on the sides of the fountain and placed four sculptural groups representing the individual seasons at the foot of a slope next to the fountain and at the carriage ramp.

This period also provides us with some interesting information about the delivery of glass balls and coloured glass-making smelting from Suchdol and Šumava glass works for bordering the beds.

A meaningful source of information for understanding the Krumlov castle garden is a publication from Cahiers de Jardins Anglo-Chinois, edited in Paris in 1779. In this publication was preserved the entire project of the garden and detailed designs of individual square bouquets. The project describes the garden in its most valuable rococo appearance. Nevertheless, even the rococo adaptations could not change the very rigid early baroque compositional scheme. The garden is divided into three different levelled terraces - the summer riding school, the lower, and the upper garden, all linked together with staircases and carriage ramps. The lower garden ( lower parterre) is divided by a lengthwise axle into two oblong pictures richly decorated with brodery. In the middle of the rectangle, in the lower terrain, are two eight-sided ponds with a fountain. The lower parterre is optically closed with a cascade fountain and a balustrade with a demanding sculptural decoration. The upper garden, leading above the balustrade, expands into the depth more or less symmetrically along the main compositional axle in the individual square spaces, bordered with crossing paths. The squares are completed in the forms of parterres, mazes or differently formed boscets. In the highest places the garden is supplemented with a water basin.

(jo)

Further information :
Castle garden in the 19th century