Horticulture and Garden Preservation

Gardens with baroque splendour

Time travel to the 17th and 18th centuries: princely owners are out for a summer stroll, laden with their garments in brocade and silk. They use their beguiling parks to show off their wealth and power and their ability to subjugate nature with geometric shapes and topiaries to keep everything under control. Colorful flower beds, bubbling fountains, and divine sculptures bring playfulness into the gardens. Whether in Hundisburg or in Blankenburg, the impressive creativity of the Baroque gardens is simply superb.

Like a painting: landscape parks in Saxony-Anhalt

In marked contrast to the formal design of the Baroque period, the parks laid out or redesigned in the late 18th and 19th centuries tried to create walkable landscape paintings with natural forms, idyllic scenes, and fascinating sightlines. This was probably driven by long-term shift in the feeling towards nature within the Enlightenment. “Back to nature" was Jean Jacques Rousseau’s call and it shaped park design for the decades that followed. The Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Kingdom became the inspiration for all landscape gardens in Germany, including numerous parks and park conversions across Saxony-Anhalt.

The 20th Century and the art of gardening

The beginning of the 20th century typically was a mixture of garden styles. In addition, architectural gardens and public parks came under the influence of Modernism. Rosarien, including the world's largest collection of roses today, the Europa-Rosarium Sangerhausen, - emerged in many places. After 1945, the parks and the associated buildings were often put to use different uses or allowed to fall into ruin. Nevertheless, many structures remained, providing the optimal conditions for recovery and reconstruction, which began in selected parks in the 1960s, but picked up pace after German unification in 1990. The founding of the Garden Dreams project in 2000 set an example for Germany and Europe.

Historic garden conservation

The preservation of historic gardens involves both the restoration and the continued professional care of the gardens.