Zprávy památkové péče 2019, 79(1):3-13 | DOI: 10.56112/zpp.2019.1.02

Gardeners in the Lednice-Valtice complex and their influence on the appearance of garden arrangements at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries

Lenka Křesadlová

NPÚ, ÚOP v Kroměříži

Descriptions of historical gardens and parks mostly focus on the great names of the architects and builders. Often, research and publications neglect the gardeners whose day-to-day work was essential to the existence of this living work of art. The most talented of them may become "artistic gardeners" and design new garden compositions themselves, thus significantly influencing the appearance of the garden entrusted to them. The period in focus, namely the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries in the Lednice-Valtice complex, may be referred to as a golden era during which a number of distinct personalities met in the service of the Liechtensteins. The period saw a great boom in the artistic and economic aspects of many fields, such as fruit growing, nursery, and forestry, not to mention the exceptional level of architectural work that was executed here. Behind each of these components are exceptional people whose knowledge and skills contributed to this boom. Archival documents reveal the great deal of care devoted to gardening in the Lednice-Valtice complex, the daily duties of the castle gardeners, and the complexity of the process of creating new works. They show how broad the professional scope must have been of the person who wanted to hold the position of chief castle gardener, which itself was perceived as very prestigious, particularly in Lednice. Most of the persons involved in the management of the Lednice Gardens at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries were, according to the documents, capable of quality design and active in influencing the appearance of the garden. While Ignaz Holle's maps of the modifications made to the Lednice Gardens in 1799 do not reveal his personal handwriting, preserved designs by Philippe Prohaska and Ignaz Liefka have some common features. Their projects are distinctive in their very subtle division of space - a very dense network of paths, small groups of trees, a large number of island sections, etc. On the contrary, the designs of the economic director Bernhard Petri work with larger masses, and even the network of paths is conducted rather austerely. The final appearance of any garden was ultimately created through a combination of the "great design" and the everyday smaller inputs of the gardening staff. This is how the work gradually evolved and modernized until the next radical change was decided upon. Such multi-layered stratification must be taken into account with every work of garden art, and therefore one must not neglect the personalities of the castle gardeners themselves.

Keywords: Lednice-Valtice complex, LVA, gardeners, Ignaz Holle, Ignaz Liefka, Franz Nechansky, Philipp Prohaska

Published: March 1, 2019  Show citation