II. - Schloss Schwetzingen

for the fi rst time in 1782, was completed by
1792.
The English garden to the west of the great
basin and the Temple of Apollo are already
present on Sckell’s plan of 1783 (cp. Fig.
5), as is another nursery on the southwestern
border of the garden, and the Turkish garden
in the shape it eventually took. In 1784 Pigage
mentions for the fi rst time a “monument” 37
to be built west of the mosque. Between the
mosque and the intended site of this monument,
a pond surrounded by a landscaped
area was created in 1786. In 1787, the decision
was made to erect a belvedere – today known
as the Temple of Mercury – on the foundations
of the monument. This was completed
by 1792 at the latest. The area surrounding
the Temple of Mercury fi rst appears on a plan
drawn by Schneeberger in 1806 (cp. Fig. 6).
This plan also shows that the nursery on the
southwestern border had been abandoned and
the area integrated into the garden proper.
In 1792, Friedrich Ludwig Sckell succeeded
his deceased father in the post of court gardener.
The record of a very detailed stock-taking
survives from the year 1795; not too far
from Schwetzingen, the battles of the French
revolutionary wars were being fought, but nevertheless,
a commission of experts had come
to Schwetzingen for the purpose of inspecting
the buildings and garden. 38 The record shows
that the fl owers and the orangery plants were
much reduced, and so was the degree of maintenance,
but the gardens were still being cared
for.
Pigage died in 1796, and Sckell succeeded him
as building and garden director. In 1803, those
parts of the Palatinate situated on the east
bank of the Rhine (rechtsrheinische Kurpfalz),
including Schwetzingen, became part
of the Grand Duchy of Baden. Sckell continued
at Schwetzingen until 1804, working for
Grand Duke Carl Friedrich von Baden 39 . Then
Carl Theodor’s successor, Elector Maximilian
Joseph, summoned him to Munich and made
37 GLA 221/45 of 1784; Heber 1986, pp. 469, 471.
38 GLA 221/46 Protocollum Commissionale of 1795.
39 Carl Friedrich von Baden, 1728-1811, fom 1746 Margrave,
from 1803 Prince Elector, from 1806 Grand Duke.
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
him court garden supervisor for all of Bavaria.
His post at Schwetzingen was given to Johann
Michael Zeyher. 40
The plans of the palace garden drawn up in
Zeyher’s time, reveal a strong tendency to “al-
low things to grow”, due in part to the reduced
degree of maintenance, but also indicative
of a stated preference for a more natural
appearance. Zeyher also remodeled parts of
the garden in accordance with this attitude.
From 1804 onwards, he planted an arboretum
on the site of the former menagerie, converted
the sea horse garden into a landscaped
area (cp. Fig. 6 and Fig. 7) and turned the great
basin into a natural-looking pond (cp. Fig.
8). In 1834/35 the court of honour, until then
just an open space for the reception of visitors’
coaches, received two large oval beds (cp.
Fig. 9). They consisted mostly of lawn, but
they were bordered with lilac trees and enclosed
oval fl owerbeds, probably planted with
roses.
Zeyher was also active as an author; in 1809,
he collaborated with Georg Roemer to publish
a guidebook to the gardens of Schwetzingen. 41
This was followed by another guidebook,
published in 1826, this time with Johann
40 Johann Michael Zeyher, 1770-1843, grand ducal court
gardener, garden director in Schwetzingen.
41 Johann Michael Zeyher/Georg Christian Roemer, Beschreibung
der Gartenanlagen zu Schwetzingen, Mannheim 1809.
III.
Fig. 6: Schneeberger, 1806,
garden plan (“Plan des
Churfürstlichen badischen
Hoffgarten zu Schwetzingen”)
(Generallandesarchiv
Karlsruhe).
135