II. - Schloss Schwetzingen

i)
The Palace Garden Arboreta –
a Botanical Research Station
Somewhat hidden behind the long orangery
building completed in 1761 by Nicolas de Pigage
(1723-1796), there are two separate areas,
the arboreta. The collections of woody and
shrubby plant species, assembled for scientifi c
purposes and with a collector’s passion, were
famous in their day. Work on the fi rst arboretum
started in 1777, in the time of Elector
Carl Theodor (1724-1799). From 1804, the tree
collection was continued by Archduke Carl
Friedrich (1728-1811).
The Arborium Theodoricum
“The garden contains a collection of all kinds
of native and foreign trees and shrubs, that
occur in the Palatinate; they are labeled with
their names for the instruction of young
gardeners. This is a very good and proper
institution.” 1
Thus, the philosopher and art theoretician
C. C. L. Hirschfeld (1742-1792) describes the
strip of land in the northwest of the Schwetzingen
palace garden, in his fi ve-volume book
about garden art, Theorie der Gartenkunst
(1779-1785). He is referring to the Arborium
Theodoricum, the fi rst area there to be laid out
in the English style in 1777. A comparatively
narrow strip of about 400 x 80 m behind the
menagerie and the canal that had formed the
garden’s boundary until then, was selected
for the purpose. The Arborium Theodoricum
with its layout based on naturalistic principles
was to provide a contrast to the strictly formal
French garden, characterized by axes and
symmetry.
A large nursery had been established in the
northwestern part of the garden, as early
as 1769. Here woody plants were grown to
supply the electoral gardens. The nursery
may have inspired Carl Theodor to create
1 Christian Cay Lorenz Hirschfeld, Theorie der Gartenkunst,
5 vols, Leipzig 1779-1785. Rpt. Hildesheim 1973. Quotation
from: Hubert Wolfgang Wertz, Orte für Seele und Geist,
Schlösser Baden-Württemberg, No. 3, 2004, pp. 24-27, p. 24.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
an arboretum, a kind of educational garden
with a variety of trees and shrubs, exotic as
well as native. Pigage described it as “a living
dictionary of garden trees and shrubs” and
called it the “Arborium Theodoricum” 2 in
honour of the Elector. With regard to the new
gardening philosophy (“dans le style de la
nature”), he referred to this part of the garden
as “sauvage”. 3
Garden Layout and a Knowledge of Trees
In Germany the journey to England undertaken
by Prince Leopold III. Friedrich Franz von
Anhalt-Dessau (1740-1817) in 1764, signalled
the beginning of gardening modelled on
English landscape gardens. The park of Wörlitz
on the Elbe became a tourist attraction
of European status. Its collection of woody
plants was inspired by the famous gardens
of Chelsea and Kew. With the development
of landscape gardening, the attitude towards
trees and shrubs changed as well. They were
no longer easily replaceable raw materials for
formal gardens; they were considered more individually.
Innumerable species were collected
from all continents and planted in specialized
garden areas. They were equally popular with
experts and educated amateurs.
England had thus become a must for anybody
interested in the art of gardening. Friedrich
Ludwig von Sckell (1750-1823), born in
Weilburg on the Lahn and the son of a court
gardener, Johann Wilhelm Sckell (1721-1792),
quickly proved his gift for garden layout when
working with Pigage. In 1770, the Elector sent
the young man on a study trip to France and
England, the great European centres of garden
design. From August to December 1776,
Sckell was in England again on the Elector’s
instructions, and there he met up with Pigage.
Sckell had been asked to complete his studies
and buy new plants for Schwetzingen, and
had taken the opportunity to learn more about
dendrology, the science of woody plants.
2 Pigage: “Information sur les dépenses en Batimens et en
jardins de la Cour” (1776). In: Wiltrud Heber, Die Arbeiten des
Nicolas de Pigage in den ehemals kurpfälzischen Residenzen
Mannheim und Schwetzingen, Worms 1986, p. 469.
3 From: “Etat general”, 1784. In: Heber 1986, p. 471, s. n. 2.
II.
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