3. - Schlösser-Magazin

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3. Justification for Inscription
3. Authenticity
Ultimately the gardens of many comparable
properties survive in a state of authenticity,
which must be judged with a view to the
preserved original features from the 18thcentury.
I. Some gardens are characterized by
conversions and redesigns (Favorite,
Nymphenburg, Wilhelmshöhe, Ludwigslust,
Sanssouci, Pillnitz, Lednice, Caserta,
Blenheim, Aranjuez), frequently up to the
late 19th-century. At Sanssouci, which retains
a large 18th- and 19th-century inventory,
20th-century interventions have aimed
to reconstruct an earlier stage (vineyard
terraces). At Wilhelmshöhe the 18th- and
19th-century inventory has been reduced
by war damage; at Nymphenburg, too, the
war-damaged Badenburg has been completely
reconstructed.
II. Another group has been preserved, at
least in basics, in its 18th-century shape
(Veitshöchheim, Schönbusch, Wörlitz, Castle
Howard, Beloeil).
III. By contrast there are properties that have
lost most of their substance (Solitude) or
have been newly laid out in a largely creative,
quasi-Baroque style (Ludwigsburg, Ansbach).
IV. Partial reconstructions have taken place
at Schwetzingen and elsewhere, in various
degrees of detailing (Schönbrunn, Aranjuez,
Versailles). Schönbrunn is preserved in a
largely authentic state but with some 19thcentury
alterations based on the Baroque
layout (parterre), and some reconstruction
in sub-areas. The layout of Versailles, too, is
preserved authentically; in some parts of the
gardens reconstructions covering everything
from plant selection to buildings aim to
restore the appearance of Louis XIV’s time,
which is, however, documented in reliable
detail.
V. Large-scale reconstruction of central areas
of the garden, frequently surrounded by
authentically preserved landscaped areas,
has been taking place at Brühl (beginning
in the 1930s), Het Loo and Drottningholm.
Also in the 1930s, major reconstruction work
took place at Herrenhausen, including some
creative redesign. The Herrenhausen garden
had been regarded as a monument to the
Welf dynasty as early as the 19th-century,
and respectfully preserved in its Baroque
layout. An even farther-reaching strategy of
conservation going back even to the 18thcentury
was in place at Schwetzingen, starting
with the so-called Protocollum Commissionale
of 1795 which explicitly describes the whole
property as a “Palatinate Monument”, to be
preserved in its entirety.
Schwetzingen features an extraordinary
number of authentically preserved original
features. Schwetzingen survived both the
massive upheaval of the Industrialisation, and
the two great wars, without incurring major
damage. Schwetzingen is one of the most
authentic examples of 18th-century garden art
in existence today, and it is being restored and
preserved with all due care in its historicity,
that is to say whilst taking into account those
historic simplifications and additions based
on conceptual decisions.