3. - Schlösser-Magazin

laying out of such a collection as a naturallooking
garden, however, were new features.
The term “arborium” or more commonly
“arboretum“ 28 can be found as early as the
17th-century in the titles of various treatises,
both in Latin and German, 29 but it is there
always used figuratively. For the Germanspeaking
parts of Europe the Schwetzingen
arboretum is likely the very first instance of
the term being used for an actual collection
of woody plants accumulated for scientific
purposes. 30 In English-speaking parts the
term is first verifiable about half a century
later – the occasion of its first publication is
considered to be an article by John Claudius
Loudon in the “Gardener‘s Magazine” in 1833.
In the 1834 edition of his “Encyclopaedia
of Gardening” Loudon describes the then
famous Hackney Botanic Garden arboretum
in London, first created in 1816. 31 The term
arboretum gained wide recognition and
a more frequent use after the publication
of Loudon’s ”Arboretum et Fruticetum
Britannicum“ from 1838. 32 A strong impetus
to create similar displays of woody plants
was provided by the opening of the “Derby
Arboretum” in 1840; the arboretum, planned
by Loudon, was the first to be intended
28 Johann Heinrich Zedler: Grosses vollständiges Universallexikon
aller Wissenschaften und Künste [...], 64 vols. Halle u. Leipzig
1832-1854, here vol. 2, column 1171: „Arboretum, Arbustum, a
garden wherein there are planted fruit-bearing trees; a nursery
of trees“.
29 [Johann] Ursini: Arboretum biblicum: in quo arbores &
fructices passim, [...] 1699; N. N.: Arboretum Floridum. Oder:
Ein Gemüths-erfrischende Beschreibung der Bäumen: Den Liebhabern
der Göttlichen Geschöpffen, und grossen Wercken dess
Herrn, zu Lust und Nutzen in Kupffer vorgestellt, [...] 1689;
Johann Michael Döler: Arboretum oder geistlicher Baum-Garten
von sechs unterschiedenen Baümen auss dem schönen geistl.
Lust-Garten [...] versetzet [...] dem [...] M. Petro Hesselio zum immer
grünenden Gedächtniss [...] in einer sonderbahren Predigt
[...], Band 1, [...] 1679; Tobias Beutel: Arboretum mathematicum,
darinnen zu befinden: Himmelsfiguren und Geburtsstunden
hoher Häupter, auf aussgerechnete Finsternüsse, Sonnen-,
Mond- und Sternenuhren, Astrologia, Themata, und richtig
calculirte Longitudines Der Städte des Churf. Sachsen und
benachbarter Länder, [...] 1669.
30 The Wörterbuch der europäischen Gartenkunst names, as one
well-known example, the Arborium Theodoricum in Schwetzingen
(Gabriele Uerscheln, Michaela Kalusok: Wörterbuch der
europäischen Gartenkunst. Stuttgart 2003, p. 45); Regarding the
definition of the term and history of arboreta see: G. Kirchner,
E.[duard] Petzold: Arboretum Muscaviense. Über die
Entstehung und Anlage des Arboretum Sr. Königlichen Hoheit
des Prinzen der Niederlande zu Muskau [...]. Gotha 1864, pp.
12-16.
31 John Claudius Loudon: The Encyclopaedia of Gardening.
London 1834 (1. ed. London 1822).
32 John Claudius Loudon: Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum.
London 1838.
3. Justification for Inscription
specifically for the wider public. Subsequently,
and during the second half of the 19th-century
in particular, many more such collections were
created worldwide, often laid out as parks;
among them were the Westonbirt Arboretum
in England (established as early as 1828), the
Muskat arboretum 33 created from 1856/58,
the Arnold Arboretum in Boston, USA, laid
out by Frederick Law Olmsted from 1872, and
the Arborétum Mlyňany, established 1892,
of Count István Ambrózy-Migazzi (Slovakia).
The Schwetzingen Arboretum is thus at the
very beginning of a veritable fashion for
arboreta that was to develop in the following
decades.
Meadow Vales
Within Sckell’s work the meadow vale
has come to be considered the dominant
motif of his parks, and it usually serves
to define the basic spatial structure of his
layouts. 34 In his book “Beiträge zur bildenden
Gartenkunst für angehende Gartenkünstler
und Gartenliebhaber”: (Thoughts on the Art
of Creating Gardens for Future Garden Artists
and Garden Lovers) Sckell wrote: “Valleys
are among the most excellent features of the
33 G. Kirchner, E.[duard] Petzold: Arboretum Muscaviense. Über
die Entstehung und Anlage des Arboretum Sr. Königlichen
Hoheit des Prinzen der Niederlande zu Muskau [...]. Gotha
1864.
34 Volker Hannwacker: Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell – der
Begründer des Landschaftsgartens in Deutschland. Stuttgart
1992, p. 148; Jost Albert: Wiesentäler und Hügel bei Friedrich
Ludwig von Sckell. Grundsätze, Arbeitstechnik. Künstlerische
Qualität, in: Die Gartenkunst, 14/2007, No. 2, pp. 274-288, here
p. 275.
3.
The Meadow Vale in the
Arborium Theodoricum, 2009.
97