Schwetzingen - Schlösser-Magazin

drew up an inventory of the Schwetzingen
nurseries that was published in December
1774, in an edition of 1600 copies. 103
In 1784, Pigage mentions two nurseries 104 that
are in Sckell’s plan of 1783 as well (cp. Fig. 5).
The second one, on the southwestern border
of the garden, was probably dissolved again
when the vicinity of the Temple of Mercury
was laid out around 1786 (see below). In the
remaining one, Zeyher grew trees and shrubs
for the creation and maintenance of every
one of the Grand Duke’s gardens in Baden.
Ordinary citizens, too, could choose from a
large range of reasonably priced fruit trees
for planting on roads or in private gardens.
In 1809, Zeyher listed 303 types of apple, 193
types of pear, 19 types of apricot, 38 types of
peach, 62 types of cherry, 53 types of plum
and 40 types of grape.
B.14. The Arborium Theodoricum
The Arborium Theodoricum was the first
garden laid out by young Friedrich Ludwig
Sckell. It is an arboretum, a collection of trees
and shrubs intended for research purposes.
Pigage describes it as “La nouvelle Isle qui
sera appellée le Lexicon vivant des arbres
et arbustes des jardins”. 105 It is situated on
the long island at the northern boundary of
the garden. The island was created in 1774,
by diverting part of the Leimbach into an
outer channel. Soon after, work appears
to have come to a standstill. On his return
from his study trip to England in 1777,
Sckell converted the narrow strip of ground
into a grassy, undulating valley enclosed
by woodland. The scenery is structured by
solitary trees or small groups on the slope.
The whole constitues a landscape painting
that can be entered, and is experienced from
a number of carefully selected positions.
These are reached by a footpath that encircles
the entire area, carefully concealed and
fitted into the vegetation and the terrain.
This so-called belt walk is one of the core
103 in GLA 77/3959 of 21.12.1774.
104 GLA 221/45 of 1784, Heber 1986 pp. 469, 471.
105 GLA 221/39 of 10.11.1774.
VI. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
elements of English landscape gardens. Two
garden buildings grace the western end of
the Arborium Theodoricum, a Temple of
Botany (Fig. 14) and the ruin of a Roman
water tower 106 (Fig. 15). The Temple of Botany
is a circular structure covered with imitation
oak bark. It was erected in 1778, and the
decoration was completed in 1780. The statue
of Botany it shelters, is a reworked Ceres of
Italian origin, thought to be by Francesco
Carabelli. The temple is flanked by two large
urns by Johann Matthäus van den Branden, 107
and two sphinxes of unknown origin guard
the approach. The temple itself provides
the focal point of the view west through the
valley, and with its pond and stream, forms a
graceful ensemble; the temple’s mirror image
in the pond is a deliberate touch. Work on the
Roman water tower started in 1779 and was
completed the next year at the latest. 108 At the
same time, an aqueduct was built that brought
water from the Lower Waterworks further
north, which then gushed down the building
into the mirror pond created by artificially
widening the Leimbach stream. Adjoining the
water tower to the east is a semicircular, halfruined
row of arches, providing the backdrop
106 Leger 1829, p. 364.
107 GLA 62/1136 of 6.6.1779, Martin 1933, p. 361; Heber 1986, p.
582.
108 Heber 1986, p. 582.
VI.
Fig. 15: Carl Kuntz, c.1795,
Roman water tower, coloured
aquatint (Reiss-Engelhorn-
Museen, Mannheim).
195