Schwetzingen - Schlösser-Magazin

VI.
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VI. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
for an obelisk, put up to commemorate the
finds excavated here during building work in
1777. The entire ensemble is reminiscent of
an Italian landscape with Roman ruins. The
immediate vicinity of the Temple of Botany
and the water tower is concealed by skilfully
planted shrubbery, and only becomes visible
at close distance.
B.15. The Turkish Garden
Within the garden’s symmetrical layout, the
Turkish garden provides the counterpart
of the bosquet with the natural theatre. It
includes the mosque, a rectangular, cloistered
court and the surrounding garden. The
latter was created by Sckell as a “bosquet
à l’angloise”, with irregularly shaped beds
and curving paths. To reinforce the “natural”
effect, the beds are not enclosed by hedges
or trellises. The Turkish garden was first
mentioned in 1774, and then it disappears
from documentation for several years. 109 It
was only in 1779 that work was resumed.
At first only the cloister and pavilions and
the surrounding garden were planned; the
mosque appears in the building ledgers for
the first time on 28th November 1782. The
subject of the entry, however, is a sculptor’s
pay; so the mosque must have been well
beyond the foundations stage. 110 The overall
plan by Friedrich Ludwig Sckell dating from
1783 (Fig. 5) shows an octagonal ground plan,
that is to say, the mosque without its portico,
minarets and extensions on the sides. The
cloister was still lacking the four pavilions on
the long sides. Lack of funding delayed the
completion of the building. The main body
of the mosque was completed in 1791, the
minarets in 1792, but the building was never
furnished. 111 Decorative mosques in gardens
came into fashion during the second half of
the 18th century, a fashion inspired by by
109 GLA 221/39 of 18.8.1774, Heber 1986, p. 436.
110 Heber 1986, pp. 596-597.
111 GLA 221/46, Protocollum Commissionale 1795.
William Chambers 112 mosque at Kew. Today,
however, the Schwetzingen mosque is the
only one surviving from the 18th century in
the whole of Europe.
B.16. The Landscape Garden Surrounding the
Temple of Mercury
The ruined Temple of Mercury is situated on
a hill on the extension of the axis running
the length of the great basin, and a little
south of the mosque’s axis. Its ground plan is
triangular, and it is surmounted by a tambour
and dome. Part of the dome is missing;
cracks are visible everywhere. On the south
side is the entrance to the basement, set into
half-ruined cyclopean walls made of large
sandstone blocks.
In 1784, work on a “monument” had started
on the site. 113 Hirschfeld 114 reported in
1785 that the structure was to represent a
“monument of King Sesostris” and, that
“mummies and funerals” were to be displayed
in the basement. 115 The foundations were
built. In 1786, Pigage asked for permission
to start planting in the English garden
opposite the mosque, and to complete the
small pond. 116 The canal was extended into a
lake for the purpose, the bridge spanning it
was moved south, away from the mosque’s
axis, and the avenue of trees lining the canal
was cut down. In 1787, it was decided to
build, not a monument, but a ruin to serve
as a belvedere and “point de vue” for the
mosque 117 , and in 1792, the temple was
completed. Thanks to the pond in between,
the view from the temple to the mosque,
and vice versa, is stunning (Fig. 16). The two
structures are connected by footpaths along
the shore. The southern path leads over a
three-way bridge which also provided access
to a small island (cp. Fig. 6). The bridge could
be swiveled to a position where it no longer
112 William Chambers, 1723-1796, architect (garden buildings at
Kew), author (wrote about Chinese gardens).
113 GLA 221/45 of 1784, Heber 1986, pp. 469, 471.
114 Christian Cay Lorenz Hirschfeld, 1742-1792, garden theoretician,
principal work: Theorie der Gartenkunst, Leipzig 1785.
115 Hirschfeld 1785, Vol. 5, pp. 344-345.
116 GLA 213/ 112 of 28.10.1786, Heber 1986, p. 473.
117 GLA 213/112, “promemoria” of 18.6.1787, Heber 1986, p.654.