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Eva Berger, doyen of local garden art and author of numerous books about historical gardens, presents a chronological representation of Vienna's gardens with "Many wonderful and beautiful gardens". “The time frame is from the beginning of settlement activity in the Vienna area to around 1930.” Of course, little remains from the early period. Only in old views and paintings can you see a few green trees here and there between buildings. The city map by Bonifaz Wolmuet (1547) shows some green areas within the city walls (page 42). Vienna has looked different for a hundred years; an engraving by Matthäus Merian (1649) shows the impressive gardens of Neubuilding Castle (Wien Simmering).
In the high and late baroque period (from page 91) well-known addresses appear, which are usually associated with aristocratic names. From the Liechtenstein Palace (Wien Alsergrund), to the Schwarzenberg Palace (Wien Landstraße), whose gardens were designed by Jean Trehet, to the monumental Belvedere Gardens (Wien Landstraße) by Anton Zinner on behalf of Prince Eugen or Schönbrunn Palace, the best of is represented here.
Under "Rococo and Classicism" (from page 133) you can find the Prater with the pleasure house, which was opened to the population in 1766. After "Classicism and Biedermeier" with the garden of the Geymüllerschlössel in Vienna and the Burg and Volksgarten including the Temple of Theseus in Vienna's inner city, the chapter "Historicism: the second half of the 19th century" follows (pages 205 to 236). Here it is mainly the park area around the Ringstrasse with the city park, which opened in 1862, to the gardens in private villas. "Art Nouveau and Modernism" (from page 237) combines, in addition to a list of green areas that would generally be perceived less as a park and more as a leafy square, the green area around the Empress Elisabeth Monument (1907) in the Volksgarten.
In the final part, "Reform period: from 1918 to 1938", the green can be found in municipal buildings in "Red Vienna", specifically the Julius-Popp-Hof and the Herwegh-Hof in Vienna Margareten (page 283ff). Hugo von Hofmannsthal's feature article "Gardens in Vienna" ("Die Zeit", June 17, 1906) was printed in the appendix. The entire text is available here. There is also an extensive bibliography.
The first time you leaf through the book "The Green Treasury" with the telling subtitle "The History of Plant Culture in the Imperial Gardens of Vienna" it becomes clear; This is about blooming crown jewels with which previous generations of rulers adorned themselves. They find a worthy setting in an opulently designed book by Claudia Gröschel, who, together with eleven co-authors, does justice to the botanical heritage of the Habsburgs at a high level with magnificent images, as is often the case with Brandstätter Verlag.
The first of the four chapters fits in with this: "Plants are objects of art", which is about "The Emperor's Golden Apples", i.e. legendary citrus fruits. Citrus plants were grown in Schönbrunn from 1647 onwards. A few years later, an orangery was built here for the wintering of the heat-loving species. This is followed by "Systematic Collecting", where you not only learn about the Dutch gardener Adrian von Steckhoven, who in 1753 for A lot of money and all sorts of special rights that he had claimed were brought to the imperial court, but also about the successful cultivation of pineapples. The fruits, which originally came from Brazil, became an integral part of the imperial court table until the beginning of the 20th century. Chapter three, "The Plant Ark" (from page 180), deals with the professional collection and preservation of useful and ornamental plants the centuries.
After the end of the monarchy, money was tight in the young republic and there was no coal and coke to heat the glass houses. As a result, numerous heat-loving plants died. The committed director of the Federal Gardens, Friedrich Rottenberger, tried to preserve the botanical collections. At that time, the Schönbrunn dairy farm grew fruit and vegetables for sale (page 212f). The art of gardening, cultivated at the highest level in the imperial grounds for centuries, is continued by the federal gardens. Here, a separate department (Institute of Historical Gardens) deals with the legacy of the Habsburgs in Vienna (Augarten, Belvedere, Burg and Volksgarten with Heldenplatz and Maria Theresien Platz as well as Schönbrunn Palace Park).
In the last chapter, "Hoard of Plant Diversity", some figures are given that impressively illustrate the little-known activities of the federal gardens (page 232ff). Around 150,000 individual plants in 17,000 species and varieties are grown at the Vienna locations mentioned above and in the Hofgarten Innsbruck. In Schönbrunn's field garden, gardeners cultivate over 350,000 spring and summer flowers for the beds of their own gardens. 23,000 cacti, almost 14,000 orchids and almost 5,000 carnivorous plants thrive in the Schönbrunn glasshouses. Schönbrunn has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1996; This international honor included not only the castle but also the magnificent gardens. The emperor would have been happy too.
Conclusion: “Many wonderful and beautiful gardens – 600 years of Viennese garden art” focuses on gardens, imperial ensembles as well as selected public or private green spaces. “The Green Treasury” impresses with its opulent images, elegant layout and surprises with facts about the Habsburgs' passion for botanical collecting. (Thomas Hofmann, February 14, 2025)