28 February 2017
The Garden of Eichstatt
Razwana Akram shares the fascinating story of the Garden of Eichstätt.
The first botanical garden in Germany
The Garden of Eichstätt in Bavaria included a wide variety of plants and had a very interesting history.
The garden was owned by the Prince-Bishop of Eichstätt Johann Konrad von Gemmingen. He had created an extensive garden, built up on eight different terraces around his palace on the Willibaldsburg, overlooking the Barvarian city of Eichstätt.
Recording plants for posterity
In 1611 the Bishop decided to document his garden. He was determined to record it for posterity, and show the spectacular garden he had created from plants that he had acquired from around the world.
The intention of the project was:
- To celebrate the diversity of God's creation.
- To record the creation of the first botanical garden in Germany and the only one at the time outside Italy.
The result was The Hortus Eystettensis or what is also often referred to as The Florilegium.
Sixteen years of work
This is a codex of 377 plates which illustrate the plants found within the garden during the different times of the year. Von Gemmingen commissioned Basilius Besler to produce this work, although Besler was not actually a botanical artist, and therefore none of the illustrations were completed by him. He was however considered to be the person who managed the project, and without him we would not have this great work. The task took him sixteen years to complete.
First edition in two versions
The first edition was printed in 1613 and had two versions. One version was purely black and white, cheaply produced and used mainly as a reference book. A second more expensive version was printed on quality paper and hand-coloured.
The four seasons
The illustrations were organised to reflect the four seasons showing first the flowering and then the fruiting stages. He intended to include a plate for each day of the year (including the extra day for a leap year). This would be 366 days in total, however the plates do not match up to this and we are instead left with a total of 367 plates. Additionally some seasons were sparsely represented, especially winter which included just seven plates.
Unfortunately the Bishop did not live to see his work completed - it was finised a year after his death in 1612. We are however left with a record of his garden for posterity as he had originally intended.
- Razwana Akram -
Library Graduate Trainee
