The gardens of the Royal Castle in Warsaw over six hundred years.The shaping of social and political power

摘要

The gardens at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, which together with the Old Town were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, have only recently become the subject of systematic research.' Their history is neither associated with the names of any great garden designers nor with the evolution of beautiful forms. Indeed, in the context of European garden art, they are not particularly 'artistic' per se. Their significance lies in their cultural and naturalistic context. Almost from the very outset of the castle's existence, they were an important element of what was initially a ducal, then a royal, and eventually a presidential residence — and, ultimately, part of one of the most important art and history museums in Poland today. In these circumstances, it was to be expected that the gardens would be drawn into politics and, more recently, into cultural policy and conservation trends. The status of the Royal Castle means that any architectural activities, including work in the gardens, give rise tomuch public interest. Evidence of this can be found in press articles published in the interwar period and following the reconstruction work after the Second World War, in letters written to the management of the Royal Castle; nowadays there are postingson social media. Aside from political ideology, the naturalistic context which determined how the gardens were shaped was influenced by the Vistula valley. This huge river, which up until the end of the nineteenth century remained completely unrestrained, shaped the escarpment on which the castle was built. The proximity of the Vistula river, in equal measure impetuous and alluring, determined the form and functionality of not only_thf gardens, but also the architecture of the castleitself. The special relationship between this residential garden and the city should also be pointed out. An unusual feature of the history of this city was the rapid 'detachment' (in the nineteenth century) of half the garden and its orientation towardsthe city and the needs of its inhabitants. Since 2013, the gardens have been undergoing restoration work. The main phase of this huge and costly process is due for completion in 2019 and is driven by the needs of the museum and conservation trends and,as far as the expectations of the general public are concerned, by historical trends which bear testimony to the fact that landscape is also an ideological concept2 and not only an aesthetic and symbolic one. This article draws attention to the significance of the castle's gardens on the landscape of the central part of the city.