Landscape garden or lustgarten: reinterpreting Kassel-Wilhelmshohein garden history

摘要

In the field of German garden history, Park Kassel-Wilhelmshohe is still regarded as one of the most striking examples of the transformation of a baroque garden into a so-called landscape garden. However, what makes the park development special is thefact that the dominant central axis, dating from the beginning of the eighteenth century, was retained over time (compare figures i and 2). This was quite unusual for landscape gardens at the end of the eighteenth century — at least from a preliminarytheoretical perspective. Upon closer examination, the layout of the park shows a number of other details that are not typical of landscape gardens.1 From a historical and cultural point of view, this raises the question of whether the landgraves of Hesse-Kassel ever intended to build a landscape garden at all. Aspects of garden use and heterogeneous ways of reception will also be considered in this, since the material configuration of a park is inseparably linked to its social function both for the proprietor and the visitors.