Historical revivalism in hungarian country house gardens between 1880 and 1930: An exploration and analysis

Abstract

The period lasting from the Compromise betweeen Austria and Hungary in 1867 to World War I was a ‘golden age’ of Hungarian horticulture and garden art. Country houses with their parks belonged traditionally to the way of living of the aristocracy. The ‘construction boom’ generated by a fruitful interplay of the favourable economic conditions of the ‘Gründerzeit’ and the related social needs and financial abilities, resulted in a multitude of new gardens. This surge of development almost coincided with the spread of historical revivalism in garden design from the 1860s and with an increasing role played by Hungarian creators of gardens in addition to foreign specialists who settled or were invited to work here.The period between the two World Wars did not effect a fatal break in this garden culture. In some cases, this slowly consolidating period brought real efflorescence (e.g. Hatvan, Röjtökmuzsaj, Szeleste), though these places were the exceptions. The construction and transformation of parks together with the modernization of houses continued in the interwar decades (e.g. Dég, Röjtökmuzsaj) and considerable new establishments were also created (e.g. Vajta, Csorvás, Selyp).The country house gardens of historical revivalism, with their spectacular parterres, avenues, exotic plant rarities grown in the greenhouses or nursery gardens and transferred to the pleasure-grounds or shown at exhibitions, with their sports facilities and family mausoleums represented the prestige of the aristocracy which still clearly played the leading role in politics and society despite their declining economic and cultural influence. Alternatively they expressed the ambition of a new plutocracy to acquire social legitimation for their wealth. In a few cases and in both groups, there was something else: the garden became the site and instrument through which they could achieve accomplishment by means of creative activity.The present study is a first attempt at summarising the partial results of research that in its initial phase on the topic. It describes 12 sites in detail, 9 from the period between 1880 and World War I, and 3 from the 1920–30s. After the descripions it gives a preliminary overview of tendences and characteristics of the examined period including the transformation of the landscape garden, revivalist structural elements, follies and utilitarian garden structures, statuary and other garden ornaments, landscape gardeners and creative owners, mainteneance and productive gardening, with a lot of further examples and personalities. Finally, a brief outlook closes the study to the post-1945 survival of the gardens described and historical revivalism in garden art in general.