Der malerische Landschaftspark in Laxenburg

After the gardens of Schönbrunn Palace, the park of Laxenburg was among the most significant imperial complexes upt to the end of World War I and was also one of the finest jewels of Austrian horticultural art. Each of them represents an integral part of the two main imperial residences, on for Spring, the other for Summer. The monarchs sensitivity to nature and art blended to reflect the styles of their eras and created splendig ensembles of buildings and garden complexes. The park at Laxenburg has a long history reaching back to the 14th century. Originally used as hunting grounds, from the early 18th century but especially after 1750 the large area gradually assumed a more formalized look with geometrically-arranged cuts through the forest and a pleasure garden for the Empress Maria-Theresia and Emperor Franz Stephan of Lorraine. The modernisation of the park into the then popular "English"-garden style was begun 1782 - 83 under Emperor Joseph II; as early as 1785 the Kiel philosopher Hirschfeld praised Laxenburg as a testimony to the imperial love for Nature. During the early years of the reign of Emperor Franz II in the 1790s, the Empress Marie Therese of Naples commissioned the building of curious follies, theatrical stage set-like buildings intended to express the spirit of early Romanticism and the Enlightment (e.g. "the house of Moods" or "Maison Burlesque"). The so called Rittergau (territory of the chivalry) with the Franzensburg became after 1798 the centre of a large "Picturesque" landscape with extensive interconnecting ponds. As well as the Imperial couple, the palace administrator and head gardener Michael Riedl played an important role; he remained responsible for the continuous development of the ground until 1849. During the first half of the 19th century Laxenburg Park was not only recreational area and a source of learning about nature for the Viennese (as still is today), but also a landscape to inspire patriotic sympathies for the Habsburg dynasty in an era of marked by the Napoleonic Wars. The planned book will provide the reader with a detailed history of the entire complex from the 18th century until 1918, based on systematic research of many new, unpublished pictorial and archival sources. Furthermore, there will be an art-historical interpretation of the "Rittergau" in the context of similar European developments as well as an analysis of the phenomenon of the "picturesque" style. Other chapters will discuss the cultural history of the concept of "mood" or "burlesque" and an thorough examination of the role of the Empress Marie Therese in the cultural life of late 18 th and early 19-century Vienna, a detailed registry of the parks flora and extensive documentation from the archives 1750 - 1918. There exists no comparable monograph on the park at Laxenburg, despite the fact the green areas shaped the central concept for the architecture and form the link between the individual buildings.