Baroque Garden

In 1708, the Viennese architect Johann Lucas von Hildebrandtjoined forces with Johann Kaspar Dietmann, the Court Gardener inMainz, to plan a baroque pleasure garden according to French de-sign principles. Their concept placed great emphasis on regularityand symmetry, with the complex they envisioned being structuredinto a specific sequence of garden areas designed for representa-tion, for pleasurable strolls, and for use as settings for festivities.

In the immediate vicinity of the Palace was the so- called Parterrewith its central pool and fountain. This terrace- like area was mag-nificently decorated and intended to be viewedfrom the bel étage, the building's splendid firstfloor. Artfully pruned boxwoods, hedges, colourfulpebbles, and low- to- the- ground blooming plantsserved as lace- like ornamentation. And the vari-ous flower beds, for their part, were designed todraw the gaze to the palace's richly decoratedgarden façade and stucco- ornamented vestibule.

Extending behind the Parterre was theBosquet( Boskett), a little wooded area withsymmetrically arranged hedges and small trees.Two linden- lined avenues flanked this slightlyelevated area of the garden and provided shade.

The complex wasstructured into aspecific sequenceof garden areasdesigned forrepresentation,for pleasurablestrolls, and foruse as settings forfestivities

In between, walls made of yew hedges formed so- called Cabinets( Kabinette) equipped with seating elements, thus serving as placesto withdraw or meet. And since Count Schönborn was quite fondof Italian improvisational theatre, he had eight stone sculptures ofstock commedia dell'arte characters placed at the Bosquet's centre.

This high- maintenance pleasure garden ended in an elongatedgarden wall fronted by arcades. These were topped with a balustradefeaturing numerous sculptures. The garden wall was ornamented at itscentre by a protruding structure with a single- walled, open- windowed

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