During the second half of the 18th century, when the current Schwetzingen garden was created, the "French"
formal garden was gradually being supplanted by the "English"
landscape garden as the prevalent style of gardening. The numerous princely estates in the
Holy Roman Empire were quick to pick up the change, often remodelling older gardens according to the new taste. The Schwetzingen garden perhaps uniquely reflects this fundamental change in attitude, as its creators actually sought to reconcile the two conflicting styles. Accordingly, while the oldest portions are strictly formal, the newer ones subsequently introduced more "natural" features. However, great care was taken so that the finished work would still form a coherent whole. As a result, Schwetzingen is sometimes described as the principal surviving example of an intermediary style, the "anglo-chinese" garden, but in its diversity actually transcends the boundaries of that particular – and short-lived – style. The first plan, devised by the gardener Petrie of
Zweibrücken, introduced one highly unusual motif, namely laying out the main
parterre as a full circle. This remains unchanged and is a prominent feature that distinguishes Schwetzingen from most contemporary creations. Other than that, the first design was fairly conventional, even somewhat antiquated, in character. It appears to have relied heavily on French theorist
Dezallier d'Argenville's influential textbook
Théorie et practique du jardinage. Under the auspices of Nicolas de Pigage, the garden's plan was updated and expanded, while preserving most of its original features. Unlike his predecessor, Pigage was familiar with the latest developments in style. Most of the designs he prepared for Schwetzingen were progressive and up-to-date. However, not all of them were carried out, and as time progressed, the prince's (and possibly also the architect's) reluctance to make a full switch towards the "English" style provoked critical scorn (most notably from the garden-design theorist
Christian Cay Lorenz Hirschfeld). Only the
fabriques that Pigage built in various parts of the garden were exempt from Hirschfeld's criticism. The outstanding architectural quality of these small, yet elaborate, buildings was universally acknowledged (Hirschfeld, in fact, objected mostly to their number – he would have preferred fewer of them). On the newer, more fully developed landscaped portions, Pigage collaborated closely with the up-and-coming garden designer
Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell. The sculpture throughout the garden is of varied quality, including some notable works by
Gabriël Grupello and
Peter Anton von Verschaffelt, among others. A sculpture of
Pan sitting atop a cliff and playing his flute, by the Mannheim sculptor, Peter Simon Lamine, was very highly regarded in its time. It is a work. A similar statue, by the same sculptor, was unveiled some twenty years later at
Nymphenburg Palace. Most of the sculpture within the parterre, and some of the works scattered elsewhere, was acquired at auction in the 1760s. Most of it is the work of then-celebrated French artist
Barthélemy Guibal and had previously adorned the
Lunéville palace of the deposed Polish king
Stanisław Leszczyński. The majority of the sculptures have now been replaced with modern replicas to avoid further degradation from the elements. The originals are on display in the "new orangery" building.
French garden The
French formal garden is laid out in strict geometric forms. The most important elements are the main axis, the transverse axis, and the circular surrounding path. The front part of the garden consists of
parterres and
bosquets. On the palace terraces, there are shields depicting the four ages of the world (golden, silver, heroic, and iron). In addition, there are two gilt statues of
Atalanta, which derive from an earlier garden. A unique feature of the French garden is the circular layout centred on the Arion fountain, called the circular parterre. The Arion fountain, made by Guibal, depicts the Ancient Greek musician
Arion, riding a dolphin, which, according to legend, had rescued him after the crew of the ship that was carrying him threw him into the sea. There is also a depiction of a deer hunt by
Peter Anton von Verschaffelt and sculptures of the
Four Elements.
English garden The western and northwestern parts of the garden were laid out as an
English landscape garden. Unlike the French garden, the paths and shorelines in this part of the garden are slightly irregular. The forested parts of the garden were left almost unchanged.
Lake The great lake at the far end of the garden is visible from the palace entrance. The location of the lake was originally a walled pool, which Grand Duke Louis of Baden had expanded in 1823, at the suggestion of Zeyher, transforming it into a lake with a natural shoreline. Copies of two sculptures by Verschaffelt lie on the long side of the lake facing the palace, on either side of the main axis: the river gods
Rhine and
Danube. The original sculptures are now displayed in the orangery. The lake and all the other water features have been supplied from two waterworks, since the time of Pigage, which use the
Leimbach river to drive waterwheels that power a set of pumps. The Leimbach already encircled the medieval castle on the site and flows from
Kraichgau in the direction of the Rhine. For the fountains clean
ground water is used. The pumps are located at the north wing of the palace ("upper waterwork" with an elevated tank in the modern ministry of finance building). A second pump and elevated tank, which ensures steady water pressure, was hidden at the end of the park behind the aqueduct ("lower waterwork").
Buildings The garden contains several structures. The building programme makes philosophical and architectural references to
Classical Antiquity and, in the case of the mosque-complex, to
Islam and "
oriental wisdom". Recent research has seen a design derived from
Freemasonry in the garden, which was combined with Christian ideology. Garden buildings, pathways, gates, and bridges do not just divide the garden into individual sections, but also work together on a holistic level. The bath-house, once accessible only with the permission of the Elector, forms its own small complex, with its own pleasure garden and the "perspective." According to
Richard Benz, encountering the "artificial ruins" at Schwetzingen inspired 18th century poets to engage with the real ruins of
Heidelberg castle and thus led to the literary "rediscovery" of
Heidelberg in the late 18th century.
Temple of Minerva The Roman goddess
Minerva is depicted in multiple locations throughout the gardens. The temple of Minerva was planned by Pigage and was completed in 1769. It is a
tetrastyle Corinthian temple based on a Roman model, the entrance building to the
Porticus Octaviae. The reversal of the relationship between the portico and the
cella is unique: the cella is not closed off by a wall, but is instead open to the air, and the exterior columns continue within it. A statue of Minerva, goddess of wisdom, stands at the back wall. It is a reworked version of a work by
Gabriel Grupello. She was also the goddess of peaceful arts and knowledge, especially gardening, as is recalled by the relief in the pediment. The walls of the cella are ringed by marble benches; the space provides a place for visitors to the garden to rest, but could also be understood as an imaginary meeting place for possessors of wisdom. Underneath the temple is a rectangular room with niches and round windows. This room is accessible from the back of the temple and shows signs of being a secret meeting place. It is dominated by
Pan, god of panic and the wild, as a mask above the door indicates. The temple of Minerva, which stands above this irrational space, is thus a monument to human reason and civilization. A temple of
Cupid was planned to stand opposite the temple of Minerva in symmetry with it, but this was never realised.
Mosque The "mosque" (German:
moschee) in the gardens complex is the earliest mosque-style building in Germany. It was built in 1779–1791 by a French architect for the Prince Elector of the Palatinate. Built at a time when the "Turkish" style was fashionable in Germany, it was never intended for prayer but later served religious purposes at various times. After many years of restoration, and at great expense, the mosque is fully restored and open to the public.
Temple of Mercury A "monument" was already planned to go opposite the mosque in the "
parties sauvages", the southwestern landscape section of Schwetzinger garden, in 1784. An
artificial ruin was built by Pigage in 1787 and 1788, which is first referred to as a temple for the Roman god
Mercury in 1791. Its cellar-like foundations are built from large sandstone blocks, and appear to be the remains of an earlier precursor. The temple is three stories high and topped by a tower. It is made from
tuff stone. The floorplan consists of a hexagonal main floor, with an
attic floor above, and a
lantern on top of that. There are marble reliefs depicting Mercury above the entrances of three identical facades. The mainstream interpretation of the structure is that it is a message about transcending mysticism through reason. This interpretation notes that the temple has the form of a Roman mausoleum. It connects the three reliefs, which exclusively depict negative episodes from the life of Mercury, with the ancient
Hermes Trismegistus, a form of Mercury who was considered a symbol of
magic. The building would then be a tomb for the superstition, buried in its own temple. In this connection, it might also be significant that the temple stands across the lake from the mosque, which is supposed to be symbolic of wisdom. A new, freemasonic interpretation, on the other hand, sees hidden references in the temple to the
Temple of Solomon and its architect
Hiram Abiff. Practically, the temple functions as a
gloriette, with the upper level providing a clear line of sight over the lake and towards the mosque. ==Notes==