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Some early parks include the la Alameda de
Hércules, in Seville, a promenaded public mall, urban garden and park built in
1574, within the historic center of Seville. The City Park, in Budapest,
Hungary, which was property of the Batthyány family was later made public. Another
possible claimant for status as the world's first public park is Boston Common
(Boston, Massachusetts, USA), set aside in 1634, whose first recreational
promenade, Tremont Mall, dates from 1728. An early purpose built public park
was Derby Arboretum which was opened in 1840 by Joseph Strutt for the mill
workers and people of the city. This was closely followed by Princes Park in
the Liverpool suburb of Toxteth, laid out to the designs of Joseph Paxton from
1842 and opened in 1843. Another early public park is the Peel Park, Salford,
England opened on August 22, 1846. Central Park in New York City, the most-visited
urban park in the U.S. was established in 1857 on 778 acres (315 ha) of
city-owned land. And you might ask where on this prestigious list is the Warsaw
Saxon Garden and then I would say “On the top of the list”. Founded in the late
17th century, it was opened to the public in 1727 as publicly accessible park.
It is much older than most of them.
The wicked
mathematician made me love ancient history
I love London public parks. When I visit my
favourite city, a walk in Hyde Park is a must. I even choose accommodation in Bayswater near
Kensington Gardens (being part of Hyde Park) fence because of proximity to this
park. It makes me feel excellent. I have Hyde Park at my heart and it`s the
same with the Saxon Garden in Warsaw. Shall I tell you why? The high school I
attended to as a young girl has been close to that garden. My maths teacher was
wicked, used to close classroom door exactly at 8 am, and I was always a few
minutes late. I was pushed to skip classes and that`s why I was walking to the Saxon
Garden. As a result I was not good in maths but I was excellent in ancient
history due to many park statues which are allegories of the Virtues, the
Sciences, and the Elements. Thank God, I had course of general education with
extended curriculum in humanities. No maths was needed for my secondary
school-leaving examination. While strolling in the Saxon Garden I was absorbing
ancient stories very easily. And now I suggest you should sink into history with me.
The gardens are
missing a palace
Stretching out a couple of blocks west of ul. Krakowskie
Przedmieście (Kraków Suburb Street), this magnificent garden – as I have
written above – dates from the early 18th century and was one of the world`s
earliest publicly accessible parks and also the city’s first public one. This
was a typical example of the Baroque extension of formal vistas inspired by the
park of Versailles. In the 19th century it was turned into a Romantic
English-style landscape park.
The Saxon Garden was originally the site of
Warsaw fortifications, "Sigismund's Ramparts," and of the palace
built in 1666 for the powerful aristocrat, Jan Andrzej Morsztyn. The garden was
extended in the reign of King Augustus II, who attached it to the "Saxon
Axis", a line of parks and palaces linking the western outskirts of Warsaw
with the Vistula River.
The park started from the back façade of the
Saxon Palace (Pałac Saski) flanking a long alley with many sculptures. The
central avenue led directly to the palace, as was usual in French parks of the
era. The gardens are filled with chestnut trees and mentioned Baroque statues,
and there’s an ornamental lake overlooked by a 19th-century water tower in the
form of a circular Greek temple.
If it looks to you as though the gardens are
missing a palace, you are right. The 18th-century Saxon Palace, which once
occupied Plac Piłsudskiego (Piłsudski Sq), was, like so many other buildings,
destroyed during WWII. The palace was blown up by the Germans as part of the
planned destruction of Warsaw after the collapse of the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.
All that survived were three arches of a colonnade, which have sheltered the
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier since 1925. There are plans to rebuild the Saxon
Palace from scratch at fabulous expense, but so far they remain unfulfilled.
Parks and gardens
history
The parks and gardens history is very long and impressive.
The Saxon Garden belongs to the "Ivy" League of the world`s famous
parks. Let`s see when they were first laid out.
The Egyptians made domestic gardens and temple
gardens. The Assyrians also made hunting parks. The Greeks added public
gardens, as meeting and market places protected within city walls.
Parks were made for domestic pleasure, for exercise,
for hunting, for the fine arts and for celebration of the emperor's godlike
status. As such, they became models for Renaissance villas, in Italy and then
throughout Europe, from the 15th to the 18th century. North European park and
garden designers paid their respects to this ancestry when they included Greek
and Roman statuary in their designs. So do all those gardeners who place
concrete casts of Diana, Flora and Aphrodite amongst the roses of their
suburban "villas".
Fryderyk Chopin at the
Saxon Palace
Fryderyk (Frédéric) Chopin spent his first
seven years of life (except to the first early months spent in Żelazowa Wola) in the Saxon Palace, and so
in the direct vicinity of the Saxon Garden. Mrs Justyna Chopin certainly took
her children little Frycek and Ludwika to the nearby park. Given Fryderyk's
fondness for walks around the city, we can assume that a dozen years or so
later he visited this beautiful spot on many occasions in the company of his friends.
Some biographers have even held that he used to go there with Konstancja
Gładkowska[BS3] , a Polish soprano, his muse and
first love although there is no information regarding such romantic walks in
mentions of Fryderyk's contacts with her.
A vast palace complex according to a Dutch-born
Polish architect and engineer Tylman van Gameren's design arose here between 1661 and 1664 for Jan Andrzej Morsztyn[BS4] [a5] . He was a Polish poet, member of the landed nobility,
and official in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1669 the palace was
rebuilt and enlarged. The main break was enhanced and a two galleries ended
with a double-storied pavillons were added to the palace's alcoves. In 1713 the
building was purchased by King Augustus II, who started to repurchase
surrounding freeholds and demolishing the buildings. Reconstruction of the
palace establishment and creating of the Saxon Axis passed through three
distinct stages – from 1713 to the 1720s according to the architects Carl
Friedrich Pöppelmann's and Joachim Daniel von Jauch's design, secondly to 1733
and completion in 1748 by Augustus III "the Corpulent". The Palace
was remodelled in 1842.
Brühl Palace
The former palace of a Polish nobleman and
Crown Court Treasurer Jerzy Ossoliński, was rebuilt between 1681 and 1697 by
Tylman van Gameren. Purchased by Polish-Saxon statesman Heinrich von Brühl in 1750, on his request it was reconstructed
by German architects Johann Friedrich Knöbel and Joachim Daniel von Jauch
between 1754 and 1759. The two outbuildings were built in that time and put
together with the palace. Later another two were added and composed together by
an enclosure decorated with sculptures. The central limb of the building was
enhanced and covered with a mansard roof. During 1932 – 1937 the palace was
adapted for use as the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the new Polish Republic.
It was deliberately destroyed by the Germans on December 18, 1944.
Sandstone statues
They are a part of the rich collection of
sculptures removed to Saint Petersburg after recapturing the city by Marshal
Suvorov in 1794, and placed in the Summer Garden. According to the 1745 plan of
the Saxon Garden there were 70 plinths in the Garden, and in 1797 there were
only 37 sculptures left, only 20 of them have been preserved until our times.
Four of these sculptures were completely destroyed during the blowing up of the
Saxon Palace in 1944, but they were later reconstructed. Comprised are groups
of sculptures, including Arithmetic, Astrology, Bacchus, Flora, Geography, two
sculptures identified as Glory, Instruct, Intelligence, Intellect, Justice,
Medicine, Military Architecture, Painting, Poetry, Rationality, Science,
Sculpture, Venus and Winter. They were generally made before 1745 by anonymous
Warsaw sculptors under the direction of Polish sculptor of German origin Johann
Georg Plersch.
The Great Salon
Situated on the axis in the center of the Saxon
Garden, was intended simply to provide a suitable end to the main garden axis.
It was constructed after 1720 according to Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann's design
(a German master builder who helped to rebuild Dresden after the fire of 1685).
The building was opened to the garden by semicircular porte-fenêtres and oculuses.
A terrace above the ground level of the building was enclosed by an attic
decorated with vases; also, two outhouses from both sides were added. The Great
Salon was demolished in 1817.
Operalnia
The 500-seat opera house, was opened in 1748.
It was built under the architect Carl Friedrich Pöppelmann and modelled on the
Small Theatre in Dresden, built by Christoph Bayer in 1687. The interior was
decorated in a heavy, sumptuous baroque style by the court artists. On November
19th, 1765 in Operalnia, the actors of The Majesty put on the premiere of Józef
Bielawski’s Intruders (Natręci), a comedy which was a loose adaptation of a
play by Molière. Since the acting team had all the features of a fully
professional and national group (they performed in Polish and earned their
living through acting), November 19th is the anniversary of the establishment
of the National Theatre. The National stage belonged to the elements of the
educational and cultural reform programme in the falling Republic of Poland,
prepared by King Stanisław August Poniatowski. Over decades this theatre,
taking care of the works of Polish playwrights, was the ground on which the
cultural development of Polish people thrived. The building was demolished in
1772.
Last year we celebrated the 250th Anniversary
of the National Theatre in Poland. I shall write about this story in next text.
The Blue Palace
It took its name from the colour of the roof. The
palace was purchased by King Augustus II for his daughter Anna Karolina
Orzelska from bishop Teodor Andrzej Potocki. The palace was rebuilt in 1726 by
Joachim Daniel von Jauch and a Saxon Rococco architect Johann Sigmund Deybel.
The King wished to offer it to Anna as a Christmas present. In six weeks, the
Palace was renovated by 300 masons and craftsmen working night and day. The
courtyard, encompassed by a walled enclosure, had two gates. Column galleries
were situated on both sides of the garden façade. A backside garden (integral
part of the Saxon Garden) and a cascade fountain were designed by Carl
Friedrich Pöppelmann. Since 1811, it has been the property of the Zamoyskis [BS6] , Polish aristocratic family which
remodelled it in a late Neoclassical style. The palace was rebuilt after the
war devastations.
The Church of St.
Anthony of Padua and Reformed Franciscan Monastery
It was founded in 1623 in gratitude for the
capture of Smolensk on June 13th, 1611 (Liturgical Feasts of Saint Anthony of
Padua) by king Sigismund III Vasa (Zygmunt III Waza) and dedicated on May 13th,
1635. This church was heavily damaged during the Deluge by the Transylvanian
army of George II Rákóczi. The new church was founded by Castellan Stanisław
Leszczyc-Skarszewski. Work began in 1668 following the plan of Italian-born Polish
royal court architect Józef Szymon Bellotti. In 1734, the church became the
parish church of the royal court in the Saxon Palace. The king ordered a
special loge for him and his wife to be built on the left side of the
presbytery (1734–35), and the royal sculptor Johann Georg Plersch created the
sculptures inside. The church was partly destroyed during the Warsaw Uprising.
The Iron Gate
It was a part of The Saxon Establishment, which
itself had a shape of a pentagon covered an area of around 17 ha (42 acres).
The gate was constructed according to Joachim Daniel von Jauch's design after
1735, together with other buildings of the Saxon Axis border, like Mounted
Crown Guards barracks, a wall with bastions from the south and west, or the
Blue Palace. It was embellished with cartouches with Polish and Lithuanian
Coats of Arms. The Gate was demolished in 1821.
Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier
It was dedicated to the unknown soldiers who
have given their lives for Poland. It is one of many such national tombs of
unknowns that were erected after WWI, as well as the most important national
symbols of bravery and heroism. In 1925, architect Stanisław Ostrowski produced
a design to be located under the arcades of the Saxon Palace in Warsaw. The
triple arch of the Tomb is the only remnant of the Saxon Palace colonnade. Here
official delegations place wreaths and pay homage to the killed soldiers. The
tomb has a change of guards every hour.
Fountain
With an elaborately carved plaque resting on a
shell form basin supported by a scrolled bracket, is often used by dating
couples as their meeting place. It was established in 1855. The fountain is the
centrepiece of gardens designed by the 19th-century designer and architect
Henryk Marconi and also one of the most precious urban symbols of Warsaw.
Marble sundial
An 1863 horizontal sundial, is situated close
to the big fountain in the centre of the park. It was established by the
significant physicist and meteorologist Antoni Szeliga Magier.
Water Tower
In the northwest part of the Saxon Garden, it is
situated by the ornamental lake surrounded by willows. This classicist water
tower in the shape of a Roman monopteros was modelled on the Temple of Vesta in
Tivoli. It was designed in 1852 by Henryk Marconi.
Summer Theatre
A popular summer variéte theatre, existed
between 1870 and 1939. It was under famous Polish composer Stanisław
Moniuszko's "rule" at the Grand Theater (Teatr Wielki) that the
wooden Summer Theatre was built in the Saxon Garden, between the Water Tower
building and the Blue Palace by Polish constructor Aleksander Zabierzowski.
From then on, summer performances from the Warsaw theatres were shown there
every year. At the time, the Summer Theatre could seat an audience of 1,065. Famous
Polish actresses: Helena Modjeska (whose actual Polish surname was
Modrzejewska) and Pola Negri (born Barbara Apolonia Chałupiec) made several
appearance there. The theatre burned in September 1939 following a direct hit
by an incendiary bomb and was never restored.
Palm House
Modelled after Victorian glass and iron
structures in England, was built in 1894. It was created specifically for the
exotic palms being collected and introduced to Europe in the 19th century. The
elegant design, with its unobstructed space for the spreading crowns of the
tall palms, was a perfect marriage of form and function. The structure was
destroyed during the Warsaw Uprising and planned destruction of Warsaw, and was
never restored.
The Monument dedicated
to Maria Konopnicka
The Monument of famous Polish poet and writer
mainly for children and youth, was unveiled in 1965.
The Statue of Stefan
Starzyński
The Statue of brave leader of the fighting
capital during the Siege of Warsaw, was added in 1981.
***
I have strong connection with the Saxon Garden.
This place witnessed my classes skipping when I was young and now I work there,
at least twice a year making live coverage of state ceremonies of Armed Forces
Day August 15th and National Independence Day November 11th. Piłsudski Square turns
then into a colourful stage with subdivisions and reconstruction groups on that.
It`s really worth seeing. It`s spectacular, and the Saxon Garden is gorgeous
and worth seeing any time. If you happen to visit this place in August I can likely
see you walking down the alleys. If it happened I would be most delighted.
See you there!
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