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Reconstruction of the Baroque garden

Systematic archaeological examinations with widescale excavations have provided well-founded information regarding the garden’s morphology as well as the chronology of its decay.

The excavation results from 2004 incorporating all terraces and retaining areas supported the historic sources with heir findings which the office EGL (Hamburg) evaluated for the reconstruction of the garden: the inventory from 1709 with its detailed description of the garden, its magnificent beds, fountains and cascades during times of the greatest display of splendour and the so-called Dallin plan from 1707, showing the garden in “full bloom”.

The objective for reconstructing the garden was to let the ground level areas arise again with their greatest display of splendour as in the years around 1690: from the mirror monograms of Duke Christian Albrecht and his consort Friederike Amalie via the intricate broderie anglaise and magnificent water cascades flanked by flights of stairs at the slopes between the terraces up to the formerly famous fountains at the centre of each and every terrace. Only the bosket area, which was also originally terraced and planted with fruit trees, was kept in its current near-natural form.

With the opening of the garden in 2017, the reconstruction project was transitionally terminated. Nonetheless, many items existed which had to be implemented in order to come close to the original splendour. 

The garden sculptures play a special role. Where numerous sculptures adorned the paths in the past and marked locations, all the highlights were still missing in 2007 - sculptures which marked locations and invited the visitors to stroll around the garden.

With the “Design study / master plan for the sculpture furnishing of the Neuwerk Garden Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig“, which the Hamburg artist Joachim Jakob presented in June 2015 within the scope of a competition, a consistent approach for the erection of new sculptures in the garden was mapped out. 

The competition was financed by the Kulturring der Schleswig-Holsteinischen Wirtschaft e.V. which will also primarily equip the garden with new sculptures alongside the Freundeskreis Schloss Gottorf e.V. 

Just a few years after reopening the Baroque garden, an interesting sculpture park has developed there with works from Johannes Brus, Manfred Sihle-Wissel, Winni Schaak, Wieland Förster, Hans Kock and Tony Cragg. It is their work which lends the strictly formal garden a new facet.

In addition to the sculpture equipment, we have several long-term targets: here, we must primarily think of the former size of the Herkules pond, but also a worthy successor for the Amalienburg as a point de vue.

Schleswig-Holstein State Museums
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