Gardens in the Middle Ages

Special Exhibition 2023

The world of medieval gardens

Immerse yourself in the world of medieval gardens and their exciting use. Over the centuries, many different types of gardens have developed in Europe. The most well-known are the medieval monastery gardens and soon afterwards gardens were also created in castles. The gardens of Rosenburg were always enclosed by walls, a cultivated place in contrast to the wild forests of the Middle Ages. You can experience the history of the gardens and their healing effects, curated by the well-known art historian Dr. Alice Selinger.

1

Gardens in the Middle Ages

In all rural cultures of antiquity there were tree and vegetation cults. In „holy groves“ Persians, Egyptians and Teutons worshiped their gods. In these cultures, as in Greece, the tree was a symbol of life and its cultivation was a sacred act. This understanding of nature flows into medieval garden art. Since humans were at the mercy of nature in the early Middle Ages, they tried to appease the threatening natural forces with magical practices. The idea of ​​looking at nature as an aesthetic stimulant was still far from them. It could only emerge in layers of society that were provided with material and were no longer directly threatened by natural forces.
The Teutons were already planting vegetables and fruit trees, probably dealing with very simple vegetable gardens.
The words for „garden“ are derived in almost all languages ​​from names for fences or enclosures. The basis of the garden is the demarcation to the outside, the division into „inside“ and „outside.“ The medieval gardens were surrounded by walls.
Knowledge of the gardens of the Middle Ages, we have mainly from the “minnelied” songs and heroic sagas and book illumination. Deposits from city ditches, wells or sewers are also valuable sources for detecting individual plants.
The Middle Ages is not a cultural historical unit, over the centuries there have been drastic social and economic changes and political changes. Three different garden worlds can be distinguished in the Middle Ages: The monastery gardens shape the idea of ​​gardens from the early Middle Ages. The pleasure gardens of the knightly-courtly society are a phenomenon of the high Middle Ages. With the blossoming of the cities and the trade developed in the late Middle Ages, the bourgeois gardens of the city dwellers. Influences of medieval garden culture came from late antique ideas of gardens and ideal landscapes and of the highly developed ancient oriental garden culture. The exchange with the Islamic world intensified through the Crusades.
From the ninth to the 13th century was a warmer climate than today, which was favorable for the establishment of gardens.
It is difficult to determine the plants in medieval texts. There were still no botanical orders and plants in each region bore other popular names. A variety of native medicinal herbs was not cultivated in gardens in the Middle Ages, but collected in the vicinity of the settlements. Many of the flowers that adorn our gardens today were first introduced to Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. Only a few ornamental plants originate from Central Europe, among the few native species include columbine, cowslip and lily of the valley. Already in the Middle Ages, gold lacquer, snapdragon, ladybug and peony were planted, originating from southern Europe or Asia. The Romans had brought plants over the Alps, which were partly native. Nobles and scholars became enthusiastic about exotic plants in the late Middle Ages.

„I hereby give you all the plants of the earth“
Genesis 1:29

2

Plants and gardens in the Bible

At the beginning of the biblical history of mankind stands the Garden of Eden – and the expulsion from this paradise is the great trauma. The desire to return to this garden has remained present for centuries.
Many significant events described in the Bible occur in gardens. The creation of man happens in the Garden of Paradise, Jesus goes through fear of death in the oil garden and his resurrection takes place in a garden. Jesus is often portrayed as a gardener throughout the Middle Ages, this motif goes back to a narrative in the Gospel of John: before Jesus showed himself to the disciples after the resurrection, he met near the grave Mary Magdalene, who initially took him for the gardener. In fine arts, Mary Magdalene is often kneeling in front of Jesus, holding a shovel as a symbol of the gardener. Only when he calls her name does she recognize him.
Jesus is symbolically seen as a „gardener of the human kind“, caring for human souls like plants and then receiving them in paradise as „heaven gardeners“.

The Bible mentions over a hundred species of plants: crops, medicinal plants, dye plants and aromatic plants. The most important biblical plants are cereals, fruit trees, vegetables, legumes, pumpkins, herbs and spices. But also thorns and thistle plants are mentioned, and aromatic plants such as sweetgum, lavender, myrrh, frankincense and the cistus play a role. From today’s garden flowers are mountain tulip, Christmas rose, dog chamomile, lily, poppy, crocus and the daffodil in Bible texts.

And God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground,
lovely to look at and eat well,
the tree of life in the middle of the garden
and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 2: 9

And the earth let up the grass and the weeds that were sown, every one according to its kind, and the trees that beared fruit there, having their own seed with themselves, each in his own way.
And god saw, that it was good.
Genesis 1:12

The Middle Ages is not a cultural historical unit, over the centuries there have been drastic social and economic changes and political changes. Three different garden worlds can be distinguished in the Middle Ages: The monastery gardens shape the idea of ​​gardens from the early Middle Ages. The pleasure gardens of the knightly-courtly society are a phenomenon of the high Middle Ages. With the blossoming of the cities and the trade developed in the late Middle Ages, the bourgeois gardens of the city dwellers. Influences of medieval garden culture came from late antique ideas of gardens and ideal landscapes and of the highly developed ancient oriental garden culture. The exchange with the Islamic world intensified through the Crusades.
From the ninth to the 13th century was a warmer climate than today, which was favorable for the establishment of gardens.
It is difficult to determine the plants in medieval texts. There were still no botanical orders and plants in each region bore other popular names. A variety of native medicinal herbs was not cultivated in gardens in the Middle Ages, but collected in the vicinity of the settlements. Many of the flowers that adorn our gardens today were first introduced to Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. Only a few ornamental plants originate from Central Europe, among the few native species include columbine, cowslip and lily of the valley. Already in the Middle Ages, gold lacquer, snapdragon, ladybug and peony were planted, originating from southern Europe or Asia. The Romans had brought plants over the Alps, which were partly native. Nobles and scholars became enthusiastic about exotic plants in the late Middle Ages.

„I hereby give you all the plants of the earth“
Genesis 1:29

3

Monastic gardens in the early Middle Ages

The importance of the monasteries for the development of European garden culture was enormous, especially the Benedictines and the Cistercians were pioneers in horticulture and agriculture, experts in irrigation, soil improvement, fish farming, beekeeping and viticulture. In the early Middle Ages, healing monks also provided almost the only medical care for the population and systematically planted medicinal herbs and spices in their monasteries. For self-sufficiency, they moved many fruits and vegetables.
Benedict of Nursia (c. 480-547), the most important founder of the order, recommended to his monks gardening as part of monastic life in his groundbreaking Regula Benedicti. Monks cultivated plants from more southern regions in central and northern Europe, and as early as the sixth century they imported herbs from Egypt to France. The monasteries exchanged plants and seeds among themselves. When new plants were taken plants, came from the famous gardens of the Cistercian Abbey Morimond in France many plants in German monasteries.
In the monasteries garden tools were invented and horticultural techniques were tested. While the work on the fields and fields of the monasteries was often done by laymen, the monks themselves took care of their gardens, which were an integral part of the monastery grounds.
In monasteries (scriptoria), the monks also transmitted ancient knowledge, including botanical and medical writings.
The early monastery gardens were limited by walls, the beds were always rectangular. Plants were more appreciated for their fragrance than their appearance.
The medieval monastery garden was considered an image of paradise. In every plant, God expressed himself – he was the creator of all nature and all earthly beauty, which was always just a copy of the heavenly beauty. In the monastery gardens, another element was added to the pure utility aspect of the garden: the worship of God’s creation by paying tribute to the aesthetic enjoyment of the garden. The relationship to the garden, however, was ambiguous: it was considered a place of meditation and silence, a place of worship, but at the same time one distrusted his sensual enticements.

„If possible, the monastery should be laid out so that everything necessary, namely water, mill and garden, is within the monastery and the various types of craft can be practiced there.“
Benedict of Nursia, Regula Benedicti, chapter 66

4

The monastery plan of Sankt Gallen

is the earliest preserved representation of an ideal monastery complex and was built in Reichenau Monastery on Lake Constance around 820. The plan shows the floor plans of about 50 buildings in which 100 monks and 200 laymen could live and work. In addition to the monastery church with sacristy and cloister, this includes the cloister (living area of ​​the monks) with refectory (dining room), dormitory (bedroom), latrines and washrooms. In addition, a Skriptorium (writing room) for book production, a representative abbot’s house, a school, a kitchen with bakery and brewery, several guest houses, hospital and pharmacy, house and chapel for the novices and many farm buildings.
On the plan four different gardens are drawn, as they belonged to each monastery for centuries. The cloister garden near the church is reminiscent of a Roman peristyle garden. Around a green center are open walkways to the middle. The center of the garden is emphasized, the garden area is divided by paths into four equal squares, which were probably overgrown with grass or ivy. In many monasteries there was a fountain in the middle of the cloister garden, but on the plan of St. Gallen there is a tree in the center marked „savina“. It could be a juniper (Sadebaum, juniperus sabina). He was considered a remedy against evil spirits. An evergreen plant also symbolized the tree of life. The cloister garden served the inner collection, recreation and prayer, it was not a kitchen garden.

The herb garden (herbularius) is behind the doctor’s house and the pharmacy, next to it is the hospital. It consists of eight rectangular beds in the middle, around which lie narrow rectangles in the rectangle, which are also divided eight times. The beds were bordered with wooden planks. Sixteen medicinal herbs were to grow here, including roses and lilies, which were also planted for their beauty and altar decoration. Beauty had a healing effect according to medieval ideas.
The vegetable garden is a rectangle with two rows of nine beds each and is located in front of the gardener’s house, in which there is a room for the gardener, two chambers for his assistants and a room for tools and seeds. It is noticeable that no distinction is made between vegetables and aromatic plants.
The Baumgarten (pomarius) was also an orchard and cemetery. The fruit trees with their annual rhythm of hibernation, flowering and fruit were considered a symbol of resurrection. The lawn in which the graves lie was considered part of the paradise garden.
Not mentioned on the plan are the gardens that lay outside the monastery. Often there were still tree gardens in front of the monastery walls and some vegetables were grown in larger quantities outside the monastery walls.

„So the monks are not forced to run around outside, because that is not beneficial to their souls.“
Benedict of Nursia, Regula Benedicti, chapter 66

5

The hortulus of Walahfrid Strabo

Walahfrid Strabo (809-849), important abbot of the Benedictine monastery Reichenau on Lake Constance, was also a poet, botanist and educator at the court of the Carolingians. Around the year 840, he wrote the „Book on the Cultures of the Gardens,“ known as Hortulus. In Latin verse he describes in it 24 plants that grow in his garden in the monastery Reichenau. In addition to plants that serve as food or as medicinal plants, Strabo also draws those that have a symbolic-mystical meaning.
Strabo’s herb garden is located in a square courtyard in front of his abbey, on the east side of the house and protected from storm and rain by its roof. In the south, a high wall protects it from strong sunlight.
Strabo describes not only the plants and their effects exactly, but also the plant of the garden and the methods of gardening. The garden is dug up in the spring and freed from nettles and molehills. In the loosened soil, the seeds are scattered and winter plants are set. The tender plantlets are carefully poured with water from the hollow hand. A gardener, according to Strabo, has to nurture and protect his plants and he must not shy away from hard work.
Strabos beds are bordered with wooden planks, so that the earth is not washed away. This custom is described for the first time in the Hortulus and it lingers in the gardens of Europe until the 18th century.

Walahfried also describes the tasks of the perimeter wall: it should keep the game out of the garden and protect it from wild seeds from the area, in addition it has a climate-regulating function.
Strabos connection of the use of the plants with their Christian symbolism is characteristic for the garden understanding of the early Middle Ages and formative for the following centuries.

On the other hand, when dry times
For example, refused the blessing of the dew, then drove me eagerly
Love the garden and worry that not the fibrous, little ones
Roots slackened with thirst, to drag in spacious jugs
Streams of refreshing water …

6

Number symbolism in gardens of the Middle Ages

Monastic gardens were significant beyond their practical use, for they were integrated into the mindset of Christian philosophy. Gardens and plants were symbols of the Christian doctrine of salvation.
The monastery plan of St. Gallen contains several times „holy numbers“ and they also played a role in the layout of the monastery gardens. In the Middle Ages, numbers were symbols of God’s perfect harmony in the cosmos. The Bible word „But you have arranged everything according to size and number and weight“ underlay this concept. This mystery of numbers played a major role in architecture, and it influenced the convent plan of St. Gallen as well as the planting of the flower beds in the abbey Reichenau on Lake Constance, which the monk Walahfried Strabo described.
In the Christian symbolism, the number 9 was considered a symbol of holiness, because it refers to the orders of the angels, there were 3 times 3 choirs of the angelic hierarchy. Through nine planetary spheres you came to the empire of salvation (Empyrean), to God and the blessed. The checksum 9 determines the arrangement of the beds of the vegetable garden on the monastery plan of St. Gallen, it consists of 18 regular, in a rectangle combined beds.

The number 4 stood for the world and the earthly life, in contrast to the number 3, which corresponded to the triune God. Four elements, four humors, four directions, four seasons, four phases of the moon – four stood for the created completeness. Typical of the monasteries is the four-part garden, built around a center, the cloister garden. In the middle was usually a well. The number 4 and the number 7 determined the division of the herb garden in the ideal plan of St. Gallen. Four beds in groups of four formed a square. The cross sum of 4 times 4 (16) beds is 7. The number 7 was sacred, because it represented the sum of the number 3 (the triune God) and the number 4 (the world). In the philosophy and theology of the Middle Ages she played an important role.

7

The Estates Ordinance of Charlemagne

In the „Carolingian Renaissance“ (8th century), the culture of antiquity was revived, Charlemagne made his farm school to an international center of education and scholarship. The English scholar Alcuin (735-804) was his main adviser. In his extensive works, Alcuin portrays landscapes that contain all elements of a late antique ideal landscape, including a shady grove, a clear stream, herbs and grass, and rose and lily. These elements, praised by Alcuin, influenced the garden conceptions of the entire Middle Ages.
Cultural priorities were the monasteries at the time of Charlemagne, yet the cities had little meaning. The emperor was the greatest of the landlords and lived on his land. From the year 812 comes the Carolingian decree for the management of imperial manors, the Capitulare de villis vel curtis imperii.

It is disputed who the author was. In Capitulare, 73 crops and 16 fruit trees are recommended for cultivation, even those that hardly thrive in Central Europe, such as figs and laurels. The regulation was intended to secure the farm’s supply but also to improve the supply situation of the population and, moreover, to fight diseases more successfully thanks to the recommended medicinal herbs. Presumably here was written off from ancient sources. On the other hand, the inventories of Charlemagne’s royal possessions only contain plants that survived winter, at least in southern Germany.
The fact that Alcuin also appreciated the sensuous beauty of a garden in addition to the benefits shows his „farewell song to my monastic cell:“

„There is a tree rustling around you with its branches,
A flowering grove must bow to you
And on the meadows medicinal herbs are blooming,
From which the doctor brews the potion for healing …
… you smell apples from every tree,
Roses and lilies in the garden room … “

8

Hortus Conclusus

A theme that has been repeatedly taken up by painters and book illustrators in the Middle Ages is the Hortus Conclusus, the „closed garden.“ This popular motif is closely linked to the Marian symbolism. It goes back to a verse in the Song in the Old Testament: „A locked garden is my sister’s bride, a locked garden, a sealed well.“ (High Song, 4, 12)
In the Song of Solace, the beloved is compared to a garden. This text passage was equated with the Virgin Mary, the beauty and attraction of a garden corresponded to the beauty of Mary. For this reason, many of the paintings in Mary depict a walled garden, which is meant to be the hortus conclusus. Many paintings show Maria sitting in a fenced or walled garden on a lawn. In this garden are often represented plants that are related to Mary:
White lilies (virginity)
thornless rose (mercy)
Columbine and violets (modesty and humility)
Strawberry (can flower and fruit at the same time, therefore symbol of virginity)
Iris (blue iris for the Queen of Heaven) and lily-of-the-valley (humility).
In the Marian paintings, the garden is often shown with elements that existed in reality: lawn benches and fountains, latticework and pergolas, orchards, fountains and lawns. In some pictures, the garden is only hinted at, through a piece of wall or a garden gate.

A pleasure garden sprouts from you, pomegranates with delicious fruits, henna, spikenard, crocus, spice and cinnamon, all frankincense trees, myrrh and aloe, the very best balm.
Song of Songs 4, 13-14

Hohelied 4, 13-14

9

The paradise garden

(around 1410/20 on the Upper Rhine, 26.3 x 33.4 cm, oak, Stadelsches Kunstinstitut Frankfurt)
In the Middle Ages, garden representations were usually based on the idea of paradise. A garden enclosed by a wall is a common motif and plays a special role in the symbolism of Mary. But the exceptionally realistic depictions of plants and animals make this little picture unique. It is likely that elements of the Garden of Paradise were associated with the depiction of a castle garden.
On the famous painting, Maria is reading on a lawn while her little son is playing music. A wall with pinnacles borders the garden. Parallel to the rear wall is a raised wooden planks raised bed, as it was customary since Walahfried Strabos monastery garden. Three young women are in the garden with Maria, one is busy with the child, one picks cherries. The third woman draws water from a well or spring, which, like the motif of the lawn and the stone table, often belonged to medieval garden depictions. These elements as well as the battlements point to a castle or pleasure garden.

Saint George and the Archangel Michael are sitting under a tree, and in front of them lies the dragon that George defeated. Beside Michael’s legs sits the devil whom the angel overcame. A young man in a noble garb stands behind the two saints. The trees are interpreted as biblical motifs, as a tree of knowledge and tree of life.
The portrayal of Mary and the saints is combined in this image with the joy of the visible reality. The flowers are painted with unusual attention to detail, they can be botanically determined. Recognizable are the traditional symbols of the Virgin: lily, rose, iris, violet, strawberry, columbine and daisies, as well as the periwinkle, which in folk beliefs can avert evil, as well as the small deadly nettle, Gamander honorary prize, cowslip and gold lacquer. The plants all bloom here at the same time. 25 different plants are painted in a naturalistic way and are already reminiscent of the botanical illustrations of modern times, although this painting is still steeped in Christian iconography. Many birds are reproduced in detail, including kingfisher, great tit, great spotted woodpecker and robin.

And God the Lord planted a garden in Eden
and put a man in it.

Moses 2.8

10

The gardens of the knightly-courtly society

The 11th and 12th centuries were determined by the knightly-courtly society. Nobles lived on the castles of their lords, who formed a refined courtly lifestyle. For the first time, gardens served not only for the care and spiritual edification but also for the worldly pleasure: the pleasure garden was born. Only in a society of abundance did this garden concept become possible, the nobility lived on the taxes of the rural population and did no longer have to do any physical labor. The concepts of the monastery gardens were taken over, expanded and changed. Walls captured the castle gardens, both as a delimitation against the untamed nature, which was still perceived as threatening, as well as against the lower classes of the population.
The garden, which had been an expression of heavenly love in the monastic culture, now served earthly love. In medieval poetry, love gardens were a popular topic. In addition to fulfilling Christian duty, eroticism and sensual desire were part of the chivalry. Striking is the central position of the woman who was worshiped in the minne. The feminine played an important role in the knightly garden culture, the pleasure garden became the symbol of the woman and her charms. The garden was filled with symbolic ideas, roses, lilies and violets became a symbol of feminine beauty.

As well as in the monastery gardens strongly fragrant plants were preferred, the scent was more important than the appearance. The chivalrous pleasure garden always included a lawn with trees, flowers and herbs thriving on the edge of this lawn. Fountains, rose palisades or rose arbors and lawn benches decorated the garden. They played, played music, danced, dined and even bathed in the garden. If there was no watercourse, wooden tubs were set up.
Life on the castles was tough. Many people huddled in a confined space, it was loud and the smell of garbage and animal excrement pervaded everything. In the rooms it was cold, damp and dark during the winter months. In the spring, the sprouting garden must have seemed like a paradise to the inhabitants of the castle. In many late medieval poetry the awakening of nature and the joys of summer are hymnically celebrated. The knightly tales celebrate the lovely nature in the form of the man-made garden. Forest, sea and mountains were still perceived as life-threatening and threatening.
The size of the gardens depended on the location of the castle, but at high altitude castles the place was often very limited. In large Imperial castles or at the courts of the territorial lords large gardens were created.

11

Albertus Magnus: Instruction for a pleasure garden

The polymath Albertus Magnus (around 1200 to 1280), educated at Dominican monastic schools, was among others. Teacher at the Sorbonne, Bishop of Regensburg and influential adviser to princes and city councilors. He wrote more than seventy treatises on a variety of topics.
In his work „De vegitabilibus et plantis“ (around 1260) is the first instruction for a medieval pleasure garden. Albertus explains about this new garden type: „There are certain places that are less for the benefit and rich fruit carry than the pleasure … these are called pleasure gardens. They primarily serve the pleasure of two senses, namely seeing and smelling. „This describes the ideal type of pleasure garden with a walk-in lawn, which was popular with the castles of chivalrous courtly society. Albertus says, „Nothing refreshes the eye as much as fine, not too tall grass,“ and gives specific instructions for planting a lawn. All roots should be excavated as far as possible and the place should be doused with boiling water. Grasses of fine grass have to be fetched and put on the place, firmly pressed with wooden mallets and tamped with the feet into the ground, so that they are hardly to be seen. Gradually, grass grows out of them again. A herb and flower garden is said to be adjacent to the lawn, Magnus recommends violets, columbine, lily, rose and iris and sweet-smelling herbs such as sage, basil and rhombus. He merges in his description, the previously separate garden elements to a garden. He also recommends a lawn bank as a place to rest. Lawn benches were very popular in the Middle Ages and can be seen in many pictures. They probably evolved from the high, edged flower beds.
A fountain should emphasize the center of the garden. The trees move to the edge. Grass area and framing trees now form a contrast. Above all, the trees should donate shade and their flowers should smell, it is not about the yield of fruits. People should relax in this garden, refresh their senses, enjoy themselves and enjoy.

12

The gardens of the bourgeoisie

In the late Middle Ages, the cities flourished and through trade and crafts, the bourgeoisie came to great prosperity. The social structure changed sustainably. The nobility lost power and influence, while the bourgeoisie became culture-defining. The feudal natural economy was increasingly displaced by the urban money economy.
The pleasure garden of the knightly-courtly society was the model of the aspiring bourgeoisie. Wealthy citizens showed their social status through representative gardens. A shift that did not have to do any farm work now became an idyllic retreat for the garden. But the urban bourgeoisie also gave the crops large areas in its gardens, which should always also contribute to the supply of the many-headed households.
At first there were many fruit and vegetable gardens in the city walls within the city walls. Monasteries, pens and patricians laid out large, representative gardens, poorer citizens planted small gardens. Even in the big cities, gardens are part of the cityscape. From the time of Henry II (1154-89) is reported that in London belonged to the houses of the citizens gardens. On the plans of Paris from the 12th and 13th century, home gardens can be seen.

As the cities grew, the space for gardens in the city center shrank. Now gardens were created in front of the city gates. The city walls were often ring-shaped surrounded by gardens. Wealthy citizens had the gardening done by staff, from these beginnings developed the gardening profession. The first gardeners‘ guild north of the Alps originated in the 13th century.
The first botanical gardens were created in the 14th century in Salerno, Venice and at the University of Prague. Now the interest of educated citizens in plants awoke as collective objects within the framework of scientific studies, which was to culminate in the Renaissance. In the bourgeois city gardens utility, scientific interests, the need for representation and the desire for an aesthetically stimulating retreat were combined.

13

Garden Tools

Since tools made of wood do not last long in the ground, we know little about rakes, rakes and planting wood from this material. In archaeological finds it is often unclear whether hoes, shovels, spades or pull knives were used in horticulture or other activities. However, contemporary illustrations from the late medieval book of hours show the use of many different tools in the garden. There are also finds to Reb, Okkulier and Zugmessern, scissors, hoes, spades and shovels. Sickles and scythes were used in agriculture as well as in the garden. Wooden spades often had a metal edge. Wheelbarrows and wicker baskets were used. Manure and fecal matter were used as manure and the manure was brought up with forks that were used as pitchforks. Planting trees were used to displace preferred plants. For the refinement of fruit trees, there were different knives, as well as for the care of woody plants and grapevines. Young trees and delicate plants were supported by sticks or wicker.

Garden elements

The beauty ideal of women in the Middle Ages was pale skin, so there were many shady places in the gardens of the wealthy. Arbours and pergolas of hazel or willow branches adorned many gardens. Seating was built of wood or stone, and raised lawn benches were popular. Tables were mobile, if you wanted to dine in the garden, you put long wooden planks on bucks.
Water played an important role in the medieval garden design, in most of the gardens small water ditches or canals were created, ponds and fountains graced all the larger facilities. Well basins made of stone, bronze or lead were often lavishly decorated and precious.

The queen of flowers

Today there are more than 30,000 species of roses, including small shrubs and giants up to 15 meters high. They bloom in all shades of red, pink, yellow, white or bicolor, their flowers are densely filled or have only a few delicate leaves. Roses can withstand freezing cold and heat.
The rose is the flower sung most often in poems and songs, a symbol of love and beauty, but also of death and transitoriness. Because of her thorns she stood for the pain and her red color symbolized blood. The rose is emblazoned on many coats of arms, especially the Luther rose and the English Tudor rose are known.

The unfilled wild rose with five petals comprises 120 species and occurs only in the northern hemisphere, their original distribution extends from China across the Middle and Near East to Europe. It blooms only once a year.
In settlements of the Celts and the Teutons one found rose hips of the native wild roses.
Fossil findings show that roses already existed 25 million years ago.

In China, roses were cultivated as ornamental flowers 5000 years ago. Also in Persia rose gardens existed for millennia, particularly strong fragrant varieties with filled flowers were popular. Presumably, the known since ancient times technique of rose oil production by distillation comes from Persia.
In the Roman Empire, at feasts, leaves of rose petals floated in the wine, rose petals covered the floor and the guests smelled of rose oil.
Emperor Nero had rose oil and rose petals trickle from the ceiling during a feast. To meet the enormous consumption, roses were mass-cultivated and imported.
In the Egyptian cult of the dead, they washed corpses with rose water and prepared them with rose-containing ointments. Cleopatra had a sixty-centimeter-high rose carpet laid for the reception of Marc Anton.

In the Middle Ages, the rose was considered a medicinal plant and grew in the monastery gardens, in the state goods regulation of Charlemagne rose cultivation was recommended. In the Middle Ages, a complex rose symbolism evolved around Mary and the „Madonna in the Rose Hag“ was a separate image theme. Many confessionals adorned carved roses as a symbol of secrecy. On the portals of the Gothic cathedrals were large window roses, modeled on flower form.
From the year 1000 Oriental roses came to Europe through the Crusaders. In the Renaissance, Chinese breeds played an increasing role and cultivating rose varieties as garden flowers began. Yellow roses were a sensation in the 16th century, because previously only red, pink and white were known. English and Dutch sailors brought many varieties of roses from the East in the 16th and 17th centuries. In the Baroque and Rococo, the rose enjoyed great popularity, it now graced peasant and urban gardens.

The rose garden on the Rosenburg has existed since the 12th century.