Parks in Bratislava - Gothic Gardens

Gothic Gardens

There is basically no textual or pictorial evidence about gardens and parks from the Early Middle Ages and before. It wasn't until the High Middle Ages that gardens and parks expanded beyond the smallish utility gardens close to medieval cloisters and started to appear near castles, feudal mansions and rich citizens' townhouses. In Bratislava (known under many different names), the medieval cloisters of Cistercians, Franciscans, Order of Poor Clares and Order of Anthony the Great had small utility gardens and the Franciscans and Poor Clares Order also had so-called paradise gardens.

Bratislava's oldest surviving city plan is the Marquart plan, which was drawn by Michael Marquart Dissin. It dates from 1765, when the city was known as Pressburg or Poszony and its official name is GRUND = RIS Der KoenigL. Freyen Stadt Presburg. Mit beygefúgten Nahmen, aller inn = und Ausserlichen Kirchen, Cloester, Tehoere, Gassen und Häuser, So Anno 1765 Aufgenomen Worden ist (English: Ground plan of King's free city of Pressburg with attached names of all churches, cloisters, gates, streets and houses in both the inner and outer city as captured in 1765). There are few detailed descriptions of the parks and gardens in the city that existed prior to that date. The Marquart plan shows both the houses and parcels of land within Bratislava's mediaeval city walls and all the surrounding properties that were located outside the walls. The plots of land belonging to Bratislava Castle are only shown schematically, showing which parcels are built upon. The Marquart plan is a colorful map hand-drawn on four pieces of paper glued together to form one canvas of 1249 x 84 centimeters. It features numerous items besides the map itself - scale, author's signature, coat of arms of the Kingdom of Hungary, City of Pressburg, Hungarian crown, Explication In Der Stadt - a list of streets and buildings in the inner city, Explication In Denen Vorsted - a list of streets and buildings in the suburbs. All texts inside the map are in German language and Latin language.

There are four originally Gothic gardens inside the walled city depicted in the Marquart plan:

• Franciscan cloister garden - used partially for growing vegetables and herbs, but also for prayer and meditation.
• Ursulines cloister garden - used partially for growing vegetables and herbs, but also for prayer and meditation.
• Prepošt Palace garden on Kapitulská Street - the last relic of a relatively large medieval garden that was part of a Royal residence in the 14th and 15th centuries. It was used by Universitas Istropolitana at the end of the 15th century. A tiny patch of this garden survived until today behind the ground floor of the Prepošt Palace wing.
• unnamed garden surrounded by buildings on Kapitulská Street, Ventúrska Street, Prepoštská Street and Farská Street - the garden belonged to a townhouse that stood at the place of today's De Pauly house or Wittmann house which today, after reconstruction, serves the University Library of Bratislava. In the 21st century the remains of a medieval garden house were discovered inside the garden. The garden survived in its original size until today, and it is known as the Liszt Garden.