The baroque garden near the castle in Słońsk – selected aspects of the spatial composition

Abstract

Słońsk (Lubusz Voivodeship) and its castle date back to the Middle Ages, but the residence flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries. The historic castle and garden complex in Słońsk, whose gardens were established in the Baroque and were an important example of the 18th century horticultural art, is in a very poor condition now. The residence is a ruin and the garden does not exist anymore. The aim of the study was an analysis of the spatial composition, the state of preservation and digital reconstruction of the Baroque garden estate near the castle in Słońsk. The research and analyses revealed that the historical composition of the 18th century castle and garden estate was designed according to the 17th century entre cour et jardin rule. The layout of the estate revealed similarities to analogous projects located in the former East Prussia (e.g. Schlodien and Schlobitten) and to theoretical design solutions made by Joseph Furttenbach at the turn of the 16th century. At present the ruins of the castle and a regular outline of the former canals surrounding the estate limits are the only legible traces of the old compositional arrangement, which can be seen in the field and in contemporary aerial photographs.