"Hello, O Florival (Florigera vallis), you are almost a rival of paradise, with your fertile hills and your hillsides that the branches of the vine cover" said the monk Frulandus in the XIe century. Louis XIV, for his part, spoke of Alsace as being “the beautiful garden of France”. What did they mean by that? The symbolism of the garden is different according to the historical periods and the individuals who live it. The parks and gardens of today are the heirs of this history and these points of view.
Parks and gardens until the XNUMXth centurye century
Gardens were very fashionable in Antiquity but went through a troubled period in the Middle Ages. Only the monasteries then still kept some, both as an orchard, a medicinal garden and a vegetable patch. The reconstruction of some of them, such as Murbach or the Dominicans of Haute-Alsace, gives us an idea of what the medieval garden was like. After difficult centuries, the big owners will create a new model of gardens around their property. On the territory of Florival, it is to the prince-abbots of Murbach that we owe, in the XNUMXe century, this craze for regular, classic gardens known as “French style”. Their château de Guebwiller, la Neuenbourg is the setting for these new gardens laid out in regular plots embellished with plantations, themselves subject to geometric precepts. Other classically inspired gardens are known in other places such as the Château d'Ollwiller. A magnificent garden existed in the XNUMXthe century between the house and the pond where there is still a surrounding wall. The castle of Hartmannswiller, then owned by the Waldner de Freundstein family, also has its classical garden in the XNUMXth century.e century. However, this fashion only lasted for a while and landscaped gardens, known as “English style”, appeared. The gardens are not constrained by man and are inspired by nature: the deformations of the land are preserved and enhanced.
The gardens in the XNUMXth centurye century
This style did not enter France until 1760 and especially after the fall of the First Empire and the return of the French from England, where they had been exiled. The Château de la Neuenbourg is undoubtedly one of the finest examples. Sold after the Revolution, it will be used for industry until the middle of the XNUMXth century.e century. Then, the famous Schlumberger family will live there. One of them, Henri-Dieudonné, was a botanist who left his job in the family industry to devote himself to his passion. He transformed the castle park into a magnificent landscaped park, including exotic tree species. It was thus wealthy industrialists who, out of passion or fashion, founded large gardens around their villas such as the villa Gast or the villa Spetz in Issenheim, the villa of "Glycines", the villa of "Tilleuls" or the villa from the "Bois Fleuri" to Guebwiller to name but a few. What characterizes all these parks is their layout as a landscaped park, the species of exotic wood, the presence of ancillary buildings such as greenhouses, orangeries, winter gardens and fountains. The XNUMXthe century is marked by the progress of medicine and the awareness of the poor health conditions in which the population lives. In France, Napoleon III and Baron Haussmann overhauled Parisian town planning to respond to this, notably by opening large tree-lined avenues. The challenge is to beautify the city but also to contribute to the well-being of the inhabitants. Small towns will also claim this policy of creating parks and gardens. Boardwalks appear. In Soultz, the promenade of the Citadel was created by following the route of the old ramparts of the city. You can still see, today, the two surrounding walls and old fortifications such as the Witches' Tower.
DID YOU KNOW ?
The Déroulède promenade was founded at the end of the XNUMXthe century on sloping ground on the outskirts of the town of Guebwiller. This promenade will be extended thanks to the acquisition of new plots and the donation of land by Mrs. Ernest Schlumberger.
Link name Link name Link nameThe Marseillaise Park
Émile de Bary, from the family of famous industrialists and mayor of Guebwiller (1886-1902), also decided to create a public park. It is set up on the edge of the city on undeveloped land. For this, he called on a famous landscape painter, Édouard André (1840-1911). Inaugurated on October 17, 1899, it is a small park with an irregular and simple layout which gathers around a kiosk. In the 1920s, it was enlarged with the help of René André. This extension of the park is of regular style or in other words “à la française”. This development is not insignificant since, in these same years, the public park takes the name of Parc de la Marseillaise. This park labeled "remarkable garden" is admired by walkers thanks to its exotic trees very popular in the XNUMXth century.e century like the sequoia, the gingko biloba and its amenities like the park bench or the ever-present kiosk whose primary destination was the alley of the plane trees. Various ornamental elements therefore make this park pleasant to the eyes of walkers.
DID YOU KNOW ?
At the beginning of this century, remarkable trees brought back by botanists from around the world take their place in the parks of the Guebwiller region: bandstands, benches, fountains and wells adorn public parks as well as private gardens. The Parc de la Marseillaise brings together all of these elements.
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