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Kristof Fatsar

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Phone: +44 7502 799050
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Manchester
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Noel B. Salazar

KU Leuven

Alexandra Chavarria Arnau

Università degli Studi di Padova

Kansas State University

Caroline J . Tully

University of Melbourne

University of Exeter

Stefano R L Campana

University of Siena / Università di Siena

Laurajane Smith

The Australian National University

Pedro Pereira Leite

Field Museum

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Stanford University

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Papers by Kristof Fatsar

L'isola Margherita a Budapest: un parco al centro del fiume

Celid, 2010

Hungarian garden tourists in search of Lancelot Brown's legacy

Influential, mostly Vienna-based magnates were the first Hungarians to learn about the achievemen... more Influential, mostly Vienna-based magnates were the first Hungarians to learn about the achievements of naturalistic garden design of England, but their understanding was almost exclusively based on German literature. In the 1770s Hungarian garden patrons tried to create their own ‘English gardens’, which were very different from those of Lancelot Brown and his contemporaries due to inadequate knowledge of their subject and it was soon realized that first-hand experience was essential. Britain started to attract Hungarians, mainly aristocrats, from the last decades of the eighteenth century to learn about industrial and agricultural development, but also about landscape gardens. The Napoleonic Wars almost entirely halted travels to Britain, but after that a second wave of tourists arrived who were much more educated in contemporary landscape design, partly resulting in different travel destinations for garden tourism. Personal experiences of the English naturalistic garden altered the garden fashion in Hungary, as both garden designers and patrons studied the achievements of Brown, his contemporaries and the designers who came after them.

Hungarian gardeners on western study tour in the early 19th century

Hubertus Fischer, Joachim Wolschke-Bulmahn, John Beardsley (eds.), Reisen und Gärten: Reisen, Reiseberichte und Gärten vom Mittelalter bis in die Gegenwart, München: AVM, 2019

Salgótarján: The city of the future or a ’retropolis’ – The utopian experiment of socialist modernist architecture in Salgótarján

Eddy Rhead (ed.), Adventures in the Land of Modernism, Manchester: The Modernist Society, 2018

”Enjoying country life to the full – only the English know how to do that!”: Appreciation of the British country house by Hungarian aristocratic travellers

Jon Stobart (ed.), Travel and the British country house: Cultures, critiques and consumption in the long eighteenth century, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2017

Hungarian Garden Tourists in Search of Lancelot Brown's Legacy

Garden History, 2016

Influential, mostly Vienna-based magnates were the first Hungarians to learn about the achievemen... more Influential, mostly Vienna-based magnates were the first Hungarians to learn about the achievements of naturalistic garden design of England, but their understanding was almost exclusively based on German literature. In the 1770s Hungarian garden patrons tried to create their own ‘English gardens’, which were very different from those of Lancelot Brown and his contemporaries due to inadequate knowledge of their subject and it was soon realized that first-hand experience was essential. Britain started to attract Hungarians, mainly aristocrats, from the last decades of the eighteenth century to learn about industrial and agricultural development, but also about landscape gardens. The Napoleonic Wars almost entirely halted travels to Britain, but after that a second wave of tourists arrived who were much more educated in contemporary landscape design, partly resulting in different travel destinations for garden tourism. Personal experiences of the English naturalistic garden altered the garden fashion in Hungary, as both garden designers and patrons studied the achievements of Brown, his contemporaries and the designers who came after them.

Rudolph Witsch és a Batthyány-erdő: A Városliget közparkká alakítására tett egyik első komoly kísérlet

Urbs Magyar Várostörténeti Évkönyv, 2019

Taste inequalities in the art consumption of Prince Nicolaus I Esterházy ‘the Magnificent’

Johanna Ilmakunnas and Jon Stobart (eds.), A Taste for Luxury in Early Modern Europe: Display, Acquisition and Boundaries, London: Bloomsbury, 2017

The appreciation of the flamboyant entertainments and tasteful luxury of Prince Nicolaus I Esterh... more The appreciation of the flamboyant entertainments and tasteful luxury of Prince Nicolaus I Esterházy (1714–1790), who rightly earned the epithet ‘the Magnificent’ from later generations, changed dramatically in certain regards during his own lifetime but also in the light of more recent scholarship. This change has many aspects. On the one hand, they highlight his background interests that, for example, resulted in shifting but informed enthusiasm for different musical genres, yet adapted slowly to changing fashions in landscape design. More significantly, they reveal the revolutionary transformation of ideas about the social responsibility of the higher classes that characterized late eighteenth- century Europe. Luxury was still politically necessary for the monarchical state in the years when Nicolaus became prince – Montesquieu even expected the rich to be lavish in support of the poor. Subsequently, there was a growing expectation that the rich would invest rather than waste, but this was only coupled to the long- standing recognition of the moral dangers of luxury for the individual towards the end of the century. Whilst grandeur as an expression of luxurious spending might previously have been thought tasteful, Enlightenment thinkers taught society to distinguish between luxury and taste. Prince Nicolaus became increasingly exposed to such enlightened views during his lifetime.

Geofizikai mérésekkel a balácai villagazdaság kertjeinek nyomában

Balácai Közlemények, 2005

Our knowledge of ancient Roman gardens in the province of Pannonia is very limited. There has not... more Our knowledge of ancient Roman gardens in the province of Pannonia is very limited. There has not been any targeted archaeological research to reveal evidence of the existence of residential gardens created during the Roman occupation of the province. That said, archaeologists have long suspected that gardens must have belonged to the rich villa estate at Baláca, just north of the Lake Balaton in present-day Hungary. To learn more about the fields around the villa buildings, a soil resistivity survey was carried out in September 2002. Three rectangular sites were marked out at different parts of the estate, where traces of ancient gardens were most likely to be found. The first one, just next to the main building, yielded the most interesting result: a wall across the courtyard, unknown to researchers of the villa. Although its function cannot be defined at this stage, its existence can prompt archaeologists to explore the area of the courtyard.

Franz Rosenstingl kerttervezői tevékenysége Károlyi Antal szolgálatában

Ars Hungarica, 1999

’Monbijou and Sanssouci – Prussian Influences in Hungary during the Second Half of the 18th Century

Prussian Gardens in Europe – 300 Years of Garden History, 2007

New grounds for landscape history - editorial 3/2016

by Kristof Fatsar and Janike Kampevold Larsen

Journal of Landscape Architecture, 2016

On JoLA's 10th anniversary: An urgency for landscape architecture - editorial 2/2016

by Kristof Fatsar and Imke van Hellemondt

Journal of Landscape Architecture, 2016

The geographical and social reach of the Eszterháza gardens: consumption of nursery plants in Hungary in the 1820s

History of Retailing and Consumption, 2015

Although the famous Baroque gardens of Prince Nicolas Esterházy ‘the Magnificent’ (1714–1790), at... more Although the famous Baroque gardens of Prince Nicolas Esterházy ‘the Magnificent’ (1714–1790), at Eszterháza were abandoned by his immediate successors and later given a more natural but rather modest appearance, the new pleasure ground was kept in good order to please the many tourists who were still interested in the so-called Hungarian Versailles. The Eszterháza gardens continued to play an important role in providing ornamental plants for other princely estates including the much-famed Eisenstadt, and also acted as a ‘garden centre’ for local society, distributing a wide range of fruit tree varieties and other garden products. During his leadership between 1821 and 1825, Court Gardener Anton Pölt (c. 1770–1836) kept a series of ledgers that reveal the entire trading business of the Eszterháza gardens. This exceptionally rare source recorded not only the species and cultivars of the nursery stock but the identity of buyers and their purchases as well. Analysis of the data sheds light on consumption habits, distribution range or social differences in the customs, and also provides information on high and low tides in the business or the reliability of the garden products in terms of revenue.

European travellers and the transformation of garden art in Hungary at the turn of the nineteenth century

Studies in the History of Gardens and Designed Landscapes, 2016

The transitional or irregular phase that characterised the development of more advanced English g... more The transitional or irregular phase that characterised the development of more advanced English gardens in the 1720s and 1730s, while offering ways to express a plausible naturalness in designed landscapes, was also common in other parts of Europe, although several decades later. Because this period has turned out to be the ‘learning’ phase towards the truly naturalistic gardens of ‘Capability’ Brown or his contemporaries, it is intriguing that even after their style had been mastered in Britain, other nations continued to go through the transitional period rather than embrace the latest achievements of English gardening. Although abandoning the traditionally domineering role of geometry in garden design might have been a difficult task, the reasons behind the surprising ‘longevity’ of the transitional phase are difficult to explain. Landscape architecture in Hungary went through this transitional period in the 1770s and 1780s. While offering some explanations of the nature of this phenomenon, this paper investigates it in the broader European context to explain its perseverance in Hungary in the light of comparative evidence.

The English Countryside as a Reflection of Economic Power: Perceptions by Hungarian Travellers in the First Half of the 19th Century

The Power of Landscape: Peer Reviewed Proceedings of ECLAS 2012 Conference in Warsaw, eds. Izabela Dymitryszyn – Małgorzata Kaczyńska – Gabriela Maksymiuk, 2012

The British Agricultural Revolution gradually but dramatically changed the face of the English co... more The British Agricultural Revolution gradually but dramatically changed the face of the English countryside by the turn of the 19th century through a series of Enclosure Acts. New methods of farming backed by achievements of the Industrial Revolution were also responsible for the transformation of the landscape. These advancements were well known in the Continent and attracted many professionals and reform-minded individuals to Britain.

Among them were many Hungarian intellectuals whose struggles to make the feudal society of their homeland more similar to that of Britain is clearly expressed in their writings. For them, everything was connected: While English landscape gardens referred to the freedom and equality of all citizens, the overall cultivated English countryside expressed 'good society' where those free citizens were able to experiment and develop various farming methods and implement them to improve productivity. And finally, good society can lead to the common wealth of the nation.

The state of a society and its economic power is therefore well expressed in the landscape. This research explores Hungarian public thinking on designed and evolved landscapes of Britain in the first half of the 19th century, through the eyes of Hungarian travellers. Diaries, journals and travelogues were used, with numerous previously unknown manuscripts among them. The research has revealed that the perception of the English countryside had a serious impact on Hungarian agricultural development and landscape evolution.

Die Gärtner des Herzogs Ferdinand von Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha unter der Leitung des Schloss- und Garteninspektors Franz Frey

Zsuzsanna Cziráki, Anna Fundárková, Orsolya Manhercz, Zsuzsanna Peres and Márta Vajnági (eds.), Wiener Archivforschungen: Festschrift für den ungarischen Archivdelegierten in Wien, István Fazekas, Wien, 2014

István Fazekas publikationen der ungarischen geschichtsforschung in wien bd. x.

Hungarian Orangeries until the Turn of the 19th Century

Katja Pawlak (ed.), Orangeriekultur in Österreich, Ungarn und Tschechien, Berlin: Lukas, 2014

Open Space Design in Historically Sensitive Environment – History and Results of a Seminar

4D, 2012

"At the Landscape Architecture Faculty of the Corvinus University of Budapest there was an option... more "At the Landscape Architecture Faculty of the Corvinus University of Budapest there was an optional Master's seminar for four years titled 'Design in historical environment', held by the two authors of this paper. They believe that only good and bad design exist, all other quality conditions can impose restrictions with respect to the subject of the design (e.g. monument), not by defining the designer attitude. There is only one acceptable designer approach: taking into consideration the endowment of the area to be designed, i.e. its past and environment, to the most possible extent. This concerns all sorts of environments, including urban landscapes as well. On the other hand, the designer’s responses to the traits and values of the specific environment partly depend on the designer’s personality, cultural background or sensitivity, in other words, the quality of the designer.
As the course has been advancing, it was found that the “design led research” method works excellently. The combination of the different sites, the different years and various creative individuals resulted in numerous and sufficiently varied work, which were suitable to present and professionally investigate the various methods. It can be ascertained that there are no pure designer attitudes, although it is possible and even desirable to choose a creative method."

A magyarbéli kastély építéstörténete és kertje a Csákyak birtoklásának idején

Kő kövön: Dávid Ferenc 73. születésnapjára / Stein auf Stein: Festschrift für Ferenc Dávid, eds. Edit Szentesi, Klára Mentényi, Anna Simon, 2013

"Das Schloss zu Magyarbél (heute: Veľký Biel, Slowakei) verdankt seinen Rang in der ungarischen B... more "Das Schloss zu Magyarbél (heute: Veľký Biel, Slowakei) verdankt seinen Rang in der ungarischen Barockarchitektur nicht nur der Bedeutung seiner Meister und seines Bauherren, sondern auch der glücklichen Tatsache, dass die ehemalige Schlossanlage zu Magyarbél in seltener Komplexität erhalten geblieben ist. Hinzu kommt noch, dass die baugeschichtliche Rekonstruktion in diesem Fall auf einem ungemein reichen Schriftenmaterial fußen kann, welches in der bedauerlich urkundenarmen ungarischen bau- und gartengeschichtlichen Forschung einen seltenen Moment bildet und die ehemaligen Umstände in wünschenswerter Komplexität und Detailliertheit vor uns stellt. Es handelt sich um private sowie amtliche Briefe der Protagonisten, um Verträge mit den Meistern und jedweden Lieferanten, sogar um ein Baudiarium, was nicht nur den Fortgang der Arbeiten, sondern auch den Netz der Verhältnisse zwischen den Protagonisten genau nachvollziehbar machen. Aus der ungarischen Architekturgeschichte des frühen 18. Jahrhunderts ist kaum ein anderes Schrifttum bekannt, das so aufschlussreich wäre, etwa in Bezug auf Preisbildung und Methoden der Belohnung.

Der Bauherr Graf Imre Csáky (1682–1732) war Erzbischof von Kalocsa und hatte als einziger Kardinal in Ungarn die Vorrangstellung in der katholischen Kirche. Er gehörte zu den leitenden Persönlichkeiten der Habsburgischen Partei im Rákóczischen Independenzkrieg von 1703 bis 1711. Zu diesem Kreis gehörten auch seine engen Freunde, so etwa der spätere Oberster Landesrichter Graf József Esterházy, der nördlich von Magyarbél das Schloss zu Cseklész (Lanschitz, heute: Bernolákovo, Slowakei), und der spätere Palatin Graf János Pálffy, der östlich von Magyarbél das Schloss zu Királyfa (Königseiden, heute: Kráľová pri Senci, Slowakei) erbauen ließ. Diese drei Adeligen waren also nicht nur politisch alliiert, sondern auch wohnörtlich benachbart und haben öfters ein und dieselbe Künstler und Meister betätigt.

Die Bauarbeiten zu Magyarbél wurden 1718 begonnen und 1727 abgeschlossen. Die Architekturpläne hat Erhard Martinelli geliefert, der später auch die Bauführung übernahm. Seine besten Mitarbeiter waren bevorzugte Meister des Wiener Hofes oder des höfischen Hochadels: Gottlieb Antonio Galliardi, der das Deckengemälde des Prunksaals sowie das Altarbild und die Wandgemälde der Schlosskapelle malte; Antonio Caetano Bussi, der neben der Innendekoration auch für die anspruchsvolleren Stuckaturen zuständig war; der Vergolder Andreas Comiz (Komitz); der „Kammerbildhauer” Marco Brodi, und der „kaiserliche Obertapezierer” Johann Georg Spenkuch. Den Springbrunnen im Hof hat jener Steinmetz Kis aus Deutsch-Altenburg gefertigt, der in Schloss Hof auch für Prinz Eugen von Savoyen gearbeitet hatte.

Eine andere Schicht der Mitarbeiter bildeten die Meister, die in oder um der damaligen ungarischen Hauptstadt, Pressburg (Pozsony, heute: Bratislava, Slowakei), tätig waren und vorwiegend für den ungarischen Hochadel arbeiteten: der Bildhauer Antonio Leidenfrost und der Steinmetz Thomas Hilger aus Deutsch-Altenburg, die neben Csáky auch von József Esterházy und János Pálffy betätigt wurden. In Magyarbél wurden die Arbeiten der erzielten Qualität nach unter den verschiedenen Vertretern desselben Faches verteilt, wobei die weniger anspruchsvolle Aufgaben lokalen Meistern zuteil wurden.

Im Gegensatz zu seinen Nachbarn Esterházy und Pálffy, deren Gärten in Cseklész bzw. Királyfa im ganzen 18. Jahrhundert hochberühmt blieben und somit ihre Autorität bewahrten, verzichtete Csáky in Magyarbél auf ein Prunkgarten und begnügte sich mit einem einfachen Nutzgarten. Seine Gründe dafür sind unbekannt, allerdings blieb es seinen Erben überlassen, in Magyarbél einen dem Schloss würdigen Garten anzulegen. Johann Philipp Brennig aus Dillenburg, der der Obergärtner der Pálffys in Királyfa war,
hat 1740 einen holländische Einflüsse zeigende Gartenplan gefertigt, der zu den besten in dem ungarischen Gartenplan-Material gehört. Dieser wurde jedoch nicht verwirklicht, und der später angelegte Garten war mit den benachbarten hochberühmten Gärten nicht zu vergleichen.

Das Schloss zu Magyarbél ist in relativ gutem Zustand auf uns gekommen. Obwohl seine Innenausrichtung gänzlich verlorenging und seine Wandmalereien nach unserer heutigen Kenntnis auch nicht erhalten blieben, gehören seine Stuckaturen doch zu den besten, die wir aus ungarischen Barockschlössern kennen. Sie sind nahezu intakt im Prunksaal und im
dreiräumigen Kardinalsappartement, also in den prunkvollsten Räumlichkeiten des Schlosses, erhalten. Aber auch das Innendekor der Kapelle und der anschließenden Räume, die Skulpturen der Fassade, der Vorhalle und des Treppenhauses lassen die einstige Pracht des Baus ersehen.

(deutscher Text von Péter Ujvári)"

L'isola Margherita a Budapest: un parco al centro del fiume

Celid, 2010

Hungarian garden tourists in search of Lancelot Brown's legacy

Influential, mostly Vienna-based magnates were the first Hungarians to learn about the achievemen... more Influential, mostly Vienna-based magnates were the first Hungarians to learn about the achievements of naturalistic garden design of England, but their understanding was almost exclusively based on German literature. In the 1770s Hungarian garden patrons tried to create their own ‘English gardens’, which were very different from those of Lancelot Brown and his contemporaries due to inadequate knowledge of their subject and it was soon realized that first-hand experience was essential. Britain started to attract Hungarians, mainly aristocrats, from the last decades of the eighteenth century to learn about industrial and agricultural development, but also about landscape gardens. The Napoleonic Wars almost entirely halted travels to Britain, but after that a second wave of tourists arrived who were much more educated in contemporary landscape design, partly resulting in different travel destinations for garden tourism. Personal experiences of the English naturalistic garden altered the garden fashion in Hungary, as both garden designers and patrons studied the achievements of Brown, his contemporaries and the designers who came after them.

Hungarian gardeners on western study tour in the early 19th century

Hubertus Fischer, Joachim Wolschke-Bulmahn, John Beardsley (eds.), Reisen und Gärten: Reisen, Reiseberichte und Gärten vom Mittelalter bis in die Gegenwart, München: AVM, 2019

Salgótarján: The city of the future or a ’retropolis’ – The utopian experiment of socialist modernist architecture in Salgótarján

Eddy Rhead (ed.), Adventures in the Land of Modernism, Manchester: The Modernist Society, 2018

”Enjoying country life to the full – only the English know how to do that!”: Appreciation of the British country house by Hungarian aristocratic travellers

Jon Stobart (ed.), Travel and the British country house: Cultures, critiques and consumption in the long eighteenth century, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2017

Hungarian Garden Tourists in Search of Lancelot Brown's Legacy

Garden History, 2016

Influential, mostly Vienna-based magnates were the first Hungarians to learn about the achievemen... more Influential, mostly Vienna-based magnates were the first Hungarians to learn about the achievements of naturalistic garden design of England, but their understanding was almost exclusively based on German literature. In the 1770s Hungarian garden patrons tried to create their own ‘English gardens’, which were very different from those of Lancelot Brown and his contemporaries due to inadequate knowledge of their subject and it was soon realized that first-hand experience was essential. Britain started to attract Hungarians, mainly aristocrats, from the last decades of the eighteenth century to learn about industrial and agricultural development, but also about landscape gardens. The Napoleonic Wars almost entirely halted travels to Britain, but after that a second wave of tourists arrived who were much more educated in contemporary landscape design, partly resulting in different travel destinations for garden tourism. Personal experiences of the English naturalistic garden altered the garden fashion in Hungary, as both garden designers and patrons studied the achievements of Brown, his contemporaries and the designers who came after them.

Rudolph Witsch és a Batthyány-erdő: A Városliget közparkká alakítására tett egyik első komoly kísérlet

Urbs Magyar Várostörténeti Évkönyv, 2019

Taste inequalities in the art consumption of Prince Nicolaus I Esterházy ‘the Magnificent’

Johanna Ilmakunnas and Jon Stobart (eds.), A Taste for Luxury in Early Modern Europe: Display, Acquisition and Boundaries, London: Bloomsbury, 2017

The appreciation of the flamboyant entertainments and tasteful luxury of Prince Nicolaus I Esterh... more The appreciation of the flamboyant entertainments and tasteful luxury of Prince Nicolaus I Esterházy (1714–1790), who rightly earned the epithet ‘the Magnificent’ from later generations, changed dramatically in certain regards during his own lifetime but also in the light of more recent scholarship. This change has many aspects. On the one hand, they highlight his background interests that, for example, resulted in shifting but informed enthusiasm for different musical genres, yet adapted slowly to changing fashions in landscape design. More significantly, they reveal the revolutionary transformation of ideas about the social responsibility of the higher classes that characterized late eighteenth- century Europe. Luxury was still politically necessary for the monarchical state in the years when Nicolaus became prince – Montesquieu even expected the rich to be lavish in support of the poor. Subsequently, there was a growing expectation that the rich would invest rather than waste, but this was only coupled to the long- standing recognition of the moral dangers of luxury for the individual towards the end of the century. Whilst grandeur as an expression of luxurious spending might previously have been thought tasteful, Enlightenment thinkers taught society to distinguish between luxury and taste. Prince Nicolaus became increasingly exposed to such enlightened views during his lifetime.

Geofizikai mérésekkel a balácai villagazdaság kertjeinek nyomában

Balácai Közlemények, 2005

Our knowledge of ancient Roman gardens in the province of Pannonia is very limited. There has not... more Our knowledge of ancient Roman gardens in the province of Pannonia is very limited. There has not been any targeted archaeological research to reveal evidence of the existence of residential gardens created during the Roman occupation of the province. That said, archaeologists have long suspected that gardens must have belonged to the rich villa estate at Baláca, just north of the Lake Balaton in present-day Hungary. To learn more about the fields around the villa buildings, a soil resistivity survey was carried out in September 2002. Three rectangular sites were marked out at different parts of the estate, where traces of ancient gardens were most likely to be found. The first one, just next to the main building, yielded the most interesting result: a wall across the courtyard, unknown to researchers of the villa. Although its function cannot be defined at this stage, its existence can prompt archaeologists to explore the area of the courtyard.

Franz Rosenstingl kerttervezői tevékenysége Károlyi Antal szolgálatában

Ars Hungarica, 1999

’Monbijou and Sanssouci – Prussian Influences in Hungary during the Second Half of the 18th Century

Prussian Gardens in Europe – 300 Years of Garden History, 2007

New grounds for landscape history - editorial 3/2016

by Kristof Fatsar and Janike Kampevold Larsen

Journal of Landscape Architecture, 2016

On JoLA's 10th anniversary: An urgency for landscape architecture - editorial 2/2016

by Kristof Fatsar and Imke van Hellemondt

Journal of Landscape Architecture, 2016

The geographical and social reach of the Eszterháza gardens: consumption of nursery plants in Hungary in the 1820s

History of Retailing and Consumption, 2015

Although the famous Baroque gardens of Prince Nicolas Esterházy ‘the Magnificent’ (1714–1790), at... more Although the famous Baroque gardens of Prince Nicolas Esterházy ‘the Magnificent’ (1714–1790), at Eszterháza were abandoned by his immediate successors and later given a more natural but rather modest appearance, the new pleasure ground was kept in good order to please the many tourists who were still interested in the so-called Hungarian Versailles. The Eszterháza gardens continued to play an important role in providing ornamental plants for other princely estates including the much-famed Eisenstadt, and also acted as a ‘garden centre’ for local society, distributing a wide range of fruit tree varieties and other garden products. During his leadership between 1821 and 1825, Court Gardener Anton Pölt (c. 1770–1836) kept a series of ledgers that reveal the entire trading business of the Eszterháza gardens. This exceptionally rare source recorded not only the species and cultivars of the nursery stock but the identity of buyers and their purchases as well. Analysis of the data sheds light on consumption habits, distribution range or social differences in the customs, and also provides information on high and low tides in the business or the reliability of the garden products in terms of revenue.

European travellers and the transformation of garden art in Hungary at the turn of the nineteenth century

Studies in the History of Gardens and Designed Landscapes, 2016

The transitional or irregular phase that characterised the development of more advanced English g... more The transitional or irregular phase that characterised the development of more advanced English gardens in the 1720s and 1730s, while offering ways to express a plausible naturalness in designed landscapes, was also common in other parts of Europe, although several decades later. Because this period has turned out to be the ‘learning’ phase towards the truly naturalistic gardens of ‘Capability’ Brown or his contemporaries, it is intriguing that even after their style had been mastered in Britain, other nations continued to go through the transitional period rather than embrace the latest achievements of English gardening. Although abandoning the traditionally domineering role of geometry in garden design might have been a difficult task, the reasons behind the surprising ‘longevity’ of the transitional phase are difficult to explain. Landscape architecture in Hungary went through this transitional period in the 1770s and 1780s. While offering some explanations of the nature of this phenomenon, this paper investigates it in the broader European context to explain its perseverance in Hungary in the light of comparative evidence.

The English Countryside as a Reflection of Economic Power: Perceptions by Hungarian Travellers in the First Half of the 19th Century

The Power of Landscape: Peer Reviewed Proceedings of ECLAS 2012 Conference in Warsaw, eds. Izabela Dymitryszyn – Małgorzata Kaczyńska – Gabriela Maksymiuk, 2012

The British Agricultural Revolution gradually but dramatically changed the face of the English co... more The British Agricultural Revolution gradually but dramatically changed the face of the English countryside by the turn of the 19th century through a series of Enclosure Acts. New methods of farming backed by achievements of the Industrial Revolution were also responsible for the transformation of the landscape. These advancements were well known in the Continent and attracted many professionals and reform-minded individuals to Britain.

Among them were many Hungarian intellectuals whose struggles to make the feudal society of their homeland more similar to that of Britain is clearly expressed in their writings. For them, everything was connected: While English landscape gardens referred to the freedom and equality of all citizens, the overall cultivated English countryside expressed 'good society' where those free citizens were able to experiment and develop various farming methods and implement them to improve productivity. And finally, good society can lead to the common wealth of the nation.

The state of a society and its economic power is therefore well expressed in the landscape. This research explores Hungarian public thinking on designed and evolved landscapes of Britain in the first half of the 19th century, through the eyes of Hungarian travellers. Diaries, journals and travelogues were used, with numerous previously unknown manuscripts among them. The research has revealed that the perception of the English countryside had a serious impact on Hungarian agricultural development and landscape evolution.

Die Gärtner des Herzogs Ferdinand von Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha unter der Leitung des Schloss- und Garteninspektors Franz Frey

Zsuzsanna Cziráki, Anna Fundárková, Orsolya Manhercz, Zsuzsanna Peres and Márta Vajnági (eds.), Wiener Archivforschungen: Festschrift für den ungarischen Archivdelegierten in Wien, István Fazekas, Wien, 2014

István Fazekas publikationen der ungarischen geschichtsforschung in wien bd. x.

Hungarian Orangeries until the Turn of the 19th Century

Katja Pawlak (ed.), Orangeriekultur in Österreich, Ungarn und Tschechien, Berlin: Lukas, 2014

Open Space Design in Historically Sensitive Environment – History and Results of a Seminar

4D, 2012

"At the Landscape Architecture Faculty of the Corvinus University of Budapest there was an option... more "At the Landscape Architecture Faculty of the Corvinus University of Budapest there was an optional Master's seminar for four years titled 'Design in historical environment', held by the two authors of this paper. They believe that only good and bad design exist, all other quality conditions can impose restrictions with respect to the subject of the design (e.g. monument), not by defining the designer attitude. There is only one acceptable designer approach: taking into consideration the endowment of the area to be designed, i.e. its past and environment, to the most possible extent. This concerns all sorts of environments, including urban landscapes as well. On the other hand, the designer’s responses to the traits and values of the specific environment partly depend on the designer’s personality, cultural background or sensitivity, in other words, the quality of the designer.
As the course has been advancing, it was found that the “design led research” method works excellently. The combination of the different sites, the different years and various creative individuals resulted in numerous and sufficiently varied work, which were suitable to present and professionally investigate the various methods. It can be ascertained that there are no pure designer attitudes, although it is possible and even desirable to choose a creative method."

A magyarbéli kastély építéstörténete és kertje a Csákyak birtoklásának idején

Kő kövön: Dávid Ferenc 73. születésnapjára / Stein auf Stein: Festschrift für Ferenc Dávid, eds. Edit Szentesi, Klára Mentényi, Anna Simon, 2013

"Das Schloss zu Magyarbél (heute: Veľký Biel, Slowakei) verdankt seinen Rang in der ungarischen B... more "Das Schloss zu Magyarbél (heute: Veľký Biel, Slowakei) verdankt seinen Rang in der ungarischen Barockarchitektur nicht nur der Bedeutung seiner Meister und seines Bauherren, sondern auch der glücklichen Tatsache, dass die ehemalige Schlossanlage zu Magyarbél in seltener Komplexität erhalten geblieben ist. Hinzu kommt noch, dass die baugeschichtliche Rekonstruktion in diesem Fall auf einem ungemein reichen Schriftenmaterial fußen kann, welches in der bedauerlich urkundenarmen ungarischen bau- und gartengeschichtlichen Forschung einen seltenen Moment bildet und die ehemaligen Umstände in wünschenswerter Komplexität und Detailliertheit vor uns stellt. Es handelt sich um private sowie amtliche Briefe der Protagonisten, um Verträge mit den Meistern und jedweden Lieferanten, sogar um ein Baudiarium, was nicht nur den Fortgang der Arbeiten, sondern auch den Netz der Verhältnisse zwischen den Protagonisten genau nachvollziehbar machen. Aus der ungarischen Architekturgeschichte des frühen 18. Jahrhunderts ist kaum ein anderes Schrifttum bekannt, das so aufschlussreich wäre, etwa in Bezug auf Preisbildung und Methoden der Belohnung.

Der Bauherr Graf Imre Csáky (1682–1732) war Erzbischof von Kalocsa und hatte als einziger Kardinal in Ungarn die Vorrangstellung in der katholischen Kirche. Er gehörte zu den leitenden Persönlichkeiten der Habsburgischen Partei im Rákóczischen Independenzkrieg von 1703 bis 1711. Zu diesem Kreis gehörten auch seine engen Freunde, so etwa der spätere Oberster Landesrichter Graf József Esterházy, der nördlich von Magyarbél das Schloss zu Cseklész (Lanschitz, heute: Bernolákovo, Slowakei), und der spätere Palatin Graf János Pálffy, der östlich von Magyarbél das Schloss zu Királyfa (Königseiden, heute: Kráľová pri Senci, Slowakei) erbauen ließ. Diese drei Adeligen waren also nicht nur politisch alliiert, sondern auch wohnörtlich benachbart und haben öfters ein und dieselbe Künstler und Meister betätigt.

Die Bauarbeiten zu Magyarbél wurden 1718 begonnen und 1727 abgeschlossen. Die Architekturpläne hat Erhard Martinelli geliefert, der später auch die Bauführung übernahm. Seine besten Mitarbeiter waren bevorzugte Meister des Wiener Hofes oder des höfischen Hochadels: Gottlieb Antonio Galliardi, der das Deckengemälde des Prunksaals sowie das Altarbild und die Wandgemälde der Schlosskapelle malte; Antonio Caetano Bussi, der neben der Innendekoration auch für die anspruchsvolleren Stuckaturen zuständig war; der Vergolder Andreas Comiz (Komitz); der „Kammerbildhauer” Marco Brodi, und der „kaiserliche Obertapezierer” Johann Georg Spenkuch. Den Springbrunnen im Hof hat jener Steinmetz Kis aus Deutsch-Altenburg gefertigt, der in Schloss Hof auch für Prinz Eugen von Savoyen gearbeitet hatte.

Eine andere Schicht der Mitarbeiter bildeten die Meister, die in oder um der damaligen ungarischen Hauptstadt, Pressburg (Pozsony, heute: Bratislava, Slowakei), tätig waren und vorwiegend für den ungarischen Hochadel arbeiteten: der Bildhauer Antonio Leidenfrost und der Steinmetz Thomas Hilger aus Deutsch-Altenburg, die neben Csáky auch von József Esterházy und János Pálffy betätigt wurden. In Magyarbél wurden die Arbeiten der erzielten Qualität nach unter den verschiedenen Vertretern desselben Faches verteilt, wobei die weniger anspruchsvolle Aufgaben lokalen Meistern zuteil wurden.

Im Gegensatz zu seinen Nachbarn Esterházy und Pálffy, deren Gärten in Cseklész bzw. Királyfa im ganzen 18. Jahrhundert hochberühmt blieben und somit ihre Autorität bewahrten, verzichtete Csáky in Magyarbél auf ein Prunkgarten und begnügte sich mit einem einfachen Nutzgarten. Seine Gründe dafür sind unbekannt, allerdings blieb es seinen Erben überlassen, in Magyarbél einen dem Schloss würdigen Garten anzulegen. Johann Philipp Brennig aus Dillenburg, der der Obergärtner der Pálffys in Királyfa war,
hat 1740 einen holländische Einflüsse zeigende Gartenplan gefertigt, der zu den besten in dem ungarischen Gartenplan-Material gehört. Dieser wurde jedoch nicht verwirklicht, und der später angelegte Garten war mit den benachbarten hochberühmten Gärten nicht zu vergleichen.

Das Schloss zu Magyarbél ist in relativ gutem Zustand auf uns gekommen. Obwohl seine Innenausrichtung gänzlich verlorenging und seine Wandmalereien nach unserer heutigen Kenntnis auch nicht erhalten blieben, gehören seine Stuckaturen doch zu den besten, die wir aus ungarischen Barockschlössern kennen. Sie sind nahezu intakt im Prunksaal und im
dreiräumigen Kardinalsappartement, also in den prunkvollsten Räumlichkeiten des Schlosses, erhalten. Aber auch das Innendekor der Kapelle und der anschließenden Räume, die Skulpturen der Fassade, der Vorhalle und des Treppenhauses lassen die einstige Pracht des Baus ersehen.

(deutscher Text von Péter Ujvári)"

Magyarországi barokk kertművészet (Hungarian Baroque Garden Art)

Magyarországi barokk kertművészet, Budapest: Helikon, Oct 2008

Hungarian Baroque garden art is a rewarding research topic not only because many gardens were cre... more Hungarian Baroque garden art is a rewarding research topic not only because many gardens were created in the 18th century period, but also because there is an appropriate quantity of sources available to analyse them. Little attention has been dedicated to this field until now, although the greatest and most well-documented gardens have been known to garden historians for a good while. A rather false picture of Hungarian landscape design of the period could be drawn if exclusively relying on visual representations of the latter group. This false impression would be worsened by the fact that many of the published Baroque garden designs depict conceptions, some of which were grandiose intentions for layouts that were never realised.
The primary goal of this work is to give a more comprehensive and realistic picture of Hungarian Baroque landscape design. This is made possible by the relative opulence of visual sources. The period covered is the 18th century, this being the earliest era to perform such profound analysis of garden history in Hungary. Before this time period, ‘garden art’ in Hungary did not produce a sufficient quantity of sources, and hardly anything more is known of earlier garden creations except for their sole existence.