This amazing place is rarely visited by Russian tourists. But lovers of landscape architecture, and not only, should visit this small town in Eastern Moravia, especially since it is among the sites protected by UNESCO.
Kromeriz
Kromeriz is older than Moscow and was first mentioned in 1110, though only as a village acquired by Bishop Johann II of Olomouc. But thanks to its favorable location, after 150 years Kromeriz becomes a city and a castle is built there. Due to the fact that the city is located at the intersection of roads, it often found itself in the center of hostilities: during the Hussite Wars it was a stronghold of the Hussites, in 1467-1471 it found itself between the armies of the Czech king Jiri Podebradsky and the Hungarian king Matthew Corvin I with all the following from this has consequences for urban infrastructure.
In the 16th - early 17th centuries, the city was chosen by the bishops and made their residence. Since that time it has become an important political center in Moravia. During the Thirty Years War, the city was again destroyed, but now by the Swedes. At the end of the 17th century, the city was rebuilt by Bishop Charles II of Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn. In the 18th century, Kromeriz again suffered as a result of the struggle for the Austrian inheritance, and in 1752 it burned out in a fire. There were no big shocks in the 19th century, and many buildings date back to this period. In 1885, the prospects for relations between the Emperor of Austria-Hungary Franz Joseph and the Russian Emperor Alexander III were discussed here.
Kromeriz. Site plan |
Kromeriz. Parterre plan |
Now there are only 29.5 thousand inhabitants in Kromeriz. This is a cute provincial town, living with the summer tides of tourists and quiet for the winter. Its architectural monuments deserve a separate description, but we will focus on two green building monuments.
The Bishop's Palace, located 200 meters from the central square, is a very monumental structure. From the rear of the palace there is a wonderful palace park, in Czech Podzá mecká zahrada Kroměříž or more democratic - Podzá mka.
Kromeriz. Entrance to the episcopal park
The area of the park is 47.1 hectares, and its oldest part began to form in the 15th century. A small part of it near the palace is a luxurious parterre, the remaining dozens of hectares are decorated in a landscape style with all kinds of buildings. The park has a large number of all kinds of water facilities: the Morava River, three ponds and many winding streams, through which numerous picturesque bridges are thrown, flows through the park. A wonderful view opens from the opposite bank of the pond to the episcopal palace.
Kromeriz. Parterre view |
Kromeriz. View of the palace across the pond |
On the territory of the park, among the picturesque groups of old trees, witnesses of episcopal grandeur, there are pavilions traditional for landscape parks: the Pompeian colonnade, the Chinese pavilion and several fountains, of which, however, not all work.
Kromeriz. Pompeian Colonade |
Kromeriz |
The species composition of tree and shrub plantations is typical for central Europe - edible chestnut, oaks, beeches, yews, lindens, maples, plane trees. Some trees, witnesses of the past centuries, are marked as natural monuments.
Kromeriz |
Kromeriz. Landscape park |
The banks of the streams are quite decorative, which looks good both from numerous bridges and from the shore.
Kromeriz. View from the bridge |
Kromeriz. Alley - bersot |
There is also a small zoo in the park, where ducks, peacocks and very cute rabbits walk right along the paths, and more aggressive and unpredictable comrades like baboons and macaques are closed in cages.
Kromeriz. Courtyard with a zoo
But in general, the park is a fairly typical work of European gardening art. It is definitely worth visiting, taking a thoughtful walk along the paths, sitting on benches placed in picturesque places, but you should not expect absolute individuality from Kromeriz Bishop's Park. In my opinion, another creation of the subjects of the bishops is much more interesting.
500 meters from the episcopal residence and the main park is the so-called flower garden (Kvě tná zahrada), which, at the request of Bishop Charles II of Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn, was laid outside the city walls during the restoration of the city after the Thirty Years War. It was designed and realized in imitation of the gardens of Versailles in 1665-1675 by the Italian gardeners Fillberto Luchese and Giovanni Pietro Tencalla with all the fashionable "things" of that time: grottoes, pavilions, labyrinths.
Kromeriz. Parterres
The modern entrance with ticket offices, a guest yard and greenhouses was built in 1840-1845 in the classicism style. The portal above the entrance is decorated with the Episcopal coat of arms. The same coat of arms on elegant flowerpots at the entrance. Today it is an early Baroque park with an area of 485 × 300 m, which managed to combine Italian and Dutch influences.
Kromeriz. At the entrance |
Kromeriz. Greenhouses |
Kromeriz. Vase at the entrance to the palace |
Kromeriz. Coat of arms on a flowerpot |
As we see the garden now, it was designed at the beginning of the 19th century. It is a baroque French style garden that is very well maintained and blooming. In the early 1990s, more than 300 million kroons were allocated from the European Regional Fund for restoration, which equals approximately 10 million euros (the Czech Republic did not change to the euro). Thanks to this, the garden has been restored to its original form. These works were completed in 2014. In particular, the Dutch part of the garden was restored with small compact trees.
Kromeriz. Parterres
In addition, the garden now houses a garden for medicinal and herbal plants, as well as a citrus garden. Taking into account the climate, citrus fruits spend six months in a greenhouse, and the rest of the time they delight visitors in the open field. Moreover, these are not just lemons and oranges, but a whole collection of various, including very decorative varieties and types. The variegated forms of citrus, almost toy lemons and striped oranges aroused special delight.
Kromeriz. Pharmaceutical garden |
Kromeriz. Citrus in the greenhouse |
A 244-meter colonnade runs along the edge of the garden, decorated with 44 statues of gods and heroes of ancient times: Actaeon and Asclepius, Melpomene and Minerva, Mars and Urania. If you go up the stairs, then above the colonnade there is a promenade gallery, which offers a wonderful view of the park itself and part of the city.
Kromeriz. Colonnade view
Kromeriz. Colonnade inside |
Kromeriz. View from the roof of the colonnade |
On the territory of the parterre there are fountains with tritons and lions, numerous hedges, graceful arabesques, which are decorated according to the season. Considering that I only got to this piece of paradise in October, the plants, mostly ornamental cabbage, flaunted on the flower beds, arabesques and flower beds.
Kromeriz. Fountain in the pharmaceutical garden |
Kromeriz. Fountain |
In general, there are a lot of wonderful ideas in the design that you can use on your site. I personally especially liked the low fences along the paths, decorated with … quince.
Kromeriz. Quince at the fountain
In the middle of the garden there is an octagonal Rotunda with rich stucco and frescoes. The Rotunda is considered one of the most valuable historical buildings in the garden.
At the end of the 19th century, a gymnasium teacher Frantisek Nábělek (1852 - 1915) proposed to hang a 25-meter Foucault pendulum (a load on a long rope) from the dome to show visitors the Earth's rotation.
Currently, the leadership of this miracle of garden art is concerned with the restoration of the orchard. The apple and pear trees planted several years ago have already begun to bear fruit. In addition, there are greenhouses and a nursery on the territory of the garden, where seedlings are grown to decorate all this splendor.
A visit to Kromeriz with its two landscape sights will certainly remain in your memory precisely as something unusual and memorable, as an object with its own and unique face.
