The Covered Walkway in the Moorish Garden (Wilhelma Park)
Wandelgang im Maurischen Garten
Stuttgart, Germany
Wilhelma, Zoological and Botanical Garden Stuttgart
About Zoological Botanical Garden Wilhelma, Stuttgart
1844
Karl Ludwig von Zanth
King Wilhelm I of Württemberg commissioned to Karl Ludwig von Zanth in 1837 the design of Moorish style buildings for his Wilhelma garden. The architect planned and built all the buildings with the exception of the Damascene Hall.
The idea was not to reproduce faithfully the Islamic art but to lend an “oriental” flair to the garden. The mention of an “oriental garden” conjured up visions of elegance, luxury, colourful brilliance, seduction and eroticism.
The Moorish style recalls the Islamic art of Spain and North Africa between the 12th and 15th centuries which reached its zenith in the Alhambra. It was fashionable in 19th century: Wilhelma is also known as the “Alhambra on the river Neckar” and other buildings – synagogues in Berlin and Vienna for example – were built in the Moorish style.
Planned as a bathhouse by Karl Ludwig von Zanth in 1846, the Moorish Villa was then, however, built as living quarters with a glasshouse. It was first intended to be a bathhouse because mineral springs had been discovered in the adjacent Rosenstein Park. Rosenstein Palace was already standing in Rosenstein Park, and served the King as a summer residence.
The Covered Walkaway marks the perimeter of the Moorish Garden at Wilhelma.
"The Covered Walkway in the Moorish Garden (Wilhelma Park)" in "Sharing History", Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://sharinghistory.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monuments;AWE;de;3;en
MWNF Working Number: DE 004
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