Schlosspark Gotha
The Schlosspark Gotha is the park and gardens originally attached to the Schloss Friedenstein in the German city of Gotha. It covers 37 hectares, making it one of the country's largest parks. To the Schloss' south is one of the oldest landscape gardens outside the United Kingdom, first designed in 1765.
Whilst a guest of Prince August of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg between 1775 and 1801, the poet and writer Goethe was a frequent visitor to the park. The Schlosspark was voted the fourth most beautiful park in central Germany by Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk listeners. The English Garden in particular is noted for its old trees, including 500-year-old oaks. The park's overall history was explored in the temporary exhibition "Gotha – im Reich der Göttin Freiheit" at the Museum of Nature Gotha in 2007 during the Gotha Garden Summer festival held that year.
History
Walled and kitchen gardens
The Schloss and its 'Schlosswallgarten' were first built by Duke Ernest I of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg in 1643–1648. The latter was intended to supply the ducal kitchen as well as provide recreation space for the duke and his familyThe so-called castle wall garden, which was created at that time, served to supply the ducal kitchen and for the recreation of the ducal family. It was rectangular and provided space for numerous potted plants at the north end, whilst at the south end herb beds were laid out, separated from each other by hedges of currants, roses and gooseberries. The flower beds contained lilies, daffodils, hyacinths, crocuses, irises, hemerocallis and tulips and served as a status symbol for the duke. This garden existed until around 1772 and was transformed when the city of Gotha was dismantled.
The Großen Küchengarten was also built by Ernest I in the area between what is now Park-Allee and the Leinakanal which in the 14th century had been built to link Schönau and Gotha and supply the water-poor latter city with water from the Thuringian forests. This garden contained citrus plants in pots, with the chief gardener housed to the south in the Pomeranzenhaus, and survived until 1864, when the Ducal Museum began to be built on part of its site, with the rest soon afterwards covered by the Tannengarten.