Original scientific paper
The Gardens of the Benedictine Abbey on the Island of Lokrum
Bruno Šišić
Abstract
The year 1023 marked the establishment of the Benedictine abbey on the island of Lokrum, located in the close vicinity of the city of Dubrovnik. The extensive grounds offered good farming prospects, and thus in the following seven centuries the monastery multiplied both in size and in wealth. Parts of the older buildings and some new houses were destroyed in the great earthquake of 1667, never to be reconstructed. The Benedictine estate prided itself upon exemplary groves of oranges and lemons, vineyards, and vegetable gardens, in addition to a special type of garden referred to as «pleasure gardens». The carefully cultivated green spaces surrounding the church and the monastery offered moments of repose and enjoyment to both the monks and the frequent visitors to the island. A study of the medieval gardens of Lokrum reveals that its principles of design were parallel with the contemporary skills of cultivation practiced in Europe. More recent sources point to the fact that the Benedictines also engaged in the maintenance of the woody island lanscape around the monastery, making paths to the top of the island and along its northern side. Between the years 1798 and 1859 the abbey remained deserted, when it was acquired by the Austrian Archduke Maximilian of Habsburg to serve as his country estate. Thanks to the enthusiasm of the new owner, the entire vegetated landscape of Lokrum experienced large-scale changes in terms of design and development, becoming thus Dubrovnik’s largest park. The fact remains that it is the Benedictines who deserve the credit for creating lasting values in architecture and setting the bases of gardens and landscape design on the island, in their efforts to preserve and develop the green open space. With its long history of arranged cultivated and garden spaces, this island- park is by far without parallel in the entire Croatian heritage of garden design.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
11757
URI
Publication date:
19.6.2001.
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