WIESENTHEID BAROQUE GARDENS – virtual reconstruction.
Wiesentheid, a small town east of Würzburg, Bavaria, is still dominated by one of the countless castles which were built in the 18th century for the von Schönborn family. Originally, the castle’s formal gardens were more famous than the building itself. Unfortunately, the original park has been transformed into an English landscape garden in the early 19th century. The 3D reconstruction is based on six engravings which can be found in a book published in 1720 (‘Neue Garten Lust’). The author, Johann David Fülck, was the garden designer at Wiesentheid. A highlight of the Wiesentheid gardens was the ‘Lusthaus’, a small palace in an elegant baroque style. It is said that it was designed by Balthasar Neumann, architect of the Würzburg Residenz. However, it is more likely that it was built by the Würzburg Court Architect Joseph Greissing, Neumann’s teacher. Inside the ‘Lusthaus’ there was a large hall, ca. 20 x 7 m large and maybe some 10 m. high. The building was probably used as a ‘banqueting house’. It should be noted that the 3D model only shows the (still existing) Schönborn Castle in its basic form, without detail.
