Danube Cruise #15: Bratislava Castle's Baroque Garden

Rob and Tom in the garden

In today's blog about our Viking River Cruise along the Danube River, we're still in Slovakia's capital city of Bratislava. We'll walk you through the relatively new gardens that line the back of the Bratislava Castle.

NEW GARDEN A new baroque garden behind the castle was opened in June 2016 and entry is free of charge.

Bratislava Castle's Extensive Baroque Garden

WHAT IS A BAROQUE GARDEN? - The Baroque garden was a style of garden based upon symmetry and the principle of imposing order on nature.

STYLE STARTED - The style originated in the late-16th century in Italy, in the gardens of the Vatican and the Villa Borghese gardens in Rome and in the gardens of the Villa d'Este in Tivoli, and then spread to France, where it became known as the Jardin a la Français or French formal garden.

Bratislava Castle's Extensive Baroque Garden

VERSAILLES IS AN EXAMPLE - The grandest example is found in the Gardens of Versailles designed during the 17th century by the landscape architect André Le Nôtre for Louis XIV. In the 18th century, in imitation of Versailles, very ornate baroque gardens were built in other parts of Europe, including Germany, Austria, Spain, and in Saint-Petersburg, Russia. In the mid-18th century the style was replaced by the more less-geometric and more natural English landscape garden.


NEXT: St. Michael's Gate and the Famous Korzo Stone