Csepely-Knorr Luca: Barren Places to Public Spaces. A History of Publick Park Design in Budapest 1867-1914 (Budapest, 2016)
Public Parks and Public Park design in the Second Half of the 19th Century
Changes in the social role of gardening and the evolution of the institutionalised system in the 19th century The formation of the Parks Department of Budapest and the growing importance of gardening and horticulture was strongly associated with the historical, social and political situation of the 19th century Hungary, Zsigmond Csorna emphasised. As he argued, after defeat in the 1848- 1849 War of Independence, during the Absolutist period of the 1850s and early 1860s, when Hungary experienced the toughest suppression, the revolutionaries found stability in gardening.145 As a contemporary description explained: "The greatest of our nation, while notfindingthemselves an opportunity for public appearances, united in economic associationsZ'146 The foundation of the Hungarian National Horticultural Society in 1858 also indicated the emerging role of gardening and horticulture.147 The first specialised educational institution was opened 2nd June 1860, with the support of the Hungarian National Economic Association.148 It became a state school in 1881, when it was reorganised under the title Royal Hungarian Horticultural College, which was opened at the Arboretum of today’s Szent István University in Budapest. The Arboretum was designed by the German gardener, Karl August Räde, who was invited specially for this task by the then Minister of Agriculture, Count András Bethlen. Räde became Head Gardener of the College, and later played a crucial role in the professional life of Hungarian horticultural and landscape gardening as Head Gardener of the capital between the two World Wars.149 Beyond its educational role the Arboretum played an important part as one of the capital’s major public gardens. The famous writer Mór Jókai called it the "Paradise of Gellert Hill"}so The Hungarian National Horticultural Association was created in 1885 according to the recommendations of Count Jenő Zichy.151 The Association wanted to unite all disciplines of gardening and horticulture, and had an effect on all areas of professional life. Among its responsibilities was to organise national and international exhibitions, congresses and conferences to develop professional life, the publication of the specialist journal ‘Kertészeti Lapok’ (Horticultural Journal), and the running of a specialised library. From the point of view of the development of theory, the journal, Károly Räde, Plan of the Horticultural College garden, Budapest, 1896 / Kertészeti Lapok, 1902. p. 95. / ADT 44
