A Herman Ottó Múzeum Évkönyve 22-23. (1985)

B.BARTUS Elemér: Történeti adatok Miskolc város kertkultúrájáról

monastery, the cloister in Szentlélek and in the monastery of Tapolca. These served later as sources for gardening in civic buildings, soon becoming their coherent part. The earliest data about use and estimation of ornamental plants in the town are from 1557, when Albert László's wife's register mentions two bushes of Cnicus spinosissimus. Folk customs in connection with ornamental plants can be found as early as the 18th c. The General Assembly of the Calvinist Secondary School on the 3rd of January, 1730, prohibited the praeceptor to collect valley lilies, roses or hazel on the Avas hill. (The data means, in the same time, that the students of the school, founded in 1560, had had the traditional right and custom of collecting flowers.) A notice from 1821 tells that dancing masters were supplied with money from the till of the guilds. There are reports about open gardens from the middle of the 19th c. There was an athletic club working in the Potóczki garden in 1867. In the same year the data inform about the planting of ornamental trees in a street. Aesthetic Building Commitee was founded in Miskolc in 1855, the regulations of which were accepted by the General Assembly of the Council on the 28th of December, 1867. The official organs iniciated the improvement of fruit-, ornamental- and market gardening. The General. Assembly instructed police in 1873 to protect the plants of the Avas hill against the spoils, then ordered the plantation and protection of ornamental trees on streets in 1875. According to the instruction, the trees had to be guarded, taken care of, and watered, or, ifit died out, be replaced by the owner of the house or land. The Council first decided to found an open garden in 1859, but we know of a nice open garden from the 1840ies, as well. The largest open garden of the town, the Peoples' Garden, was initiated by József Lévay, president of the Rifle Club on the 12 th of July, 1872. The building of the garden, according to the ratified plans, was begun in 1877 beside the Lövölde garden. Its largest territory was 9,7 „hektár" (2 acres). The thermal bath of Miskolc-Tapolca was first mentioned in the 13th c. In the second half of the 19th c. it used to be one of the popular places of the inhabitants of the town. The town bought the territory of the bath in 1909. It has gained approximately the present form in the 1930ies. The protection of the ornamental garden of the Avas hill was organised in 1873, while the largescale development began in 1890. Terraces were formed, the newly made roads were covered, barriers were set up, benches placed, and roses planted. An outlook tower was built at the beginning of the 1920ies. Lillafüred served, first of all, as an aim of excursions, while the water of the Hámor lake was also used for bathing in 1881. It has gained its present form in 1929 after the Palotaszálló and the hanging garden, unique in the country up till now, together with the park at the station of the narrowgauge railway had been built. The Erzsébet (now Szabadság) square, with the two fountains, was built between 1898 and 1913, while in 1913 the Council ratified the ground plan of building of the Szemére garden. Several streets were converted into gardens with planting ornamental trees, bushes, roses in the 20ies and 30ies. Data reporting about edifices for swimming and other sports can be found from 1863 on. Elemér Bartus 114