Kisné Cseh Julianna (szerk.): Annales Tataienses IV. Arx – oppidum - civitas. A vártól a városig. Tata évszázadai. Tata Város Önkormányzata – Mecénás Közalapítvány, Tata, 2004.
Sylvester Edina: Tata a kertek és a vizek városa
Tata: the city of gardens and waters The city of gardens built on waters Edina Sylvester Tata definitely enjoys a special situation in Hungary - and in Europe as well. Its particularly rich natural and cultural conditions along with its outstanding historic role opened the doors to development and prosperous periods. The city, situated on the contact line of a hill-country and a flatland, is a territory abounding in aboveground waters even in its present form: it was and is to be called the city of waters deservedly. It was the rich natural heritage including the architectural heritage that provided base and opportunity for creating a large-scale garden around the centre of the Tata estate. As far as the history of landscape architecture and civic design is concerned, it is of paramount importance that after the complexes in the vicinity of Öreg Lake had been constructed, the landscape garden in Tóváros evolved as a part of the residence centre and yet was a system on its way to independence. The evolution of the basic features of the landscape garden in Tóváros as well as of the outlay and structure of the sentimental garden is disclosed by land-surveying sketches, maps and plans from the 18 th and 19 th centuries. The data concerning the circumstances and chronology of the process of construction can be researched with the help of the Elemér Révhelyi bequest dealing with the records of the Tata branch of the Esterházy family (housed by the Kuny Domokos Museum). The construction of the landscape garden started in the 1760s with the design of the lake. The first building was the Summer Pavilion built by József Grossmann (1784); the sculptural ornaments were created by Antal Schweiger. As early as in 1785, the immediate surroundings of the Garden Pavilion (Summer Pavilion) were arranged, the enlargement of the garden and the levelling were carried out; moreover, a semicircular water-fowl lake was constructed. As a completion of this initial period, the inner wall paintings of the Garden Pavilion were finished (the walls of the circular room being decorated with landscape murals by J. Jankovszky), and finally, the banisters and vases (made by the architecture Antal Gött) were set up. A product of the 1st period of landscape architecture (the end of the 18 th century) was the Star Promenade, which no longer exists. The caves and grots were produced as objects representing the sentimental garden style (1788-89). The beginning of the construction of the greenhouse dates back to the end of the 1780s; the building was the predecessor of the Palm House (Kiosk). The construction of the "Turkish Pleasurehouse" was first dated in 1797, which may refer to the first date of the construction or the designing of the Turkish Mosque. Around 1785 the artificial ruins were already being designed. In 1801 the garden was opened towards the Berg Gasse (now Sport Street); the two winged griffins of dressed stone - a symbol of the Esterházys - guarding the summer residence are made 161
