2022
The Italian Renaissance GardenPart 1: The Magical Hamilton Gardens
The "Char Bagh" or "closed four-part" garden is the original Garden of Paradise.
It is sometimes referred to as the "Garden of the Universe" not only because of its widespread and long-standing use, but also because it was seen as a symbol of the universe itself.
This form of garden spread throughout the Muslim world between the 8th and 18th centuries. The complex symbolism behind this garden form stems from the fact that the three major religions of the world - Islam, Christianity and Buddhism - are very ancient.
The Mughal emperors were descendants of Genghis Khan, who expanded their empire from Persia eastward to northern India beginning in the 13th century. As part of their conquest, they brought Islam to India and Persian garden designs to the Indian subcontinent.
The focus of these gardens was water and irrigation, as they originated in the hot, dry climate of present-day Iran. As they spread throughout the continent, their designs were adapted to the local context, but the basic design features remained. Their geometric layout has a strong symmetry. The water features are subtle, designed to bubble and trickle rather than splash to preserve water.
Indian Char Bagh GardenThe Indian Chalbagh Gardens are more than just places to walk through. They are poetic secret gardens with the alluring scent of flowers on a living Persian carpet. They allow viewers to relax, feel the breeze in the cool shade of the open pavilion, watch the clouds glide behind the white towers, and hear the sound of water sparkling in the fountains and pools.
The type of Hamilton Gardens development is a riverside garden with a plan very similar to that of the Taj Mahal, but on a much smaller scale. A small hunting palace near Agra called Lal Mahal inspired Hamilton Gardens' Char Bagh garden.
Italian Renaissance gardens evolved from many sources, particularly the Arab garden tradition, although Islamic symbolism was given a Christian interpretation. Another major influence was the revival of interest in ancient cultures, with Renaissance designers constantly trying to emulate and surpass the achievements of ancient Greece and Rome.
This included accommodating reproductions of antique sculptures or antique figures, such as the original 5th century Capitoline wolf with Romulus and Remus in an Italian garden. Two infants, Romulus and Remus, were thrown into the Tiber River, which carried them to the Platine, where they were nursed by a she-wolf and then raised by shepherds.
Renaissance gardens were also an evolution of medieval gardens, and many of the earlier elements have been retained, such as high enclosures, flat square beds with planted edges, simple beds, ornate lawns and arched latticework. The main distinction of the Renaissance garden was the introduction of a strong central axis and the discovery of linear perspective as a link between the main buildings and the different parts of the garden. The garden is divided into compartments that can be named, closed and hidden to create an unfolding sequence of spaces. The axis organizes and unifies the entire composition.
Geometry was seen as a reflection of the divine and cosmic order, and many Renaissance studies focused on trying to find geometric patterns in nature and then attempting to reconstruct this codified order in architecture, art, urban planning and gardens. A succession of theologians, beginning with St. Augustine, believed that numbers and proportions were divined and that the secret canon could be partially deduced from the Bible. Art and science were closely related, and the study of proportion and the human figure created a framework for perspective, proportion, symmetry, and the classical order of geometric forms, circles and triangles. These tables provide the base grid for the Hamilton Garden example.
The Italian Renaissance Garden
The Italian Renaissance Garden
The Italian Renaissance Garden
The Italian Renaissance Garden
The Italian Renaissance Garden
The Italian Renaissance Garden
The Italian Renaissance Garden
The Italian Renaissance Garden
The Italian Renaissance Garden is under re-vamp.
Good photos & interesting narrative...
Persian - Mughal details informative...
Thanks for sharing, friend @OliverKIWI
Best regards
