Green Treasure Chambers - Plant Collections as an Integral Part of Historical Gardens
From the mid-16th century onwards, with the establishment of the first botanical gardens in Italy, a completely new form of garden emerged. For the first time, plants were systematically cultivated in gardens based on their potential uses as medicinal remedies. Initially, native plants were used for research and teaching, but over time, more and more non-native plants from increasingly distant countries were introduced. Sources documenting the emergence of the first plant collections in courtly gardens can be traced back to a hundred years earlier. These collections were initially part of princely collections, prestige objects that enhanced the fame of their owners. One of the few still existing former princely plant collections is cultivated to this day in the parks and greenhouses of the Austrian Federal Gardens in Vienna and Innsbruck. Created by the emperors of the House of Habsburg, it has been the botanical collection of the Republic of Austria since 1918. The history of this plant collection is a story of a passion for collecting, adventurous expeditions and courageous research travellers, diligent and talented court gardeners, plants as symbols of power and decorative objects, economic interests and political supremacy, colonialism and slavery, but also about the preservation of gardening craftsmanship, public inclusion, modern species protection, and scientific networks.
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