Classical approach to architecture and the art of gardening Klassikaline arhitektuurikäsitlus ja aiakunst

Abstract

The article below is based on the materials of Professor John David Tatter (Birmingham- Southern College, Alabama), the National Trust and travel experience to be used for a talk on a study trip to an English park in 2006.

The park at Stowe near Buckingham is one of the most remarkable examples of English landscape art in the 18^th century. Although it has been said that the park, whose history dates back to the late 1500s, can offer no dramatic experience today, its extensive, 300- hectare grounds provide numerous beautiful and breathtaking views and feature more than forty outstanding monuments and park buildings. The park is special as it was praised by many famous poets, for example William Congreve, Alexander Pope, James Thomson and Gilbert West. The beautiful pavilions, bridges and temples created by the great men of English landscape art James Gibbs, William Kent and John Vanbrugh impart it a special charm. The milieu of the park is created by the superb landscaping by Charles Bridgeman and Lancelot „Capability” Brown, which is still enjoyable after all those decades.