Journal Analele Banatului N.S. Archaeology-History

Lajos Kakucs

De la Fântâna Paşei de pe lângă Mănăstirea Dervişilor până la Parcul Rozelor. Contribuţii la istoria parcurilor din Timişoara / From the Pacha’s Fountain near the Dervishes’ Monastery to the Park of Roses. Contributions to the History of the Parks in Timişoara

Jan. 1, 2015

Abstract

It is not only in the conscience of the people living in Timişoara, the town located along the Bega, that for more than a century it has been generally known as the town of parks and gardens. Especially during the latest decades there have been more or less documented studies related to the history of more important parks such as the activity of some gardener dynasties: Niemetz, Mühle and Agátsy from Timişoara. The goal of our work is to chronologically present the main stages defining the history of the parks from Timişoara strictly connected to the demands of urban life. Aiming to find a reference to the existence of some parks or gardens around the medieval fortress of the town, we review the secondary information concerning the 14th and 15th centuries and we also analyse the town’s engravings from the 17th century highlighting a noble residence, Adelsitz or Lustschloss. Regarding the first decades of the Habsburg domination, we analyse the archive and cartographic information referring not only to the gardens, which were often smaller, used by the members of the civil and military administration of the province, but also to the citizens‘ summer gardens at the edge of the town. Whether, starting with mid 19th century, marked by the emergence of the first public parks, Coronini and Scudier, the military element was essential in the foundation of modern parks, after the development of some associations such as the „Association of park lovers” from Iosefin and the one supporting the Scudier Park, the town’s citizens started to take care of the supervision and development of green spaces. In the second half of the 19th century we notice the first larger commercial gardens in Timişoara. Their owners, three families, Niemetz, Mühle and Agátsy, have an essential role in the transformation of the town into a town of parks and gardens. Mihai Demetrovici, the new director of the town’s Green Spaces after 1919, together with Árpád Mühle and János Agátsy, became very important in the creation of the Park of Roses from Timişoara, as well as in the publication of a trilingual monthly magazine between 1922 and 1935, Bursa Horticolă Română/ Rumänischen Gartenbörse/ Román Kertészeti Tőzsde/The Romanian Horticultural Stock, an agency of the „Romanian Horticultural Society, Timişoara branch”. The separate chapters present the economic and cultural role of gardens and parks in the life of the town.