Károlyi Kastely
8052 Fehérvárcsurgó, Petőfi u 2
György Károlyi (1802-1877) a pre-eminent figure of the first half of the 19th century had this landscape garden, stretching around the stately home in Fehérvárcsurgó (built in 1844, 80 km away from Budapest), built, based on the designs of architect Heinrich Koch from Vienna. József Károlyi (1884-1934), György's grandson had the garden re-built in the early 1910s with the help of landscape gardener János Hein. Although the garden was left to deteriorate between 1945 and 1990, it still carries the stylistic features of the two notable architectural periods (the 1840-50s and the 1910s). The part of the garden lying north-east of the stately home is a late variant of the classical period of landscape gardening, and the main walkways of the area's road system are the same as those of the 19th century survey. The part of the garden south-west of the castle was only included in the flower garden at the beginning of the 20th century, therefore here the walkways of this area can still be found. The road system, however, follows the shaping designs of the classical painting style. However, the area south-east of the castle, also designed by Hein, is a terraced garden, and it is a brilliant example of neo-baroque space shaping.
The park is now under environmental and historical monument protection, yet just these facts do not ensure its existence, it is constantly using up its inner space and getting more and more dense which results in the destruction of historical treasures. It had become necessary to completely renovate the garden - including structural reconstruction, restoration of its road system and other artificial elements, renewing and propagating its flora.
There were several stages of restoration. The “cour d'honneur's” reconstruction took place in 2005-2006. The second stage focused on the north-eastern part of the flower-garden sections, a one-time almost 100-acre garden, of which around 40 acres are forested (the one-time warren). Within the framework of the project, the terrace of the football pitch built in the 1960s was removed, and the gentle slope of the lightly forested ground in front of the stately home was reconstructed. Within this project, ended in the middle of 2015, the pondis was excavated and the water control constructs restored. On the island the gloriett was re-built. This hemisphere-topped building supported by 8 slim columns is one of the most notable pieces of the garden. The project incorporates the reconstruction of the road system and bridges, as well as the re-opening of the old sight lines.
The plans for reconstruction are based on the source and field research revealing the history of the garden, in order to correspond to the guidelines of Hungarian and international historic monument and heritage protection. In the current project, the reconstruction is implemented by uncovering the multiple-crusted, historically certifiable garden layers, preserving the historical treasures of the garden and bearing in mind historical authenticity at all times.
Tags
French garden, English garden
Access
From Budapest - By train, from South Railway Station to Szekesfehervar (train every hours) then bus n°15 or taxi (a taxi can be sent on request). By car M7 until Székesfehérvár and then 81 highroad
