In garden research, Spanish and Portuguese green spaces are scarcely visible. This is a striking contrast not only to their diversity and quality but also to the global network of both countries, especially during the Early Modern period. To counterbalance this, specialists from Spain, Portugal and Germany gathered in 2021 on an international and interdisciplinary conference. In the Portuguese Palace of Queluz they discussed the fundamental issues of garden art on the Iberian Peninsula. Their contributions are collected in this book. They are proof of a cross-border transcultural approach, which has freed itself from ­national stereotypes. Also, it addresses insights which have been derived from the cultural interaction across the centuries and the different epochs of garden art.

This volume approaches the history of water in the Iberian Peninsula in a novel way, by linking it to the ongoing international debate on water crisis and solutions to overcome the lack of water in the Mediterranean. What water devices were found? What were the models for these devices? How were they distributed in the villas and monastic enclosures? What impact did hydraulic theoretical knowledge have on these water systems, and how could these systems impact on hydraulic technology? Guided by these questions, this book covers the history of water in the most significant cities, the role of water in landscape transformation, the irrigation systems and water devices in gardens and villas, and, lastly, the theoretical and educational background on water management and hydraulics in the Iberian Peninsula between the sixteenth and the nineteenth centuries. Historiography on water management in the territory that is today Spain has highlighted the region’s role as a mediator between the Islamic masters of water and the Christian world. The history of water in Portugal is less known, and it has been taken for granted that is similar to its neighbour. This book compares two countries that have the same historical roots and, therefore, many similar stories, but at the same time, offers insights into particular aspects of each country. It is recommended for scholars and researchers interested in any field of history of the early modern period and of the nineteenth century, as well as general readers interested in studies on the Iberian Peninsula, since it was the role model for many settlements in South America, Asia and Africa.

The Middle Ages was a time of great upheaval - the period between the seventh and fourteenth centuries saw great social, political and economic change. The radically distinct cultures of the Christian West, Byzantium, Persian-influenced Islam, and al-Andalus resulted in different responses to the garden arts of antiquity and different attitudes to the natural world and its artful manipulation. Yet these cultures interacted and communicated, trading plants, myths and texts. By the fifteenth century the garden as a cultural phenomenon was immensely sophisticated and a vital element in the way society saw itself and its relation to nature. A Cultural History of Gardens in the Medieval Age presents an overview of the period with essays on issues of design, types of gardens, planting, use and reception, issues of meaning, verbal and visual representation of gardens, and the relationship of gardens to the larger landscape.

From Italy to Switzerland, Germany to Spain, and Philadelphia to New Orleans, Anne Sinkler Whaley LeClercq describes the beauty of different historic gardens in this collection of essays. A Grand Tour of Gardens: Traveling in Beauty through Western Europe and the United States showcases her excursions to historic gardens around the world. Through her own experiences LeClercq enables the garden adventurer to anticipate the world of color, design, and horticulture in each magnificent garden described here. The essays in A Grand Tour of Gardens are filled with history, plant lore, anecdote, and high-society gossip of the most famous public and private gardens of the United States and Europe. A Grand Tour of Gardens begins with an essay by LeClercq's mother, the late Emily Whaley. "Gardening as Art and Entertainment" discusses Whaley's iconic garden on Church Street in Charleston, South Carolina, and its other gardens that she knew and describes here. For every garden visited, LeClercq vividly details new combinations of horticultural art forms and enlivens the reader's imagination. Traveling to Claude Monet's Garden at Giverny, France; Frederick Law Olmstead's Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina; and the garden of Beatrice Rothschild on the Cote d'Azure, LeClercq features these gardens in words and illustrations. A Grand Tour of Gardens serves as a roadmap for viewing gardens worldwide and provides a set of rubrics for assessing design elements of each garden. The tips shared in these essays provide a visitor with the tools for deciphering the "language" of a nursery. In eight fun-filled chapters, A Grand Tour of Gardens takes the reader on a worldwide visit to the discovery of historic gardens as a source of art, inspiration, and entertainment.

In Gardens of the Roman Empire, the pioneering archaeologist Wilhelmina F. Jashemski sets out to examine the role of ancient Roman gardens in daily life throughout the empire. This study, therefore, includes for the first time, archaeological, literary, and artistic evidence about ancient Roman gardens across the entire Roman Empire from Britain to Arabia. Through well-illustrated essays by leading scholars in the field, various types of gardens are examined, from how Romans actually created their gardens to the experience of gardens as revealed in literature and art. Demonstrating the central role and value of gardens in Roman civilization, Jashemski and a distinguished, international team of contributors have created a landmark reference work that will serve as the foundation for future scholarship on this topic. An accompanying digital catalogue will be made available at: www.gardensoftheromanempire.org.

This study describes and explains the revolutionary changes which transformed the agricultural life of the Islamicized world in the four centuries following the early Arab conquests. Professor Watson discusses eighteen crops - from sorghum and rye to the watermelon - which spread through the Near East and North Africa during this period. Their origins, diffusion and uses are reviewed. The book investigates the mechanics of diffusion, the routes by which plants spread, and the processes by which they were acclimatized in their new environment. The social and economic history of agriculture in the medieval Islamic world is assessed in a review of wide importance. Professor Watson sets out to refute the view that the early Islamic period was one of agricultural decline in the Near East. He shows that, in contrast to the late Roman and Sasanian periods, it was a time of agricultural and demographic expansion. Agricultural innovation in the early Islamic world will be of interest to economic, social and agricultural historians and to those concerned with Islam and its effect on Africa and Asia.