WELCOME TO THE CARTHUSIAN GARDEN

In the late Middle Ages (1378) Carthusian monks founded a monastery to the south of the city. The brothers built a church as well as living quarters and outbuildings. The monastery’s garden forms the basis of today’s garden and where it derives its name from. The monks terraced and landscaped these grounds, where they also created various ponds. The area surrounding the  former monastery’s church forms the centre of the gardens to this present day.

After the monks were driven out in the ‘Eisenach Priest Storm’ on the 24th April 1525 (an attack on church buildings and persons in the context of the Reformation), the monastery was  dissolved. The former monastery garden was then taken over by the dukes. Initially used for pleasure, the garden was later used as a “tree and vegetable garden” and a gardener’s house was  constructed on the ruins of the church around 1700. In 1788, Duke Carl August of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach (1757–1828) had the garden reconfigured into an ornamental garden “according  to the latest taste in gardens”. The garden then served as a botanical garden from 1802 to 1840 under the supervision of the court gardener and botanist, Friedrich Gottlieb Dietrich  (1765–1850). The garden hence provided the illustrative material for his extensive plant lexicon. From 1845 to 1890, the gardens were greatly expanded and redesigned under the supervision  of the court gardener, Hermann Jäger, a well-known author of numerous garden reference books. Around 1900 the garden was filled with native as well as countless exotic trees and shrubs.  Adjacent to the gardener’s house were greenhouses for the propagation and overwintering of plants. In the warmer months, the centre of the grounds was filled with potted plants (including palm trees, agaves, and laurel trees), and even cacti were planted in stone gardens.

Since 1930 the garden has been under city ownership. In 1950 the deer sculpture was installed, which gave the Deer Lawn (Hirschwiese) its name, and in 1960 the heather garden  (Heidegarten) was created. In 1979 the garden became protected as heritage listed. The propagation of all the ornamental plants for the city used to take place in the greenhouses next to the  gardener’s house. These greenhouses had to be removed in the 1990s, and in their place a pergola was erected. The colourful and lavishly designed flower beds around the gardener's house  belong to a 200 year old tradition of decorating the grounds in summer.

So that these grounds retain their beauty, please observe the following rules within the Carthusian Garden (Kartausgarten) and the Gallery (Wandelhalle).

Failure to observe these regulations can result in a fine of up to 5000 Euro.