Ever since the Middle Ages, Saint Michael’s Church has dominated the main square of Cluj-Napoca. The urban open space was shaped by the church. For centuries, the ensemble of church and open space served sacral, social and political functions. Its dimensions have not changed fundamentally over time, but the spatial proportions, and especially the church’s appearance and visual role have been constantly modified, depending on the degree of built-up area and the nature of the use of space. In connection with the church conservation on the agenda, we have to clarify the role of the church garden, its significance related to townscape and function. Based on the analysis of the historical townscape, it is clear that within the garden’s conservation design, the goal was to balance the townscape appearance, the proportions of church and urban open space. The open space’s spirit is change itself; ever since the Middle Ages, the relationship between the church and the urban open space, the latter’s appearance, and within that the church’s environment have been modified time and again. Freeing the church in the late 19^th century from the ring of merchant and market houses has resulted in an almost sterile environment. However, the use of the urban open space, the ordering of the relationship between the church and the open space, and the breakdown of functions required the church garden’s vertically articulated presentation, beyond the one in a planar manner. The evergreens planted in the mid-20^th century are favourable spatial elements within the townscape ensemble, as with their slender crowns, they confer lightness to the church’s massive volume. Our historical urban open spaces change in the same way as the town itself changes, develops, and expands. Natural elements must be once again given space, even in urban areas. In the case of the church in the main square of Cluj-Napoca, the trees that embody time, change, and the majesty of nature, enhance the urban open space’s liveability and substance, but the visual effect, which they lend to the church’s volume, is as important. 

Keywords: historical urban open space, church garden, Saint Michael’s Church, Cluj-Napoca

Both built elements and works of art have an important role in the artistic design of manor house parks’ spatial structure. Sculptures, as emphasised visual elements, not only organize or structure garden spaces, not only delight us by their shapes and proportions or produce dramatic contrast effects, but in most cases carry symbolic contents as well. Due to their art historical significance, as well as the messages and allusions they carry through their underlying contents, they have a strong atmospheric and emotional role as well. The article presents the outcomes resulting from the historic research and field survey of the sculptures found in more than a hundred Transylvanian manor house parks. 

Keywords: historic garden, garden design, Transylvanian manor house garden, sculpture

The article inventories the historical gardens of the Călata Region, respectively the plots of preserved, ruinous or endangered manor houses, mansions, and manors, their vegetation and unique landscape historical features, listing them in three categories based on their significance. During her personal filed walks in about 90 settlements, the author has found several unpublished or barely published historical sites, which may have a varied degree of impact on the evolution of the settlements’ historical landscapes, and which in our fast-pacing world might fallvictim in minutes to property developments or dispersion. The article focuses on garden design and conscious landscaping interventions with an inventory-like character, with short descriptions referring to historical evolution and state of preservation, map sketches, and the publication of a rich archival and present-day photographic material. In the list containing 40 sites, we would like to highlight the Szepessy Villa and dendrologic park in Jebucu, the garden of the Barcsay Manor House in Huedin, the Telegdy Garden in Alunișu, the villas in Suceagu, the Gallus Villa in Gilău, respectively several smaller buildings, groves, and gardens from the turn and the middle of the 20^th century. 

Keywords: Historical gardens, landscape history, unique landscape values, Călata Region

This article presents several landmarks from the history of the buildings and landscape design of the Wesselényi Manor House Park in Jibou (Sălaj Co.), highlighting at the same time the compositional characteristics of the various stages it has been through: from a formal, geometric landscape design, documented in the 19^th century, to a mixed style one, documented at the beginning of the 20^th century and to the recent elements, after the second half of the 20^th century, created when it received the overlapping function of botanical garden. The park is listed as historic ensemble in the 2004 and 2010 Historic Buildings’ List. The current image of the former historical garden (with a small surface compared to the surface of the botanical garden ensemble) refers to period compositional principles interpreted in new ways using relatively recent vegetal material, while a series of the valuable elements belonging to the former landscape design have been lost. The article describes the main built and landscaped elements of the ensemble, the relationships developed between them and with the settlement, respectively with the surrounding landscape, as they were observed by the author in the summer of 2007, in an effort to sketch a brief inventory of the ensemble’s current state. 

Keywords: Residential historic garden, botanical garden, geometric style design, mixed style design, from 18^th to 21^st centuries

At the turn of the 19^th century and during the following decades, urban public gardens were established sequentially all throughout Europe. The Pest City Park, Stadtwäldchen by its contemporary official German name, is of paramount importance among them. Its significance lies in the fact that it is the world’s first public garden of this scale, established by a city on its own property, at its own expense, for its own burghers, by selecting the designer based on a competition. The commission was won in 1813 by Heinrich NEBBIEN, who completed the work by 1815. The public garden in Pest – regarding its essential elements, spatial structure, vegetation, water surfaces, and walkway system – was built based on his designs between 1816 and 1832. NEBBIEN’s creation is also significant, because the City Park was one of the most beautiful public gardens of the age, maybe even the most beautiful one. 

Keywords: City Park, public garden, Heinrich NEBBIEN, Classical landscape garden, Romantic garden, structural analysis, spatial structure, history of garden design, landscape architecture