Franziska's little village
Remains of a garden of artificial ruins begun in 1776.
More than thirty hectares of garden wrap around Hohenheim Palace on the southern edge of Stuttgart. They form the campus of the University of Hohenheim today and are open to the public free of charge at any hour. There are three parts, the Exotic Garden, the Landscape Garden and the Botanical Garden, and together they hold something over eight thousand plant species. The oldest section is the Exotic Garden, which Duke Carl Eugen of Wuerttemberg began laying out in 1776 for Franziska von Hohenheim. What he built was among the strangest gardens of its century: about sixty scenes scattered across the grounds, artificial Roman ruins, mock village houses, temples and hermits' huts, known in their day as Franziska's little village. Most of those buildings have vanished and only a few ruins and the plantings remain. Together with the Landscape Garden it forms the State Arboretum of Baden-Wuerttemberg, holding around two thousand five hundred woody plant taxa. Entry is free, unrestricted and without opening hours. The veteran trees are the real pleasure here and an hour and a half covers a gentle circuit. The two finest moments of the year are the spring blossom and the colour of October. Remember that this is a working university campus, so some parcels are fenced research plots you cannot walk into. There is a canteen and a cafe on campus, but both are thin at weekends, so carry your own water.
Remains of a garden of artificial ruins begun in 1776.
Around two thousand five hundred kinds of tree and shrub.
Garbenstrasse 30, 70599 Stuttgart
Partly. The Botanical Garden section has glasshouses with limited hours and sometimes a charge, but the great majority of the thirty hectares is open parkland and arboretum you can walk into whenever you like for nothing. Check the university site only if the glasshouses are your goal.
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