Seite - 444 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Band 1

Chapter 9444 Neugebäude in April 1585, noticed ‘parterres faicts a chifres et armaris’, that is flowerbeds formed as monograms and coats of arms. It is surrounded by walls articulated by piers or pilasters, whereas the sustaining walls of the terraces were provided with round-headed wall niches, possibly intended for the col- location of sculptures. Some remains found during the excavation show that initially waterworks of some sort were planned at either end of these long ter- races, but these were never executed. The third element of the complex is situated on top of the plateau to the south of the entrance courtyard. It consists of a huge enclosure of 375 × 335 meters, entirely surrounded by a crenelated wall of over five meters high. This wall is interrupted at regular intervals and at the corners by in total ten round towers topped by peaked roofs. In the centre of its southern wall a tower-like pavilion topped by three similar pointed roofs, now demolished, once housed the pump works designed to feed the fountains. The outer section of this enclosure was planted with trees, but its centre, immediately adjoining the en- trance courtyard, was filled by a second enclosure, the inner garden, an ample rectangle of 196 x 155 meters. The four corners of this giardino segreto were marked by huge hexago- nal towers of three levels, topped by cupola’s surrounded by a narrow walk- way marked by pinnacles placed at the angles: they are clearly recognizable in Valckenborgh’s painting. The excavation has shown that the tower in the north-east corner was slightly larger than the others. They were largely finished by the end of 1570, since by that time their roofs had been covered in copper from Neusohl (now Banská Bystrica in Slovakia). The towers were connected on three sides of the rectangle by arcades carried on stone columns, topped with flat walkways, ‘Spatziergang oben auff den Schwibbogen’. Figure 9.19 The green tunnel at the Villa d’Este in Tivoli, detail from an engraving after Etienne du Pérac (1571). Figure 9.20 Hans Vredeman de Vries, design for garden labyrinth, ca 1587. Figure 9.18 Andreas Altmann, Design for the frame of a green tunnel for the garden at Prague Castle, 1563 and detail from an anonymous plan of the garden.