The Garden of Nové Dvory Castle: where Baroque heritage meets modern living.

The project for the garden at Nové Dvory Castle interprets the regeneration of the historic landscape as an act of conservation through transformation. Of the original Baroque layout, which has now been partly absorbed into the urban fabric, the castle, the Church of St Anne, the greenhouses, fountains and pathways remain. These fragments are capable of restoring the garden's profound historical significance. Building on these elements, the project aims to restore the garden’s original significance while updating it. The garden’s key features are preserved as markers of memory and reimagined for modern use, forging a meaningful link between the past and the present.

The geometry of the 17th-century parterres is reinterpreted as a habitable topographical imprint. The ancient sections have been lowered by around 40 cm relative to the paths, revealing the historical layout without the need for the reconstruction of broderies and high-maintenance formal hedges. The same intervention transforms the parterres into rain gardens that can collect and slow down rainwater, promoting infiltration and creating varied humidity and biodiversity conditions.

The garden design fuses Baroque elements such as axes, perspectives, monumental trees, topiary and green screens with a modern framework comprising shrubs, herbaceous plants, flower-filled meadows, tall grass meadows and wetland habitats. The result is a dynamic, resilient and easy-to-maintain landscape in which historical heritage and ecological function go hand in hand.

The historic axes have been reactivated without recreating what has disappeared. The ancient Castello–Sant’Anna axis has become a large, habitable backdrop of hornbeam interspersed with gateways, niches, seating, and play features. A new axis has been created towards the centre of the available area, establishing a new focal point. The stage, fountain and grotto-nymphaeum are situated along this layout. These new spatial features are integrated into the vegetation and are capable of hosting events, play and socialising, as well as providing respite from the heat.

The traditional division of spaces into ornamental gardens, productive areas and more private zones is reinterpreted with the addition of the Science Gardens. These comprise a rose garden, vegetable plots, orchards, educational pergolas and a multifunctional strip modelled on the layout of old greenhouses. Thus, the aristocratic garden becomes a public, productive and educational landscape.

The project is conceived as an incremental masterplan. At the regional level, the same principles extend to neighbouring Kačina, where avenues, woodlands, leisure routes and landscape connections are being revitalised. The castle gardens will once again become the heart of a wider cultural landscape where history, ecology, and contemporary life reinforce each other.