The history of Lövstabruks gardens

Lövstabruk was once one of the world´s leading iron works, it was once Swedens largest iron works with a heritage going back to the middle ages. From the 1640´s thirteen generations of the de Geer family have owned Lövstabruk.

Like many other parks and gardens the grounds at Lövstabruk have changed appearance over the years. The Dutch origins of the de Geer family have left their mark on the layout of the gardens and through the years a multifaceted layering of styles following the fashions of the ages have been incorporated into the grounds.

The first Renaissance style garden
The first garden installed at Lövstabruk is thought to date from the second half of the 1600s. It had obvious influences from the Dutch Renaissance fashions of the age. Within a large square area a kitchen garden was combined with formal garden beds. The beds were divided up with pathways between. The central four beds were given over to flowers while the outer beds were reserved for cultivating cabbages, herbs and medicinal plants. The area was decorated with tall white obelisks, statues and four pergolas. The view of the garden from that period can be seen in an oil painting from 1660´s, a couple of maps dated 1687 and a plan from the same year made by the foreman Evert Wijnhaegen.

The second garden in Baroque style
The Dutch renaissance style was changed during the 1700s when the new owner Charles de Geer chose to develop the works and build the Manor house and grounds a little further to the south. The garden kept its central location but was divided into three seperate parts; the kitchen garden, the park and the formal garden. The Baroque had made its entrance to Lövstabruk and with it came a new attitude to gardens and gardening. Closest to the Manor was the formal garden, it contained parterre de broderie, topiary and formal avenues. A stone built orangery was built for winter storage of exotics such as oranges, myrtles, lemons, baytrees and pineapples. These were placed out in the park during the summers.

Lövstbruk is burnt down
Like many places along the Baltic coast Lövstabruk was affected by the Russian pillages of 1719. The whole works was left in ruins and the Manor grounds were badly affected. During the 1730´s nearly the whole site was rebuilt after the destruction. The third works was built according the same ground plan as the previous one. From 1735 a large greenhouse was added to complement the orangery and smaller greenhouse. The gardens kept their three separate parts, the kitchen garden, park and formal garden.

Flowering borders in “wallpaper patterns”
By the end of the 1800s the French Baroque garden went out of fashion and the garden was given a makeover, this time in German style. Plants were imported from far and wide and many exotic trees and bushes were planted in the park. Winding gravel paths and flowering borders creating the so called “wallpaper patterns” were installed. The ground keeping and renewal of the park around 1900 was the responsibility of the head gardener Johan Olof Strindberg (the brother of the author August Strindberg). Under Strindberg the kitchen garden in Lövstabruk was all encompassing, several simple greenhouses were built as well as a raised bed area where both cold frames and hotbeds were used for cultivating vegetables. The greenhouse contained an enormous diversity of plants including grapes, peaches, apricots and hundreds of varieties of orchids.

The grounds today
The grounds to be seen at present in Lövstabruk are a reconstruction of the baroque gardens and were installed by the landscape designer and architect Walter Bauer in 1970-71 from drawings by A.F. Barnekow and Emanuel de Geer from 1769. The grounds are not restored completely to the Baroque gardens as they once were but they do incorporate some elements from the era, such as strict geometrical shapes, topiaried hedges, and a fountain. Among the buildings belonging to the garden which still remain is an orangery which is used for concerts, performances, and weddings it was built in 1735. The park and gardens have been managed since 1997 by the National Property Board.