Schlossgarten Heidelberg

The Schlossgarten Heidelberg stretches across the slope behind the castle ruins, marked by a stone terrace that once held the Hortus Palatinus. In the early seventeenth century, Elector Frederick the Fifth commissioned this garden for his wife, Elizabeth Stuart. He wanted a masterpiece to rival the finest gardens in Europe. Engineers blasted and leveled the steep hillside, creating artificial platforms to hold exotic plants and intricate water features. Work stopped abruptly when war broke out, leaving the elaborate project unfinished and vulnerable to the elements.