The French Garden

A Listed Garden Memorial Park

The French Garden was probably named after the French gardeners Henri Péronnet (from 1670) and René Dahuron (1690-1701), who were in the service of the Duke of Celle, George William. Dahuron was responsible for the creation of the first complete kitchen and pleasure garden, in the Court Garden tradition of the early 17th century.

In the years 1695 and 1696 a double avenue of lime trees was planted and gave the garden a dominant central axis from east to west, that still exists today (the Lime avenue was completely renewed between 1951 and 1953).

In 1705 Celle lost its function as a Ducal Residence town. The garden was neglected and only in 1772 blossomed for a short time once more under a Court gardener named Krantz. The reason was the exile of the Danish Queen Caroline Mathilde to Celle. An original square pond area was converted into the round pond that still exists today.

Also in the French Garden is the monument to Caroline Mathilde, created by the distinguished painter and sculptor Adam Friedrich Oeser.  It was created in 1784 at the suggestion of the Knighthood and Estates. An urn with the portrait of Caroline Mathilde stands on a pedestal, a female figure, symbol of innocence, crowns the vessel with a laurel wreath and palm branches.

Afterwards, there were once more shortcomings concerning the Park’s maintenance. The little summer house with its thatched roof built for the Queen on the east side of the park was demolished once more, in 1801. It was only under Malortie, the dedicated Hanoverian chief Court Marshall and in line with the plans by Schaumburg, the noted Hanoverian Gardens Inspector, that it was gradually transformed into an English landscape park in the middle of the 19th century.

After the 1st World War, a children's playground was created on the eastern side of the park, which still exists today and a small rose garden on the western side (which was replanted in 1996).  In 1927 a section of the northern part of the garden was partitioned and on this site,  the Regional Institute for Bee Research was founded, today the LAVES - Institute for Apiculture.

Since then, the French Garden has become a protected, listed Memorial Park.

Through gradual renovation work and as part of ongoing mainenance, the historical landscape park of 1860, so worthy of protection, will be restored to its orginal condition.