The three major systems of classical gardens in the world

Before the 18th century, almost all countries in the world had their own gardens. Gardens of various different styles formed the three major systems of China, West Asia and ancient Greece. system.

Gardening activities in West Asia began in ancient Persia (now Iran) and affected all Islamic regions such as Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Spain and Arabia. The dry climate, arid and desert environment of West Asia and North Africa allows people to only manage a small oasis in their own gardens. In their minds, water and green shade are particularly precious. They think that the "Paradise of Heaven" (Garden of Eden) is a large garden with gurgling water, green trees and flowers, and beautiful music echoing in the temple. Therefore, Arabs are accustomed to using fences or walls to form square and flat gardens to facilitate clear boundaries between nature and man-made ones. The garden is laid out in the shape of a "field" and is divided into four areas using vertical and horizontal axes. The axis is built as a cross-lined avenue with a central pool at the intersection to symbolize heaven. Later, the role of water was continuously exerted, and it evolved from a single central pool into various open channels, underground ditches and fountains, and they were interconnected. The application of this water method later profoundly affected the gardens of various European countries.

In the 5th century BC, ancient Greece gradually imitated Persian gardening art, and introduced and cultivated many famous Persian flowers and exotic plants in the original fruit and vegetable garden. It eventually developed into a garden surrounded by residences, with a central It is a green space with a colonnade garden with regular layout. Later, Greek garden art was inherited by Rome. They developed the Greek colonnaded gardens into large-scale mountain manor gardens. They not only inherited the regular axis layout with buildings as the main body, but also introduced the appearance of pruned trees and hedges, and geometric shapes. flowerbeds, and a labyrinth of shaped hedges. During the Renaissance, European gardens took a new leap forward. The former vegetable gardens and small green spaces in the castle have been transformed into large-scale villa estates. Everything in the park highlights the artificial arrangement, and the layout is square and regular. It is completely different from the sparse and free natural environment outside the park, which fully demonstrates the achievements of mankind in conquering nature. The building and the central axis of the Chongtai Pavilion are the main body and axis of the whole garden. Combined with the mountain terrain, water is diverted from the mountain to the mountain for enjoying the cool weather. There are also fountains and ponds decorated with statues, and cascading waterfalls.

The Palace of Versailles in Paris is a universally recognized masterpiece of European classical gardens. The total area of ??the garden is 1,500 hectares, equivalent to a quarter of the urban area of ??Paris at that time. The central axis of the garden is 3 kilometers long and intersects perpendicularly with the 400-meter-long palace main building located on a high slope. The first half of the central axis is a cross-shaped water channel, with flower beds, fountains, ponds and statues dotted on both sides. There are no walls around the garden, so that the greenery inside the garden is connected with the fields outside the garden, and a series of scenery arrangements in the garden are strictly symmetrical with the central axis. The Palace of Versailles was built in 1661 by Louis XIV after he came to dominate Europe. It lasted for a hundred years and consumed six-tenths of the national tax. The magnificent Palace of Versailles reflects the supremacy of sovereignty everywhere, but it also fully demonstrates the simple and bold unique style of French gardens.

Eastern gardens, represented by Chinese landscape gardens, are completely different from Western gardens. Chinese landscape gardens express natural beauty, and the layout form is characterized by freedom, change, and twists and turns. It requires that the scenery originates from nature and is higher than nature, so that artificial beauty and natural beauty can be integrated into one, so that "although it is made by humans, it appears to be created by nature." As a result, a unique style of natural landscape garden was formed.