Leisure in Pressburg at the Turn of 18th and 19th Century in a Mirror of Landscape Painting

After the mid of the 18th century, in relation to the special status of Pressburg as the capital, state parliament and royal city of Hungary, the level of cultural standards also rapidly changed. These changes included the creation of public leisure and walking areas. In 1775 – 1776 the first public garden (Brucken Au) in Central Europe was founded by the city and in the early 1780s a Promenade was also created, outdoor outside the former municipal walls and the moat on the south side of the city. In addition, several private gardens (by the Pálffy and Erdődy families and the Archbishop) were made available to the public. However, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries they were modified in the style of English landscape gardens.
In the early 19th century, with a change to the social and political situation, that trend continued. But this time the motivation for further development was based on the art movements related to the "discovery" and aesthetic appreciation of a landscape. The key to its understanding and replication was its picturesqueness, which invited visitors to discover the open landscapes and free natural areas. This created the first popular places for excursions and picnic grounds in the peri-urban areas that testify that enthusiasm for the country was shared not only by artists, but also by the wider public. Places like Sans Souci, Peaceful Hut, New World, Iron Spring and others have been introduced and not only in topographic literature. Moreover, they have become subjects of promotion with widely duplicated prints.
The development of landscape painting also shows the change of the city view which, from now displays the city as an urban structure, situated within the landscape and the natural environment.