Search Results (11)

A series (n = 22) of glasses from the site Kapucinski vrt (garden of the Capuchin monastery, 5th–17th c. CE) in Koper (Capodistria), a port town in the northern Adriatic, was measured using a combined PIXE and PIGE method. Koper has been continuously populated since the late Roman period, with a rich medieval history, thus offering an opportunity to study Early Medieval glass. Stemmed goblet fragments, in the original publication dated between the 6th–9th centuries CE, and several other vessel types (beakers and flasks or bottles and lamps) were selected for analysis. The measurements were expected to show the trends in glass production and consumption from Late Antiquity until the Middle Ages, notably the transition between natron to plant ash glass and the supply of fresh glass. Among the set of 22 glass vessel fragments, both natron and plant ash glass were identified. For finer classification, we relied on a newly developed method of Euclidean distances with respect to major concentrations. Natron glass of the types Foy 2.1 (9 examples), Magby (2 examples), and Levantine I (Apollonia; 2 examples) was found. Two glasses remain undetermined but testify to an Egyptian origin. Most natron glasses show signs of recycling. Among the three unrecycled glasses (about 20% of the whole set), there are two examples of Levantine glass and a Magby glass lamp; this may indicate a modest supply of fresh glass during the period. Plant ash glass may be attributed to the Early or High Middle Ages, exploiting the purified alkalis of the Levantine coasts (known as alume catino in later Venetian glassmaking), and the admixture of impurities in the siliceous sands suggests the circulation and consumption of glass that was produced and traded in the eastern Mediterranean since the 10th century CE. Full article

Turfgrass has evolved from a fundamental element of natural landscapes to a key component of ornamental, recreational, and ecological systems. This review examines its historical trajectory, from ancient civilizations and medieval monastic gardens to modern urban green spaces, highlighting cultural, technological, and environmental influences. The study integrates historical analysis with agronomic and ecological research to assess turfgrass’s role in soil conservation, carbon sequestration, water management, and biodiversity enhancement. The methodological approach combines a historical–literary review with an analysis of scientific advancements in turfgrass management, focusing on low-input species, precision irrigation, and climate-adaptive strategies. The findings indicate that while turfgrass contributes to urban resilience and ecosystem services, conventional high-maintenance practices pose sustainability challenges. The review underscores the need for multifunctional turfgrass systems that balance aesthetics with ecological benefits. A shift toward eco-friendly management practices will be essential for the long-term sustainability of turfgrass in modern landscapes. Full article

There has been a notable lack of archaeological research into the medieval period in Iberia, particularly in comparison to earlier periods. Consequently, the majority of our current understanding of agricultural practices and plant food sources in this region is derived from textual sources. However, there has been a notable increase in interest in archaeobotanical studies in medieval contexts over the past decade. In this context, this paper presents the results of a study of plant remains from Castillo de Valtierra (Navarre), with the objective of providing insights into agricultural practices and dietary habits during the Islamic period. In this area (the Ebro Valley), the Islamic period is divided as follows: Emiral period 756–929 AD, Caliphal period 929–ca.1012 AD, Taifal period ca.1012–1119 AD. This period was followed by the Christian period from 1119 AD onwards. Samples were collected from a variety of contexts in a systematic manner. A total of 2574 remains were recovered, and 57 taxa were identified. The findings of this study demonstrate that the community that inhabited Valtierra was primarily engaged in agricultural activities and had access to a diverse range of crops sourced from various productive areas, including cereal fields, home gardens, and forests. Full article

This study concerns the characterization of the color palette of Michelino da Besozzo, one of the leading painters and illuminators of the Late Gothic period in Northern Italy. The artist’s relationship with the color blue was investigated by considering the recipe for lapis lazuli given by the artist to Giovanni Alcherio in Venice in 1410 and found in the medieval treatise of Jean Lebegue. The paper highlights this important evidence for the study of painting technique in the first half of the 15th century with an analytical and technical study of two paintings: The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine (Siena, Pinacoteca Nazionale, inv. 171) and The Madonna of the Rose Garden (Verona, Museo di Castelvecchio, inv. 173-1B359). These two case studies were approached through analyses carried out with non-invasive and portable techniques such as Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (ED-XRF) spectroscopy and Fiber Optics Reflectance Spectroscopy (FORS). The results show a color palette based on ultramarine, azurite, verdigris or copper resinate; earths, cinnabar or vermillion; and lead white, yellow and red ochre and lac. These preliminary results made it possible to clarify certain aspects of the artist’s style and his painting technique and identify common elements between the two works of art. Full article

In central Italy, the Charterhouse of Calci hosts the Natural History Museum of the University of Pisa. This monumental monastery was founded in 1366 by Carthusian monks. The Charterhouse has experienced various transformations over the centuries, until its abandonment in the 1970s. Since 2018, interdisciplinary archaeological research focused on the monks’ gardens (and particularly: the Prior’s, the Apothecary’s, and the Master’s garden) and the green spaces outside the cloister walls, consisting of courtyards and orchards, to determine the individual (gardens) and collective (green spaces and surrounding woods) practices adopted by Carthusians. Palynology and archaeobotany have allowed to reconstruct the plant biodiversity, with flowers and ornamental, aromatic, and medicinal herbs that grew in the gardens, as well as the management of local hilly woods and agricultural practices, including the cultivation of fruit trees, such as chestnut, olive tree, almond tree, and grapevine. Our research has been based on a solid theoretical approach, interpreting archaeological and archaeobotanical data in relation to the intricate network of human and non-human connections. Gardens are seen as a co-creation made together by human and non-human agencies, and their diachronic transformation is read as an expression of personalities of the monks, feelings, and connections with nature and divinity. Full article

This article seeks to shed light on the doctrinal meanings of the closed garden included in some Renaissance paintings of the Annunciation. To justify the iconographic interpretations that we will give of these paintings, we will base them on the analysis of many medieval liturgical hymns that poetically designate the Virgin Mary through the metaphorical expression hortus conclusus (closed garden) with which the Husband or Bridegroom requisites the Wife or Bride in the Song of Songs. We will divide our article into two parts as a strategy for analysis. First, we will analyze an extensive series of fragments of liturgical hymns that repeatedly praise Mary through this biblical metaphor. In the second part, we will examine some artistic representations of the Annunciation that, in the Italian Renaissance, depict a closed garden in the scene. From this double comparative analysis, textual and iconic, we will conclude that, in direct and essential correlation, those hymnic texts and those paintings clearly illustrate that the hortus conclusus is an eloquent symbol of the virginal divine motherhood of Mary and her perpetual virginity, as well as the excellence and fullness of her supernatural virtues and privileges. Full article

Domestic gardens provide residents with immediate access to landscape amenities and numerous ecological provisions. These ecological provisions have been proven to be largely determined by greenspace composition and landscape, but the fragmentation and heterogeneity of garden environments present challenges to greenspace mapping. Here, we first developed a recognition method to create a garden parcel data set in the medieval Leuven city of Belgium, based on the land use layers and agricultural land parcels. Then, we applied multi-sourced satellite imagery to evaluate the added value of spatial resolution, plant phenology and 3D structure in identifying four vegetation types. Finally, we characterized the greenspace landscapes in garden parcels. Compared with single ALOS-2 imagery, SPOT-7 imagery and Pleiades-1A imagery increased the overall accuracy by 4% and 8%, respectively. The accuracy improvement (21%) produced from multi-temporal stereo Pleiades-1A imagery strongly verified the significance of plant phenology and 3D structure in garden mapping. The average greenspace cover in garden parcels was 71% but varied from 56% in urban gardens to 82% in rural gardens. The garden greenspace landscape is fragmented by the artificial structures in urban areas but has a more aggregated size and less complex shapes in rural areas. This study calls for greater attention to be paid to gardens, and for multi-disciplinary studies conducted in collaboration with urban ecologists and landscape designers to maximize the benefits to residents of both immediate landscape amenities and ecological provisions, in the face of global environmental changes and public health risks. Full article

The research of the urban morphology of Zagreb in the second half of the 19th century was done with the intention of showing the importance of inherited urban morphology and the importance of urban identity factors at a time when preparations are being made for reconstruction after the 2020 earthquake. The research was performed on the basis of old maps and plans and previous research on urban development. The medieval town of Zagreb began to develop in a planned manner in the second half of the 19th century. The orthogonal street grid in the new town built in the 19th century and called the Lower Town—were the result of urban utopian times and the first written legislation on urban planning (1857), the first development plan (1864/1865), and a second development plan (1887/1889). The concept for the urban design of the Lower Town has three distinct themes: an orthogonal street grid, public parks and squares and public buildings. The series of public spaces, consisting of seven squares and the Botanical Gardens, became a landmark pattern in the urban morphology of Zagreb at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. This urban pattern, as a lasting value, remains the main landmark for any new architectural and urban interventions in the town historic part. Full article

Gardening was an important part of the daily duties within several of the religious orders in Europe during the Middle Ages. The rule of Saint Benedict specified that the monastery should, if possible, contain a garden within itself, and before and above all things, special care should be taken of the sick, so that they may be served in very deed, as Christ himself. The cultivation of medicinal and utility plants was important to meet the material needs of the monastic institutions, but no physical garden has yet been found and excavated in either Scandinavia or Iceland. The Cistercians were particularly well known for being pioneer gardeners, but other orders like the Benedictines and Augustinians also practised gardening. The monasteries and nunneries operating in Iceland during medieval times are assumed to have belonged to either the Augustinian or the Benedictine orders. In Norway, some of the orders were the Dominicans, Fransiscans, Premonstratensians and Knights Hospitallers. Based on botanical investigations at all the Icelandic and Norwegian monastery sites, it is concluded that many of the plants found may have a medieval past as medicinal and utility plants and, with all the evidence combined, they were most probably cultivated in monastery gardens. Full article

This study is a comparative analysis of the appearances of the lower and upper Paradise, their divisions, and the journeys to and within them, which appear in mystical Jewish and Islamic sources in medieval Iberia. Ibn al-‘Arabī’s vast output on the Gardens of divine reward and their divisions generated a number of instructive comparisons to the eschatological and theosophical writing about the same subject in early Spanish Kabbalah. Although there is no direct historical evidence that kabbalists knew of such Arabic works from the region Catalonia or Andalusia, there are commonalities in fundamental imagery and in ontological and exegetical assumptions that resulted from an internalization of similar patterns of thought. It is quite reasonable to assume that these literary corpora, both products of the thirteenth century, were shaped by common sources from earlier visionary literature. The prevalence of translations of religious writing about ascents on high, produced in Castile in the later thirteenth century, can help explain the sudden appearance of visionary literature on Paradise and its divisions in the writings of Jewish esotericists of the same region. These findings therefore enrich our knowledge of the literary, intellectual, and creative background against which these kabbalists were working when they chose to depict Paradise in the way that they did, at the time that they did. Full article

It has been said that Palermo is short of available water. However, nothing could be more wrong. Well-documented Arab sources and narrative chronicles reported an abundance of groundwater resources in Palermo Plain since the Middle Ages. The scarcity of sources and surface water in the Palermo Plain, compared to the groundwater abundance, led the inhabitants to use groundwater both for irrigation and domestic usage through a complex and sustainable hydraulic system. Vertical and horizontal (qanāts) wells, conveyed water towards gardens and public fountains making the Arabic Bal’harm (Palermo) a flourishing town. When visitors walk through the streets of Palermo’s historical center, among Arab ruins and Baroque architecture, they hardly imagine that there is a wide and varied cultural heritage of underground cavities hidden in the basements where water flows in intricate networks fed from a numerous springs. Only in recent years was a part of this system brought to light. Moreover, the city still has a wide and fascinating water distribution system consisting of irrigation basin (gebbie), ingenious hydraulic machines named senie, and distribution chessboard of irrigation (saje) and drinking water (catusi) canals. The medieval water collection and distribution systems and their various components in the Palermo Plain are reviewed together with the influence of the Arab water management on environment. Full article