This article discusses the values and valuation of various types of gardens, both from the historical and contemporary perspective. The importance and status of a historic garden or park have been analyzed on many levels, including aesthetic, environmental, cultural and historical; they have also been viewed as a city-forming factor. The article is devoted to the assessment of gardens as significant components of cultural heritage and identity. The importance of a residential garden in a changing urbanised space is analyzed on the basis of Lobzow near Krakow. This assessment, which focuses on the status of gardens, was carried out by referring to universal canons and standards, such as beauty, living standard, and quality of landscapes. Furthermore, gardens are also described as important elements of the cultural landscape, which generate not only social, but also economic consequences. The role of the public park in the green area system has been analyzed on the basis of an innovative activity conducted by Olmsted.

The article presents the reasons for the degradation of historic green places in cities. Two examples from Gdansk demonstrate how the historic green spaces are driven out of the public sphere. An attempt was made to determine the ways to counteract the adverse consequences.

The beneficial influence of designed green spaces on human health and well-being is widely known and indisputable. Aspects of landscape design are analyzed with regards to human sciences, such as medicine, psychiatry, psychology and sociology in particular. In this context heritage gardens play a vital and specific role influencing quality of life, as they are examples of harmoniously designed landscapes: diverse and rich in cultural meanings. As such, they have a particular therapeutic significance, especially that they stand in opposition to an ongoing process of chaotic urbanization.

The value of water systems in Ukrainian historic gardens and parks (founded in the 17th–19th centuries), which are formed on the natural beds of rivers and creeks, is disclosed on the example of their general planning structure and composite construction. The main principles of garden art works in these parks had a strong influence on the methodology of planning contemporary green areas, particularly in and around the “energy independence” of water systems. The modern trend of the integrated approach in architectural-landscape organization of streamside territories are shown in the author’s projects proposals.

The paper summarizes selected uses of historic parks as an educational setting and social space which should be protected. Education can be acquired in such educational envinronments and the milieu should be protected.

The article discusses the use of augmented reality technology for visual reconstructions of architectural and landscape designs. The author presents the possibilities of using this technology in research on historic architectural or landscape complexes and presents how it may affect the public awareness of the rank of historic gardens. The article also contains a description of the main premises of the technology as well as the equipment used for ensuring intuitive perception of the reconstructions in the form of interactive visualisations. The potential of the technology has been illustrated with a few hitherto implemented experimental projects.

The assessment of historic values of garden compositions is both very important and difficult. The suggested method is based on precise evaluative tables and the final results are listed as numerical data, which are relatively easy to summarise and compare. The table was initially tested on several dozen selected park and garden estates from the Wielkopolska region. The estates were selected from different groups of historical garden compositions. Here are examples of the results: Edwardowo (villa) – 43 points, Kociałkowa Górka (manorial) – 32 points, Srebrna Góra (palace) – 60 points, Konarzewo (palace) – 57 points, Rogalin (palace) – 78 points, Kórnik (castle) – 87 points. The diversification in the general scoring system (the maximum score – 100 points) shows the hierarchy allowing for the current historic and cultural values and simultaneously for the degree of their conservation (devastation).

Garden tourism is a rapidly growing trend which is perfectly visible in Western European countries as well as in the United States and Canada, and which is also becoming increasingly noticeable in Poland. This article presents a discussion of the use and preservation of historic garden complexes in the context of the growing popularity of gardens as places where people can spend their time. The aim of the paper is to define user needs and the requirements concerning garden development which are created by their increased use.

The village of Siemianice is located in the county of Kępno in Greater Poland. It can boast a palace and park complex which represents the tradition of 19th-century landscape establishments. In the western part of the park there is a palace built by Count Piotr Szembek in 1835 and totally rebuilt in the Neo-Renaissance style in 1894. Since 1951 it has been the home of the Forest Experimental Department of the University of Life Sciences in Poznań. The palace is in very good condition but the park requires revalorisation. The studies conducted included several analytical stages whose aim was to formulate a concept of the park’s revalorisation in order to emphasize its 19th-century origins, fully expose its values, and restore their lost quality.

Villa Rosea – previously known as the Villa of Nagórscy – situated at Lipowa Street in Nałęczów, was designed by Adam Nagórski and Michał Górski and built at the end of the 19th century. In its heyday  it was at the centre of the vibrant cultural life of Nałęczów. However, during the German occupation as well as due to unlawful confiscation by the communist government it gradually fell into decay. In 2006 the villa was bought by Stanisław and Barbara Burzyńscy, carefully renovated and renamed Villa Rosea. In order to bring back its former splendour and to adapt the building so as to suit its new hotel function, an attempt was made to renew the old garden complex with an area of 1 ha which surrounds the villa. This article is devoted to the question of adapting the plant composition design to the new function of the building while taking into account its historical importance.

Article is about the history and natural specifics and its influence to the composition and historic garden scene. As an example of research is chosen a historic garden in Turčianska Štiavnička, which is one of the most specific historic areas in Slovakia – but still not enough appreciated by professional community. Research is target especially to natural specifics like a relief, water and potential vegetation. It studies heir interest on garden historic composition progress.

The largest development in sepulchral culture came at the time of the Enlightenment, when an architectural type of cemetery was created. This type of burial grounds often currently constitutes significant areas of historical greenery in our cities. The quantity and quality of the greenery in cemeteries, however, have decreased significantly in recent decades. The maintenance of these historical cemeteries requires in particular the protection and restoration of the paths. The article is focused on an evaluation of the greenery in the two eldest cemeteries in the town of Nitra. On the basis of the results of this evaluation, we have proposed principles for a framework methodology for restoring greenery and maintaining woody plant management in historical cemeteries.

This paper presents activities undertaken by the Garden Trust in Hampshire (Southern England). The Trust is an organisation which is a part of the Association of Garden Trusts (AGT), a charity supported by volunteers. Its aims are to prevent the destruction of historic parks and gardens, their maintenance, and promotion of their opening to the public. In this paper we analyse the re-creation of Queen Eleanor’s Garden in Winchester designed by Sylvia Landsberg and the design of King John’s Garden in Romsey. The basis of this paper is the author’s study visits.

Eduard Petzold was a German landscape architect and creator of dozens of landscaped gardens in Silesia. The Park in Kliczków is today one of the few examples of his Silesian gardens which, after years of neglect, has regained its former shape. The eventful past of this park, ending happily in its recent restoration, prompts considerations on the history of other Silesian creations by Petzold. The field research confirmed that currently most of these are significantly neglected. Furthermore, in many of them the former composition has blurred and the historic plant substance is severely damaged. Their condition poses questions about perspectives for preventing further destruction of these valuable layouts.

There are approximately 44 parks in Wrocław, which are an essential component of the city’s green areas. During World War II, historical man-made park landscapes and gardens were partially destroyed. But the main reason for their later degradation was reconstruction incompatible with the original ideas and a degree of negligence in maintenance during the post-war years. In this paper, some historical man-made parks covered by historic preservation are presented. These parks are becoming more and more important in creating a more unified landscape for modern Wrocław.

The first public parks in Opole Silesia were established in the 1st half of the 19th c. after the demolition of the city walls and the transformation of these grounds into public green areas. Other public parks were established in the 2nd half of the 19th c. along with the development of the bigger towns in the region, including planning public green areas for inhabitants’ to be able to relax. Parks in Nysa and Prudnik are among those founded in the 19th c., and at the beginning of the 20th c. parks in Brzeg, Kluczbork and Opole were established. Their landscape layouts are characterised by allées, trees and bushes, glades, ponds, and gazebos, pavilions and monuments preserved to a greater or lesser extent. In this paper selected monumental public parks in Opole Silesia are presented with an analysis of their state, historic values, contemporary functions, and the revitalization carried out.

The article provides an overview of historic parks and gardens in Poland, including a percentage breakdown of particular categories of site, as determined from data held by the National Heritage Board of Poland. The most common reasons for the degradation of these heritage properties are identified as arising from the existing legal situation, a lack of social awareness regarding their value, lack of good models of conservation work in historic parks in Poland, underfunding of this group of sites, and problems associated with the protection of landscape contexts.

The Municipality of Zabierzów is one of the largest in the Małopolska province. It has an attractive location in relation to the Krakow agglomeration. It is also valuable in the natural and cultural sense. Within the municipality there are residential buildings, now in various states of preservation. These are the complexes that could, appropriately interpreted in the landscape, become an important, feature of the local heritage, enriching the municipality’s offering and improving the quality of the countryside where they are located.