Vesuvius Reception

The ancient and natural historical monuments in the Kingdom of Naples played an important role in the 18th century in the configuration of castles and gardens, as in the design of the Wörlitz Garden Realm by Leopold III. Friedrich Franz of Anhalt-Dessau and Friedrich Wilhelm of Erdmannsdorff. Together, they took a number of trips to various European countries and witnessed the eruption of Vesuvius in 1766. Between 1788 and 1794, Prince Leopold III put “Insel Stein” (Stone Island) in his garden realm as an artificial replica of Mount Vesuvius. Thanks to a sophisticated mechanism, it was even possible to simulate an eruption.

Wilhelm Friedrich Schlotterbeck (1777–1819), Der Stein zu Wörlitz, aquatint by Karl Kuntz, 1797, source: © Kulturstiftung Dessau Wörlitz, Heinz Fräßdorf.