THE SITE

The Arboretum of Alcsút is located in the Váli Valley, approximately 40 kilometres from Budapest, and represents a historic landscape park of more than two centuries, covering around 40 hectares. It was established in the 1820s on former pastureland by Archduke Joseph, Palatine of Hungary (1776–1847), an accomplished botanist educated in Florence at the Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens, whose vision combined botanical experimentation with progressive landscape design. Conceived as part of a wider agricultural estate, the development included farms, intentionally planted tree rows, and a noble residence set within a landscaped park enriched with decorative and newly introduced plant species. Among the notable botanical features are some of the earliest plane trees introduced to Hungary and one of the country’s oldest cedar specimens, located on the slope adjacent to the park.

Under the continued patronage of his son, Archduke Joseph Karl, who shared his father’s botanical interests, the estate was further enriched through the addition of ornamental and functional features, including a palm house, a lake fed by artesian wells, and a small zoological garden. These developments were realised with the involvement of prominent specialists of the period, notably the architect Miklós Ybl, the landscape architect Vilmos Jámbor, and the water engineer Vilmos Zsigmondy. Together they shaped a complex designed landscape that combined scientific curiosity, aesthetic ambition, and technical innovation.

The palace itself was largely destroyed in the years after the Second World War, leaving only its portico as a visible remnant. However, several historic garden structures and features survive, including bridges, a garden pavilion, a small children’s garden building, a bear house, a Lourdes grotto, the functioning chapel, and the lake with its artificial island. These elements, together with the overall spatial composition, still convey the character of the historic English-style landscape garden.

Today the site functions simultaneously as an arboretum, a protected natural area, and a heritage monument. It hosts a rich variety of native and non-native plant material, including a renowned collection of snowdrops, and provides habitat for protected plant and animal species. Administratively, the park is managed by the Duna-Ipoly National Park under the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Conservation General Department. At the same time, its historical and artistic significance places it within the domain of cultural heritage conservation. This dual status makes the Arboretum of Alcsút an exemplary setting in which the management of designed landscapes must reconcile ecological objectives with the preservation of historical composition and material traces.

THE TRAINING COURSE

The European Heritage Volunteers Project at the Arboretum of Alcsút builds upon the collaboration between European Heritage Volunteers and the Hungarian Garden Heritage Foundation initiated in 2025 and contributes to the implementation of an ecology-based garden management strategy developed for the long-term sustainable care of the historic park. The year 2026, marking the 250th anniversary of the birth of Archduke Joseph, provides an important framework for advancing practical measures that reconnect historical garden design principles with contemporary approaches to biodiversity and climate-sensitive maintenance.

The project is conceived as a hands-on engagement with the living fabric of a historic landscape, enabling participants to explore how nature conservation and garden heritage can be synchronised in practice. Activities will address vegetation management, spatial composition, and the care of built garden elements as interconnected components of the historic environment. Work will include protective measures for veteran trees such as fencing and mulching to reduce soil compaction, the selective removal of invasive growth to re-establish historical planting structures, and the maintenance of flowerbeds, rocks, and compositional features.

Interventions will also extend to water-related elements, including the cleaning of historic water features and sections of the watercourse, recognising their ecological as well as aesthetic role within the designed landscape. Further tasks will focus on pathways, small bridges, and interpretative elements, supporting the legibility and accessibility of the park. Attention will also be given to the restoration of vues (historic views), a defining characteristic of English landscape gardens, through careful clearing that respects both heritage values and protected habitats.

Guided by landscape architects and garden heritage specialists from the Hungarian Garden Heritage Foundation, participants will gain insight into methods of managing historic gardens as dynamic systems in which natural succession, historical authenticity, and public use must be carefully balanced. The project thus highlights garden heritage as a field requiring interdisciplinary knowledge that integrates horticulture, conservation, ecology, and spatial history.

Educational components will accompany the practical work, introducing participants to the history of the Arboretum of Alcsút, the legacy of Archduke Joseph in Hungarian botanical culture, and the principles of ecological garden management in protected areas. The programme will also include guided excursions to historic parks and gardens in the surrounding region that present comparable approaches to landscape design, management, and conservation. These activities will encourage professional exchange on how historic parks can be maintained sustainably while retaining their cultural meaning.

An integral element of the educational programme will be the participants’ presentations. Each participant is required to prepare and deliver a presentation related to the thematic focus of the activities on site, introducing a case study from their country of origin. This component connects the practical work undertaken during the programme with comparable heritage practices in different cultural and institutional contexts. Through this structured exchange, participants reflect on conservation approaches, management frameworks, and current challenges, contributing to a broader comparative understanding of heritage preservation. The presentations are intended to encourage critical dialogue, intercultural exchange, and the articulation of informed professional perspectives within an international group of emerging heritage practitioners.

The project will take place from August 2nd to August 15th, 2026, and is organised by European Heritage Volunteers and the Hungarian Garden Heritage Foundation, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Conservation General Department and the Duna-Ipoly National Park.