HGwiki:About

From HGwiki

About HGwiki

The HGwiki is a complementary section of the weblog on historical gardens which I have started to write halfway through the year 2006: Historical Gardens blog (HGblog). The wiki followed in July 2007, mainly because the blog itself was lacking insight and depth and technically did not provide the means to bridge that gap. With the blogging part of HG I mainly aim to bring news and opinions to the attention of those interested in current affairs of the wider field of historical gardens and landscape design. It is all over the place as a hyperactive boy trying to gather relevant news. With the HGwiki I try to give that news the context it must so often do without for reasons of clarity and brevity. It is the blogs' more quiet sister, acting as a well of information and knowledge -quitely mumbling in a secluded part of the woods.

The fact that they are siblings, does not mean that wiki and blog are always fully complementary. On the contrary, it is probably safe to say that a lot of parks, organisations and architects mentioned in the blog will not immediately have a counterpart in the wiki -and vice versa. The material necessary to build the context needs to be collected, reviewed and written, a process which inevitably takes time. News is typically governed by other processes and there time is never on one's side.

What I am trying to provide here is a general context of (mainly Dutch) garden history, which will gradually be supplemented by full blown descriptons of particular objects and people. As national borders have only in a minimal way affected the development of garden history, both blog and wiki will ultimately expand to incorporate other countries as well. The final goal is not to write a garden history encyclopedia (an almost automatic suggestion made by the form I have chosen with this wiki), but when this project gets the time and attention it deserves, I might end up doing so in the process.

Henk van der Eijk

About Henk van der Eijk

This combined weblog and wiki are a direct and –if you will- logical result of my studies. I started out by training to be a gardener, which resulted in practical training at several commercial gardener’s, as wel as a training period at the Arboretum Trompenburg in Rotterdam.

Having completed that education, I changed direction and went on to study art history. Although the possibility to study the history of garden architecture was available, I did not come near the subject in these years at all. Specialising in Iconology, my thesis consisted of a study on the development of flower painting into an independent genre during the sixteenth century.

In a stunning reversal, my art historical studies ended with an internship at one of the few companies in The Netherlands that concern themselves with the preservation of historical gardens: Albers Adviezen. The project I worked on was the then ongoing restoration of the garden of Beeckestijn, most notably the later 18th century additions in the landscape style to that garden.

This led to a cooperation which lasted 2.5 years, after which I decided to focus on a more mainstream career, while promising myself I would go on with the research of historical gardens on the side. This sidestep turned out to be a setback at first, but with the blog (from 2006 onwards) and wiki (begun in 2007) as a stage for my writings, I am starting to move in the right direction again.

The next development may be a case in point: in May 2007, the Foundation of Friends of Beeckestijn have asked me to act as advisor in the plans that are currently being developed by the new owners of the estate, with whom they are cooperating.

Publications

Apart from the blog and wiki, I have acted as a (co-)author of several reports on specific parks and gardens. These, and other publications I’ve worked on, are listed below.

Van der Eijk, H.: ‘Wandelen door een oud schilderij.’, Noordhollands landschap nr 3, september 1998, p.20-23.

Albers, L.H., J.R. Boekhoff, H. van der Eijk: Beheersvisie Rosendael 2000-2020, Albers Adviezen, Utrecht 1999. For Stichting Het Geldersch Landschap.

Albers, L.H., A. Guineé, H. van der Eijk: Den Treek, geschiedenis van het park, Albers Adviezen, Utrecht 1999.

Van der Aar, J., S. Rolle: De tuinen van Beeckestijn. Een beeld van een buitenplaats. [some research and texts by HvdE], Museum Beeckestijn, Velsen-Zuid, 2000.

Van der Eijk, H., L.H. Albers, M.A.E. van Tienen: Frankendael van hofstede tot openbaar park, Albers Adviezen, Utrecht 2000. (see also: Frankendael)

Baas, H.G. [ed]: Ontgonnen Verleden. Inzoomen op de historisch-geografische ontwikkeling van het Nederlandse landschap. [Lijst 6: Historische buitenplaatsen, p89-112; HvdE en H. Helmink-Habes], Hoorn, 2001.

Van der Eijk, H.: ‘Van bloemenweide tot “melancholy lawn”: oorspronkelijke ideaalbeelden als basis voor ontwerp en beheer van gazons in (vroeg-) landschappelijke tuinen.’, Cascade 11 (2002), nr 2, p.25-44.