Lecture by Katja Pawlak on Franz Wilhelm Alexander Benque and his work as a garden artist in Schwerin and Ludwigslust
The Forum.STADT.Geschichte of the Historischer Verein Schwerin e.V. will be hosting a new lecture on March 25, 2026 at 7 pm in the Schleswig-Holstein-Haus. Under the title "Franz Wilhelm Alexander Benque and his work as a garden artist and writer in Schwerin and Ludwigslust in the 19th century", garden and landscape planner Katja Pawlak, Schwerin, will report on her extensive research into the life and work of Ludwigslust landscape and garden planner Franz Wilhelm Alexander Benque (1814-1895).
Born in Ludwigslust at the beginning of the 19th century, F. W. A. Benque completed his horticultural training in the former Mecklenburg residence of Ludwigslust and left behind significant traces of his garden design here and in Schwerin. Although Benque's beautification plan for the Ludwigslust palace park was not implemented, his work was a great success and a model for Peter Joseph Lenné's later plans.
The lecture on Benque's work sheds light on this plan and also presents lesser-known plans. These include the design of the garden of the Villa Gustava in Ludwigslust, which, according to new findings, can be attributed to him. His horticultural writings will be presented in the lecture.
It is a reminder of a multi-talented personality who achieved his great breakthrough in 1866 with the planning and realization of the Bremen Bürgerpark, where he achieved great fame. Benque died in November 1895 in Bremen, where he was buried in a cemetery he had planned.
