In the market garden district of Bamberg, where medieval traditions meet a changing world

In the middle of Bavaria The city of Bamberg is listed as a World Heritage Site there is a hidden attraction waiting to be discovered: Market gardeners district (Untere Gärtnerei). Several hectares of garden land are surrounded by densely built and characteristic diminutive houses. The district is within walking distance of city ​​cathedral and Old Town Hall.

Horticulturalists have cultivated this area since the Middle Ages. At that time, horticulture was the most significant sector of the city’s economy, supported by the monasteries in Bamberg. The production and trade of seeds and vegetables flourished thanks to the gentle climate of the region, the proximity of the Regnitz River as a transport route, and the commercial diversity and vitality of the city. The delicate, sandy soils of the Regnitz alluvial plain offered the best growing conditions, especially for growing root vegetables. The soil is enriched with humus in the top layer, and from 1 meter down there is pure sand.

In the 16th and 17th centuries licorice plant was the most significant crop in the city and the main source of income for gardeners. Long sought after as a medicinal plant and sweetener, it is depicted on the oldest map of the city, created by Petrus Zweidler in 1602.

When Bamburg received a railway station in 1844 during industrialization, fresh vegetables could be delivered to more distant towns. Around 1900, at the height of the profession, 540 market gardeners and their families grew vegetables, flowers and herbs in the Market Gardeners’ District.

The city enjoys a long tradition of urban gardening, with knowledge of growing and harvesting crops and seed propagation passed down from generation to generation. This skill is so valuable that it has been included in the German census Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2016.

Challenges to time-honored land employ

Unfortunately, horticulture in Bamberg has declined rapidly in recent decades, with the number of commercial vegetable gardens falling to just 20 or 30. This is due to the competitive disadvantages associated with the spatial shape of the Garden District: the diminutive areas of cultivation limit the possibilities for mechanization, the costs of irrigation are much higher than in the countryside, and there are few parking spaces. As a result, gigantic parts of the open spaces in the city center have fallen into disrepair, despite the protection provided by Bavarian Monument Protection Act.

Changing socio-cultural practices

As indicated, despite its medieval origins and legal provisions, the commercial cultivation of the Market Gardeners’ District suffered from a decline in market gardeners to the point that official fears were expressed for its survival. To complicate matters, the market gardeners do not have a single identity but are divided between two historic brotherhoods, reflecting parish divisions. Even today, there is a sturdy loyalty of members to the brotherhood, while impoverished cooperation between them, as well as scepticism about working with “outsiders”, persists.

[More than 80,000 readers look to The Conversation France’s newsletter for expert insights into the world’s most pressing issues. Sign up now]

Organization in 2012 Bavarian State Garden Exhibition in combination with financing through National Investment Programme for World Heritage Sites contributed to positive changes. The Bamberg Gardeners’ Interest Group was founded to stimulate and consolidate closer cooperation between gardeners. At the same time, other modern actors entered the Bamberg municipal gardening system:

• This Bamberg Licorice Society was formed in 2009 to re-establish the time-honored plant. Commercial production ceased in the mid-1960s, severing a bond that had existed for 500 years in Bamberg. The Liquorice Society’s products, including tea, are sold locally but are not competitive nationally.

• This Heritage GardenCreated in 2012, it is an innovation aimed at preserving urban gardening spaces. In this case, a plot of land left uncultivated after the retirement of a commercial gardener has been rented out and has become a repository of more than 30 distinctive local vegetable varieties that are ideally suited to the local climate and soil. Advocates have unearthed aged recipes that list them as ingredients so that earlier culinary uses can be revived. Stakeholders say that researching, discovering and sharing the knowledge and attributes of historical recipes will encourage commercial gardeners to re-grow local vegetable varieties after they have declined in common employ in Bamberg.

• The goal Transitional city (TT) collaborating group Self-collecting gardenFounded in 2016, the group aims to escalate urban sustainability through food production. Unlike the Liquorice Society and Heritage Garden, the Self-Harvesting Garden has a more political agenda, supporting the transition of urban society to a post-growth format. As part of its work, the group leases fallow land from a commercial market gardener, helps train TT members, and manages their plots for a diminutive fee.

Connecting commercial gardeners with modern civil society groups to refresh urban gardening draws on a long horticultural tradition.

Urban development and food production

Urban gardening typically operates within compact food chains, and production activities have a range of community-related goals. In Bamberg, the case of the remains of medieval market gardens has shown us that it is possible to integrate urban development and food production while preserving the best features of the local heritage.

Although the number of professional gardeners has declined rapidly, alternative forms of cultivation are in the process of filling the void. The Market Garden District thus remains an integral part of Bamberg’s World Heritage Site – a part that provides food, promotes sustainability and contributes to climate change mitigation.

---

50th Anniversary of the World Heritage Convention (16 November 2022): World Heritage as a source of resilience, humanity and innovation.