The Prinsentuin (also known as the Prinsenhof garden ) is a Renaissance garden in the city center of Groningen . This is located behind the Prinsenhof , a building from the 11th century . The garden was created in 1626 by order of Stadtholder Willem Frederik and his wife Albertine Agnes . The adjacent Prinsenhof had become the local residence of the Princes of Nassau since 1594 .
The garden includes a rose garden, a herb garden and a part with berceaus . Box hedges have been planted in one of the five flowerbeds of the garden in the shape of crowned letters W and A, the initials of Willem Frederik and Albertine Agnes. The garden is closed off by a high wall on the side of the Turfsingel . On one side you can still see a piece of the blue wall that once stood on top of this wall. The blue wall, which was installed in French times, was to prevent people from throwing drinks over the wall when the Prinsenhof was a military hospital . From the 19th centurythe garden falls into disrepair and slowly turns into a square. In time, a morgue and stables will be built for the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee .
Using the map of Haubois , a city map by Egbert Haubois from 1634 , EA Canneman of the National Agency for the Preservation of Monuments reconstructed the original layout of the garden. Of the six original beds, one, which had been planted with fruit trees, could not be restored because the district court was built there in 1911. Plants and stylistic devices were also used that were not from the 17th century, so strictly speaking it is not a Renaissance garden . Renovation work was carried out from 1935 to 1938 and the garden was opened in 1939.
The sundial
In the wall on the Turfsingel is the Zonnewijzerpoort , dating from 1731 , which was restored in 1953 . The gate takes its name from the sundial placed above it.
Above the sundial is a Latin text. The words Tempus Præteritum Nihil Futurum Incertum. Præsens Instabile Cave Ne Perdas Hoc Tuum “what if The past time is nothing, the future uncertain, the present shaky. Do not waste yours can be translated. The polar frame , the rod protruding from the depicted sun, casts its shadow on the different times read on the sundial.
The local time is shown on the outer rim of the sundial. This local time was maintained until the mid-nineteenth century. After this, the time was equalized throughout the Netherlands. The Roman numerals indicate the whole hours and the frame with small numbers indicate the minutes. When the sun is at its highest point it is twelve o’clock. Local time is on average 34 minutes ahead of Central European Time . In November it will be 18 minutes before and in February 54 minutes. During summer time, an additional hour is added.
There is a bulge in the pool list. The shadow of this falls on a number of gold-colored lines that indicate the length of the days. The red lines indicate how long the sun has been shining. These are the Babylonian hours, where time is measured from sunrise . The black lines indicate the Italian hours. This count indicates the number of hours from sunset .
Tea house
There is a tearoom in the garden, which is open from 1 April to 1 October in good weather. The annual Poets in the Prinsentuin event is held here, where well-known and unknown poets read their work in the open air.
