Exhibition: Medieval gardens

In the museum in Leiden I saw a beautiful and absolutely great exhibition about gardens in Europe and the Arabian world from 1200-1600.

It was so divers and they had so many objects, it was amazing. Gardens were important, all three religions see Paradise as a huge garden, but here on earth gardens provided the vegetables to eat, the flowers to enjoy and the herbs to make medicine.

I really liked how much Medieval gardening tools looked like ours!

Woorden shovels from the 13th and 15th century. 

Wooden bucket (17th century) and bronze watertaps (16th century) 

In Delft there was a monastery with Carthusian Monks. This is the strictest order in the Catholic Church, each monk is a recluse and no contact with the other monks. They all have a cell, with a garden. After all, a monk needs to garden to balance the strict service to God and you are nearer to God when you see the plants grow and the flowers bloom.
The monastery was destroyed in 1573, but among the remains the archeologists found flowerpots, even with holes in the brim. These were to put sticks in, so plants could grow up!

The things found at the Carthusian monastery

The herbs from the garden were stored in jars to make medications from it later.

Jars to store herbs (15th and 16th century) 

And there were books to learn about plants and the chores in the garden, with tips on gardening and doing the work.

Books with information about plants and gardening. 

This exhibition can be seen at the Rijksmuseum voor Oudheden in Leiden, until September 2019.