In Greek mythology, citrus fruits were considered "fruits of promise"

Source: Fürth City Archives, Germany

The special thing about an evergreen citrus tree is that thick fruits and fragrant flowers hang from its branches at the same time.

This exotic appearance continues to fascinate hobby gardeners today, who are all too keen to get Mediterranean flair on the terrace and in the winter garden, preferably as a souvenir from a trip to Italy.

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For centuries, such citrus plants, from lemons to limes and oranges to grapefruit, have satisfied the longing for the south in Central Europe, especially in the cold season.

"Because when everything dies in winter from frost and extreme cold, yes everything is covered with deep snow (...), one looks in this wonderful paradise garden, with the greatest astonishment, like the most beautiful and rarest trees in so many shapes green and bloom ”, enthused a baroque botanist in 1706: in the height of lemon fever.

In Germany, citrus fruits were cultivated in orangeries by Italy lovers, and sometimes thorn apples were among them

Source: Fürth City Archives, Germany

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Many rulers, the nobility, but also wealthy citizens built exclusive buildings for wintering the frost-sensitive Mediterranean plants, the glass orangeries: such as in the Zwinger and at Pillnitz Palace in Dresden, at Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin, at Herrenhausen Palace in Hanover or in the Kassel Karlsauen .

The citrus culture brought the world into one's own garden

The Nuremberg merchant and hobby botanist Johann Christoph Volkamer (1644–1720) also admired the precious citrus fruits that he brought back from his travels to Lake Garda, where he had a silk factory.

He ordered other varieties from distant South Africa more than 300 years ago.

He spared no expense for his baroque garden;

nothing was too dear to him for his passion.

He even hired a team of engravers to make hundreds of tablets for a “citrus culture” encyclopedia that was almost forgotten.

The new, opulent, 3.7 kilogram XXL book “Citrus Fruits” from Taschen Verlag is based on these two recently discovered, hand-colored volumes from the Fürth City Archives - a true-to-original reprint.

And a visual pleasure, cleverly commented and classified by the art historian Iris Lauterbach.

A team of engravers made hundreds of tablets for the "citrus culture" encyclopedia

Source: Fürth City Archives, Germany

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It celebrates the exotic passion for citrus and is also a homage to the green landscapes of Italy and the baroque gardens and orangeries in Europe.

Iris Lauterbach says: "The culture of citrus and other exotic plants - a high scientific and horticultural achievement in Volkamer's time - made it possible to bring the world into one's own garden: every garden is a universe in itself."

Volkamer's lush garden, however, the largest in Nuremberg, owned by the family until 1814, had to give way to trams and new buildings.

Today, apart from a memorial plaque, nothing reminds us of the great time of Nuremberg garden culture.

The city honors the botanist with a baroque garden in the St. Johannis district that was reconstructed in the 1980s, albeit without citrus trees.

For this, a lemon

variety was

named after him: the

Citrus volkameriana

.

Johann Christoph Volkamer: "Citrus fruits".

With an essay by Iris Lauterbach.

Taschen Verlag, trilingual in German, English, French, 383 pages, 125 euros.

The businessman and hobby botanist Johann Christoph Volkamer brought citrus fruits to his hometown of Nuremberg

Source: Fürth City Archives, Germany