Garden architecture

Garden architecture

In the 18th century “Turkish” kiosks became highly fashionable rococo features in European gardens (follies). In the Netherlands such a garden kiosk was usually called a “Turkse tent” (Turkish tent), although the building usually did not resemble a Turkish tent at all. Thus, the expression “Turkish tent” was rather deceptively used for garden pavilions in general. Although a number of tent-like constructions are known to have existed, more often “Turkish tents” resembled a Chinese pagoda (Tatar-style) or were simply in a European style but decorated with some “Turkish” elements like crescents. Dutch “Turkish tents” were part of the much wider 18th-century European phenomenon of turquerie/turquoiserie. In the 19th century the Turkish style went out of fashion in the Netherlands and was replaced by an oriental style in which Moorish (Alhambra) and Moghul (Taj Mahal) elements played a more important role.