In the 18th century Łazienki, Mokotów and Królikarnia were located outside of Warsaw. Due to the capital’s expansion, they lost part of their territory and the elements responsible for harmonious integration with the surroundings. An iconographic and cartographic documentations’ comparison with the current state shows, which parts and functions of the composition have been changed. These residences do not create the linked Warsaw Escarpment landcape gardens run, but still build the city identity.

The paper gives coverage to peculiarities of water elements application in landscape compositions created in 19th century by gardener of Dionizy Mikler (Denis McClair) at Volhynia. Being an ambassador of English landscape garden style in this region D. Mikler seamlessly integrated picturesque natural and artificial water components in the garden structure. There are considered the role and ways of interaction of water elements with the landscape compositions by giving examples of Polish landowner´s residences in Gorodok, Mizoch, Mlyniv and Shpaniv.

She (Nature) is an eternal present. Past and future are unknown to her. The present is her eternity. She is beneficient. J.W. von Goethe Goethe is speaking about the ever-lasting value and importance of Nature. Even in today’s luminous, rushing and digital world, Goethe’s faithful idea and the theory of Christian Hirschfeld, which brought to life the 18th-century urban public park movement, represents a value. Though the citizens’ use and habits are varied in every age and region, society, the individuals need physical and spiritual recreation offered by urban parks. The overall goal of the research is to highlight the role of natural elements and urban landscape character in space composition means on the example of the two centuries old historic urban park in Budapest, the Városliget, one of the very first urban public parks. Main research questions: What are the main landscape and nature structures and elements that define the composition? What are the main changes in compositional means in the long evolution of the park in the stress of urban development and social change? Can we find universal design means for the general park use forms or does the local spirit play the dominant role in public park design? This study focuses on the composition means over time, in the transformation process of the Budapest Városliget, from the first landscaping and replantation of the swampy area in the outskirt of Pest town at turn of 18–19th century when Nature and her humanized garden and park forms became increasingly recognized as means and purposes of spiritual, physical and societal renewal. The research is based on analyses of ecological, landscape aspects and features, of social, public and political input into planning and building that affected the composition and the construction of the urban public park. The analyses focus on the significant momentums of park evolution, while observations focus on the relations between changing social and landscape aspects in the design and planning process.