‘Composing’ and ‘composition’ are key terms in the announcement and subject of the conference. In this paper we want to investigate and analyse some backgrounds of the terms ‘composition’ and ‘design’ in landscape architecture. The two terms are related but not the same. ‘Composition’ refers to a static phenomenon; composing is the active form. ‘Design’ can be used both as active form – the act of designing – while it can also be used as a passive phenomenon; the noun ‘design’ stands for a plan. ‘Composition’ is an older term, already used in the classical architectural treatises such as by Alberti. Both terms stand for the core of what landscape architects do, making plans for realising future environments for people. We will start by giving a short overview of terms and definitions as used in references and set out the scope of the paper. We will continue with a short historical overview of the term ‘composition’ from the first architectural treatises on. Around the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, the term ‘design’ starts to emerge. Its introduction and rise is closely related to the setting up of architectural schools where the materialising of projects and the design backgrounds are separately treated in design studios. In the second part we will give a short historical outline of the development of landscape architecture over time with special attention to the turn of the last century when the first landscape architecture schools and programs started to emerge. In the last part we will develop a typological overview of the relation between composition and design, illustrated by realised projects. In the conclusion we will summarise the relation between structure, composition and design in contemporary practice; and put forward that composition in landscape architecture is ‘designed structure’. In this way the terms composition and design can be related and distinguished both in theory and practice.

The paper investigates and analysis sacred eye-catchers in Transylvanian gardens and parks. Interpretation of visual connections defined by landscape features with a sacred meaning (crypts, chapels, crosses, thumbs etc.) are the present study’s main purpose. The analysis of the visual connections on a landscape scale comprises the examination of outstanding visual elements (eye-catchers) that are decisive in the case of historic landscapes, gardens and parks, and among these in the case of castle gardens, manor houses and demesnes as well. In these cases the relationship between a manor garden and the surrounding landscape is the result of a conscious shaping of the environment. The sights which determine forcefully the historicity of the landscape are the results of enduring cultural influences over time. Although only just a very few of these former landscape connections persist, their preservation represents a public interest. The investigated eye-catchers – as outstanding landscape elements – determine in a decisive way the structure of garden landscapes in Transylvania. The sentimental, then romantic trends prevailing in the 19th century in many cases expected that outstanding buildings also become important parts of the gardens. The study proves the landscape compositional role and importance of the sacred features situated within the manor gardens, or outside the gardens, in the surrounding landscape, representing a visual entity with the castle garden ensemble.