In the 16th century, the land of the park was the property of the Szolc-Wolfowicz family and Antonio Massari, a Venitian consul. They passed the property to a Jesuit order. The park's former name Jesuit Gardens derived from that history. The monastic residents built a brewery and an inn with the elegance of Italian refinery. During a siege by Moscow's army in 1655, a rampart wall was built around the property. By the end of the 18th century, Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, following his policy of confiscating monastic holdings, ordered the establishment of a municipal park in Lviv. In 1799, restaurateur Johann Höcht leased the park and opened a French resort on the site. It was redesigned by horticulturist Karl Bauer as a landscaped park in 1855.