Anholter Switzerland

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View over the replica of Lake Lucerne to the Swiss house and the rock formations
Swiss house

The Anholt Switzerland (also Leopold Park ) is a landscape and wildlife park at Anholt in Isselburg - Vehlingen , near the German-Dutch border in the far west of Munster country .

Landscape park

The facility was designed in the style of an English landscape park by Prince Leopold zu Salm-Salm (1838–1908) around an artificial lake. The park was officially opened on April 24, 1892.

In the middle of the artificial lake, an island was created, on which in 1894 and 1895 Anholter carpenters realized a construction plan for a chalet from Switzerland , the “Swiss House”. The Parquet and Chalet Factory in Interlaken designed it in 1893 and only supplied the decorative components such as metal fittings, doors, window frames, balcony railings and wooden ornaments. It was intended for the Prince of Salm-Salm and his wife Eleonore, b. Princess von Croÿ (1855–1903), remembering her honeymoon.

In order to create the impression of a mountain world on Lake Lucerne in the Lower Rhine landscape, hills were poured in and planted with groups of trees under the direction of the princely head gardener B. Wilhalm (1875–1912). Furthermore, rock formations were reproduced, especially on the bank areas. These structures reveal the features of the mountain ranges of Rigi and Pilatus in miniature format . The relevant building material was brought in from a great distance and arranged close to nature - “like in Switzerland”. Andernach lava grotto stones were used for the island, and the grotto builder J. Biesenbach from Elberfeld built lighter limestone from the Rheinisch-Westfälische Kalkwerke , which had been extracted in the Dornap limestone quarry near Wülfrath.

About the "Schlüsenweide" a wetland area at the Issel , which is used as a golf course today, Anholt Switzerland is the Castle Park of Anholt connected landscape. Until 1945 there was an open connecting path between the garden areas.

The park and its alpine staffages are an expression of the popular alpine romance that had spread in the 19th century as a result of alpine tourism via arts and crafts, literature and painting to garden art and architecture (→ Swiss style ). In connection with this fad of the 19th century, Anholter Switzerland belongs to an international group of landscape structures that bear the landscape designation Switzerland .

Around November 1st ( All Saints' Day ) the American version of the Halloween folk custom is staged in the park . For this purpose, arrangements will be installed at various locations in the park and horror scenes will be shown, in which the visitors can get excited and participate.

wildlife Park

The centennial of the garden was under protection of monuments thematically to a 56 hectare large habitat wildlife park expanded and developed.

With the support of the International Bear Federation Germany eV (IBF), the German Animal Welfare Association protected brown and collar bears of the Schlitzerländer animal freedom from euthanasia and in 2003 founded a bear forest in Anholter Switzerland . For this purpose, Prince Leopold zu Salm-Salm leased him a 2.5-hectare forest area, which was directly connected to the wildlife park. The transition from the bear forest to the rest of the wildlife park was not noticeable to visitors. After the lease for the bear forest, which expired on December 31, 2019, had not been extended, the bear forest was closed on September 30, 2019 and the bears were moved to a new facility in Weidefeld in Schleswig-Holstein.

The approximately 45 animal species represented in the wildlife park include the red deer, reindeer, bison, European wild cats such as the lynx, the European mink, the stone marten, the otter, the wolf, the great gray owl, the wild boar and the donkey.

  • Rocks with waterfall

  • Park landscape with donkeys running freely

  • Collar bear

  • brown bear

Web links

Commons : Anholter Switzerland  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ History of the Park. Biotopwildpark Anholter Schweiz, accessed on October 17, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Martin Wörner: pleasure and instruction. Folk culture at the world exhibitions 1851–1900 . Waxmann, Münster 1999 (also dissertation University of Tübingen, 1997), ISBN 3-89325-668-7 , p. 96
  3. ↑ Brigitte Tausche: This is where the creeps are taught . Article from November 1, 2013 in the derwesten.de portal , accessed on November 3, 2013
  4. ↑ Halloween in Anholter Switzerland 2012 ( YouTube video, 3:08 pm), accessed on November 3, 2013
  5. ↑ Marion Meyer: Ten years of Anholter Bärenwald: What it means to be a bear ( Memento from August 16, 2013 in the Internet Archive ). Article from August 11, 2013 in the portal www1.wdr.de
  6. ↑ The Bear Forest. In: schweizer-haeuschen.de. Archived from the original on June 5, 2003 ; accessed on October 17, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Markus Balser: ären will soon be saying bye bye. In: Rheinische Post. April 21, 2018, accessed October 17, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Axel Schepers: The bears from Anholter Switzerland are gone. In: The Weseler. Westdeutsche Verlags- und Werbegesellschaft, October 1, 2019, accessed on October 17, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Ina Henrichs: Wild Westphalia: Hearty untamed through the country . Article from October 31, 2013 in the portal ksta.de , accessed on November 2, 2013

Coordinates: 51 ° 50 ′ 4.1 "  N , 6 ° 25 ′ 47.9"  E