Bowling Green (Wiesbaden)

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The bowling green and the Kurhaus with the old plane trees ...
... and in 2007 after the construction of the underground car park.

The bowling green is a green area in the Hessian capital Wiesbaden .

Design and surrounding structures

The bowling green consists of an elongated lawn rectangle with two water basins, in the middle of each of which there is a three-shell cascade fountain . The name bowling green goes back to the English ball game " bowls ". At the beginning of the 20th century the green area was still called Kursaalplatz.

The Kurhausplatz (formerly J.-F.-Kennedy-Platz) in front of the Wiesbaden Kurhaus connects to the head end in the east . The Kurpark begins behind the Kurhaus with its casino . Wilhelmstrasse runs along the west side of the bowling green . On the opposite side of the street is Kaiser-Friedrich-Platz with the monument to Kaiser Friedrich III , flanked by the Hotel Nassauer Hof and the apartment house Vier Jahreszeiten .

If you look at the bowling green from Wilhelmstraße in the direction of the Kurhaus, the Kurhaus Colonnade extends to the left (in the north) . This is where the casino's small game ( slot machine ) is housed. Opposite to the right (in the south) is the theater colonnade with the entrances to the Hessian State Theater .

history

The bowling green and the old Kurhaus around 1900

The meadow fountain

Before the establishment of the first “Cursaals” 1808–1810, there was an approx. 250 m long paved path in the bowling green area since the end of the 17th century, the origin of which goes back to Prince Georg August (1665–1721). It led from the "Sonnenberger Tor" in an easterly direction to the very popular fountain, which has been in use since 1477. It was one of the few sources of drinking water in the city, which is why it was also known as the “Sweet Fountain”. Prince Karl Wilhelm (1735–1803) had a four-row avenue made of silver and columnar poplars planted there at the end of the 18th century , which from then on served as a stroll for spa guests. The spring itself was surrounded by a wreath of chestnut trees. It lay a few steps in a depression that could be driven around, was edged with sandstone and had four outlets.

The Cursaal

City architect Christian Zais (1770–1820), who carried out other major urban planning projects in Wiesbaden in addition to Wilhelmstrasse , had the new “ Cursaal ” (then also called “Alleesaal”) built on the other side of the Wiesenbrunnen. Zais realized that guests of the spa town expected an extraordinary environment, which had enough distance to the rural, almost medieval small town. This caused him the displeasure of the bathers, who did not want to understand the sense of the conscious distance to the interior of the place. A “general plan for the enlargement and beautification of the city”, submitted by building inspector Carl Florian Goetz as early as 1806, provided for a community building on the opposite side of what would later become Wilhelmstrasse, close to the city. Due to the redesign of the area in front of the new building, the meadow fountain was moved almost 100 m to the south and thus lost its popularity. In 1905 the Zais'sche Cursaal was closed and a contemporary new building was erected in its place by 1907. Architect Friedrich von Thiersch realized the new Kurhaus in the classicism style with Art Nouveau motifs .

The fountain project

Zais wanted to set up a water fountain on the area in front of the “Society House ”. The water was to be brought in via a pressure pipe from the Kisselborn spring near the Taunus plateau . Since the city needed a modern water supply at the same time , he wanted to combine both projects. The construction of the aqueduct began in 1813 with the setting of the springs, but was only continued from 1817 onwards and completed in 1821 because of the campaign against Napoleon (1815) . After renewed calculations it turned out that the water pressure would not be sufficient for an imposing fountain and postponed the project. Behind the spa house, the spa park was built between 1810 and 1812 according to plans by the court gardener Schweizer. The building should be reflected in a closely approaching, long pond. A fountain was only installed there in 1855, long after Zais' death, on the occasion of the first extension of the park. The water came from a reservoir on the Schöne Aussicht hill , which had been built to supply the now destroyed Paulinenschlösschen and collected water from the Frauenborn in the upper Tennelbachtal. The amount of water was sufficient to supply the two three-shell cascade wells built in 1856.

The avenues

After its completion in 1810, four parallel avenues were laid out between Wilhelmstrasse and the Cursaal . They flanked the area on both sides with a total of six rows of trees. The outer ones were planted alternately with poplars and linden trees and provided for wagons and riders. The inner ones were made of acacia and were reserved for pedestrians. In contrast to the outer ones, they were completely flat and at their end, at the transition to Kurhausplatz, met a transverse staircase with six steps. The two driveways, on the other hand, rose slightly, which resulted in a deepening of the inner terrain due to the embankments, which is typical for a bowling green . In 1817 the trees in the inner avenues were replaced by plane trees.

The colonnades

In order to enable easy access to the Cursaal even in rainy weather, a colonnade was built north of the bowling green by building inspector Heinrich Jacob Zengerle in 1826/27. Sales booths and stands that had previously been established in the side wings of the Kurhaus moved into the 129 m long, originally open portico. After the construction of the southern counterpart in 1839, the northern hall was called the “Old Colonnade” (from 1937 “Brunnenkolonnade”; today “Kurhauskolonnade”). The southern counterpart , the “New Colonnade” (today “Theater Colonnade”), received a neo-baroque central pavilion with the construction of the New Royal Court Theater from 1892–1894 - a representative entrance to the Great House , today's Hessian State Theater . This porch, later perceived as unsuitable, was replaced by a new one in 1937/38, which was based on Zengerle's architecture. After both colonnades were destroyed in the war in February 1945, they were restored almost unchanged in the post-war period.

The bowling green

Since the construction of the two water basins with the cascade fountains in 1856, the entire area has been planted with flower beds and broderies and walking paths have been created in between. In order to level the terrain, it was raised up to 2.40 m in 1905 in the course of the new Kurhaus building. The area was then lavishly designed in accordance with contemporary tastes. This appearance was retained until the late 1920s. Today the area appears comparatively reduced and thus reminds more of the time of the unplanted "bowling green".

and display information about the image
Bowling green at night with Kurhaus colonnades (left), Kurhaus and theater colonnades (right). In the middle the two cascade fountains.

Todays situation

An underground car park with 450 parking spaces on two levels was built under the bowling green in 2005–2006 (completion May 2006). However, the construction project was extremely controversial, as it was seen by many as the real reason for the removal of the historic tree population of the 180-year-old plane trees in February 2005. However, the city cited the poor health of most of the trees with the risk of branch breakage and the resulting risk to passers-by, as well as the desire to restore the uniformity of the avenues after a third of the trees had been replaced a few years earlier . The trees do not need to be removed for the construction of the underground car park, as the underground car park only extends under the central reservation of the facility, but not in the area of ​​the two avenues.

It has been known since the 1960s that new roots had formed directly beneath the surface as a result of the backfilling of the site in connection with the construction of the new Kurhaus from 1905. The deeper roots, on the other hand, had rotted away, which damaged the stability of the trees. The question of whether the condition of the trees was actually so bad that they had to be felled, or whether the trees could still have been restored, was controversial among various tree experts. What is certain is that the construction of the underground car park would have intervened in the root area of ​​the trees, which would have weakened the plane trees further. A lawsuit against the city, with which it should be established that the lower nature conservation authority under the Hessian Nature Conservation Act was obliged to designate the plane trees as natural monuments and that felling was therefore not permitted, remained unsuccessful.

The redesign of the bowling green and the Kurhausplatz was based on the condition of the complex after the completion of the Kurhaus from 1907. In February 2006, a double row of plane trees was first planted in the southern avenue in front of the theater colonnade, followed by the northern double row in front of the Kurhaus colonnade in October. In July 2006 the fountains and water basins were restored in their historical form and put into operation in November. The Kurhausplatz and Christian-Zais-Straße were paved with basalt . Three of the four glass pavilions , which were built at the ends of the plane tree avenues, serve as access to the underground car park, the fourth oval at the northwest corner of the bowling green takes on the function of ventilating the underground car park. The office Planquadrat "Elfer-Geskes-Krämer" from Darmstadt is responsible for the design and the construction supervision.

Events

The bowling green is often used for open-air concerts because of its impressive backdrop . So were there among other Leonard Cohen , REM , Sting , Nelly Furtado , Bryan Adams , Plácido Domingo , Lionel Richie , Eric Clapton , Elton John and Herbert Grönemeyer on.

At the city ​​biathlon , the shooting range is set up on the bowling green.

The bowling green is also a meeting point for special events. At the Wilhelmstrasse Festival ( Theatrium ) , which takes place annually in June , it is the focus and scene of the associated fireworks - also at the largest New Year's Eve party in Wiesbaden.

literature

  • Walter Czysz: From Roman baths to world spa town. History of Wiesbaden's hot springs and baths. Magistrate of the state capital Wiesbaden - Cultural Office, Wiesbaden 2000, ISBN 3-9802906-7-0 .
  • Hans-Dieter Wehlmann: The Kureck - a term. In: From Biebrich to Wiesbaden - Two cities are growing together. Ed .: Kur- und Verkehrsverein Wiesbaden, 1998, ISBN 3-00-003125-1 .

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ The meadow fountain provided approx. 10 liters of water per minute.
  2. ↑ Today the Wiesenbrunnen would be almost in the middle in front of the portico of today's Kurhaus. During the construction of the underground car park in 2005, the tunnel that led from the original source to the later outlet was encountered.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ City history website of Wiesbaden: Bowling Green
  2. ^ Christian Spielmann, Julius Krake: Historical Atlas of the City of Wiesbaden. Twelve digitized city maps of Wiesbaden 1799–1910. Publisher: City of Wiesbaden, 2002, ISBN 3-9802906-8-9 .
  3. ^ View of Wiesbaden around noon, Georg Heinrich Hergenröder, copper engraving 1797. Historical views of the town, plans and floor plans. In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
  4. ^ Ferdinand Wilhelm Emil Roth: History and Historical Topography of the City of Wiesbaden in the Middle Ages and Modern Times. Second part: cultural history and topography. Published by Christian Limbarth, Wiesbaden 1883, p. 454.
  5. ^ Siegrid Russ: Kulturdenkmäler in Hessen - Wiesbaden II. ISBN 3-528-06236-3 , p. 15.
  6. ^ Walter Czysz: From the Roman bath to the world spa town. History of Wiesbaden's hot springs and baths. P. 164 and 283
  7. ^ A b Sigrid Russ: Cultural monuments in Hessen. Wiesbaden. Volume II: The villa areas. Vieweg, 1988, ISBN 3-528-06236-3 , pp. 23 and 149.
  8. ^ Walter Czysz: From the Roman bath to the world spa town. History of Wiesbaden's hot springs and baths. P. 283
  9. ^ Walter Czysz: From the Roman bath to the world spa town. History of Wiesbaden's hot springs and baths. P. 165.
  10. ↑ Johann Friedrich Morgenstern (1777–1844): View of the old Kurhaus, 1810/11, colored engraving. Historical town views, plans and floor plans. In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
  11. ^ Sigrid Russ: Cultural monuments in Hessen. Volume I.1: Historical pentagon. 2005, p. 35.
  12. ^ Christian Spielmann : Essays on the history of the city of Wiesbaden in the 17th – 19th centuries. Century. Thorsten Reiss Verlag, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 978-3-928085-46-5 , p. 291.
  13. ↑ plane trees were massively damaged. In: Wiesbaden Courier. March 1, 2005.

Coordinates: 50 ° 5 ′ 5 ″  N , 8 ° 14 ′ 44 ″  E