Federal Horticultural Show 1955

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Federal Garden Show 1955 - Interior of the orangery
Federal Garden Show 1955 - Interior of the orangery

The 1955 Federal Horticultural Show took place from April 29 to October 16, 1955 in the Karlsaue in Kassel .

planning

The central concern of the Federal Garden Show in Kassel was to give the city , which was 70% destroyed in the Second World War , a boost for its reconstruction. In May 1952, the city of Kassel announced an ideas competition that was not intended to be limited to the exhibition grounds, but also expected solutions to important urban planning issues. Prize money of 4,000 DM was offered for the ideas competition . 40 works were submitted, the first prize was awarded in September 1952 to Herta Hammerbacher (1900–1955) from Berlin.

From 1953 onwards, city planning officer Wolfgang Bangert was responsible for the project through the municipal exhibition company. Initially, the Federal Horticultural Show was planned for 1954. At the suggestion of the horticultural association, the city of Kassel decided in May 1953 to postpone the federal horticultural show by one year to 1955. This gained another year for the plants to grow in the exhibition area, and in 1955 there was no competition from garden exhibitions taking place in other federal states at the same time. The focus was particularly on the Blooming Baroque event in the park of Ludwigsburg Palace, which opened in 1954 for the 250th anniversary of the city of Ludwigsburg .

Concerns about monument preservation of the then state curator Karl Nothnagel were dispelled by the contractually agreed commitment of the city to remove all fixtures in the historical park of the Karlsaue after the end of the exhibition at his own expense.

execution

On April 29, 1955, the Federal Garden Show was opened by Federal President Theodor Heuss .

The Karlsaue, an originally baroque park in front of the orangery in the Fulda valley, on an area of ​​around 50 hectares, served as the exhibition area . The alternative location Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe was considered, but the municipal bodies preferred the alternative, the Karlsaue, which is closer to the city. The reasons for this were that the Karlsaue is located close to the city center, so that the reconstruction there could be funded, so also Ottoneum and Friedrichsplatz could be included and the relative proximity to the main train station . The latter was used to create stairs street - Germany's first pedestrian zone . Its lower end leads to Friedrichsplatz, where the main entrance to the Federal Garden Show was also located.

The State of Hesse took the Federal Garden Show as an opportunity to partially rebuild the baroque orangery, which had burned down to the walls. It received an emergency roof and the facade was given modern glass cladding. The Fridericianum on Friedrichsplatz was also rebuilt.

The artistic direction of the Federal Garden Show was transferred to the Kassel garden architect and professor at the Werkakademie , Hermann Mattern (1902–1971). The architect Frei Otto (1925–2015) was also involved. Characteristic for the design of the Federal Horticultural Show was the very modern design language, which evoked different reactions. No landscapes were designed in the exhibition halls, rather the plants were presented in tubular steel frames.

The main focus of the Federal Garden Show was on "social green", the greening of residential areas, and the design of the "rubble slope": Due to the lack of means of transport, a large part of the inner-city war rubble, 2 million m³, was simply over the edge of the slope to the 30 meters lower Karlsaue has been tipped. A rose garden was laid out on several levels on the "rubble slope" - one of the major attractions of the Federal Garden Show, which also led to the renaming of the rose slope .

The exhibition was divided into six areas:

  1. Nice view: indoor shows
  2. Rose slope and orangery
  3. Karlswiese and horticultural exhibition
  4. Wood show
  5. Perennial sighting
  6. Play, cemetery and allotment gardens

The Karlswiese was covered with flower beds in the shape of a paisley pattern . There was a performance show of 40 German tree nurseries , an industrial show of gardening tools, and for the first time at a federal horticultural show a "allotment garden model" and a "model cemetery " (with war graves department ). Every evening the logo of the Federal Garden Show shone from a 46 m high tower made of steel rods and up to 75,000 wax lights were lit in the meadows several times after dark.

Another attraction was a cable car that floated from the "mountain station" at the Schöne Aussicht , south-west of the bowling green , the "Karlswiese" in front of the orangery, and ended with a "valley station" at the main restaurant on Hirschgraben in the Karlsaue. There was also a "Liliput Railway". It started in front of the orangery and led in a circular course to the southern Karlsaue, which had not yet been restored at the time. In accordance with the contract between the city and the state of Hesse, both railways were dismantled after the Federal Horticultural Show, brought to Berlin and used again there.

The Federal Garden Show cost 7.2 million DM with an income of 3.1 million DM. Nonetheless, it was considered a success because it promoted the reconstruction of the city enormously or, as the Federal President described it in his opening address: "A battered or endangered community recovers in one. ”The Federal Horticultural Show counted 2.9 million visitors, already on the opening day 35,000 visitors“ stormed ”the exhibition. But there was also criticism: the Federal Garden Show disappointed those interested in historical garden art . It was “too modern” for them.

The dismantling of the facilities dragged on until 1958. The city and the citizens of Kassel would have liked to have received more of the facilities built for the garden show. However, the city was obliged to dismantle it under the contract previously agreed with the administration of the State Palaces and Gardens. Ultimately, the palace administration was only entitled to maintain the rose slope.

documenta 1

As an exhibition accompanying the Federal Garden Show, documenta 1 took place, a show of modern art that was not accessible to Germans during the Nazi era . Arnold Bode initiated this first documenta to confront the people of Kassel and the visitors of the Federal Garden Show with abstract art. The evaluation of documenta 1 as an accompanying program to the 1955 Federal Horticultural Show is, however, not uncontested.

Worth knowing

The Federal Garden Show and documenta 1 meant an enormous upswing for Kassel. Hotel and gastronomic infrastructure emerged, a large number of the buildings erected at that time are now cultural monuments .

In 1981 the Karlsaue was again the venue for a federal horticultural show .

literature

  • H. Böse, KH Hüllbusch, J. Knittel: The Federal Garden Show Kassel. Alternatives to updating a traditional spectacle . In: Böse-Vetter and Hüllbusch (eds.): Schauder gardens . Review of the garden show review . Kassel 1995, pp. 47-63.
  • L. Burckhardt: The Federal Garden Show 1955. Blossom magic on ruins . In: Karl Wegner: Kassel 1955 . Kassel 1992.
  • Theodor Heuss : Address by the Federal President at the opening of the Federal Horticultural Show in Kassel in 1955 . In: Building review March 1955.
  • KH Hüllbusch: Destroyed by care. The Kassel Karlsaue before the Federal Garden Show . In: H. Böse-Vetter, KH Hüllbusch (ed.): SchauDerGärten . Kassel 1995, pp. 65-67.
  • Kassel Exhibition Society: The Kassel Garden Book. Exhibition catalog of the Bundesgartenschau Kassel 1955 . Hessian printing and publishing company 1955.
  • Frank Lorberg: Scenography for the Federal Garden Show of 1955 in Kassel . In: S. Großpietsch and KU Hemken: documenta 1955. A scientific reading book . Kassel 2018.
  • Frank Lorberg and Stefanie Hennecke : Considerations for the scenography of the Federal Garden Show 1955 in Kassel . In: Die Gartenkunst 31 (2019/1), pp. 91-104.
  • NN: For the Federal Horticultural Show 1955 . In: Garten + Landschaft 10/1955, pp. 1–10.
  • Michael Rohde, Horst Becker, Jörn Langhorst, Michael Karkosch: Staatspark Karlsaue Kassel, Parkpflegewerk . Bad Homburg v. d. Height 2004. ISBN 3-7954-1532-2
  • Helga Panten: The federal horticultural shows . Ulmer Verlag 1987.
  • Philipp Schneggenburger: Federal Garden Show 1955 in Kassel . In: Deutsche Bundesgartenschau GmbH (ed.): 50 years of federal horticultural shows. Festschrift on the history of the federal and international garden shows in Germany . Bonn 2001, pp. 21-28.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ The Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe station only became the most important station in Kassel when the corresponding section of the new Hanover – Würzburg line went into operation in 1991.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Schneggenburger, p. 27.
  2. ↑ Schneggenburger, p. 21.
  3. ↑ Ronald Kunze (ed.): The reconstruction of the city of Kassel in the mirror of the local press. Collection Dr. Bangert, Volume 4, 1952
  4. ↑ a b c Schneggenburger, p. 22.
  5. ↑ Schneggenburger, p. 25f.
  6. ↑ Rohde u. a .: Karlsaue State Park , p. 113.
  7. ^ Theodor Heuss: Address by the Federal President .
  8. ↑ Schneggenburger, p. 23.
  9. ↑ a b Lorberg and Hennecke: Considerations , p. 95.
  10. ↑ Schneggenburger, p. 25; Lorberg and Hennecke: Considerations , p. 96.
  11. ↑ a b c Schneggenburger, p. 26.
  12. ↑ a b c Lorberg and Hennecke: Considerations , p. 93.
  13. ↑ Schneggenburger, p. 23f.
  14. ↑ Rohde u. a .: Karlsaue State Park , p. 116.
  15. ↑ Schneggenburger, p. 24.
  16. ↑ Lorberg and Hennecke: Considerations , p. 98.
  17. ^ Lorberg and Hennecke: Considerations , pp. 93–95.
  18. ^ Lorberg and Hennecke: Considerations , p. 97.
  19. ↑ Rohde u. a .: Karlsaue State Park , p. 113.
  20. ↑ Schneggenburger, p. 29.
  21. ↑ Schneggenburger, p. 28.
  22. ↑ Lorberg and Hennecke: Considerations , p. 101.
  23. ↑ Rohde u. a .: Karlsaue State Park , p. 113.
  24. ↑ Lorberg and Hennecke: Considerations , p. 91f.