Peace Park (Leipzig)

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The Peace Park in Leipzig,
in the background the Russian Memorial Church (2008)

The Friedenspark in Leipzig is an approximately 17.5 hectare green area in the Zentrum-Südost district, part of the Mitte district, between Ostplatz in the north and the Russian Church in the south. Linnéstrasse limits it to the west. To the east are the "Siegismund eV" allotment gardens and the Samuel Heinecke School for the hearing impaired. The park was opened after the secularization of the New Johannisfriedhof in 1971 and a fundamental redesign of its area in 1983.

history

The former administration building of the cemetery on the northern edge of the Friedenspark on Liebigstrasse (2016)

In 1846 the New Cemetery (later New Johannis Cemetery) was laid out on the site of today's Friedenspark. After no more burials took place from 1950, the cemetery was still open to the public until 1970. From 1973 the redesign began, which initially consisted of a rigorous removal of all facilities reminiscent of the cemetery. The cemetery, with its over 1000, in some cases artistic, hereditary burial sites was a haunting reminder of the city's former bourgeois elite, which had to be wiped out in the socialist sense. Crypts were filled, the graves cleared and leveled. Using heavy technology, the tombstones were piled up to form a hill covered with earth, which would later serve as a toboggan slope. Then the area remained untouched for several years.

In Leipzig master plan from 1970, the cemetery area was for Leisure park for the students of the University provided. In a later plan called Johannispark - Park of the Young , numerous sports facilities and even a swimming pool were planned. Finally, a more modest variant with some sports areas, a children's playground and open spaces for recreation was realized in line with the economic possibilities. After a call for a name to be found in the Leipziger Volkszeitung , the park was finally opened on July 20, 1983 as a Peace Park . After 1990 the park was declared a garden monument. In the following years, special gardens and special places of remembrance were set up in the park.

Shape and function of the park

The approximately 600 meter long and 300 meter wide complex is traversed by two avenues running in north-south direction, one of which begins as the main axis of the former cemetery at the north gate, which still exists in its former form, as well as one of the former flanking officials' houses. Otherwise the geometrically exact path structure of the cemetery is completely canceled. In the east, a 1.5 hectare area of ​​the former cemetery is separated as an open and play area for the Samuel Heinecke School.

In rows and groups of trees , different types of linden and horse chestnuts form the tree structure of the Peace Park. Birch , ash , poplar and Swedish whitebeams bring variety . But locust and honey locusts occur. Free-growing hedges made of flowering bushes demarcate the park from the surrounding streets.

There are only a few visual art objects. The sculptures Lesende by Waleria Bukowiecka and Three Graces by Bertold Dietz date from the early days of the park . The Lovers by Roland Wetzel are located at the fragrance and touch garden, transferred from the Rosental . At the end of the main avenue, the site of the former ceremonial hall, stands on a roundabout since 1983, the bronze group students by Irene Marquardt (* 1943).

Active recreation facilities are concentrated in the southeast of the park. There is a streetball field , a football field , table tennis tables and a children's playground here. Protected by shrub plantings, they fit into the park without disturbance, which also offers enough space for those seeking peace and quiet. The green mountain of rubble next to the main avenue serves as a toboggan run in winter.

  • North gate and main avenue (2016)

  • "Readers" (2016)

  • "Female Students" (2016)

  • Children's playground (2016)

  • The toboggan slope on the monument rubble mountain (2016)

Themed gardens and memorial sites

The Apothecary Garden (2016)
  • In 2001 the pharmacy garden was laid out near the main entrance from Hauptallee in a westerly direction . It serves the training and further education of pharmacists, but also addresses interested laypeople. More than 300 medicinal plants, typical medicinal plants, poisonous plants and historically interesting species are grown on around 3000 m². The garden is reminiscent of the historical roots of the Botanical Garden , the oldest of its kind in Germany, which emerged from a medicinal plant garden in the mid-16th century. The beds are arranged symmetrically to a narrow water axis.
  • The fragrance and touch garden , opposite the pharmacy garden across Hauptallee, was opened in 2007 as a successor to the garden for the blind that was formerly located in the Rosental . On 2000 m², 78 geometrically clearly structured raised beds and eight themed gardens offer blind and visually impaired people the opportunity to safely enjoy over 500 plant species and to get to know them by smelling, touching and hearing. The scent and touch garden as well as the pharmacist garden are looked after by the staff of the nearby botanical garden.
  • The memorial for the city's deceased children is located in the northwest part of the park . In the middle of a steel plate surrounded by boulders and wild apple bushes with the words “Beginning” and “End” there is an embedded bronze bowl in which rainwater collects, which is supposed to symbolize tears.
The memorial for the victims of child euthanasia (2016)
  • Further south, the memorial for the victims of National Socialist child euthanasia crimes has been a reminder of the more than 100 child victims formerly buried in the New Johannis Cemetery. A winding path crosses a plantation of trembling grass crossed by tapes with words from a poem by the Austrian poet Christine Lavant (1915–1973): This is the trembling grass meadow and the way Lebwohl.

literature

Web links

Commons : Friedenspark in Leipzig  - collection of pictures

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Secret of the Four Graces in the Peace Park ( Memento from February 19, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) in endoskop edition Dec. 2008, p. 26
  2. ↑ Apothekergarten on the website of the city of Leipzig
  3. ^ Fragrance and touch garden on the website of the city of Leipzig
  4. ^ Leaflet from the City of Leipzig

Coordinates: 51 ° 19 ′ 38.5 ″  N , 12 ° 23 ′ 40.9 ″  E