Green Sea (Laubach)

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View in west direction from the "Himmelsleiter" observation tower over the "Green Sea"
Robin Hood Village, adventure playground
Church ruins St. Valentin
Forest Discovery Trail
"Himmelsleiter" observation tower
"Forest men" with jumping jack ropes
"Sky Window" hammocks
Observation station "Old Oak", wooden walkway above the game reserve
Lattice tower

The Green Sea near Laubach is a nature adventure and leisure park in an 80-hectare forest area in the Vorderen Vogelsberg .

Geographical location

The natural forest park is located on the B 276 about halfway between Laubach and Schotten, 15 kilometers to the east . It stretches along the western slope of the Kirchberg ( 404  m above sea  level ) in the Laubacher hill country.

investment

The facility is located in the fauna and flora habitat “Laubacher Wald” (FFH no. 5420-304), in the “Vogelschutzgebiet Vogelsberg” (VSG no. 5421-401) and in the Hoher Vogelsberg Nature Park . The Green Sea has a high proportion of beech forest.

The park follows the concept of gentle tourism and aims to "convey the ecological and cultural-historical significance of Hessian forests in an exciting and eventful way". The Green Sea belongs to the 4250 hectare forest area of ​​Count Karl Georg zu Solms-Laubach , one of the largest private forest owners in Hesse (Graf zu Solms Laubach'sche Rentkammer, Forstbetrieb Solms-Laubach). Most of the playgrounds, railings and buildings in the park are made of wood. The wood comes from the forest company's own production. The constructions are built as it was common in the Middle Ages, mostly connected with ropes and without nails. A parking lot with 200 parking spaces was built northwest of the facility. In front of the park entrance is the “New Jägerhaus” (until 2008 the “Bikerhaus” motorcycle meeting place), the park's gastronomic facility. Behind the entrance to the park there are barbecue areas and a petting zoo with goats, rabbits, donkeys and South American alpacas . The park is visited by 60,000 to 70,000 people annually.

In the western part of the park was the village of Ruthardshausen, mentioned for the first time in 1340 and deserted as a result of the plague. The desert village consisted of about 20 settlements and a church. Excavation finds from Ruthardshausen are exhibited in the Museum Fridericianum in Laubach. The Count of Solms-Laubach sponsored archaeological excavations in the Laubacher Forest settlement landscape, which is largely the Count's forest of Laubach Castle.

On the day of biodiversity in 2010, the species inventory of the Laubach Forest in the Green Sea was recorded with almost 500 species. The Institute for Animal Ecology and Nature Education in Laubach Gonterskirchen-is responsible for the content development and instructional support in the park.

The facility has been closed since 2017 and is in disrepair. The footbridge over the animal enclosure has collapsed, some other attractions are in danger of collapsing.

Flatly

A two-kilometer “Forest Discovery Trail” (as of June 2015) with signs about native animal and plant species as well as the geology and cultural history of the area leads past various stations. The circular route starts at the historically protected former Count's forester's house Ruthardshausen ("Jägerhaus"). The elongated single-storey half-timbered building, which ends in a two-storey area in the southwest, has been a restaurant and excursion destination for decades.

The path continues to an adventure playground with a wooden bowling alley, wooden seesaws , oversized jumping jacks ("forest men", which were also seen at the Gießen State Horticultural Show in 2014 ), a life-size board dice game, a hay bouncing castle and a large walkable wooden ram. A path leads from the playground to the “Robin Hood Village” with tree houses, climbing ropes, a wooden teepee and a labyrinth.

The listed medieval church ruins of St. Valentin lie along the circular route . The rudimentary preserved building of the Gothic parish church, built around 1260, shows a square choir tower with a pointed triumphal arch and a rectangular nave with remains of a window with tracery on the west side. The church is the last reference to the Ruthardshausen desert and was restored in 1970. A bell of the church is now in the Protestant church in the neighboring village of Einartshausen . An ossuary was discovered on the side wall of the church in 2008. During the excavations, parts of the churchyard wall were reconstructed. Church services and cultural events take place in the church ruins.

The path leads past a timber-framed observation tower, a barefoot path , hammocks made of wooden slats in the forest ("sky window"), a "forest xylophone" made of hanging branches, an animal observation station, a very rare hornbeam forest ("magical forest") and a balancer -Parcours. At the easternmost and highest point of the circular route is the 35 meter high observation tower "Himmelsleiter" ( coordinates ) made of aluminum with four platforms of different heights. The view goes over the Wetterau to the Taunus and over the Giessen basin to the Dünsberg . The view over the treetops of the Laubacher Forest inspired Count zu Solms-Laubach to name the park “Green Sea”.

On the northern loop back to the starting point of the circular route are archaeological stations with reconstructed excavation sites. A historically modeled charcoal-burning plant gives an insight into the settlement history of the region. Until the 19th century, charcoal burning was one of the most important sources of income for the local population. (Former glassworks were discovered near the deserted Ruthardshausen .) Deer and aurochs can be observed in a game enclosure from a three-meter-high wooden walkway (observation station "Alte Eiche") on poles, which protrudes into a clearing along the Höllerskopfbach stream . From the enclosure, the circular route goes past the Robin Hood village back to the beginning. A path tram ("forest taxi") drives over the southern loop of the circular route to the observation tower and back.

history

After the designation as an FFH area, the Count's forest could no longer be used traditionally for forestry purposes. A new management concept should then take economic and ecological issues into account. Graf zu Solms-Laubach, a trained forester, built the nature adventure park in 2009 for around 1.5 million euros without public funds as an additional economic pillar. The model for the Green Sea was the Kopfing treetop path . The park was created in cooperation with the Lower Nature Conservation Authority Gießen, the state archaeologist Egon Schallmayer and the Society for Integration and Work Gießen.

The opening of the park in the bird sanctuary was postponed from July 1 to August 1, 2009 due to a brooding wood warbler . The backbred aurochs in the open-air enclosure came from near Dessau (Saxony-Anhalt), the red deer came from the count's forests in the Salzburg region. In February 2010 an auroch calf was born in the park and was named "Rosalie" in a raffle.

The Laubach castle hotel “Bunter Hund”, the restaurant “Hirschfrikadelle” and the “Green Sea” are marketed under the brand name “ Schloss Laubach ”.

The street of the same name "Grünes Meer", part of the lower old town of Laubach, has no relation to the park.

In 2012, the Hoherodskopf treetop path was opened 20 kilometers east on Vogelsberg .

Remarks

  1. ↑ Map services of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation ( information )
  2. ↑ 5420-304 Laubacher Forest.  (FFH area) Profiles of the Natura 2000 areas. Published by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation . Retrieved November 21, 2017.
  3. ↑ 5420-304 Laubacher Wald ( Memento of the original from June 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , NATURA 2000 regulation @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / natura2000-verordnung.hessen.de
  4. ↑ 5421-401 Vogelsberg ( Memento of the original from June 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , NATURA 2000 regulation @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / natura2000-verordnung.hessen.de
  5. ↑ »Already over 10,000 visitors« , Gießener Allgemeine, September 5, 2009
  6. ↑ Laubacher Forest. On a voyage of discovery in the “green sea” , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, July 13, 2009
  7. ↑ Forest & Hunting , Laubach Castle
  8. ↑ Forest owner: Who owns the forest? , Wald-Prinz.de
  9. ↑ Im Zauberwald , Frankfurter Rundschau, August 3, 2009
  10. ↑ a b c Leisure time in the great outdoors. BALANCE Five years ago the green classroom, recreation area, forest adventure park and adventure playground opened , Gießener Anzeiger, February 19, 2014
  11. ↑ In the middle of the "Green Sea": Laubach Castle Discovery Forest opened on July 1 , Gießener Zeitung (Red.), April 8, 2009
  12. ^ Karl Georg Graf zu Solms-Laubach promotes the Hessian state archeology , State Office for Monument Preservation Hesse.
  13. ↑ Around 500 species live in the "Green Sea" Laubach; Biodiversity Day also celebrated in the Discovery Forest - botanists and zoologists on site , Gießener Anzeiger, 23 June 2010
  14. ↑ Guided tours for school classes in the Green Sea in the Laubacher Forest ( Memento of the original from June 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Institute for Animal Ecology and Nature Education @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.tieroekologie.com
  15. ^ State Office for the Preservation of Monuments Hesse (ed.), Lang (edit.): Cultural monuments in Hesse. 2008, p. 260.
  16. ↑ Nikolas Sohn: Graf zu Solms-Laubach has created a forest of discovery with the Green Sea, which contrasts nicely with the oversupply of ordinary amusement parks. Our author let himself go. , Gießener Anzeiger, August 21, 2012
  17. ^ State Office for the Preservation of Monuments Hesse (ed.), Lang (edit.): Cultural monuments in Hesse. 2008, p. 259.
  18. ^ Backbreaking work for ten archeology students , Gießener Allgemeine, September 11, 2008
  19. ↑ The »Green Sea« brings people and nature closer , Gießener Allgemeine, August 2, 2009
  20. ↑ Laubach Adventure Park ( Memento of the original from June 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Bartels Architects and Engineers @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bartels-global.com
  21. ^ Laubacher Köhlerfest offered insights into settlement and forest history , Gießener Allgemeine, August 16, 2010
  22. ↑ Anne Lorenc: A forest full of animals and adventure. The "Green Sea" in the Count's forest of Laubach advertises with original nature experiences , Gießener Anzeiger, September 21, 2011
  23. ↑ Journey to sites 1000 years of settlement history , Gießener Allgemeine, June 22, 2008
  24. ^ Amusement park in the forest , Frankfurter Rundschau, April 6, 2009
  25. ^ "Green Sea": Up to 100,000 visitors expected , Wetterauer Zeitung, April 6, 2009
  26. ↑ Visit from Central Africa delays the “Green Sea” , Gießener Anzeiger, June 19, 2009
  27. ↑ Through the ram's belly to new discoveries. On August 1st, the "Green Sea" adventure park opens in Laubach - tradition of glassworks and charcoal piles. Theme - mouflons and aurochs , Gießener Anzeiger, July 21, 2009
  28. ↑ The auroch calf is now called Rosalie. Name was determined by lot in the "Green Sea" , Gießener Anzeiger, June 2, 2010
  29. ↑ Deer meatball and "Bunter Hund" in new hands. . . but Karl Georg Graf zu Solms-Laubach is not going to India for six months , Gießener Anzeiger, December 14, 2010

literature

  • State Office for the Preservation of Monuments Hesse (ed.); Karlheinz Lang (arr.): Cultural monuments in Hessen. District of Giessen I. Hungen, Laubach, Lich, Reiskirchen. (= Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany ). Theiss, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-8062-2177-0 , pp. 259-260.
  • Willi Demmer: An almost forgotten church ruin: Ruthardshausen between Laubach u. Schotten , in: Hessische Heimat, Volume 21, Gießen 1980, p. 4
  • Willi Demmer: The Ruthardshausen church ruins near Laubach. A desert on the upper reaches of the Horloff , in: Hessische Heimat, Volume 21, Giessen 1970, pp. 1-3.
  • Egon Schallmayer (ed.): Hofgut Grass and Ruthardshausen. Wüstungsforschungen in Mittelhessen , in: Yearbook for Archeology and Paleontology in Hessen, Archaeological and Palaeontological Monument Preservation of the State Office for Monument Preservation Hesse, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-8062-2300-2

Web links

Commons : Green Sea  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 50 ° 31 ′ 33.8 "  N , 9 ° 4 ′ 18.8"  E