Hill Park (Essen)

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Part of the hill park with a view of Villa Hügel
Camellia in the hill park

The Hügelpark is the park belonging to Villa Hügel in the Essen district of Bredeney , which the industrialist Alfred Krupp planned and had built from 1869.

History and character

Originally, a collaboration with a renowned garden architect was planned for the creation of the park. In conversation were Joseph Clemens Weyhe and Johann Heinrich Gustav Meyer . A contract was not concluded with either of the two. Instead, Alfred Krupp's ideas were implemented by his head gardener Friedrich Bete.

A connection between the pleasant and the useful was envisaged. On the one hand it was supposed to serve for representation and recreation, on the other hand it was planned to provide the staff with agricultural products. Of the villa's original area of ​​127 to 153 hectares , around 13 to 15 hectares were earmarked for agriculture.

With the exception of the northern area, gardens and parks were planned immediately around the villa. The usable areas should adjoin this. According to Alfred Krupp's ideas, the park should include apartments, stables, grottos, greenhouses, fountains, a riding school, courtyards, gardens, a water pressure plant, fountains, cascades , fish ponds, a wildlife park, viaducts, bridges, horse and cattle pastures. After Krupp Brachewitz increasingly withdrew the responsibility for planning the villa, he was supposed to take over the planning for the buildings outside. It was not intended for the execution. Krupp said that he: "but not with the execution, because that is not his subject at all, as I have fully convinced myself and about which there is no secret to be made." Johann Heinrich Gustav Meyer should be placed at his side , of which only three drawings were made for the greenhouse.

So based on the ideas of Alfred Krupp and Brachewitz and Bete, sketches for a park south of the main building were created. It consisted of two levels, which were surrounded by a park. The upper terrace was created from the excavated soil that arose during the construction of the villa. This level was bordered by a lining wall and should be designed with geometrically arranged tree plantings and a pond. Initial sketches of this wall left the impression of a fortress wall, especially due to the two defense towers at the corners. The second design was loosened up with a pergola and the entrance to the wine cellar including seating.

In 1869 Brachewitz and Bete made the first plans for these two terraces. The areas consisted to a large extent of lawn and were criss-crossed by curved paths with niches for statues and benches. The stibadium was in the middle of the transverse wall . Behind it was the arcade encompassing the upper level. A grotto was planned below the stibadium.

Another design was made in 1870. Contrary to the first plan, the relaxation area was limited to the lower area. The upper area was designed geometrically and contained three rectangular beds.

The final design also included dividing the upper level into three rectangular parts. However, these were now crossed by a wide path. The planned pond was omitted due to the high costs and the poor subsoil.

When Villa Hügel was built, the area was a bare hill with meadows, pastures and arable land. However, this did not correspond to Alfred Krupp's ideas of his future residence. In order to get the impression of a forest during its lifetime, numerous larger trees were planted. Krupp's wish was to plant "around 50 years old ... large, older trees ... first and foremost beeches , oaks , linden , plane trees , firs , spruces " . To this end, he sent an employee to Paris to find out about the construction of a new boulevard, where trees of this age had been successfully planted. Krupp had around one hundred trees planted from Mülheim an der Ruhr and Gelsenkirchen . The plane tree grove on the western slope below the terrace, the beeches on the former bridle path and the rhododendrons in the gorge are still preserved today .

A square with 7 by 7 linden trees was planned on the upper terrace. These replaced the arrangement of 4 by 5 linden trees, which enclosed the originally planned pond. Beds were attached to both sides of this area. To the west was then a lawn, which was bordered with spherical box trees and araucarias . The arcade , which includes the upper terrace, was surrounded by conifers, box trees, arborvitae and yews . The lower terrace consisted to a large extent of lawn, ornamental grasses and deciduous trees. The trees were beeches and linden trees.

The paths were designed exclusively as gravel paths. In addition, there were numerous seating furniture, sculptures, lamps and vases spread over the entire area of ​​the park. In 1883 the park was completed in this form.

While under Alfred Krupp mainly native plants found their way into the park, this changed after his death in 1887. Under his son Friedrich Alfred Krupp , and later Bertha Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach , from 1888 the park turned more and more into a representative object . Increasingly rare and exotic plants were used, as the establishment of an orchid cultivation under Betes' successor, Friedrich Veerhoff, shows.

Today's hill park is no longer in its original state. For the 150th anniversary of Friedrich Krupp AG in 1961, the facility was extensively redesigned based on the model of an English garden . The two different levels in the area south of the villa can no longer be seen today. The artificial watercourses and springs also fell victim to this adjustment. Of the total of more than 50 buildings on the grounds of Villa Hügel, only the three porter buildings, the guest house and the sparrow house have been preserved in addition to the main house.

The park, managed by the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation , is part of the European Garden Heritage Network . It is now open to the public. A general entrance fee has been charged since 2008, which also includes a visit to Villa Hügel.

literature

  • Berthold Trenkner: Park and nursery of Villa Hügel . In: Die Gartenwelt , Volume VII, Issue 27, Richard Carl Schmicht, Leipzig 1903, pp. 313–317
  • Christa Hasselhorst : The park of Villa Hügel . Deutscher Kunstverlag, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-422-02184-6 .

Web links

Commons : Hügelpark  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Tilmann Buddensieg: Villa Hügel. The Krupp house in Essen.
  2. ^ Derwesten.de of January 22, 2008: New admission prices for Hügelpark ; last viewed on February 8, 2012

Coordinates: 51 ° 24 ′ 22 ″  N , 7 ° 0 ′ 26 ″  E