Japanese Garden (Leverkusen)

View of the tea house and an archway, April 2009.

The Japanese Garden in the Flittard district of Cologne on the outskirts of Leverkusen is a park within the Carl Duisberg Park on the Chempark industrial site of Bayer AG .

description

The Japanese Garden was first laid out in 1912 next to the villa by Carl Duisberg , chairman of the supervisory and administrative boards of the then IG Farbenindustrie AG in the Leverkusen city area. After a trip around the world in 1926, during which Duisberg also visited Japan, he was enthusiastic about the garden culture there and decided to expand the garden in the area where the Bayer skyscraper stood until 2012 . The garden has been open to the public during the day since the 1950s.

In 1960, the Japanese Garden was relocated to its current location about 250 meters further south and is located within a 15,000 m² garden landscape on the site of the former Bayer plant, which is now part of the Chempark. The site of the Japanese Garden is already located in the city of Cologne in the Flittard district. There are three entrances, one of which is on Kaiser-Wilhelm-Allee.

In addition to grasses, papyrus bushes , Japanese golden maple , chrysanthemums and other plants, sequoia trees and a Chinese-style tea house with Japanese interiors can also be seen. In addition, there are ponds with 3000 square meters of water with Japanese koi and turtles. The "Mikado Bridge" is modeled on a bridge in the temple city of Nikko . Bronze statues of Buddhas , geishas and water-spouting dragons were removed from the park in 2013 due to metal theft .

In 2006, the Japanese Garden was among the top five in the “Germany's Most Beautiful Park” competition. In 2012, the park was expanded to include the area of the demolished Bayer high-rise. The Japanese Garden has been part of the European Garden Heritage Network since 2017 .