Monastery garden (Braunschweig)

Church of St. Maria and part of the monastery garden

The vegetable garden with the raised beds in spring

The adjoining infirmary chapel

The monastery garden in Braunschweig is a garden at the former monastery church St. Maria in the district of Riddagshausen and serves as a public show garden . The monastery garden is a reconstruction based on the old plans of various monasteries. The show garden provides an overview of medicinal and useful plants and fruit tree varieties that were grown in Central European monasteries in the Middle Ages. The plants and the garden are described in more detail during guided tours. Cultivation sponsors take care of the beds. The listed infirmary chapel and the monastery park are located in the monastery garden .

The Riddagshausen monastery church is responsible for the garden. The monastery garden is a cooperation project between the monastery church Riddagshausen and the Diakonisches Werk Braunschweig, the medicinal plant garden of the Technical University of Braunschweig , the Association for the Preservation of Crop Diversity eV (VEN) and the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Streuobst - ASt eV

As can be seen from old plans, in the 18th and 19th In the 19th century, the historic monastery garden with symmetrical shapes was found at this point, but today's monastery garden follows a new concept and shape. In the 20th century, the area was part of the Braunschweig municipal nursery and was cultivated.

history

The monastery garden was laid out in the early 2000s and designed by Burkhard Bohne. The monastery garden was created at a historical location, in the Middle Ages a small part of the gardens of the Riddagshausen monastery was located here and fruit trees were planted in the area of ​​today's monastery garden. In 2004 the garden was opened to visitors for the first time. The creation of the new monastery garden was made possible by the abandonment of these areas by the municipal nursery, which previously used it as arable land for decades.

Essential components of the monastery garden are the herb garden, the vegetable garden and the orchard. These three gardens give an insight into the horticultural and medical knowledge of the Cistercian monks. The system with plants in raised beds consists of 18 vegetable, 14 herb and two dye beds. The orchard has apple and pear trees , quinces and medlars . Added to this are the magic plants, consisting of wild and cultivated plants that are mentioned in myths, fairy tales and legends.

In 2009 five themed gardens were created, including the garden of love. There have been beehives by the fruit trees since 2010.

In 2014 the monastery garden was significantly expanded. It was given areas of the former municipal nursery. The network of paths will be expanded by 275 meters in the future. Some of the raised beds were moved, a large lawn was created and more fruit trees were planted.

Web links

Commons : Monastery garden  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Article about the monastery garden on klosterkirche-riddagshausen.de
• Riddagshausen monastery garden on gaerten-parks.de
• In the shadow of the monastery church: The Riddagshausen monastery garden on garten-tour.de
• The monastery garden on kirche-riddagshausen.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ A garden like Bettina Habermann's monk's time in the Braunschweiger Zeitung of May 2, 2013.
2. ↑ The monastery garden is significantly expanded by Karsten Mentasti in the Braunschweiger Zeitung

Coordinates: 52 ° 16 ′ 2.6 ″  N , 10 ° 34 ′ 38.2 ″  E