Nordpark Düsseldorf

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Pool of water at the entrance to the park
Entrance to the water lily garden
Spring planting
Water feature
Fountain with water feature
Rondel of flowers
Circular flower bed (former dance ring)

The Nordpark in Düsseldorf is a public green space in the Stockum district . It was planned in 1936 for the Reichsausstellung Schaffendes Volk , a propaganda exhibition of the National Socialists , and opened in 1937. The main entrance is on Kaiserswerther Straße , another entrance on the Rhine side on Rotterdamer Straße.

The park is 36.6 hectares in size. Water features, lawns, trees, differently planted sections, borders and a Japanese garden are part of a diverse design. In the park there are tables and chairs that visitors can move around as required and use them to linger.

The building of the Aquazoo - Löbbecke Museum was built in 1987 in the park area.

Division of the park

Japanese garden

Wide paths lead through the park, in which large, tree-lined lawns separate the individual garden areas. In addition to strictly geometrically planted flower beds, the park also offers themed partial gardens such as the water lily garden, whose water basin is surrounded by shady columns.

The entrance to the park is characterized by the largest water features in Düsseldorf. Over a 170-meter-long pool with cross-spraying fountains , the visitor looks at a large fountain , fed by a total of 160 nozzles. The ballroom built next to the fountain serves as an exhibition space for young artists.

Japanese garden
Site plan with an overview of today's park uses

A " Japanese Garden on the Rhine " in the North Park was given to the population in 1975 by the Japanese community in Düsseldorf . An association founded specifically for this purpose invested 1.9 million DM to complete the 5000 m² garden. It was designed by Iwaki Ishiguro and his son and laid out by him and six other gardeners. They followed the type of pond garden. A path leads around a small body of water with an artificial stream inlet, a symbolic ship landing stage and an island and offers different views of the garden. Trimmed black pines and Japanese maples define the outer zones. The garden receives intensive care by Japanese gardeners every four to six years, ongoing care and maintenance is carried out by employees of the city of Düsseldorf.

history

prehistory

Not far from the banks of the Rhine, the so-called “New Academy” or “New Art Academy” on Menzelstrasse had been on the site since 1915. This ran from Grünewaldstrasse to Stockumer Kirchstrasse. From 1913 to 1922 the main building of the “Neue Kunstakademie” was built according to plans by the architect Karl Wach in Düsseldorf-Stockum, converted into the Reich Exhibition of Creative People in 1937 and demolished in 1974, where today's Aquazoo is located.

On the diagram of Düsseldorf on the Rhine near Stockum from 1912, in the foreground on the right you can see the former Jäger factory and part of the municipal cleaning plant at that time. The southern end of the 52-acre site was formed by a path running roughly from west to east with the “New Art Academy” (X). The old Schnellenburg, which stood on the Rhine next to the chemical factory, was included in the grounds of the academy. In the background of the diagram you can see the road leading to Kaiserswerth, on the right the airship hangar and on the left the towers of Kaiserswerth.

construction time

The director of the garden department, Willi Tapp, planned the park in 1936 on the fallow site with clear main and secondary axes that lead to differently designed parts of the park. The planning of the park was based on an imaginary "memorial axis" that connected the park along the water basin with the Schlageter memorial, built in 1931 at the north cemetery . In order to integrate an impressive tree population from the start, several hundred large trees were transplanted from the north cemetery and other public and private parks.

Imperial Exhibition "Creative People"

The Reichsausstellung Schaffendes Volk was a garden, industry and settlement show that opened on May 8, 1937. In addition to the Nordpark, the Wilhelm Gustloff Settlement and the Schlageter Settlement, which, as model settlements, reflected the ideals of the National Socialist ideas about living and transportation, were also part of the exhibition grounds. The Reichsausstellung counted around 6.9 million visitors.

The park's sculptures formed an essential part of the imperial exhibition. The sculptures, pavilions, green spaces and fountains were complemented by "light, flag and water games" by the set designer and architect Walter von Wecus .

The horse tamers

Right statue of the horse tamer

The "horse tamers", which formed the entrance portal to the exhibition, were created by Edwin Scharff based on an idea by Peter Grund , the then director of the Düsseldorf Art Academy . Also known as "Rossehalter", "Rosseführer", "Roßhalter" or "Rosselenker" at the time of their creation, they caused displeasure during the planning period, as the city of Düsseldorf was not ready to finance the sculptures in the amount Scharff wanted wear. Both parties agreed on a price of 60,000 Reichsmarks, but the cost of the sculptures, each made from 56 m³ of granite, rose to 135,000 Reichsmarks. Disputes with the busy stonemasons and delays in processing meant that the sculptures were not finished when the exhibition opened on May 1, 1937. The figure on the left was initially worked on, the one on the right still consisted of the untreated blocks delivered from the quarry and only roughly assembled. Scharff received clear criticism for the unfinished work.

There was a scandal when photographs of the monumental “horse tamers” were shown at the “Degenerate Art” exhibition in Munich. The photos showed the horses proudly stretching their heads towards the sky, they seem to be resisting their almost repressed tamers. Although the photos were removed from the exhibition with a hint of an oversight, Edwin Scharff was banned from working and was no longer allowed to teach at the Düsseldorf Art Academy.

The "horse tamers" were spared dismantling because of their size. In 1938 further work began on the figure on the left with the aim of making the sculpture rounder and more plastic. The second figure was also completed by 1940.

Similar sculptures, called “Die Rosseführer”, were created by the Munich sculptor Joseph Wackerle , who was highly valued by Adolf Hitler, in 1936 for the outdoor area of ​​the Berlin Olympic Stadium .

The estates

Twelve sculptures, called “The Estates”, were set up along the water basin, which were supposed to represent the professions and classes of the “creative people”. They were created by the Düsseldorf sculptors Hans Breker (a brother of Arno Breker ), Ernst Gottschalk , Willi Hoselmann , Robert Ittermann , Erich Kuhn, Josef Daniel Sommer , Kurt Zimmermann, Alexander Zschokke and Alfred Zschorsch .

The public fuss about the horse tamers meant that the other sculptures also received special attention. Although the execution of the work was regularly checked and the artists repeatedly had to repair defects, the figures were removed before Adolf Hitler's visit , which took place on October 2, 1937, due to poor artistic execution.

Four of the sculptures were set up again at the water basin in 1941, and flower bowls were placed on the base that had remained empty. “The Fisherman” was handed over to the city in 2006 from the private property of the Neuss stonemason Kuhn, “The Shepherdess” was set up in front of a daycare center in Benrath . Both came back to their old place in the north park in 2006, the remaining six sculptures are considered lost.

In contrast, the sculpture “Die Sitzende” by Johannes Knubel , which does not belong to the group of “Estates” and is still located in the rose garden of the North Park, was preserved.

post war period

Neoclassical exhibition hall from 1938 ("Nordpark-Gartenhalle"), architect: Fritz Becker

After the seizure by the British armed forces, the park was initially used as a recreation center for British soldiers. Public use was made possible in some parts from 1953. As a result, the park gradually became accessible again. Most of the exhibition halls were demolished and flower beds were created at their locations. The original layout of the park was largely retained, except for the demolition of the building of the New Academy (from 1937 the house of the German Workers' Front).

Under the direction of the gardening authority director Ulrich Wolf, a number of redesigns were carried out in the north park at the end of the 1950s. The young garden architect Georg Penker was commissioned with the planning of some areas . With the “Summer Flower Garden” he created an area in the asymmetrical design language typical of the time. A light pergola made of bamboo wood was built to provide shade. This has now been replaced by a steel structure with balls and tin flags. The two amphora-shaped vases in the cactus garden were made by the ceramic artist Gwendolyn Liselotte Blume (1914–1983), who ran a pottery in Sevelen near Geldern. The two rectangular jewelry vases came from Benrath and were designed by the ceramic artist Claus Rudolf Barthelmess (1914–1983) at the beginning of the 1950s and made by his son. They were shown at the garden exhibition 1952–1953 in the Benrath Palace Park and in 1957/1958 were also shown in the cactus garden of the north park.

Contemporary sculptures

The city has been using the area since the 1960s to integrate contemporary sculptures by international sculptors such as André Bloc and George Rickey as well as by artists from the Düsseldorf art scene into the park. The sculpture by the artist André Bloc consists of brass sheets stamped into shape that are welded together. Presented in 1961 in Hella Nebelung's gallery in Ratinger Tor, it was set up on a limestone plinth in the cactus garden in 1962.

The sculptures accentuate flower arrangements (Rickey), divide surfaces (Reusch) and rooms (Merten, Kerger, Kronenberg). In the meantime, a wide range of modern, preferably abstract art can be found in the Nordpark as a counterbalance to the sculptures from the 1930s. For the opening of the Aquazoo, the Heimatverein Düsseldorfer Jonges e. V. the sculpture by Hans Breker . The works of Horst Rainer Kerger , Christian Kronenberg and Peter Schwickerath were created in 1988 on the occasion of the exhibition "D-88" for the 700th anniversary of the city. They were originally located in the old town, were bought by the city and then placed in the north park. The sculptures by Gregor Merten and Luis Guerrero are relics of a joint exhibition that the group "Zyklon" organized in 1986 in the Nordpark.

literature

  • Magdalena Bushart, Bettina Güldner, Bernd Nicolai : The Reichsausstellung Schaffendes Volk 1937. In: Magdalena Bushart et al. (Hrsg.): Sculpture and power. Figurative sculpture in Germany in the 30s and 40s. Frölich and Kaufmann, Berlin 1984, ISBN 3-88331-926-0 ( Academy Catalog 138).
  • Claus Lange: The Nordpark in Düsseldorf. Neusser Druck und Verlag, Neuss 1994, ISBN 3-88094-749-X ( Rheinische Kunststätten. Issue 393).
  • Rolf Purpar: Art City Düsseldorf. Objects and monuments in the cityscape. 2nd revised and expanded edition. Grupello, Düsseldorf 2009, ISBN 978-3-89978-044-4 .
  • Stefanie Schäfers: From the Werkbund to the four-year plan. The exhibition Schaffendes Volk, Düsseldorf 1937. , sources and research on the history of the Lower Rhine. Edited by Düsseldorfer Geschichtsverein, Volume 4 Droste, Düsseldorf 2001, ISBN 3-7700-3045-1 available online
  • Willi Tapp: The garden show as part of the great Reich exhibition "Schaffendes Volk" Düsseldorf 1937 . In: garden art . Issue 50 (1937), pp. 149-155
  • Wolfgang Funken: Ars Publica Düsseldorf , Volume 3, Klartext, Essen, 2012, ISBN 978-3-83750-875-8 , pp. 1146–1154

Web links

Commons : Nordpark Düsseldorf  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. nic: Wells are switched off . In: Rheinische Post , October 12, 2017, p. D5.
  2. Japanese Garden , on duesseldorf.de
  3. Supplement to the " Master Builder " . Monthly booklets for building culture and building practice. Issue 9, September 1937, p. 201 ff. ( PDF )
  4. Schäfers 2001
  5. ^ Reichsausstellung Schaffendes Volk on duesseldorf.de
  6. Rolf Purpar, art city Dusseldorf, 2nd ed., Dusseldorf 2009, pp 487 et seq., Wolfgang sparks, Ars Publica Dusseldorf, Essen 2012, vol. 3, p 1146 et seq., Www.welt-der-form.net / Sculpture in public space / Düsseldorf
  7. Wolfgang Funken 2012, Vol. 3, p. 1157.

Coordinates: 51 ° 15 ′ 23.9 "  N , 6 ° 44 ′ 57.1"  E