Paul Viktor Niemeyer

Paul Viktor Niemeyer (born September 22, 1827 in Halle (Saale) ; † December 10, 1901 in Weimar ) was a German garden architect who worked as garden director for the city of Magdeburg .

Life

Niemeyer memorial stone at the southern tip of the Rotehorn Park in Magdeburg

Niemeyer, son of the professor of medicine Wilhelm Hermann Niemeyer (1788–1840) and grandson of August Hermann Niemeyer , first attended the education department in his hometown and then went to Erfurt as an apprentice to the well-known J. C. Schmidt nursery . With Peter Joseph Lenné in the royal gardens in Potsdam he learned in particular landscape gardening and working in tree nurseries . After completing his apprenticeship, Lenné helped his student get a job with the well-known landscape architect Prince Hermann von Pückler in Muskau .

In 1854, Niemeyer accepted a position with Duke Bernhard II of Saxony-Meiningen . There he was involved in the redesign and expansion of the Altenstein Castle Nature Park .

Niemeyer undertook extensive study trips to England and before that to France , Italy and Switzerland . On one of these trips he met the later mayor of Magdeburg, Friedrich Bötticher . On Bötticher's recommendation, Niemeyer was hired as an inspector for the municipal parks of Klosterbergegarten , Vogelgesangpark and Herrenkrugpark . After his application in 1862, Niemeyer took up the position of a municipal garden inspector on January 1, 1863 and moved to Magdeburg. Later he was also given the management of the city's land on arable and meadow land. In 1878 he took over the office of the first city gardening director.

In 1863 he realized a redesign of the northern part of the Herrenkrug Park, in which the routing was changed and new plantings were made. Further structural measures in this park followed. In 1870 and 1871 he designed the Glacis plant along the glacis between Krökentor , Ulrichstor and Sudenburger gate . A popular promenade park was created in the run-up to the fortifications of Magdeburg Fortress . In 1872 the south cemetery, designed according to his plans, took up its function. After Niemeyer's plans emerged from 1872 on in the same lying Rotehorn island 's largest Magdeburg park with 25 hectares very spacious Rotehornpark .

The design of many other gardens and parks in the region are associated with Niemeyer's name. Niemeyer also designed the Buckau cemetery , inaugurated in 1876 , the garden of the Westerhüser sugar manufacturer Gustav Schmidt and the park at the entrance to the Bodetal in Thale and in 1884 the private Toepffers Park in Magdeburg.

In 1890 Niemeyer retired. His successor in office was Johann Gottlieb Schoch . He spent the last years of his life in Thuringia .

Honors

In 1888, on the occasion of his 25th anniversary in service, he received the Prussian Order of the Crown, IV class . In his honor, the path leading along the Elbe through the Rotehornpark was named after him as Niemeyerweg . A memorial stone was erected for him on the southern tip of the Rotehorn Island.

Fonts

• Farmer's garden book. Compendium. 1865.

literature

• Heike Kriewald: Niemeyer, Paul. In: Guido Heinrich, Gunter Schandera (ed.): Magdeburg Biographical Lexicon 19th and 20th centuries. Biographical lexicon for the state capital Magdeburg and the districts of Bördekreis, Jerichower Land, Ohrekreis and Schönebeck. Scriptum, Magdeburg 2002, ISBN 3-933046-49-1 .
• Martin Wiehle : Magdeburg personalities. Published by the Magistrate of the City of Magdeburg, Department of Culture. imPuls Verlag, Magdeburg 1993, ISBN 3-910146-06-6 .