Römerpark (Cologne)
Römerpark is a city park in the Neustadt-Süd district of Cologne that has existed since 1898 .
location
The Roman Park is located in a valley between Titus, Trajan and Claudiusstrasse. Titusstrasse and Trajanstrasse enclose the park at right angles and meet at the Eierplätze , from where a central axis in the park leads to the TH Cologne at Claudiusstrasse 1 , where the Institute for Insurance is also located. Since August 1, 1971, it has maintained the rectorate, central administration and the humanities center in the former, slightly modified university building ("Südstadt Campus"). The building has belonged to the state since 1983, has been a listed building since 1985 and was renovated in 1988. Further south, across Titusstrasse, lies the Friedenspark .
History of origin
Since 1833 the nearby Rhine island Werthchen could be used by the Cologne population as a recreation area. Their trees and bushes, however, had to give way completely to the construction of the Rheinauhafen , which was opened here on May 14, 1898. As a replacement, the municipal gardening director, Adolf Kowallek, had been planning a "landscape" style park on a 20,320 m² triangular plot of land near the banks of the Rhine, initially intended for development, since 1895. In terms of area, it was roughly the size of the Rheinau plant. The park was opened to the public in 1898.
Densely planted on the outside, the visitor entered the park through one of the three entrances and was able to enjoy various views of an artificially staged landscape on his tour. Entering the lawns was not allowed. A municipal coffee house built on Kaiser-Wilhelm-Ring in 1887 had to give way to the Kaiser Wilhelm I monument, inaugurated on June 18, 1897, and was moved to the Römerpark, where it stood until 1912 and also offered musical performances.
Commercial college and university
In 1906 a new urban situation arose for the Römerpark. After the Prussians forbade the building of a new university, the city of Cologne decided to build a new building on its own responsibility. On May 1, 1901, in the presence of the Minister of Commerce, the Cologne College of Commerce opened at Hansaring. It was the first independent commercial college in Germany that was run exclusively by the city. On October 26, 1907, the new building of the Handelshochschule am Römerpark, Claudiusstraße 1 , built by Ernst Vetterlein , opened . The park now served as a "front garden" and access to this building, which, after opening on June 12, 1919, was the first headquarters of the newly founded University of Cologne came (Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences). The old commercial college merged with the university. The Faculty of Law was added on January 9, 1920, and the Faculty of Philosophy on May 3, 1920.
In the meantime, Fritz Encke had been appointed to the position of the late gardening director Kowallek. Instead of subordinating the Römerpark completely to the building with a pompous, Baroque design, in 1912 he designed a simple axis through the park with the simplest of means, which he adapted to the neo-baroque facade of the university with a balustrade made of shell limestone. He left the rest of the park almost unchanged. The coffee house was demolished. The Roman Park has been a listed building since July 1, 1980.
time of the nationalsocialism
On May 17, 1933, books by ostracized authors were burned in front of the main entrance to the university building. Because of the increasing number of students, the university stayed until October 1, 1934 and then moved into the new building built by Adolf Abel on Universitätsstrasse, which was inaugurated on April 5, 1935. The vacated building at Claudiusstrasse 1 was used by the Cologne-Aachen Gauleitung, headed by Gauleiter Josef Grohé, from November 5, 1934 during the Nazi era .
In September 1936, eight-year-old " half-Jew " Hans Abraham Ochs from nearby Trajanstrasse 41 was walking with his mother and little brother on the border between Römerpark and Hindenburgpark, where he was bullied and beaten up by members of the Hitler Youth . When he was already on the ground, they kicked him until he stopped moving. On September 30, 1936, Ochs died in hospital from his injuries. A stumbling block at the entrance to the park reminds of this crime . In May 1945, American soldiers dismantled the swastika and imperial eagle from the university building that had been destroyed in the war.
Trivia
- After the war, the newly founded Lufthansa had its headquarters at Claudiusstrasse 1 on Römerpark since April 15, 1952 , until it was able to move to its own Lufthansa building in Cologne-Deutz on April 15, 1970 .
- Wolfgang Niedecken recorded the song Alexandra on a park bench in Römerpark in February 1984, which only came up on Thursday, on the BAP album Zwesche Salzjebäck un Bier .
literature
- René Zey: Parks in Cologne: A guide through the green spaces. Greven, Cologne 1993, ISBN 3-7743-0273-1 , p. 155ff.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Henriette Meynen, Die Kölner Grünanlagen , Volume 1, 1979, p. 162
- ↑ Hiltrud Kier / Ulrich Krings , Stadtspuren: Denkmäler in Köln , Volume 30, 2001, p. 51
- ↑ Hiltrud Kier, Cologne: Kunstführer , 1980, p. 129
- ↑ Walther Zimmermann, Die Kunstdenkmäler des Rheinlands , Volume 23, 1978, p. 95
- ↑ Erich Meuthen, Kölner Universitätsgeschichte , Volume 3, 1988, p. 7
- ↑ Marco Gebert, fortress and city of Cologne , 2013, p. 381
- ↑ Bruno Fischer, Cologne and the surrounding area 1933-1945 , 2012, p. 44
Coordinates: 50 ° 55 '9.6 " N , 6 ° 57' 57.7" E