Raffelberg Park

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Pond with a small bridge (2016)
Pond (2008)
Former Solbad Raffelberg (2008)

The Raffelbergpark is a park on the site of the former Raffelberg saltwater pool in Mülheim an der Ruhr . It is located on the city limits of Duisburg .

The park was created in 1909 by the garden architect Walter Baron von Engelhardt (from Düsseldorf ) with steps and terraces for a view of the Ruhr floodplain. Quote from the opening: "For the sick for healing, for the healthy for pleasure". A children's brine bath, a bathing house and a spa house were housed in the park . The salt water was pumped from the Alstaden colliery in Oberhausen about 2.5 km to Mülheim. The eastern part of the park was symmetrically designed as a French baroque garden , the western part based on English park landscapes . A previously existing water hole was redesigned into a small lake.

In 1973 the Alstaden colliery had to close and the brine also dried up. The artificial substitute brine was initially not well received. The natural brine supplied from the Concordia colliery in 1979 gave a small boost to the number of visitors, but in 1992 it was finally over.

Before that, a citizens' initiative for the preservation of the park at the Solbad Raffelberg had been founded, which vehemently took a stand against the conversion of the Solbad into a modern adventure pool. This would have meant considerable interventions in the park landscape (felling of old trees, creating parking spaces, etc.).

In 1996 the Kurhaus was converted into a theater and in 1998 the park was restored. Today there are three small businesses, a restaurant and the Theater an der Ruhr in the former spa and children's home . The entrance area on Ruhrorter Straße was built in 2003 by the Mülheim sculptor Jochen Leyendecker as an interpretation of the former pavilion (built by Pfeier & Großmann in 1927), at that time it served as the entrance to the brine bath, today it is a lookout point over the park and Ruhr meadows.

The Raffelbergpark is not only a place of recreation and edification today, it is also used by the theater - especially in the summer months - as an outdoor backdrop or by music events ("White Nights") as an open-air stage. Sports groups, clubs, kindergartens and schools also make intensive use of the park's facilities.

Web links

Commons : Raffelbergpark  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 51 ° 26 ′ 23.5 "  N , 6 ° 49 ′ 24.2"  E