Rhine facilities (Koblenz)
The Rheinanlagen are a 3.5 km long park with a promenade on the left bank of the Rhine in Koblenz . They consist of the Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer and the Kaiserin-Augusta-Anlagen .
The original Rhine facilities, today's Kaiserin Augusta facilities, are the work of Peter Lenné , who designed them as an English landscape garden between 1856 and 1861 on behalf of Princess Augusta , the wife of the prince and later German Emperor Wilhelm of Prussia . They led from the Oberwerther Bridge (Mozartstrasse) down the Rhine to the former city wall directly in front of the Electoral Palace .
After the city walls were torn down in 1902, the section between the Electoral Palace and the Deutsches Eck, built in 1897, was built on as a promenade. Because of Konrad Adenauer's commitment to the restoration of German democracy, this part was named after him in January 1976.
The Rhine facilities have been redesigned and expanded several times. During the Second World War , they were devastated in air raids , with many objects of the splendid furnishings being lost. After reconstruction in the 1950s, the facilities were redesigned again in the 1970s. The last extensive renovation and restoration was carried out for the 2011 Federal Horticultural Show . Since 2002 the Rhine facilities of Koblenz have been part of the UNESCO World Heritage "Upper Middle Rhine Valley" .
location
The Rhine facilities run in north-south direction on the left bank of the Rhine in Koblenz and have a total length of 3.5 km. They cross the old town and southern suburbs . The northern end is the Deutsches Eck . From here the promenades run for about 1 km south over the Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer to the level of the Stresemannstrasse.
The second and older section begins here with the Kaiserin Augusta facilities. These run for about 2 km up to the height of Mozartstrasse, which leads over a bridge to the Oberwerth district . The Rheinlache, an old arm of the Rhine that separates the southern suburb from the Oberwerth peninsula, begins at the height of the Kaiserin Augusta monument .
South of Mozartstrasse begins the so-called swan pond, which forms the southernmost section of the Rhine, with a length of around 500 meters. The promenade ends at Sebastian-Bach-Straße on the railway embankment, from where the left Rhine route branches off to the Horchheimer railway bridge .
history
The Parc Lezay under the French occupation
The idea of a park on the left bank of the Rhine was first realized by Adrien de Lezay-Marnésia from 1809. He was already the fourth prefect (chief administrative officer) of the French Rhine-Moselle département established in 1798 , the capital of which was the city of Koblenz, which had been conquered four years earlier during the coalition wars. Lezay-Marnésia invested particularly in the road network and fruit growing. In all mairien (mayor's offices) of the department, tree nurseries for ornamental trees and fruit plantations were established from 1809. For this purpose, the French government ceded the kitchen garden of the Electoral Palace on the left bank of the Rhine in Koblenz and handed it over to the city. This nursery cultivated ornamental trees and forest trees, among other things, so that the impression of a park was created. On the banks of the Rhine, outside of the city and on the opposite side, there was only a towpath , on which horse-drawn vehicles towed Rhine ships upstream .
Another park was created outside the city, also in 1809, about 1 km away up the Rhine. Encouraged by Lezay-Marnésia, the then Maire (Mayor) Johann Dominik Gayer acquired the so-called Galgenfeld including the overgrown vineyard of the Benedictine monastery of Oberwerth , which was abandoned in 1802 , to create the city's first public park. The park was laid out by Lezay-Marnésia as a forest botanical garden in the style of the gardens of Antoine de Jussieu . Hawthorn bushes , magnolias , Judas and fruit trees, gray and silver poplars and broom bushes were primarily planted. The winding paths gave the impression of a greater spatial expansion. This park extended roughly from today's Kaiserin-Augusta-Denkmal (then Mainzer Straße) up the Rhine to the Laubach , which gave the park the name Plantation de Laubach . Wealthy officials and citizens of the city took care of the maintenance. The park was distributed to them in parcels, while the owners undertook to look after their parcel at their own expense in the spirit of Lezay-Marnésia.
Lezay-Marnésia could not carry out any further plans because he was transferred to Strasbourg on March 1, 1810 . Two days after his departure, the Plantation de Laubach was renamed Parc Lezay by a city council resolution . Lezay-Marnésia's successor, Jean Marie Thérèse Doazan , did not want to keep the park and arranged for it to be sold. The decisive factor was that along with Lezay-Marnésia, many of its officials also left the city and Parc Lezay lacked numerous donors. The planned purchase of the park by the city of Koblenz was not approved, so that the entire site had to be auctioned. The gallows field itself was initially taken back into the custody of the city, but was also sold as municipal property in 1813.
New beginning from 1856
When the Kingdom of Prussia annexed the city of Koblenz as a result of the Wars of Liberation in April 1814, the towpath and adjacent borders were the only traces of the Parc Lezay. Even after the annexation in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna became legally binding, the new administration found no financial means for public parks, so that even the towpath was given into state care on November 12, 1818. According to Mayor Abundius Maehler , the city - meanwhile the capital of the newly founded Rhine province and the administrative district of Koblenz - was no longer able to set up a fund for flower planting. As a result, the previous park became overgrown and was used commercially as a wood storage area for more than thirty years from 1819. The Koblenz tree nursery and the old kitchen garden of the castle also had to give way to the Rhine barracks built in 1819–1827 .
Prince Wilhelm of Prussia was appointed Governor General of the Rhine Province and the Province of Westphalia in 1849 . He and his wife Augusta von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach resided in the restored Electoral Palace in Koblenz from 1850 . At that time, the courtyard and the banks of the river that began directly behind the castle were only used as wood storage areas.
Princess Augusta quickly developed a special fondness for the region, where she resided for long periods every summer, even after she had become queen. In order to give her a chance to play, Augusta had a willow-covered stone bench built for her daughter Luise at the point where Mainzer Strasse meets the Rhine. This playground was the beginning of the Rheinanlagen park. To this end, in the same year she appointed the Prussian horticultural master Peter Joseph Lenné as protector and Hermann Fürst von Pückler-Muskau as advisor. Peter Weihl from Neuwied put the ideas into practice as the responsible gardening inspector. The park was officially completed in 1861, long before the rayon restrictions were lifted and the southern suburb was created . Statues and monuments as well as flower beds and groups of trees were added long afterwards.
Lenné's horticultural concept
The initial situation, the overgrown strip of banks, was difficult for the design of a park. There was no older horticultural foundation that could have been built on. The park area not only had to be purchased, but also fundamentally redesigned. The existing land was acquired by Augusta. In addition, the Prussian Rhine River Construction Administration created additional space by filling the banks.
Lenné is one of the greatest German translators of the English landscape garden with Hermann Fürst von Pückler-Muskau and Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell . The aim of this style was to no longer use the mathematical rigor of the flowerbeds and hedges that had prevailed until then, and to orientate oneself more towards the views that nature had to offer when designing the garden. Natural-looking ponds and meandering paths were created. In addition to the political aspects - the new style was repeatedly used to interpret the opposition between absolutism and the Enlightenment - and economic aspects, Lenné's growing scientific and botanical interest was the driving force of the landscape garden. Economical because there was less intervention in nature, which devoured less money. In all of his works he planned large, undivided lawns, groups of trees and bushes arranged like a backdrop, systems of paths that should open up the entire work of art and invite visitors to take long walks, and planned small garden taverns. The tree species he preferred, chestnuts , poplars , ash , copper beeches , willow and magnolias , were also planted in the Rhine enclosures.
The main entrance to the park was on a roundabout at the level of the bend in Mainzer Strasse, where the Kaiserin Augusta memorial was later to be erected. After the pioneer training area on the Rhine island of Oberwerth was abandoned, a feeder dam was built for the Horchheim railway bridge , which was completed in 1879 . With the creation of the Rheinlache and Schwanenteich , Oberwerth lost its island character. The park was then extended to the level of the swan pond and reached its current southern extent.
Maintenance and care until 1902
The maintenance of the Rhine facilities was contractually regulated before the opening in 1861. On August 4, 1860, the city of Koblenz signed a contract with the Upper Presidium of the Rhine Province as the owner of the land in order to protect the facilities in their extension from 1860 with all squares, beds, lawns and benches. The city of Koblenz undertook to maintain the core area and renounced all ownership rights to the adjacent buildings (barracks, etc.). The city was also obliged to expand the facilities in cooperation with the Rhine River Construction Administration up to the pioneer training area. In return, the senior executive committee should monitor compliance with the city's obligations and operate the Rhine facilities free of charge. In addition, the high presidium contributed with a grant of 4,000 thalers , the interest of which should enable maintenance and expansion.
In order to do justice to this treaty, Queen Augusta initiated the establishment of a five-person committee to maintain the facilities. In addition to Mayor Hubert Josef Cadenbach, it also included the Vice President of the Rhine Province and the city commandant. The Beautification Society, founded on March 31, 1870, joined the committee. It essentially consisted of city councilors and officers.
From April 25 of the same year, a new police ordinance regulated the use of the facilities. For example, in the event of fines and imprisonment, it forbade entering the lawns. The gardening work was carried out from 1865 to 1902 by a total of four court gardeners.
Politicization from 1870
With the victory in the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 and the ensuing establishment of an empire , the new German empire acquired a national feeling that, along with historicism, led to a new style of art and architecture. Numerous parks and gardens in the Reich were historicized. In Koblenz, an entire district and numerous new buildings on what would later become Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer were built in this new style .
The Volkspark idea of the Rhine facilities had to step back in favor of increased representation and monumentality, but did not disappear entirely, because Empress Augusta insisted on the ideal of the Volkspark. Therefore, the great flood of monuments did not begin until after Augusta's death in 1890. But even before that, small statues close to the people were no longer erected, but rather massive and eye-catching ones that represented the German ruling house. In addition, the immediate surroundings of the objects were included in order to enhance the effect. During this time, for example, the equestrian statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I , the " Watch on the Rhine ", the bridge monument and the Kaiserin Augusta monument fall . The newly created sections at the Schwanenteich also emphasize the German landscape.
Expansion after the city was fortified in 1890
By order of the Imperial German military cabinet on March 13, 1890, the now strategically completely nonsensical fortifications and the city wall were abandoned with a few exceptions . The city wall enclosed the city along the banks of the Rhine and Moselle as well as on a line between these two rivers through what is now the districts of Südliche Vorstadt , Goldgrube and Rauental . In the same year, the city acquired the city walls along the Rhine and Moselle for 14 842 gold marks and put them down partly up to chest height, partly completely. Since the building ban ( Reichsrayon Law ) fell in front of the city wall, the city area could now expand southwards and a new district emerged with the southern suburb. In doing so, he integrated the Kaiserin Augusta facilities, which ended at the old city fortifications (today Stresemannstrasse). The systems were named after their creator in 1891. Only a wooden gate remained of the city wall on the banks of the Rhine.
On the banks of the Rhine within the urban area, too, the urban redevelopment cleared a strip of shore 1 km in length from the mouth of the Moselle to Stresemannstrasse. The St. Kastor basilica and the Deutschherrenhaus at the mouth of the Moselle formed the end of the city until the equestrian statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I was erected in 1897. With this, the designation "Deutsches Eck" was also transferred to the equestrian statue. In the summer of 1906, the horticultural company "Gebrüder Siesmayer" took over the remainder of this section of the Rhine frontage into a park. The Rhine facilities thus grew to a length of 3.5 km, with the Kaiserin Augusta facilities still ending at the wooden gate on Stresemannstrasse.
The Koblenz Beautification Association acquired the site between the Laubach and the railway crossing at the Horchheim railway bridge from the Rheinstrombauverwaltung in 1897 . This area was already prepared as a park a year later and connected the Rhine facilities to the Koblenz city forest .
Numerous representative buildings were also built along the riverside strip between Deutschem Eck and Stresemannstrasse or the electoral palace. Directly after this, the new Baroque high presidium of the Rhine Province was established from 1907 to 1910. Down the Rhine is the new building of the administrative center of Koblenz's administrative district , which burned down in 1901 and reopened in 1906 , known as the “Prussian Government”. Wilhelm II corrected the plans in 1902 according to his ideas. Several representative hotel buildings were built next to the government building between 1911 and 1913: the most famous and largest among them were the “ Koblenzer Hof ”, the “Riesen-Fürstenhof” and the “Bellevue”. Only a few meters behind the St. Kastor Basilica has been the “St. Kastor Girls' School” designed by Johann Claudius von Lassaulx since 1838/39 . In 1911 it was renamed the “Museum for Natural History and Cultural History of the Rhineland”. An expansion took place in 1912/1913, while the post-war reconstruction was not completed until the 1980s.
In 1911 the total expansion of the Kaiserin Augusta facilities from the Schwanenteich (extension in the south) to the water level house, which was set up in the same year, totaled 86,500 m²; they showed a property value of 216,850 marks.
Care under the "Siesmayer brothers" 1902 to 1916
Although almost 16,000 gold marks were available annually for maintenance, the “Committee for the Maintenance of the Rhine Plants” complained on July 7, 1902 that the condition of the Rhine plants was unworthy of a tourist metropolis. The voluntary court gardeners were no longer able to sufficiently take care of the approximately 60,000 m² Kaiserin Augusta grounds. At the suggestion of the committee, the city of Koblenz therefore committed the Frankfurt horticultural company "Gebrüder Siesmayer" (founded by Heinrich Siesmayer ). At that time the company was u. a. entrusted with the maintenance of the gardens in Bad Ems , Wiesbaden , Nauheim and Homburg . In 1907 it was still an area of 62,558 km².
A three-year contract dated July 16, 1902, entrusted the company with maintenance work starting October 1, 1902 for an annual payment of 17,200 gold marks. The maintenance of all footpaths and driveways including accessories, free spaces, lawns, groups of trees, wood, flowers and roses, carpet beds, flower beds, wooden benches and all figurative groups, vases, ornaments, benches and the operation of pools and fountains were regulated . This contract was extended for one year on August 30, 1905. The contract amount was increased by 300 marks, although other companies had also applied. On August 1, 1906, a further extension of six years followed, whereby the annual payment of the city of Koblenz was now 24,700 marks because of the larger area of the Rhine facilities. Thereafter, the contract was tacitly continued for two years.
The "Siesmayers" - as the company was called because of its popularity - ensured that the Kaiserin Augusta facilities were restored to their former friendly character in many places: Meadows were enlarged, trees were lighter and paths that were too narrow were widened. The design of the swan pond applies here as an example . Information boards, park benches, wire buckets and near the palace and the Empress Augusta monument were set up with gas lanterns. In some cases, even historical-nationalistic changes in the area around monuments and statues were reversed. For example, the redesign of the Rheinkavalier from a bastion tower into a viewing platform took place at this time.
Maintenance under the garden and cemetery administration from 1916 to 1933
In July 1916, shortly before the fourth regular extension with the "Siesmayer brothers", the city council decided on the advice of the plant commission and the consent of the cemetery and finance commission to establish its own garden and cemetery administration. On October 1, 1916, the contract with the "Siesmayer brothers" was terminated. The new director to be appointed should receive an annual salary of 6,000 marks, of which 3,000 marks each should be offset against the cemetery and public facilities. The Hildesheim garden architect Staehle was appointed as early as September and took office on New Year's Day 1917.
Due to the First World War and the subsequent inflation , there were no major changes or extensions. In addition, Koblenz was occupied by American troops . Only the fisherman's relief , a gift from the “Prussian Ministry of Clergy and Education”, caused protests, as the figures were depicted with their genitals bared. The following time was marked by the financial crisis: Destroyed and old figures, pedestals and benches were no longer replaced, but removed because of the costs, and some fountains were converted into sandpits.
When the Electoral Palace was nationalized after the First World War , on February 4, 1920, the Finance Committee proposed the removal of the palace wall for the first time in order to integrate the palace garden into the Empress Augusta complex . The application was rejected by Staehle and the American occupation forces, among other things in order to be able to continue to lock the palace garden and to be able to hold garden parties in it undisturbed.
Staehle died on July 8, 1921, after which the facilities and cemetery departments were placed under the management of the civil engineering department. It was only with the appointment of Staehle's successor Hans Wilhelm Mutzbauer in 1955 that this temporary arrangement was dissolved.
After the peak of inflation in 1923, Koblenz was again a stronghold of tourism until 1925. Numerous exhibitions and conferences reinforced the efforts of the city, such as the "Reichsausstellung Deutscher Wein", which ran from August 8 to September 13, 1925. It took place as part of the celebrations for the 1000th anniversary of the Rhineland . The wine village was created for this purpose .
time of the nationalsocialism
On March 16, 1939, the councilors' meeting approved renovation and modernization plans by Wiesbaden garden designer Wilhelm Hirsch . They had a volume of 300,000 Reichsmarks and go back to an initiative of the Lord Mayor Otto Wittgen , who was concerned about the Dutch elm disease. The plans included eight sections between the level house and the Schwanenteich , the first two of which were to be carried out immediately and the rest after the war. In order to better show off monuments, adjacent gardens and trees, beds should be broken up in favor of more lawn area and trees should be freed. In fact, not a single one of these plans was carried out; they were forgotten after the war.
The section of the Kaiserin-Augusta-Anlagen between Wilhelmstrasse and Luisenweg was renamed " SA -Ufer" on November 3, 1938 during Theodor Habicht's tenure.
The sculpture of the Joseph Görres monument , the equestrian statue at the Deutsches Eck , the Max von Schenkendorf monument and the bust of Peter Joseph Lenné should be melted down as a donation for German armaments according to a list of the Reich Ministry for Armaments and War Production . The commitment of Mayor Nikolaus Simmer , who has been in office since 1940 , meant that the memorials were released on September 29, 1942.
Devastation from the air raids on Koblenz
The air raids on Koblenz during World War II destroyed or badly damaged many buildings along the Rhine. Many objects of the park's splendid furnishings were also lost. Some of the historical buildings, such as the Electoral Palace , the Koblenzer Hof or the Weindorf , have been rebuilt in a simplified manner. The Prussian government building was one of the few buildings that survived the war undamaged. After the war, entire areas of the development had to be completely rebuilt, as well as the planting of the park.
After the Second World War
Shortly after the war, in which the city lost over 3,116 apartments, 1,000 inhabitants and over 10,000 trees, the city fathers tried to make Koblenz the center of tourist traffic once again . In the general development plan of 1946 and the development and reconstruction plans of 1947, which provided for Koblenz's expansion into the most beautiful city on the banks of the Rhine, the Rhine front was given a prominent position. So the wine village and the drinking hall should be rebuilt and the park of the castle included in the Rhine facilities. There, music temples and coffee houses were supposed to attract strollers in the former stables . To this end, a 14 m wider and overall longer path was implemented in 1956, in which embankment and straightening measures were carried out on the riverbank. For the newly created Federal Institute for Hydrology , an administration building with a portico facing the Rhine was built in the Kaiserin-Augusta-Anlagen in 1952 .
The concrete planning was only initiated with the appointment of Hans Wilhelm Mutzbauer as director of the garden and cemetery office on January 15, 1950. The main concern for the work of the planning group for the redesign of the Rhine facilities was in June 1950: “No horticultural gimmicks should distract from the impressive Rhenish landscape. Rather, the 'typical German garden design idea' to be implemented should underline the view of the Pfaffendorf Rhine front. Long-lined avenues, impenetrable groups of bushes and hedges should be pushed back, and shading should be achieved through dense, diverse trees. "
By 1983, the areas from the Schwanenteich to the area around the operetta stage , and from there the entire promenade to the Deutsches Eck, were redesigned. The operetta stage was installed near the Kaiserin Augusta monument in 1950, but the last performance was played as early as 1970 and the stage was legally demolished within eight years because of a local resident complaining.
Mutzbauer planned some repair work and path improvements for the Schwanenteich area. In addition, another children's playground was to be created on the former rock garden. Otherwise, the facilities around the swan pond should be kept in their current state in order to preserve the forest-like expression. However, the costs should not exceed DM 85,000. However, the relatively "wild" state did not let the people of Koblenz come to rest. Between 1950 and 1955, the appearance was repeatedly denounced in the local press:
“This part has always been neglected to this day. Wild plants line the bank, leaves and brushwood matt the bank reinforcements. There is no bench and the mothers with their strollers have to make do with the meadow. The swan pond itself should also be thoroughly cleaned once, because the brackish, dirty water of the pond is the cause of the large fish deaths in the swan pond. A lot of work has to be done if the section between the Oberwerther Bridge and the Horchheimer Eisenbahnbrücke is to be similar to that of the other facilities. "
After provisional cleaning work at the end of 1955, only path improvements and the construction of the adjacent green areas were awarded on November 14, 1960 for 34,560 DM in a first construction phase. The planning of the second construction phase was not finished until July 20, 1965. One saw the continuation of the promenade to Mainzer Straße at the level of the railway overpass, as well as the widening of the path to the Oberwerth sports park and on to Stolzenfels . 10,000 m² of lawn and 4,300 m² of woodland were planned. The project, originally estimated at 85,000 DM, now amounted to 239,500 DM, with no expansion to date.
The section from the Oberwerther bridge to the palace gardens was completed within six years. After some beautification work was carried out near the pump room in 1950 with 3000 DM , this very popular part of the facility got a new face with the "Café Rheinanlagen" and the closure of a long avenue. The elms affected by the disease were removed and replaced by various trees, such as the sweet chestnuts , linden and buckthorn trees, which were planted for the first time in the Koblenz Rhine area . And flower beds were created with tulips and daffodils between existing laburnum - and lilac bushes.
In the same year, with the help of the Koblenz-based Wasserstraßenamt I, repair work was carried out on the embankment walls damaged by the influence of the war. On November 23, 1953, a meeting of the Garden and Cemetery Committee decided to widen the bank between Lennéstrasse and the Operettenbühne. The steadily increasing shipping traffic on the Rhine resulted in scouring (washing under by waves and wind) of the bank. Scouring occurs on waterways through the formation of suction from large ships, such as passenger ships . Three years later, on 18 October 1956 began also in Koblenz -based Water and Shipping Authority , the bank by 14 m to broaden and secure the over embankment by riprap.
A design plan was submitted to Mayor Willi Hörter on February 13, 1974 under the name Rheinufergestaltungsplan . New stopping places and bays for buses and taxis and 100 more parking spaces for passenger traffic have been created, paths have been provided with lighting systems, public toilets and beverage stands have been set up in containers (so that they can be quickly transported away in the event of floods ) and tourist information has been set up. The expansion and implementation of the plan began on January 5, 1975 and the gardening work was finished by Pentecost . From Easter , pedestrians could walk the entire route again. Large lawns and planting areas, 4,000 roses in all colors, 5,000 ground-covering plants such as creeping juniper and gorse , 1,500 ornamental shrubs such as rhododendrons and 150 large woody plants and trees made the Rhine plants the flagship of the city. A list of costs from 1976 shows that instead of the estimated 2,220,000 Deutschmarks, "only" around 1,756,000 Deutschmarks were required. The sum was DM 660,161 from the state of Rhineland-Palatinate , DM 493,000 from the Koblenz employment office, DM 333,000 of which was a loan, and donations from the police, KEVAG , various authorities such as the BWB , resident companies such as Debeka and private individuals with DM 160,000 has been subsidized. DM 836,000 was spent on the promenade and DM 701,000 on road repairs and parking spaces and bays. The pavilions and stands cost DM 219,000.
In the years 1979–1982, the Rhine culvert in Koblenz was built. The 370 m long culvert lies 16 m below the river bed of the Rhine and connects the Rhine facilities at the level of the gauge house with the Ehrenbreitstein district . It is used for water supply / disposal and telecommunications.
Federal Garden Show 2011
The Rhine facilities were redesigned for the 2011 Federal Horticultural Show in Koblenz. The banks behind the Deutsches Eck along the Rhine and Moselle have been completely renovated. The Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer was expanded into a riverside boulevard and made car-free. The water level house was extended by one floor, equipped with a glass roof and functions as a viewing point. On the banks of the Rhine behind the Electoral Palace , a 100-meter-wide staircase was built, called Palace Steps, which was inaugurated on June 11, 2010. The plans for the staircase had to be changed slightly to preserve the sequoia next to the Joseph Görres monument. The southern section of the Rhine facilities (Kaiserin Augusta facilities) was also partially redesigned and the landscape park was upgraded. The bust of the poet Max von Schenkendorf was moved and now stands at the height of the wine village .
Since July 2, 2010, a cable car over the Rhine has connected the Rhine facilities at the level of the Kastorkirche with the forecourt of the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress . It was built as an attraction and environmentally friendly transport connection to the Federal Garden Show 2011 and has the highest efficiency worldwide .
21st century
Between March 2005 and August 2006, the city of Koblenz built a rain overflow basin under the meadow south of the wine village. The reinforced concrete pool is 40 m long, 6 m deep and 20 m wide. It has a usable volume of 1150 m³. There is also an outlet structure in the Rhine and various connecting canals. The construction costs amounted to 2.5 million euros. Rain overflow basins serve environmental protection and water quality by significantly reducing the amount of dirt from the mixed water sewer when it rains.
Even after the Federal Horticultural Show was over, work on the renovation of the Kaiserin Augusta grounds continued from 2012. The new design of the path continued to the Café Rheinanlagen and was also completed in the area of the swan pond. The area around the café is also to be redesigned when the development plans for a new building have been implemented. In autumn 2013 the historic wine fountain was rebuilt on the meadow south of the wine village .
Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer
In 1976, in honor of the first German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer , the Rhine front from the Deutsches Eck to the Electoral Palace (near Stresemannstraße) was renamed Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer. The application was submitted by the CDU parliamentary group to the Koblenz city council. The Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer leads along the Rhine to the Deutschherrenhaus and Deutsche Eck, which in the broadest sense can be counted as part of the Rhine facilities.
Since the city wall was only removed at this point in 1890 and was built on as a Rhine promenade from 1906, the Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer architecturally forms a separate section within the Rhine facilities. The original design goes from v. a. to the horticultural company "Gebrüder Siesmayer", who were entrusted with the maintenance of the entire Rhine facilities from 1902 to 1916. Today it is mainly the landing and berth for tourist ships and is built on by souvenir shops. On the occasion of the Federal Garden Show 2011, the promenade was completely rebuilt and the valley station of the Koblenz cable car was built.
Sculpture 224.5 ° Arc x 5 and 225 ° Arc x 5
For the 2011 Federal Horticultural Show, the sculpture 224.5 ° Arc x 5 and 225 ° Arc x 5 by the artist Bernar Venet was installed in the Rhine grounds . The monumental steel sculpture created in 2007 was purchased by the Ludwig Museum and handed over to the city of Koblenz on April 6, 2011 in the presence of the artist. After the National Garden Show was over, the sculpture was moved a few meters from the north entrance to the former Teutonic Order , in which the museum is located ( 50 ° 21 ′ 47.7 ″ N , 7 ° 36 ′ 17.7 ″ E ). She is now in front of the casemate building, which bears the cross of the Teutonic Order and which represents the original German corner .
Valley station of the cable car
The valley station of the cable car ( 50 ° 21 ′ 43 ″ N , 7 ° 36 ′ 18 ″ E ), which connects the Rhine with the plateau in front of the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, is level with the St. Kastor Basilica . The three-cable gondola was built as an ecologically sensible transport connection to the Federal Horticultural Show 2011 and has the world's highest performance with a transport capacity of 7,600 people per hour . With a total length of 890 meters, it overcomes 112 meters in altitude between the two stations with the help of ropes stretched freely over the Rhine. There is a cable car support right in front of the valley station .
In order not to endanger the UNESCO World Heritage status of the " Upper Middle Rhine Valley Cultural Landscape ", it was agreed that it would continue to operate until the end of 2013. However, on June 19, 2013 in Phnom Penh, UNESCO decided at the 37th session of the World Heritage Committee to allow operation until 2026. The technically longest possible service life ends this year.
Hotel Koblenzer Hof
The "Koblenzer Hof" is a former hotel in neoclassical form with a pilaster-structured central projectile and a two-story veranda. It was built from 1911 to 1913 according to plans by Heinrich Müller-Erkelenz and was initially called "Hôtel Bellevue". The original triangular gable is no longer preserved .
Bridge houses
The two mirror-symmetrical bridge houses with vestibules resting on pillars ( 50 ° 21 ′ 32.5 ″ N , 7 ° 36 ′ 16.5 ″ E ) date from before 1914 and were built according to plans by Friedrich Neumann, the City Planning Council. They are remains of the former ship bridge to Ehrenbreitstein . From 1819 to 1945, this pontoon bridge crossed the Rhine on 36 barges and over a length of 325 m. A user fee of 2 pfennigs was levied on the bridge houses.
The bridgehead on the left bank of the Rhine is also preserved. The interconnected, pillar-like components were built from basalt lava . Next to the bridge houses a memorial plaque reminds of the ship bridge. It reads here:
- Koblenz – Ehrenbreitstein ship bridge
- 1819-1945
- It spanned the 325 m wide Rhine on 36 wooden, later iron pontoons. Two or three yokes were extended when ships approached. Built in 1819 for 40,000 thalers, destroyed in 1945.
This place on the bank is today the landing point of the passenger ferry “Schängel” to Ehrenbreitstein.
Gauge house
The level house is an octagonal former crane on the banks of the Rhine. It got its name because of the high water marks which mark the high water levels of the Rhine . Like the Rhine Cavalier, the crane was part of the bastion planned by Johann von Pasqualini the Younger (1562–1615). It was built under Elector Lothar von Metternich from 1609 to 1611. From 1839 the building is only a gauge house, after a level rod had already been installed in 1819. In 1887 a blue level clock followed in front of the building.
For the 2011 Federal Horticultural Show, the level house was extended by one floor, equipped with a glass roof and functions as a viewing point. The house itself houses a restaurant.
The car-free Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer
The former Hotel Koblenzer Hof
Remains of the anchorage of the ship bridge (left) and the two bridge houses (right)
The water level house with the new glass roof
Prussian government building
The 158 m long neo-Romanesque building ensemble known as the Prussian government building consists of the building of the government of the Koblenz administrative district in the central main building, the building of the main tax office on the right (north) and the service villa on the left. The complex was built from 1902 to 1906 according to plans by the Berlin building councilor Paul Kieschke after the old provincial government building burned down in 1901.
Kaiser Wilhelm II made changes to the plans for the towers and roofs by hand. The Staufer era, viewed as a model of national greatness, was particularly inspiring. The ensemble achieves a castle-like effect through large, asymmetrical corner towers and the embossed tuff cladding of the facades. Before the construction, the square tower of the Koblenz city wall stood at this point .
The Federal Office for Defense Technology and Procurement (BWB) and since 2012 its successor, the Federal Office for Equipment, Information Technology and Use of the Bundeswehr (BAAINBw), has been housed in the main building and in the former main tax office. The former service villa of the district president houses departments of the Koblenz Higher Regional Court . In 1993 the building complex was renovated.
Rhine Cavalier
The Rheinkavalier ( 50 ° 21 ′ 29.7 ″ N , 7 ° 36 ′ 16.7 ″ E ) is, like the neighboring gauge house, a remnant of the bastion built between 1609 and 1611 on the banks of the Rhine. Together with the rest of the city wall , the Kavalier was torn down and razed in 1890. The vacated property was converted into a horticultural viewing platform according to the plans of the Siesmayer brothers in 1906.
In the 1950s, the garden and cemetery office decided, at the suggestion of its director Hans Wilhelm Mutzbauer, to remove the Rhine Cavalier. The proposal was rejected for historical and financial reasons. Only a water basin with a fountain and goldfish was removed. The future of the Rheinkavalier was only resolved in September 1960 with a compromise between gardening director Mutzbauer and city council members. The Rheinkavalier was to be retained as a viewing platform and provided with a wide staircase. The remaining part of the former bastion was to be removed down to ground level. The city council's finance committee approved the renovation that same month and approved DM 38,000 for it. This lasted from December 1960 to summer 1961.
High Presidium of the Prussian Rhine Province
The Upper Presidium of the Rhine Province was built from 1907 to 1910 on a very narrow area in the north of the area in front of the Electoral Palace . The drafts come from the secret building officer Thielen and were implemented by the government master builder C. Loewe. The castle-like building, structured by pavilions in baroque forms with Art Nouveau influences, was intended to allude to its own electoral past.
The building was badly damaged in an air raid in 1944 and rebuilt after the Second World War. Today it is the seat of the Structure and Approval Directorate North . The former service villa of the head president south of the main building houses the offices of the Koblenz Higher Regional Court .
The Rheinkavalier lookout point
Prussian government building , the former administrative seat of the administrative district of Koblenz
The Rhine facilities with a view of the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress
The former High Presidium of the Rhine Province
Empress Augusta facilities
The promenade extends from the end of the Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer (Stresemannstraße) up the Rhine to the Koblenz district of Oberwerth (Mozartstraße) over a length of 2 km. Behind it is the approximately 500-meter-long swan pond. The facilities were named after Empress Augusta in 1891 .
Sculpture Affection
In front of the northern entrance to the palace gardens ( 50 ° 21 ′ 22.5 ″ N , 7 ° 36 ′ 13.5 ″ E ) stands the sculpture “Affection” created by the Luxembourg sculptor Lucien Wercollier . It was given to the city of Koblenz for its 2000th anniversary by the Koblenz casino company . The bronze sculpture is supposed to symbolize a sign of the connection between nations in a common Europe . In a ceremony on October 5, 1992, it was unveiled by Mayor Willi Hört . In addition to the artist, the Luxembourg Prime Minister Jacques Santer and the Rhineland-Palatinate Prime Minister Rudolf Scharping also took part in the ceremony .
Originally the sculpture stood at the transition between the Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer and the Kaiserin-Augusta-Anlagen at the level of Stresemannstraße. During the construction work for the 2011 Federal Horticultural Show, it was moved a few meters south to its current location in August 2010.
Fisherman relief
The fisherman's relief in the wall of the Electoral Palace ( 50 ° 21 ′ 20.5 ″ N , 7 ° 36 ′ 12 ″ E ) is an approximately 2.80 m long and 1.40 m high marble slab that four fishermen haul in Nets shows. The work by the Berlin sculptor Ludwig Cauer was bought in 1915 by the “Prussian Ministry of Clergy and Educational Matters” for 10,000 gold marks and given to the city of Koblenz.
The relief led to controversy in the city council and among the population of Koblenz: After the city received a photo of the relief in advance, it was objected that one of the four figures had a male genitals. The suggestion to hide the genitals with a fig leaf was rejected for artistic reasons. Therefore, the relief should first go to the art and antiquity museum.
After long discussions, in which the Upper President of the Rhine Province Georg Freiherr von Rheinbaben also intervened, the relief was then let into the castle wall unchanged in 1917.
Lock steps
At the level of the Electoral Palace, a 100-meter-wide staircase was built for the 2011 Federal Garden Show on the banks of the Rhine ( 50 ° 21 ′ 19 ″ N , 7 ° 36 ′ 13.5 ″ E ). The plans for the staircase had to be changed slightly to preserve the sequoia next to the Joseph Görres monument. The castle steps were built between 2009 and 2010 and handed over to the population in a ceremony on June 11, 2010. The following inscription is placed on a wall within the castle steps:
- "It is good for our soul when we tune into the rhythm of nature."
- Anselm Green
Joseph Görres Monument
On the occasion of the 150th birthday of the Koblenz-born journalist Joseph Görres , the foundation stone for a Joseph Görres monument on the banks of the Rhine was laid on September 15, 1926 as part of the “Görres Memorial Exhibition”. Due to financial problems, the monument was only completed a year later and inaugurated on June 24, 1928. The memorial commemorates Görres' role as a journalist during the period before the March Revolution of 1848 (Vormärz) and his commitment to German unity.
The expressionist Joseph Görres monument consists of a four-meter-high, simple base made of Rochlitz porphyry and a 5.23-meter-high allegorical bronze figure above that depicts a striding young man with his right arm raised and looking across the Rhine . At his feet sits an eagle, which is also facing the Rhine. A profile relief by Joseph Görres is attached to the side of the base facing the Rhine. The bronze sculpture was designed by Richard Langer from the Düsseldorf Art Academy .
The initiative to erect the memorial came from Lord Mayor Karl Russell three years earlier . Görres' birthday offered an opportunity to demonstrate that the Rhineland , which had been occupied by the Allies since late 1918 , was part of Germany. The planning process as well as the inauguration by the Prussian Minister for Science, Art and Education, Carl Heinrich Becker , therefore repeatedly made conscious references to the unity of Germany as well as Rhenish patriotism.
Memorial plaque for Hans Wilhelm Mutzbauer
A memorial plaque on the former Prussian city wall ( 50 ° 21 ′ 15 ″ N , 7 ° 36 ′ 9,5 ″ E ), not far from the Pfaffendorfer Bridge, commemorates the important Koblenz city garden director of the post-war era, Hans Wilhelm Mutzbauer. He is apostrophized "because of his services to the Koblenz facilities as their second creator." The plaque reads:
- Hans Wilhelm Mutzbauer
- City garden director in Koblenz
- 1950-1968
Fisherman relief
The palace steps in front of the electoral palace
The Rhine systems in the area of the Joseph Görres monument
Memorial plaque for Hans Wilhelm Mutzbauer
King's Hall
In a publication on Koblenz art monuments from 1986, edited by the two art historians Dellwing and Liessem, the following can be found: " The Königshalle refers to the arch of the Pfaffendorfer Bridge (1862-1864) and the adjoining front wall of the Rhine casemate corps from 1827. " In the older literature in Ompteda (1886), in a Koblenz travel guide (1890) or in the contemporary Koblenz address books, the term Königshalle refers exclusively to the area directly under the arch of the bridge.
After completion of the Pfaffendorfer Bridge, the King's Hall ( position ) was built in 1864 to commemorate the two Prussian kings Friedrich Wilhelm IV and his brother Wilhelm I under the bridge arch between the driveway and the two fortress towers on the Koblenz side . In the completely symmetrical layout, there was a cast-iron state bench with three eagles on each armrest and feet tapering into lion paws, as well as a marble seat plate, in the middle on a marble slab. The benches were flanked on either side by an iron flower pot, three crossed lances and a candelabra . Centered over the bank, the cast-iron medallion portrait of the respective king and finally about a curvaceous was Feston from terracotta . Only the two benches and the festoons above have been preserved.
South of the arch of the bridge to the Weindorf is the Rhine wing of the casemate corps of the former Rhine barracks as part of the bridge approach . Eight terracotta reliefs were attached to the front of the building to commemorate the 25-year association (March 17, 1850 to March 17, 1875) between the then Prince and later imperial couple Wilhelm I of Prussia and Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and the Koblenz garrison.
Are in the top row three reliefs: Left shows the winning Initial A Augusta with the year 1850, along with that of laurel wreath swinging genii flanking national coat of arms and the right winning Initial W for Wilhelm with the year 1875. In the bottom row there were five Reliefs (the one on the right was not preserved): three (each on the outside and in the middle) showed a laurel hanging held by two Prussian eagles, the middle one with an additional laurel wreath. In between two reliefs with a laurel wreath each.
Königshalle, drawing by Caspar Scheuren (1866)
Königshalle, Rhine side (2011)
Front side of the casemate corps (2015)
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Wine village
The wine village is a complex of half-timbered houses in which a privately operated inn is maintained. It is located south of the ramp to the Pfaffendorfer Bridge .
The wine village was built in 1925 on the occasion of the "Reichsausstellung Deutscher Wein" held in Koblenz from August 8th to September 13th. The event area with exhibition halls and houses as well as pavilions extended from today's wine village to the municipal festival hall . The four buildings still preserved today represent architecturally German wine-growing areas : a house for Mosel-Saar-Ruwer , Rheingau , Hesse and Nahe , a house for the Middle Rhine , Ahr , Siebengebirge and Lahn areas, a house for Baden , Württemberg , the Saale-Unstrut -Region and Saxony , as well as a fourth house for the formerly Bavarian areas Palatinate and Franconia .
These buildings, originally erected only for the duration of the exhibition, were so popular that they were retained as a tourist attraction. In air raids during World War II , the former event site of the “Reichsausstellung Deutscher Wein” was completely destroyed in 1944. Due to its extremely high popularity, some buildings on the Rhine were rebuilt in a somewhat simplified form in 1951. The Rhein-Mosel-Halle was built around the site of the Rheinhalle, which was built for the Imperial Exhibition, in 1959–1962 . In 1982 the wine village complex was expanded to include the Mittelrheinhaus.
Max von Schenkendorf memorial
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The bust of the patriotic poet Max von Schenkendorf near the Weindorfs ( 50 ° 21 ′ 12.3 ″ N , 7 ° 36 ′ 8.3 ″ E ) was made on von Schenkendorf's 78th birthday and 44th day of death, the 11th. December 1861, unveiled. The bronze bust stands on a base made of light limestone , which bears a bronze relief with a laurel wreath, sword and lyre and the following homage by Ernst Moritz Arndt to Max von Schenkendorf as an inscription:
- He got from the Rhine
- He got from the German land
- Sung powerfully
- That honor rose
-
Where it sounded
- EM Arndt
- EM Arndt
- J. Hartung fec. 1871
The initiative to erect the monument came from the Coblenzer Zeitung on February 17, 1861. She was also joined by Queen Augusta, who chose the original location opposite the bridge monument. There the bust was supposed to replace a stone pedestal with a little flower girl between two Canadian poplars . The newly founded monument committee won the Koblenz sculptor Johann Hartung from Berlin as an artist. He agreed to make a bust and an iron grating in a maximum of six months and to take over the foundations and erection for 500 thalers . In June 1861 friends of the poet, Augusta and her husband, and the town of Neuwied donated a total of 400 thalers to the committee. At the same time, subscription lists for donors were laid out in the “ Civil and Military Casino ” for two weeks , which raised more than 100 thalers. As early as May 19, 1862, the committee presented the bust to the city council.
The Canadian poplars were replaced by two oak trees in 1867 after they fell over in a storm in March 1867. With the renovation of the Rheinkavalier, the bust was moved twenty meters away from the Rheinkavalier as the entry point for the Kaiserin Augusta facilities. Another change of location to the current location in front of the wine village took place with the renovation of the Rhine facilities for the 2011 Federal Horticultural Show.
In March 2012 the bust was destroyed by strangers and the head was stolen. The city of Koblenz commissioned a reconstruction of the bust, which could be put back in its place in front of the wine village on May 22, 2013. The replica of the head was made by the sculptor Stefan Reckenthäler from Montabaur, it was cast by Kai-Uwe Pelikan in Bendorf.
Bridge monument
Twenty meters south of the Pfaffendorfer Bridge , the bridge monument ( 50 ° 21 ′ 10.5 ″ N , 7 ° 36 ′ 7.2 ″ E ) reminds us of the construction of the bridge (1862–1864), then called the “Coblenz Rhine Bridge”. The monument was donated by Queen Augusta and inaugurated on her birthday on September 29, 1864. The dates of the laying of the foundation stone and the opening are engraved, as well as the names of the builders:
(Front:)
(Back:)
- As a lasting memory of the builders of the Rhine Bridge
- Go Senior building officer HARTWICH
- Abth. Builder BLACK
- Master builder STERNBERG
- Engineer BENDEL
- _______
The free-standing column with a Corinthian capital rises above the high pillar base with the inscriptions . It is crowned by the three-dimensional figure of the Prussian eagle. Because of its similarity to the Berlin Victory Column , the bridge monument is also known as the "Koblenz Victory Column".
In March 1876 a hurricane and the flooding of the Rhine destroyed the column, which was then rebuilt and inaugurated a second time on May 24, 1876. Only a part of the original column can be seen opposite the restored monument and has been marked with high water marks. That is why the somewhat hidden column that stands at the wine village today is also called the "flood column". It bears the following inscription: “Water level November 1882 - March 12, 1875 flood u. Hurricane shattering this column. "
Wine fountain
The wine fountain was rebuilt in autumn 2013 on a meadow south of the wine village. The Förderverein Rheinanlagen e. V. has been re-erecting the complete wine fountain since 2004. To do this, the missing parts of the well were searched for, rediscovered in a building yard in Niederberg and then given to a restorer.
On the occasion of the “Reich Exhibition of German Wine” in 1925 , the memorial of German wine created by Professor Josef Henselmann was erected in the courtyard of the Rheinhalle in the middle of the event site. Due to the nudity of the characters depicted, however, it caused violent protests among the population. It was eventually veiled and completely removed in 1928.
As a replacement for the memorial, the wine fountain was commissioned from Carl Burger in 1928 and set up in the same place. The fountain, which was still completely preserved after the Second World War, later had to give way to the new construction of the Rhein-Mosel-Halle (1959–1962) when the site was cleared. Then the remains of the sculpture were placed in front of the wine village, the fountain itself was dismantled and stored in a building yard in Niederberg.
Memorial stone birthplace of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
To commemorate the birthplace of the former French President and honorary citizen of Koblenz, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing , a memorial stone with a plaque was erected in September 2010 in the Rhine facilities near the wine village ( 50 ° 21 ′ 9.5 ″ N , 7 ° 36 ′ 5.5 ″ O ). The plaque bears the following inscription:
"At this point stood the house in which the former French President and Koblenz honorary citizen Valéry Giscard d'Estaing was born on February 2, 1926."
His father was stationed in Koblenz during the Allied occupation of the Rhineland in the 1920s. The house where he was born was demolished in 1985 while a hotel was being built.
The wine village with the Middle Rhine House facing the Rhine
Replica of the bridge monument with the Pfaffendorfer bridge behind it
Memorial stone in memory of the house where Valéry Giscard d'Estaing was born
The Kaiserin-Augusta-Anlagen between Weindorf and Cafe Rheinanlagen
Memorial stone to July 14, 1870
The memorial stone of basalt stands at the northern end of the café Rheinanlagen ( 50 ° 20 '56 " N , 7 ° 35' 54.7" O ) and was on 22 March 1897 the centenary of the birth of Emperor I. Wilhelm , situated. It reminds of the stay of the then Prussian King Wilhelm in the former drinking hall on July 14th, 1870. He came from his cure in Bad Ems to Koblenz ( Emser Depesche ). This was a few days before the declaration of war on July 19, 1870, which led to the Franco-German War . The following words are carved on the memorial stone:
"Here on Thursday, July 14, 1870, the memorable day before the declaration of war, SM King Wilhelm stayed in the afternoon at the side of JM Queen Augusta, deeply moved in the midst of the enthusiastic people who worshiped him."
Café Rheinanlagen
Today's Café Rheinanlagen ( 50 ° 20 ′ 55.5 ″ N , 7 ° 35 ′ 53.5 ″ E ) goes back to a drinking hall built on the same spot in 1861 . It was destroyed in bombing during World War II. During the reconstruction in the 1950s, today's Café Rheinanlagen was built with a concert shell next to it. The restaurant with beer garden on the banks of the Rhine was sold in 2011. The new operator plans to demolish the building and build a hotel with a café on the site. A citizens' initiative tries to prevent these development plans.
On August 26, 2011, a serious accident occurred in the beer garden of Café Rheinanlagen. During a storm , a huge branch of a chestnut tree broke off and killed a visitor to the beer garden.
Monument to Josef Peter Lenné
At the height of Lennéstrasse ( 50 ° 20 ′ 51 ″ N , 7 ° 35 ′ 50.5 ″ E ) there is the portrait bust of Peter Joseph Lenné on the roadside . It was commissioned and set up by Franz Adams the Elder , Privy Councilor of Justice in Koblenz. It was donated to the city by his heirs in 1895. The bust is a copy of a marble bust made in 1847 by Heinrich Berges and based on a model by Christian Daniel Rauch , which was set up in 1848 in the Sanssouci Palace Park.
The bust stands on a limestone Hermes plinth that tapers downwards . His name is written on the chest of the bust, the base below bears the following inscription: “Dr. hc Peter Josef Lenné, Horticultural Director of the Royal. Gardens, 1789–1866. "
Luisen or Salve temple
The Luisen- or Salve temple ( 50 ° 20 '49 " N , 7 ° 35' 48.7" O ) is an open, late classical pavilion with an octagonal base surface, which was built around the 1,862th Its pyramidal tent roof is supported by eight iron columns cast in the Sayner hut . The entablature is decorated with laurel wreaths and bears the following inscription on the frieze strip after 1871:
"Your royal. Highness of the Princess Augusta afterwards Queen + Empress, venerated by the Very Highest of the Children, HRH Prince Friedrich Wilhelm + HRH Princess Luise "
Because the temple hindered the construction work for the Kaiserin Augusta monument , it was moved down the Rhine on October 1, 1893. The original location marks the spot where Augusta had a playground built for her daughter Luise in 1856. This place was soon called Luisenplatz and was adorned by a group of terracotta dwarfs . The Luisenplatz was located between the “Englischer Platz” up the Rhine in the north and the “Vaterland” square down the Rhine. After the destruction in World War II, the squares and their equipment were not restored.
Empress Augusta Monument
The Empress Augusta Memorial was unveiled on October 18, 1896 in memory of Empress Augusta , who died in 1890 . It stands at the starting point of the historic Rhine grounds, Luisenplatz, where Augusta had a playground built for her daughter Luise in 1856 . An architectural superstructure made of Istrian limestone was built around the marble sculpture of the seated Augusta in antique garb in her seventies . The sculpture comes from Karl Friedrich Moest , while Bruno Schmitz created the architectural superstructure. The construction was preceded by 6 years of planning work, organization of financial resources and two competitions.
The memorial survived the air raids on Koblenz unscathed. It was renovated in 1979 and 2014 due to severe weathering.
St. George's wayside shrine
At the southern end of the Empress Augusta Gardens ( 50 ° 20 '39.3 " N , 7 ° 35' 32.5" O ) is tucked away off the main path, a shrine of sandstone for the St. George . It goes back to a design by Hermann Nebel and was created in 1860. The erection of the wayside shrine is probably connected to the Bad Laubach cold water sanatorium and was only moved to its current location after the Second World War. It was restored in 1984 by Rudi Scheuermann , with the head of the saint and the horse being renewed in modern forms.
The wayside shrine built in neo-Romanesque - neo-Gothic forms on a high pillar depicts Saint George riding a horse with a lance in his hand killing a dragon . Below in the console is the coat of arms of the city of Koblenz. The sandstone sculpture was originally colored.
Swan pond
The Schwanenteich is a former arm of the Rhine at the southern end of the Rhine system ( 50 ° 20 ′ 26 ″ N , 7 ° 35 ′ 16 ″ E ). It separates it from the Oberwerth peninsula between the Oberwerther Bridge, over which the Mozartstrasse runs, and the railway embankment, the tracks of which lead over the Horchheimer railway bridge to the right bank of the Rhine.
In 1878/79, parallel to the Horchheimer railway bridge, the Oberwerther bridge and the bridge dam were built across the arm of the Rhine to the island of Oberwerth. The arm of the Rhine was transformed into a 4 hectare pond with a small island. According to contemporary sources, the area around the swan pond was named "Little Switzerland" after its planting. The name comes from the gravel excavated for the construction of the bridge, which was spread around the pond as small mounds. Originally there was a peacock house and a log house for the pond keeper on the bank. Behind it was a snakehead fountain called "Karthäuserquelle". A pavilion made of wooden branches formed the new end of the Kaiserin Augusta complex next to the railway bridge.
On the occasion of the new construction of the Oberwerther Bridge, the municipal facilities committee decided in February 1907 to redesign and better integrate the area around the swan pond into the Rhine facilities. The negotiations with the authorities involved, Rheinstrombauverwaltung as administrator, and the Royal Railway Directorate as owner of the property lasted until 1911. By August 1911, the horticultural company “Gebrüder Siesmayer” had created larger meadows, straightened the winding paths and integrated the old towpath. Although this had not been used for a long time, it was still owned by the Rheinstrombauverwaltung. The peacock house, log house, fountain and pavilion were burned in bombing raids during World War II and have not been restored.
In 1953, garden director Mutzbauer planned to regulate and repair the bank area and footpath along with a new guardrail. Instead of a rock garden, another playground should be built. Of these plans, only some cleaning work had been carried out by 1955. After the public's displeasure with the general situation in this area was shown in press articles, Mutzbauer's plans were expanded until 1965. The projected costs rose from DM 85,000 to DM 239,500. The city council did not approve of this budget, so the area around the swan pond remained untouched.
The memorial stone July 14, 1870 next to the Café Rheinanlagen
The Rheinanlagen café
The Luisen- or Salvetempel
View of the swan pond
Former places / objects
Numerous art monuments and sculptures lined the park in the course of its history, but most of them were destroyed in the Second World War. There is also little left of the original splendid decor of the gardens. In addition to the aesthetic aspects, their purpose was also education, which was conveyed by portrait busts, the library in the pump room and the observatory where scientific equipment was exhibited.
Places
The promenade of the Kaiserin-Augusta-Anlagen led over the following six squares:
- the place "group of four boys", which symbolized trade, industry, science and military strength. These figures came from Ernst March's art workshop in Charlottenburg and were designed by Alexander Calandrelli .
- the "Vier Jahreszeiten" square, in the middle of which is a statue of four boys carrying a gallery.
- the "English Square" with a sundial resting on two column chairs in the middle. The semicircular square was surrounded by Nordmann fir trees and decorated with evergreens .
- the "Luisenplatz" on the site of the casino set up in 1856 for Augusta's daughter Luise. It was adorned with terracotta dwarfs. The Luise Temple was built on it in 1866 .
- the semicircular square “Vaterland”, established in 1863, with four female figures who, as geniuses, symbolized art, science, trade and commerce with corresponding emblems. The place was the counterpart to the group of four boys. The figures were also made by Ernst March and designed by Alexander Calandrelli.
- the "Italian Square" with Mediterranean plants and fan palms. In the middle was a fountain that Augusta's daughter Luise donated after she became Grand Duchess of Baden.
Shell fountain
The shell fountain was located at the southern end of the Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer until it was redesigned for the 2011 Federal Horticultural Show. The neo-baroque limestone fountain was built around 1900. A group of figures with four putti , whose legs were scaled and ended in fins, rose above the four-pass basin . It was set up in the Lützeler Volkspark around 1936 and moved to the Rhine grounds around 1950. The whereabouts of the well removed in 2009 is unknown.
Pioneer memorial stone
A memorial stone commemorating the 1st Rhenish Pioneer Battalion No. 8 has been missing since the end of World War II . The motif, a rowing pioneer in a boat with short texts on past wars and victims of the battalion, was designed by Professor Carl Burger from Mayen .
The stone was moved to its former location next to the Pfaffendorfer Bridge in 1939 due to a lack of space at its previous location, the courtyard of the Falckenstein barracks. It was unveiled there on May 18, 1935. It was donated by former members of the Pioneer Battalion, which had been stationed in Koblenz since August 1842.
More than two years after the war, the city administration reported to the district president in response to a request from the French military government about war memorials in Rhineland-Palatinate that the memorial had been destroyed. Remains could not be found at the former location, which is why it is assumed that the distance was intended.
The watch on the Rhine
Another memorial stone stood not far from the bridge monument and the King's Hall from 1881 until its removal in 1919. The basalt plinth with the inscription "Die Wacht am Rhein" wore an antique, stylized armor supported by two lances. Under the lettering was an iron cross , on the left and right a Prussian eagle looking towards the Rhine. To the left of a standing Christian Daniel Rauch created Victoria statue in a gallery.
The spot marks the point at which King Wilhelm I of Prussia waved to the soldiers in Koblenz one last time on July 14, 1870, before they left for France. Ten years after the Franco-German War , the Coblenz Beautification Association had it set up.
The Allied occupation of the Rhineland followed the lost First World War ; in Koblenz initially by American troops from December 1918 to January 1923. The soldiers' handling of the sculpture aroused great resentment among the population, so they applied for the sculpture to be removed. On November 6, 1919, the sculpture was exchanged for a bench.
Under the title The Watch on the Rhine (German: "Die Wacht am Rhein") a troop newspaper of the Third Division of the "Army of Occupation of Germany (US)" appeared from February 1919. This division was part of the American occupation forces. The troop newspaper had a circulation of 30,000 copies.
Pump room
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The pump room in the style of a Swiss house was an inn that was opened on June 18, 1861 by Queen Augusta. There was u. a. the table water "Emser Kränchen" is served from the Bad Emser spa spring, which is why the drinking hall was added to the Bad Laubach cold water sanatorium . Orchestras and choral societies usually performed on the weekends. The pump room also had a free library. In front of the pump room there was a square with a fountain donated by Kaiser Wilhelm I.
Queen Augusta made the construction of the house possible by purchasing the land and also contributed 500 thalers to the construction. The city of Koblenz paid the remaining 2000 thalers. Due to its high popularity, the square was filled with dredged gravel and the drinking hall was expanded in the following years.
On July 27, 1915, a so-called fountain cure was set up in the pump room . Every day from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., guests could take a medically prescribed cure. For this purpose, a large fountain with decorated boys was set up on the upstairs square. The facility, which cost around 555 marks , was financed by the finance commission with 300 marks and from Title VII no 372 “Maintenance of the municipal drinking hall” . The project quickly paid for itself at the Koblenz company, but just five years later it was discontinued due to a lack of interest. This is probably also due to the rather negative overall situation of the plants.
The pump room was destroyed in the air raids in World War II. The Café Rheinanlagen restaurant was therefore rebuilt on this site.
Lenné house
The protector of the Koblenz Rhine plants, the horticultural director Peter Joseph Lenné , was impressed by his work and the beautiful residential city. Due to his excellent connections to the royal house, he was the only one who was allowed to build a fortified house outside of the then existing city fortifications . Their line of fire was not supposed to disturb any building so that no stone rubble could offer protection to the enemy. Only when the city wall was blown up and dismantled was this barrier lifted and the way cleared for settlement in the southern suburb.
“The love for his home in the Rhineland is highlighted by the fact that, with special royal approval , he had built a house in the fortress paleon of the city of Koblenz in which he wanted to spend a quiet retirement. But he never came to this beautiful conclusion ”because he died before it was completed in 1866. The house was not preserved.
Operetta on the Rheinlache
In 1950, the Koblenz City Theater first performed summer games as an operetta on a floating stage. To date, the summer games of the theater company since 1930 have mostly been open-air performances or guest performances. In 1949/1950, artistic director Otto Krauss proposed that the summer games should be performed as an operetta on the Rheinlache (the arm of the Rhine between the Rheinanlagen and the Oberwerth ). At the suggestion of horticultural director Hans Wilhelm Mutzbauer, a floating wooden revolving stage was built. Because of the great and financial success of this season with the piece “One Night in Venice”, the unique summer festival became the permanent operetta on the Rheinlache. Therefore, the construction was constantly expanded and expanded.
In 1970 the summer games had to be stopped. The year before, residents had sued the city in the so-called "summer game trial" for noise pollution and had the court demolished the grandstand immediately. The operetta on the Rheinlache, on which not only the theater ensemble played, drew over a million visitors up to its last season in 1970. The final elimination, however, dragged on for cost reasons (in 1972 60,000 D-Marks were estimated) until 1978. The reclaimed area was decorated with ornamental plants and the gap in the old towpath on the banks of the Rhine was closed again.
Tourism and event location
The Rhine facilities play an important role in the tourism of the city of Koblenz. The important landing stages of the Rhine ships are located along the Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer. From here, boat tourists explore the city, but they are also the starting point for boat connections to the UNESCO World Heritage Upper Middle Rhine Valley . For example, the historic paddle steamer Goethe starts from here on its journey through the World Heritage area to Rüdesheim . The Rhine ferry from Koblenz to Ehrenbreitstein runs from the Rhine facilities at the level of the gauge house. During the Federal Horticultural Show 2011 , the Rhine facilities were a central connecting route between the three core areas. The first successful development of the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress is only possible via the valley station of the cable car in the Rhine facilities at the level of the St. Kastor Basilica.
The Rhine facilities are a popular vantage point for the annual Rhine in Flames fireworks display in August . During the folk festival, which is attended by around 300,000 to 500,000 people, stalls are set up along the Rhine and Moselle lines and a fair is celebrated. Every year on UNESCO World Heritage Day - the first Sunday in June - the "Kaiserin Augusta Festival" takes place in the Rhine grounds.
The Rhine facilities were also part of the event concept at sporting events such as the Middle Rhine Marathon or the Rhineland-Palatinate Tour .
Monument protection
The Kaiserin-Augusta-Anlagen is a protected cultural monument according to the Monument Protection Act (DSchG) and entered in the list of monuments of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate . They are located in Koblenz-Südliche Vorstadt in the Kaiserin-Augusta-Anlagen monument zone . Listed in this area are the fisherman's relief , the Joseph-Görres monument , the bridgehead of the Pfaffendorfer bridge on the left bank of the Rhine , the Königshalle with the remains of the Rhine barracks , the Max von Schenkendorf monument , the bridge monument including the old flood column, the wine village , the Memorial stone 14 July 1870 , the monument to Josef Peter Lenné , the Luisen or Salve temple , the Kaiserin Augusta monument and the St. George shrine . In addition, the Electoral Palace and some residential buildings and villas are listed as historical monuments adjacent to the Kaiserin Augusta complex.
On Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer, the bridge houses , the head of the ship bridge on the left bank of the Rhine , the level house , the Koblenzer Hof and the Prussian government building are listed, in the adjacent Stresemannstrasse this is the high presidium of the Rhine province . The two cultural monuments Basilica St. Kastor and Deutsches Eck are located in this area .
The Rhine facilities in Koblenz have been part of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2002 . Furthermore, the Prussian government building is a protected cultural asset according to the Hague Convention and is marked with the blue and white trademark.
chronology
| 9 v. Chr. | Construction of an earth fort at the mouth of the Moselle |
| 925 | Koblenz falls to the East Franconian Empire. |
| 1018 | Koblenz falls as a gift to Kurtrier. |
| 1609 | Erection of the Rhine crane by Johann Pasqualini d. J. (until 1611) and the Rhine Cavalier |
| 1794 | Capture of Koblenz by the French |
| 1800 | Appointment of Koblenz as prefecture |
| 1801, February 9 | Koblenz becomes the capital of the "Rhin-et-Moselle" department,
Prefect de Lezay-Marnesia (until 1810) promotes gardens on the Rhine |
| 1809 | Construction of a park-like tree nursery |
| 1813, December 31 | The Russians take Koblenz |
| 1814/1815 | Koblenz becomes Prussian through the Congress of Vienna . |
| 1815, March 11th | City fortifications, city wall on the Rhine is built |
| 1818, November 12th | Nationalization of the towpath due to lack of money |
| 1827 | Tree nursery is replaced by barracks connected to the Rhine |
| 1850 | Augusta von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach moves to the Electoral Palace in Koblenz. |
| 1856 | Peter Joseph Lenné and Hermann Fürst von Pückler-Muskau build a landscape park according to Augusta's wishes (until 1861) |
| 1860, August 4th | A contract for the preservation and maintenance of the park between the city of Koblenz and the Upper Presidium of the Rhine Province is concluded |
| 1861 | official completion of the park on the banks of the Rhine |
| 1861, June 18 | Inauguration of the pump room |
| 1861, December 11th | Inauguration of the bust of Max von Schenkendorf |
| 1862, May 19 | Schenkendorf bust is handed over to the city of Koblenz. |
| 1864, September 29 | Inauguration of the bridge monument |
| 1870, March 31 | Foundation of the "Coblenz Beautification Association" |
| 1876, May 24th | Inauguration of the replica of the bridge monument |
| 1881 | Inauguration of the monument "Die Wacht am Rhein" by the "Coblenzer Beautification Association" |
| 1890 | Resolution of the city's consolidation, clearing the way for the development of the southern suburb and the
Rhine south of the mouth of the Moselle to the Electoral Palace |
| 1893, October 1st | Postponement of the Salve temple due to construction work on the new Kaiserin Augusta monument |
| 1895 | Laying of the foundation stone for the Empress Augusta Monument |
| 1896, October 18 | Inauguration of the Empress Augusta Monument |
| 1897 | Extension of the Rhine systems to the city forest |
| 1897, August 31 | Inauguration of the Deutsches Eck |
| 1902 | Laying of the foundation stone for the Prussian government building |
| 1902, July 16 | Siesmayer from Frankfurt am Main signs a contract to take over maintenance of the Rhine front for 17,200 gold marks |
| 1907 | Laying of the foundation stone for the High Presidium of the Prussian Rhine Province |
| 1910 | Inauguration of the senior executive committee |
| 1912 | Establishment of the Hotel Coblenzer Hof (until 1913) |
| 1915 | Donation of the fisherman's relief from the Prussian Ministry of Spiritual and Educational Affairs to the city of Koblenz |
| 1917 | The fisherman's relief is embedded in the wall of the Electoral Palace |
| 1919, November 6th | Removal of the “Die Wacht am Rhein” monument for political reasons |
| 1926, September 15 | Laying of the foundation stone for the Josef Görres monument |
| 1928, June 24th | Inauguration of the Görres monument |
| 1938, November 3rd | Part of the Kaiserin Augusta complex is renamed SA-Ufer |
| 1939 | Relocation of the pioneer memorial stone in the Rhine facilities |
| 1939, March 16 | Approval of the Hirschen redesign plans and 300,000 RM |
| 1944-1945 | Devastation in the Rhine facilities by the air raids on Koblenz |
| 1950 | Construction of the operetta on the Rheinlache |
| 1960 | Bust of Max von Schenkendorf is moved to the Rhine Cavalier |
| 1969 | Summer game process: residents achieved that the operetta on the Rheinlache had to stop playing |
| 1970, August 30th | Last day of the operetta on the Rheinlache |
| 1974, February 13 | Rhine bank design plan is presented to the mayor |
| 1975, January 5th | Implementation of the Rhine bank design plan begins |
| 1976, January | Renaming of the northern Rhine facilities in Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer |
| 1992 | Completion of the restoration of the Prussian government building |
| 2008-2011 | Redesign and restoration of the Rhine facilities for the 2011 Federal Horticultural Show |
| 2010 | Installation of a memorial stone in memory of the birthplace of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing |
| 2011 | Federal Garden Show 2011 |
| 2012-2013 | Continuation of the restoration in the southern section of the Rhine facilities |
| 2013, October 6th | Inauguration of the rebuilt wine fountain |
literature
- Max Bär : From the history of the city of Koblenz. 1814/1914 , Krabbensche Buchdruckerei, Koblenz, 1922.
- Energieversorgung Mittelrhein GmbH (ed.): History of the city of Koblenz . Overall editing: Ingrid Bátori in conjunction with Dieter Kerber and Hans Josef Schmidt
- Vol. 1: From the beginning to the end of the electoral era . Theiss, Stuttgart 1992. ISBN 3-8062-0876-X
- Vol. 2: From the French city to the present . Theiss, Stuttgart 1993. ISBN 3-8062-1036-5
- Fritz Michel : The art monuments of the city of Koblenz. The profane monuments and the suburbs , Munich Berlin 1954 (Die Kunstdenkmäler von Rheinland-Pfalz, first volume).
- Helmut Kampmann: When stones speak. Memorial plaques and memorial plaques in Koblenz. Fuck-Verlag, Koblenz 1992, ISBN 3-9803142-0-0
- Herbert Dellwing (editor): Cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate. Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany. Volume 3.1: City of Koblenz. Southern suburb and Oberwerth. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1986, ISBN 3-590-31033-2 .
- Herbert Dellwing , Reinhard Kallenbach (arrangement): Cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate. Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany. Volume 3.2: City of Koblenz. Downtown. Speyer 2004, ISBN 3-88462-198-X
- Ulrike Weber (edit.): Cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate. Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany. Volume 3.3: City of Koblenz. Districts. Werner, Worms 2013, ISBN 978-3-88462-345-9 .
- Press and Tourism Office of the City of Koblenz: The Rheinanlagen Koblenz. From the beginnings till now. with contributions by Willi Hört, Franz-Josef Heyen, Katharina Richter, Detlef Wahl u. a., self-published, Koblenz 1992.
- Documentation for the Federal Garden Show 2011 in Koblenz
- Volume 1: City in Transition: The Middle Rhine region is preparing. Garwain, April 2011, ISBN 978-3-936436-19-8
- Volume 2: We were there: strategists, doers, clubs, people. Garwain, November 2011, ISBN 978-3-936436-20-4
- Volume 3: What remains ?: Changes and sustainability in the Middle Rhine region. Garwain, December 2012, ISBN 978-3-936436-21-1
Web links
- Rheinanlagen Koblenz in: regionalgeschichte.net
- Förderverein Rheinanlagen e. V.
- Empress Augusta Festival annually on UNESCO World Heritage Day
Individual evidence
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Further individual evidence
- ^ Wilhelm I. Tabular curriculum vitae in the LeMO ( DHM and HdG )
- ^ Barbara Vogt: Siesmayer's gardens. It's nice here. KulturLandschaft FrankfurtRheinMain. Societäts-Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, ISBN 978-3-7973-1151-1
- ↑ pp. 76-78
- ↑ Koblenz tunnel "Rheindüker": data / facts and Hofmann-Göttig with local politicians on the way through the "Rheindüker"
- ↑ Overflow basin at the wine village . In: Rhein-Zeitung , March 11, 2005
- ^ Press information from the Ludwig Museum Koblenz ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Technical data ( memento of April 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) in: seilbahn-koblenz.de
- ↑ Rhein-Seilbahn can stay until 2026 . In: FAZ , June 19, 2013
- ^ Level house. koblenz-touristik.de, accessed on April 6, 2013 .
- ↑ a b August 2010 - Casino & messages. (No longer available online.) Casino-coblenz.de, archived from the original on July 21, 2015 ; Retrieved April 18, 2013 .
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i General Directorate for Cultural Heritage Rhineland-Palatinate (ed.): Informational directory of cultural monuments - district-free city of Koblenz (PDF; 1.5 MB), Koblenz 2013.
- ↑ 75 years ago September 15, 1926. The laying of the foundation stone for the Görres monument in Koblenz. (No longer available online.) State Main Archive Rhineland-Palatinate, archived from the original on May 17, 2014 ; Retrieved April 4, 2013 .
- ^ Herbert Dellwing, Udo Liessem: City of Koblenz, part: 1, southern suburb and Oberwerth (= cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate (monument topography Federal Republic of Germany) . Volume 3 ). Düsseldorf 1986, ISBN 3-590-31033-2 , pp. 66-67 . This definition was adopted in later works, see: Ulrike Weber: Stadt Koblenz, part: 3, city districts (= cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate (monument topography Federal Republic of Germany) . Volume 3 ). Worms 2013, ISBN 978-3-88462-345-9 , pp. 378-379 . Press and Tourism Office of the City of Koblenz (Ed.): Die Rheinanlagen Koblenz. From the beginning until today . Koblenz 1992, p. 40-41 .
- ^ Ludwig von Ompteda: Rhenish gardens from the Moselle to Lake Constance . Berlin 1886, p. 15-16 ( uni-duesseldorf.de ).
- ^ Association for the protection of urban and business interests (ed.): Practical guide through Coblenz and its immediate surroundings . Koblenz 1890, p. 13 ( dilibri.de ).
- ↑ See for example: Nikolaus Theiß (Ed.): Address book of the city of Coblenz . Koblenz May 1879, p. 8 (foreword) ( dilibri.de ).
- ^ History. weindorf-koblenz.de, accessed on April 16, 2013 .
- ↑ Max von Schenkendorf should return to the base . In: Rhein-Zeitung . November 3, 2012.
- ↑ Head replaced: destroyed Schenkendorf bust repaired and put back up . In: Rhein-Zeitung , May 22, 2013
- ↑ The historic wine fountain is set up! ( Memento from October 20, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) in: Förderverein Rheinanlagen e. V.
- ↑ See the illustrations in: Peter Brommer, Peter Kleber, Achim Krümmel: Koblenz in the flashback. Photographic excursion through the years 1862 to 1945. Görres, Koblenz 2004, ISBN 3-935690-34-7 , pp. 73 and 76.
- ↑ Ur-Schängel advocate re-establishment . ( Memento of March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 11.8 MB) In: Super Sonntag , May 8, 2011
- ↑ Café Rheinanlagen: Everything is still open . In: Rhein-Zeitung , January 30, 2013
- ↑ Koblenz takes stock of the storm: fatal, expensive - and traumatic . In: Rhein-Zeitung , August 28, 2011
- ↑ Caspar Scheuren : The Rhine systems at Coblenz . Loeillot, Berlin 1866. p. 5.
- ↑ Petra Habrock-Henrich: 200 Years of Theater Koblenz 1787–1987. Booklet accompanying the exhibition in the Stadttheater , Koblenz 1987. P. 53f.
- ↑ Empress Augusta Festival on UNESCO World Heritage Day. koblenz-touristik.de, accessed on April 18, 2013 .
Coordinates: 50 ° 21 ′ 39 ″ N , 7 ° 36 ′ 18 ″ E