Stammheim Castle Park
The Stammheim Castle Park was part of a medieval knightly estate acquired in 1818 from Baron Theodor von Fürstenberg . The park in the Stammheim district (Cologne) is now a public green area of the city of Cologne for the recreation of the population . Since 2002 the park has also been used for the exhibition of modern art .
Location description
The park is located on the right bank of the Rhine , opposite the Cologne-Niehl district on the left bank of the Rhine , and adjoins the old town center of the Stammheim district of Cologne. It covered an area of around eight hectares and was expanded northwards to around 12 hectares in 2009. It forms the shape of an obtuse triangle with the long side in the north to the street "Am Stammheimer Schlosspark". The eastern boundary is Stammheimer Hauptstrasse with the main entrance to the park's linden avenue (next to the old church of St. Mary's Birth ). On the narrow side, the Rhine flows behind the "Stammheimer Ufer" dike path above it .
The Stammheimer Schlosspark, which is connected to the Flittarder Auenlandschaft to the north , is the provisional endpoint of a publicly accessible Rhine promenade (around 11 kilometers) planned by Kurt Schönbohm , which continues from the south bridge over the Rheinpark with the one at its north end especially for Pedestrian built Mülheimer Hafenbrücke should be led to Stammheim and which has only partially been realized until today.
Stammheimer Ufer towards Mülheim
Old linden avenue
Rhine side, western avenue
Stammheimer Ufer towards Flittard
history
In 1757 the knight's seat in Stammheim, located in the Porz district , municipality of Flittard , with all accessories was transferred by the owner Joan Franciscus Caspar Freiherr von Wyhe to the Electoral Palatinate Privy Councilor Friedrich Ferdinand Freiherr von Pfeill and his wife.
From this family the imperial baron Theodor von Fürstenberg zu Neheim acquired the knight's seat for his only son Egon in 1818 . At the same time, the family leased their neighboring property, the Merkerhof in the city of Mülheim am Rhein , which later became the Mülheim City Garden . After the death of his father, the property in Stammheim was raised to the ancestral seat of his family by the Prussian chamberlain Franz Egon von Fürstenberg . Ten years later the family commissioned the garden architect and from 1834 Royal Horticultural Director Maximilian Friedrich Weyhe to design a landscape park, which he laid out between 1828 and 1832 in the style of an English garden .
During this multi-year construction period, 50 workers were employed to lay out the garden. A branching network of paths was created, the main paths of which led to the castle as avenues . The plantings, which were also carried out according to Weyhe's specifications, comprised a number of 600 trees and 500 shrubs, which contained a large number of different types of wood.
Suppliers of these large quantities of plant material were the “Royal Forest and Animal Gardens in Cleve ” and the court gardens in Bonn and Düsseldorf , but primarily the nearby Cologne Botanical Garden . These institutes had large greenhouses and cultivated cultivated and useful plants of all kinds on a large scale. The head of Cologne was Jakob Greiß , who had become one of Weyhe's successors at the Cologne institute, but also as a student of Weyhe during his apprenticeship at the Royal Hofgarten in Düsseldorf had graduated. Due to these relationships, the procurement of the plants was unproblematic.
Trees in the middle of the park
Rare tree tops
Inflorescence of a chestnut
Fresh foliage of a copper beech
Plant and species of wood
As today, the main paths of the complex were the lime-tree lined avenues such as the one on the Rhine side and the central avenue crossing the park between the main entrance and the princely palace. Trees and shrubs were planted in groups or solitary between the other winding paths within a circular route that were laid out according to Weyhe's ideas. Mostly these were native species, but also exotic tree and shrub species: maples , acacia , catalpa , elm , ash , sumac , chestnuts , types of Christ mandrel, nettle trees , tulip tree , Japanese magnolia , mulberry , White Oak and among the plurality of Flowering and covering shrubs of various types of wild rose of high quality. The selection and positioning of the plantings were praised in a description as the work of an “excellent wood connoisseur”.
Preservation of the system over generations
Theodors von Fürstenberg's heir, Count Franz Egon von Fürstenberg-Stammheim, who was granted honorary citizenship by the city of Cologne on December 18, 1856 , had further optimized the gardens until his death in 1859. The curved “pretzel paths”, the two avenues and the groups of trees between the diagonal paths had grown up. Two roundabouts and a raised vantage point on the southern bank of the Rhine, as well as the castle facing south (with a view of the Rhine and Cologne Cathedral ) with its obligatory “garden area” of an ornamental garden in front of it, had become the highlights of the complex.
The son Gisbert Egon , born in 1836, who died in Bonn in 1908 , was also a lover of garden art . During their political engagement, father and son were members of the Prussian state parliament , in which Gisbert Egon represented the city of Cologne in the provincial committee until shortly before his death . The close ties to their city were also evident in some of the foundations that they gave to it. The Fürstenbergstrasse and Merkenstrasse in Cologne-Mülheim, Paulinenhofstrasse in Cologne-Flittard as well as Gisbertstrasse and the palace gardens in Stammheim remind of the family.
At the end of the 1920s, the Stammheim property went to the city of Cologne. Details of the purchase or use of this property until it was destroyed in World War II are not known. The ruins of the palace complex with the devastated park area were then under the control of Leverkusen Bayer AG in the post-war period , which repaired the gardens and had a retirement home, the " Haberland House", built on the site of the former palace . In the atrium of the loin of the finished structure was a product obtained in remembrance site of the castle built. Nothing is known about the circumstances of the renewed takeover of the Stammheim property by the city of Cologne in 1983.
The castle park is a listed building
With the establishment of the office of city curator (with Friedrich Carl Heimann ) in 1912/13, the city took over responsibility for Cologne's historical monuments. These include, at the latest since the introduction of monument protection in 1980, the gardens that are subject to this protection.
Choir of the previous church, today the Marienkapelle
Wayside shrine in front of the park wall and church
Castle with a couple of counts
Remnant, location at the level of the former castle
Cologne is one of the few large cities whose parks were not created before the 19th century, but many of the city's green spaces and parks are of historical importance. Many of these facilities have been placed under monument protection and for this reason alone enjoy the special attention and care ordered by the relevant authorities. These include primarily the grounds that were laid out under the early garden directors such as Anton Strauss , Jakob Greiß , Fritz Encke , Adolf Kowallek , Peter Joseph Lenné , but also the relatively small palace park in Stammheim that was laid out by Maximilian Friedrich Weyhe.
Restoration by the city of Cologne
In the mid-1980s, the first conservation measures were carried out in Cologne's historic gardens. As part of job creation measures , the city started the “Historic Gardens” project and, after reviewing the related facilities, renovated the Humboldt Park in Humboldt / Gremberg and the park of the same name in Cologne-Klettenberg .
In 1984 the garden administration of the city undertook the restoration of the park in Stammheim. The occasion was a rediscovered plan by Weyhe from 1831, which then became the basis for the fundamental restoration of the complex. During this time, the listed Haberlandhaus was converted into a student residence . As such, it was leased by the city to the Cologne Student Union , from which it was used to sublet it to students until 2001. The building in need of renovation has been empty since then and its future use is uncertain.
Since 2010, the park has been brought back to its original state as part of the “Regionale 2010” structural project. Above all, old lines of sight were restored and wild-growing undergrowth cleared.
Today's palace park
Today's park largely corresponds to its historical dimensions in its designed southern area. It is up to the Rhine mostly by old masonry of brick trimmed. Along the wall on the Stammheimer main street are two of the park side facing shrines , probably, as well as a sealed access to the old cemetery at St. Mary's birth, the period of residence are from the Count Furstenberg. The recent expansion of the site has been separated on the north side of the core site by wire fences and is used in the traditional form as a so-called bungert . In addition to this form of old management, beehives were placed by a beekeeper .
Orchard meadow
Flatly
Group of plane trees
Magnolia blossom
The park paths are paved and can also be used in rainy weather, the avenues are even paved. The river side can also be accessed on the lower dike path if the water level is appropriate.
The complex, which was restored according to the "Weyheeschem" plan, is still made up of a considerable number of old trees, including a large number of rare species from all over the world. The original inventory mentioned above has changed only insignificantly. Besides the old giant trees are now now Douglas fir , Japanese pagoda tree , ailanthus , English oak and a number of side-planted Ilexbüsche and plane trees and scattered standing birch in the plant. Flower borders and rhododendrons can be found on the rondelles enclosed by small walls . The elevated viewpoint, the roundabouts and the promenades of the avenues are equipped with benches.
Sculpture park
The Stammheim Palace and its park had already become a center of contemporary art and cultural life in the 19th century through the family of the former owners. The palace park has been building on this past since 2002 when it was used as an exhibition area. Some of the objects shown make obvious reference to the history of the former castle and its residents. A large part of the objects in the park are permanent installations, as can be seen from the type and anchoring by solid concrete bases and screw connections. This number of objects, which has grown since the beginning of the exhibition, as well as the vitae of the respective artists with information on their works are recorded in annually updated catalogs of the art exhibition, which are carried out by a voluntary group that supports the organization under the name "Initiative Kultur Raum Rechtsrhein" (KRR ) to be created.
In addition to a diverse nature and horticultural design, the park also offers people looking for recreation walks that are surrounded by numerous objects of modern art.
literature
- Joachim Bauer, Carmen Kohls: Cologne under French and Prussian rule. In: Werner Adams, Joachim Bauer (Hrsg.): From Botanical Garden to Big City Green - 200 Years of Cologne Green (= city traces - monuments in Cologne. Volume 30.) Bachem Verlag, Cologne 2001, ISBN 3-7616-1460-8 .
- HR Jung: The gardens at Cologne Cathedral, then and now. A contribution to the history of the uncovering of Cologne Cathedral. In: Journal of Horticulture and Garden Art. No. 1 to 5. 1896.
- Margaret Ritter: Maximilian Friedrich Weyhe. (1775-1846). A life for garden art (= sources and research on the history of the Lower Rhine. Ed. V. Düsseldorfer Geschichtsverein, Volume 7 also publications from the Düsseldorf City Archives. Volume 13.) Droste Verlag, Düsseldorf 2007, ISBN 978-3-7700-3054- 5 , pp. 79-83.
- Ulrich S. Soenius, Jürgen Wilhelm (Ed.): Kölner Personen-Lexikon . Greven, Cologne 2007, ISBN 978-3-7743-0400-0 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Henriette Meynen: Stammheimer Schlosspark. In: Werner Adams, Joachim Bauer (Hrsg.): From Botanical Garden to Big City Green - 200 Years of Cologne Green (= city traces - monuments in Cologne. Volume 30.) Bachem, Cologne 2001, ISBN 3-7616-1460-8 , p. 51.
- ↑ Joachim Bauer: From the botanical garden to urban green. P. 210.
- ^ Henriette Meynen: Mülheim city garden. In: Werner Adams, Joachim Bauer (Hrsg.): From Botanical Garden to Big City Green - 200 Years of Cologne Green (= city traces - monuments in Cologne. Volume 30.) Bachem, Cologne 2001, ISBN 3-7616-1460-8 , p. 146.
- ↑ Alexander Duncker Collection Archived copy ( Memento of the original from June 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 244 kB)
- ^ HR Jung: The gardens at Cologne Cathedral.
- ↑ Ulrich S. Soenius, Jürgen Wilhelm, p. 172 f.
- ↑ a b Joachim Bauer: Dealing with the historical legacy. P. 354.
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 59 ′ 12 " N , 6 ° 58 ′ 59.3" E