Bochum City Park

Spring in the city park, in the background the gastronomy in the city park Bochum

The Bochum city park is the oldest communal landscape garden in the Ruhr area after the Essen city garden .

History and shape

The city park was laid out in the style of an English garden from May 1876 onwards, following a municipal resolution in 1869. The small Vöde , the Bochumer Allmende , used to be in this area . The park was officially opened in 1878. It was suggested as early as 1863 by the then Bochum mayor Max Greve . The Cologne city gardener Anton Strauss (1823–1888) provided the design . All of the buildings in the first part of the park were designed by the architect Hermann Bluth . The park was expanded in two sections in 1889-1894 and 1903-1908. The last expansion phase was headed by Ernst Finken . His work consisted largely in the harmonious union of the old and new park .

Flowers in the summer city park

The park had a variety of trees, flower beds, lakes and a city park restoration early on. In 1887, more than seven hundred different tree and shrub species and varieties were identified in Bochum's city park. The park was to be available to all social classes of the Prussian class system , including the working class, and to serve as a meeting point. In winter there was ice skating on the frozen lake, in summer there were gymnastics events in the park .

The city park today has an area of 311,402 m² and is one of the largest of its kind in North Rhine-Westphalia. The numerous, foreign deciduous trees such as the tree of gods ( Ailanthus altissima ), the American tulip tree ( Liriodendron tulipifera ), the American sweetgum tree ( Liquidambar styraciflua ), the Japanese pagoda tree ( Sophora japonica ) and the common trumpet tree ( Catalpa bignonioides ) are particularly attractive . Large rarities are such. B. Oregon maple ( Acer macrophyllum ), Japanese cake tree ( Cercidiphyllum japonicum ), handkerchief tree ( Davidia involucrata var. Vilmoriniana ), European hackberry ( Celtis australis ), Amur cork tree ( Phellodendron amurense ) Shingle Oak ( Quercus imbricaria ) and American Yellowwood ( Cladrastis lutea ). A particularly great rarity, a mighty lacquer tree ( Rhus verniciflua ) near the boat pond, was felled at the beginning of the 21st century. Today you can still find around 200 different types and varieties of wood in the park. The varied terrain relief is created by alternating wooded areas and different parking spaces such as rose, dahlia, rhododendron and perennial gardens. The two ponds in the city park have fountains and provide shelter for many birds.

Because of the drought and heat in Europe in 2018 took place in Bochum city pond on July 29, 2018, due to a lack of oxygen to the fish kill .

Monuments, small architecture and art in public spaces

Water feature (around 1980)

The oldest monument in the park is the no longer preserved bust of Kaiser Wilhelm I from 1879. The bust of the gymnast Jahn, based on a design by Wilhelm Gardy , was erected in 1883. Opposite it was the grain oak that was planted on October 22, 1892 . The former location of the Schiller bust is not known.

The Bochum Bismarck Tower was inaugurated on October 16, 1910 . From the viewing platform of the 34 meter high tower you have a good overview of the city park, the city center and the surrounding districts. In the rose garden was young girl fountain of Eugen Schmohl in October 2007 by a copy of the 'Floating' by Wilhelm Gerstel restored to its original form. In 1935 the war memorial was inaugurated in the city park , in keeping with the militaristic spirit of the time. It has been preserved in a modified form and has been rededicated as an anti-war memorial.

In addition to the monuments mentioned above, there is also a three-part steel collage by Aleš Veselý in the city park , which was created as part of the 1st Bochum sculpture symposium in 1979/80. Contrary to persistent rumors, there is no work by Richard Serra in the Stadtpark . Works by Serra can be found at the main station, in Situation Kunst and in the Schlosspark Haus Weitmar.

Sculpture by Giuseppe Spagnulo

In 2006 a sculpture by Giuseppe Spagnulo was added. Also worth mentioning are the Dufhues monument and a frog statue. The frog statue on a small bridge over the large lake is known to many Bochum citizens from their childhood. It was stolen in the 1990s. In the meantime, a new replica has been built on the old site. The name was given around 2002 after a competition. There is also a mini golf course with an adjacent restaurant, the so-called 'milk house', a water playground and free chess facilities.

The public lavatory at the city park was built in 1925 and renovated in 1997. After the renovation, it is now the seat of the Kortum-Gesellschaft Bochum .

The gastronomy in the city park

The now listed building of the gastronomy in the city park was built in 1913 according to a design by Karl Elkart for 650,000 marks and opened under the name "Parkhaus", which was already established by the previous building. When the Schauspielhaus Bochum was almost completely destroyed on November 4, 1944, it was played in the “parking garage” until it was rebuilt in 1953. In 1952 the main entrance to the building was redesigned. Finally, the former “parking garage” was completely rebuilt in 1985–1988 and then opened under new management under the name “Gastronomie im Stadtpark Bochum”. The last major renovation work on the building was carried out in 2006, which was accompanied by another name change. The recently opened “Orangery in the City Park” was last added in 2007 to the “La Escalera” tapas bar . Meanwhile closed.

Animal park

As a further enrichment followed in 1933 on the initiative of the Bochumer Tierpark-Freunde, the Bochumer Tierpark , with animal enclosures and permanent buildings from 1937. The Milchhäuschen ( milk cure institute ) built in 1884 later gave way to today's animal park restaurant.

City park district

Monument area Stadtparkviertel

In the course of setting up the park, the surrounding area was redesigned. In 1893 an open-plan area was tendered for the area around the city park . The development plan from 1910 places the city park district in the urban context of the park, open-plan development, schools and hospitals.

Before the Second World War, the art gallery of the city of Bochum was located in the immediate vicinity in the Villa Nora . After it was destroyed and temporarily moved to other buildings in the city, the Bochum Museum - Art Collection was opened in 1960 at the Stadtpark in the rebuilt Villa Marckhoff-Rosenstein . The new building from 1980 adjoins the entrance to the city park.

The park, some buildings and the entire ensemble of the district are now under monument protection because of their special historical and artistic importance.

location

Location: north of Bochum city center
Public transport: Bochum, stops at Gudrunstraße, art museum, Neuer Park, planetarium, St. Josef Hospital and zoo

literature

Friedrich Humpert: The Flora Bochum. Municipal high school Bochum. - Supplement to the annual report for the school year 1886/87. Bochum, 57 p., 1887. This work is the only previously published total flora of the Bochum area and contains a list of trees in the Bochum city park.

Erika Schmidt: "Decoration, pleasure, healthy air and good teaching ..." - On the history of the city park in Bochum and elsewhere. In: Das Gartenamt, magazine for environmental design, open-air planning, green space and sports facility construction. Platzer Verlag Hannover and Berlin, No. 6, June 1982, pp. 343-357.

Erika Schmidt: The Bochum city park and its urban environment in the 19th century - a contribution to the revision of value judgments about the typical German city park of the 19th century. 2 volumes, 622 pages, dissertation, Hanover 1988.

City of Bochum, Planning Office / Lower Monument Authority: Monument area planning for the Bochum city park district . Volumes I and II, carried out by the planning office of Prof. Krause and Partner, 180 pages, Dortmund, August 1990.

Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe, LWL Office for Monument Preservation, Landscape and Building Culture: Park maintenance works, concepts for historical open spaces, the Bochum city park. 2016.