Stamford garden
The Stamford Garden in Haina in the Kellerwald is an English romantic garden in northern Hesse through which the Wohra flows . It surrounds the former Haina monastery . It is an artistically designed park and garden based on nature. The complex is one of the oldest English garden architecture in Germany.
history
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a park was gradually created around the former Haina monastery. The Goethe Tischbein Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein wrote in his memoirs (“From my life”): Haina is surrounded by forest on three sides; from there a flat field and meadow valley stretches into the distance. The closest surroundings are gardens and fruit trees, and the country roads are set in apple and pear trees, as is the large area called the common . The headmaster of the Haina State Hospital, Johann Ludwig Friedrich von Stamford (1738–1803), took up the idea and began designing an English garden in 1789 at his own expense. The areas of Grauhecke and Königsgrund were designed according to his designs . The park was supposed to ... serve for strolls for all residents and hospilatites, for everyone from the area ...
He emerged avenues , ornamental squares, caves , waterfalls, memorials and small garden architectural buildings. Some buildings were provided with lyrical texts.
Former visual references to the monastery are now hidden by renewable trees. A 5 km long hiking trail leads through the park.
Garden architecture
Kastanienallee
The Kastanienallee is the access and entrance area of the gray hedge . The avenue is still preserved in its original design.
Lookout point at the gray hedge
At the former viewing point there was a viewing platform designed with flowers and American trees, as well as a small temple dedicated to the late Stamford's wife. The inscription of the temple read: Here my spirit can find itself; here I can always feel my innermost being and be with myself. What are the townspeople's games just against this hallway? I don't hear anything, I only feel you alone nature! From the vantage point you could see as far as the Amöneburg and Marburg .
Philipps oak and antique altar on the gray hedge
The oak, which was already extensive at the end of the 18th century, with two branches still sticking up at the time, inspired Friedrich von Stamford to dedicate this place to the memory of the most luminous donor of the velvet hospitals, who rested in God, as the progenitor of the two High Princely Hessian Houses. The branches of the oak symbolized the two princely houses of Hesse, Hessen-Kassel and Hessen-Darmstadt . The branch representing Hessen-Darmstadt has meanwhile been broken off. In memory of Landgrave Philipp “the Magnanimous”, the ancient altar, which is still preserved today, was erected. In front of this there was a stone urn with an inscription dedicated to the founder of the Haina High Hospital , Landgrave Philipp.
Luisenlust
The Luisenlust was created as a lookout point and planted with flowers and trees. From here you could see the Haina monastery complex. Stamford had a pyramid built here, commemorating the visit of Landgrave William IX. remembered in 1787. The snake path was provided with terraces and benches on both sides in the 18th century and ended at a “delicate grotto” (presumably the stone niche opposite the hospital entrance). A pedestal with a vase stood on the lawn steps ; Stamford had this inscribed with it referring to his own destiny: Flee out your days of my life! For me occupied and not in vain to my fellow creatures happiness.
Hermannsdenkmal and Königsgrund
The "Einsiedeley" was located in the area of the Königsteich . Alleys, a flower garden and eleven waterfalls were laid out along the Königsteich and Königsgrund. Monuments for the first head of the high hospitals, Heinz von Lüder, the baroque painter Johann Heinrich Tischbein and his son Hans Tischbein were laid out “in chic places” . In a niche was the Hermann monument, which reminded of the Cheruscan prince Arminius .
Stone cliff
The stone cliff area was not created until after Stamford's death. Niches, paths and stairs were embedded and let into the local landscape. In 1870, the romantic natural setting was supplemented by a bowling alley and gardens for the staff of the former hospital. The gardens were in use until the 1970s.
Steinklippe lookout point
The stone cliff takes its name from the nearby quarry that was used to procure building materials for the monastery. From the viewing platform you could see the monastery and the surrounding area. The half-timbered house on the plateau was built by the head of the Haina monastery, Privy Councilor Baron Schenk zu Schweinsberg, during his tenure in 1853. The Grauwacken needed to design the paths, steps and borders come from the quarry on the stone cliff.
Directors bank
In 1891 the physician Dr. Otto Scheel took over the management of the institution in Haina. Between 1891 and 1909 he had a stone bench and table set up, which has since been called the director's bench .
Kalkrück
The ruined complex on Kalkrück is the best preserved part of the former park. The Kalkrück was laid out in the first half of the 19th century and completed by the head of the hospital at the time, Friedrich Quentin (1868 to 1891), during his tenure. The terraces were laid out on three levels, which are connected by stone-lined paths and stairs. The romantic character of the garden design is emphasized by semicircular niches and the planting with ivy , lily of the valley and evergreens .
Kalkrück viewing platform
In 1844 an open, slate- roofed Chinese pavilion with an octagonal floor plan was built on the Kalkrück . The octagon remained until the mid-1960s . From the viewing platform one had a view of the entire hospital complex. Below the viewing platform, the Tischbein hiking trail crosses the English garden.
literature
- Johann Wilhelm Tischbein: From my life . Henschelverlag Berlin, 1956, p. 41
- Friedrich von Stamford: Description of my local facilities , o. J., o. A. (incorporated in the boards of the hiking trail)
- Otto Kahm: Friedrich von Stamford: Head of the Hessian Velvet Hospitals, Major, Council of War, poet, composer, philanthropist, administrator, landscape designer . (Frankenberger Hefte, 5), Kahm, Frankenberg (Eder), 1997, ISBN 3-922225-42-X
- Lisa Küpper (author), Association Friends of the Haina Monastery eV (Hrsg.): Historic hiking trails around Haina: Tischbein hiking trail and Stamford's garden . Cognitio-Verl., Niedenstein, 1999
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 1 ′ 46.9 ″ N , 8 ° 58 ′ 35.4 ″ E