Theater park

Location of the theater park on a map of the city of Braunschweig from 1899

The former bastion hill seen from the flood ditch

View of the hill and the flood ditch

Statue The Standing Woman - Love for the Full Moon by Kurt Edzard

The theater park is a park in the city of Braunschweig .

Geography and equipment

The theater park is located in the east of the city center of Braunschweig, which is surrounded by the Oker river ditch. It is 3.25 hectares. In the east, the theater park borders on the eastern flood ditch. Along the flood ditch, the park stretches as a narrow strip of shore to the north as far as the Fallersleber-Tor bridge. South of the park across the street “Am Theater” is the Braunschweig State Theater , after which the park was named. The street “Theaterwall” borders the park to the west. To the north-east of the theater park, beyond the flood ditch, is the extension of the botanical garden . An underpass east of the theater connects the theater park with the museum park .

The park is characterized by a former bastion hill 83.5 meters above sea level , which is around 14 meters above the level of the eastern flood ditch. The hill is thus the highest point in the terrain within the flood ditches. He can be reached in several ways. On the hill there is a seating area with granite benches and a children's playground. To the north of the hill is the former “Haeckels Gartenhaus”, an early classicist building that was, however, separated from the park. The trees are partly single, partly in groups. Numerous tree species found in the park, such as persimmon and hackberry, are not native. On the southern edge of the park there is a monument to the composer Franz Abt . The statue The Standing Woman - Love for the Full Moon by Kurt Edzard is in the southern part of the park.

history

Haeckels Gasthaus, seen from the theater park

The theater park is located in the area of the former Anton bulwark , which was part of the Braunschweiger ramparts . At the beginning of the 19th century, these fortifications were transformed into promenades . Around 1800 the duchess and ruling princess Augusta made the former bulwarks Anton and Ulrich on the eastern flood ditch of the Oker available to the general public. The garden architect Johann George Gottlieb Schoch , who designed parts of the Wörlitz Park , was commissioned with the planning. Under his leadership, the "Duchess Garden", also known as the "Princely Park" or "Ducal Park", was the first Brunswick park in the style of early romanticism . After the Duchess moved away in 1805, Peter Joseph Krahe completed the park. He designed the “Haeckel's garden house”, which was influenced by the early classicist style. The area was divided into wooded hills and grassy areas, among other things, and featured a large number of foreign trees. On the east side of the flood ditch was the "Ducal Kitchen Garden" as part of the park , which could be reached by ferry . In several places in the park, farm buildings such as “Haeckel's garden house” were erected, which were intended to depict the relationship between aesthetics and utility in a romanticized way. There were several lines of sight in the park . One could see from the highest hill to Riddagshausen , to the Nussberg as well as to the Elm and Harz . There was a large oval of flowers in the middle of the park. The State Theater was built there from 1858, so that the park was divided into two parts. The northern park was later called the Theater Park, the southern part Museum Park. In 1879, set houses for the theater were built north of “Haeckel's garden house”. The "Ducal Kitchen Garden" was abandoned around 1885 in favor of the residential development of today 's Jasperallee , when the Kaiser Wilhelm Bridge over the flood ditch was also built.

In 1891, a monument created by Karl Echtermeier for Franz Abt (1819–1885) was erected on the southern edge of the theater park , who had worked for 30 years as court conductor at the Braunschweig theater. Except for the portrait bust, it was melted down in World War II and redesigned and set up in 1960 by Paul Egon Schiffers . The park was damaged by bombs during World War II. The northern part could not be used for a long time.

The northern part of the theater park was released again in 1980, but without “Haeckel's garden house”. In 1996 redesigns began in order to implement at least some of Schoch's ideas again. So the line of sight from the hill plateau to the flood ditch was restored and a landing stage was built at the flood ditch to remind of the earlier ferry. The road network has been approximately adjusted to the original condition. In 2010 the statue The Standing Woman - Love for the Full Moon was erected, which had previously stood in the castle park .

literature

Luitgard Camerer, Manfred Garzmann, Wolf-Dieter Schuegraf, Norman-Mathias Pingel (eds.): Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon. Meyer, Braunschweig 1992, ISBN 3-926701-14-5 , p. 228
Heinz-Joachim Tute, Marcus Köhler: Garden art in Braunschweig. From the princely gardens of the Baroque to the public park of the Wilhelminian era. Braunschweiger Werkstücke, Volume 28, Series A, Braunschweig 1989, ISBN 978-3-87884-037-4