Foothills Park

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cologne Vorgebirgspark - Little Planet - projection from the air.

The Vorgebirgspark is a 13.9 hectare park in the south of Cologne city ​​center between the districts of Zollstock , Raderberg and Raderthal . It was laid out from 1910 to 1914 according to plans by the garden architect Fritz Encke . On July 1, 1914, it was opened to visitors.

location

The original 13-hectare park is embedded in the green axis south , which connects the Volksgarten with the outer green belt and this with the Meschenich nature reserve, the Entenfang recreation area ( Wesseling / Brühl ) and the open landscapes between the Rhine and the foothills to Bonn . Smaller Cologne city parks in this connection are the green belt at the Südfriedhof and the narrow connection to the Fritz-Encke-Volkspark , the former Volkspark Raderthal or Volkspark for short . Both strips have been severely narrowed by development from the 1950s onwards. The once clearly defined boundaries of the park have become fluid towards the west due to lawns and later, forest-like planting, and there can only be traced back to the old trees. The original street layout surrounding the park to the west is also no longer there. The southern and eastern boundaries of the park (on Kreuznacher and Neuenahrer Straße), on the other hand, have remained unchanged, especially the special gardens that were created here and are still demarcated by an old brick wall. (Most of this complex was renovated and replanted in the mid-1980s, when the idea of ​​a motorway route planned here was rejected.)

If you enter the Vorgebirgspark from Kreuznacher Straße, you first come to a square tree place lined with high elms, which, like the hallway of a house, creates the transition to the other parts of the park. To the west, the entire width of the square opens up to the spacious interior, which originally served as a public playground and playground. From this point the line of sight leads in its longitudinal direction to the opposite crossroads, from which an exit branches off to the west. In its transverse direction, it goes into the special gardens on the side. These three gardens are grouped together and axially assigned to one another. A terraced garden is located on the northern side of the tree place and was previously only accessible through a gate in the beech hedge. The recessed middle section of the wing shows a lawn that is accessed by two intersecting paths.

Direction Neuenahrer Str., In the background the former pond rose basin

The point of intersection is emphasized by a round, stone-set bed (formerly used as a fountain). A band of shrubs that continued above the wall along the path leaned against the half-height stone walls that surround the sunken part of the garden. On the two long sides there are several regularly planted yew trees, which are interrupted by four stone plinths on which small sculptures used to stand. Towards the street, the garden is bordered by a narrow path on which a small avenue of trimmed linden trees has been planted. Benches make this place a popular destination for walkers. There are also benches on the opposite side facing the park. They were designed as family seats and are protected by a hedge and completely shielded from the path. Originally they were also framed by low battens.

On the northern narrow side of the garden there used to be a semicircular arcade covered with ivy, which was divided into individual niches and furnished with numerous tables and chairs. This arcade has disappeared today and only roughly preserved in its routing.

The second special garden of the Vorgebirgspark is a rose garden, which connects to the tree square to the south. A 42 m long pond rose basin forms the center of this wing and sets a striking visual accent with its turquoise-colored background.

In the past, beds with trunk and polyanthine roses were laid out on both sides of the basin . The Kölner Tageblatt of September 14, 1911 mentions "a few hundred types of roses " that could be found here, " sorted by color ", planted in long rows or "climbing on iron arches and wooden railings ".

The rose garden is now bordered towards the street by a 40 m long, white painted (and built in the 1950s instead of a pergola) archway, which in the past continued as a lilac corridor in the perennial garden to the south and was bordered by an arbor towards the tree place. On the opposite side, which delimits the park, four seats have been created, which are surrounded by trellises and a half-high hedge.

In the southern part of the rose garden, on the long side of the pond rose basin, two stairs lead to a raised small tree place with cut linden trees. From here a path leads to the neighboring perennial garden , which, on long borders, offered visitors an abundance of flowers in changing color combinations from spring to autumn. At the edge of the park there used to be a tightly cut hedge; The already mentioned lilac corridor led along the street, into which several seating niches were let. Today the perennial garden is neglected and rather a testimony to the direction in which nature strives when it regularly lacks horticultural design.

The small paths that led around the square aquatic plant basin are completely covered with lawn, and only in autumn, when the leaves fill the small, still visible grass hollows, the original route can be recognized by the slight depressions.

The perennial garden is bordered to the south by a semicircular planted tree circle, with which the shape of the arcade in the extreme north is modeled in miniature.

At the south-eastern tip of the perennial garden is a slightly elevated place, shaded by four trees, which is one of the most picturesque places in the park due to the authenticity it has retained.

If Encke wanted to address population groups who did not have their own garden with the three special gardens, he is aiming in a different direction with the design of the landscaped part of the complex

"In response to the growing general interest in playing and sporting opportunities, as well as changing popular hygienic and social attitudes, to offer large numbers of visitors a wide, freely usable space for active activities."

Height of Markusstr.

The Vorgebirgspark should essentially be a modern public park. The above-mentioned grassland and playground are explained by this objective, as is the children's playground in the south, which is shaded by mighty trees, and the concrete wading pond to the north. This pool, which still exists today, was modeled on the American wading pools (a smaller version is still in the city ​​garden today ), is about 40 cm deep in its middle and gradually becomes shallower towards the edges. Encke had laid a 12 to 18 cm sand bank around the entire basin and had the earth excavated 75 cm deep for it. There was a little shelter under shady trees where the children could change. This wading pond became one of the main attractions of the foothills park and attracted several hundred people on sunny mornings, who enthusiastically enjoyed the artificially recreated beach atmosphere in the big city. Today there is a basketball court on the area, the shelter has disappeared.

media

  • Rheinhard Zeese: Historical parks and public gardens in Cologne 1801 to 1932 , CD, LEB - Brühl, 2007

Web links

Commons : Vorgebirgspark  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. See also the navigable panorama of the park from above.
  2. Localanzeiger, Cologne, July 5, 1914, No. 183: After the city council resolution of July 21, 1910, the system began. However, this had to be paused afterwards, as not all of the required land was yet in municipal ownership (pending expropriation proceedings).
  3. ^ Henriette Meynen: The Cologne green spaces. The urban development and garden architecture development of urban greenery and Fritz Schumacher's green system (= contributions to architectural and art monuments in the Rhineland, volume 25), Schwann Verlag, Düsseldorf 1979, ISBN 3-590-29025-2 , p. 164.
  4. Heinz Wiegand in a work on urban greenery in Germany between 1890 and 1925

Coordinates: 50 ° 54 ′ 37 ″  N , 6 ° 57 ′ 2 ″  E