Englischer Garten
The Englischer Garten or "English Garden" is a large urban public park that stretches from the city center to the northeastern city limits of Munich, Germany. It was founded in 1789 by Benjamin Thompson, who is also known as Count of Rumford (German: Reichsgraf von Rumford). With an area covering 3.7 km² the Englischer Garten is one of the world's largest urban public parks.
It is bigger than New York's famous Central Park but smaller than the Phoenix Park in Dublin, which is the biggest city park in Europe. The name refers to the style of gardening; the term English garden is used outside of the English speaking world to refer to the style of informal landscape gardening which was popular in the United Kingdom from the mid 18th century to the early 19th century, and is particularly associated with Capability Brown.
Sights and attractions
Hirschau
The English Garden is divided into two portions by the busy street Isarring. The south is around 2 km long, while the northern part, called the Hirschau, is ca. 3 km long. The Hirschau has the opposite character of the south part, which on sunny days contains as many people as one would find in a medium-sized town. It has the serene character typically found in a forest. Two beer gardens, the "Aumeister" and the "Hirschau", are located at the beginning and end of the Hirschau.
Kleinhesseloher See
The Kleinhesseloher See (lit. "Kleinhesseloher Lake") was placed around 1800 between the districts of Schwabing and Kleinhesselohe, and further expanded from 1807 to 1812. It is constantly fed by the Eisbach. Three islands can be found within the lake's 86,410 square meters:
- Königininsel (2,720 m²)
- Kurfürsteninsel (1,260 m²)
- Regenteninsel (640 m²)
By the lake, a visitor would find the "Seehaus", a beer garden with 2,500 seats. Today, the See and the Seehaus are well-loved leisure destinations; pedal boats are also leased here to those who want to splash around.
Chinesischer Turm
This 25-meter-high wooden structure, designed by the military architect Joseph Frey von Johann Baptist Lechner, was built from 1789 to 1790. It was modelled on the "Great Pagoda" in the Royal Botanic Gardens in London. The Pagoda, twice as high as the Turm, was supposed to resemble a porcelain pagoda in the gardens of a Chinese emperor.
In July 1944, the so-called "China Tower" burned down due to heavy bombing, and in 1952 was rebuilt true to the original.
With 7,000 seats, the Chinesischer Turm's beer garden is the second largest beer garden in Munich.
Surroundings
A children's' carousel was put up near the Turm at the beginning of the 19th century, but was replaced with a plainer copy around 1912. It was restored from 1979 until 1981.
Located south of the tower are the "Ökonomiegebäude" (Economy buildings), which were designed towards the end of the 19th century as an agricultural model plant. Today, the Ökonomiegebäude are occupied by the management of the Englischer Garten.
Monopteros
Designed by Leo von Klenze, this small, round, Greek style temple was erected in 1836. It was built on a hill which, in 1832, was raised from the leftover building material of the Münchner Residenz (Munich Royal Residence).
Japanisches Teehaus
To celebrate the Summer Olympics in 1972 (held in Munich), a Japanese teahouse and a Japanese garden were built on a small island at the south end of the Englischer Garten. A traditional Japanese tea ceremony takes place here regularly.
Schönfeldwiese; nude sunbathing
Between the Monopteros and the Japanisches Teehaus lies the Schönfeldwiese (lit. "Beautiful meadows"). In this part of the Gardens nude sunbathing has been permitted since the 1960s, something which many Germans fancy. It caused quite a sensation at the time and also made the English Gardens well-known, even outside Munich.
Surfing
At the mouth of the artificial stream that runs through the Englischer Garten, there is a standing wave that is produced by the water pumping mechanism. Surfers attempt to surf on this wave for as long as they can, in spite of the signs stating the unenforced law that surfing is forbidden.
History of the Gardens
When the Bavarian electoral prince Maximilian III died childless in 1777, the province fell into the hands of the Palatinate archduke and elector Carl Theodor. After Theodor's attempt to trade this unwanted inheritance for the Netherlands failed, he dedicated himself to the transfiguration of Munich. Among other things, an art gallery in the Residence's Hofgarten and made entry to both the garden and the gallery public.
In February 1789, Theodor decreed that military gardens should be laid out in each garrison city. The gardens were meant to equip the soldiers with good agricultural knowledge and serve as recreation areas, but they were also supposed to be accessible to the public. This suggestion came from a certain Benjamin Thompson, the Bavarian War Minister, who was born in Massachusetts and was better known under his title Count von Rumford.
The planned location for the Munich gardens was the "Hirschangergebiet" (Deer enclosure), which would later become the Schönfeldwiese in the southwest part of the English Gardens. The realisation of the project was begun in July 1789.
In August 1789, Carl Theodor released a decree, which stated that the area east of the military gardens should be converted into the first European public park. This was implemented by the Royal Gardener Friedrich Ludwig Sckell (Ritter von Sckell since 1808); Count von Rumford supervised the project. The park was initially named "Theodore's Park", but it was very quickly renamed "The English Gardens". In the spring of 1792, the park was officially opened to the approximately 40,000 citizens of Munich.
Thompson left Munich in 1798. His successor, Baron von Werneck, expanded the English Garden in December of 1799 to encompass the Hirschau. The fields of the military gardens were added to the Englischer Garten in early 1800.
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