Magdalenengarten

The Magdalene garden in Hildesheim, a baroque garden, is one of the oldest historical parks in Lower Saxony.

Location

The Magdalene garden is located in the center of Hildesheim immediately west of the well-preserved medieval city wall here, near the Church of the Madeleine. To the north and west of the Magdalene garden by the High Wall is bounded to the south by the grounds of the nursing home Magdalenenhof. The park entrance is accessible from the grounds of the nursing home for everyone. From the station " Museum " of the city bus lines 1, 4 and 5 of the Magdalene garden of the castle road and the well is about a ten minute walk can be reached.

History

In Hildesheim a convent of the Sisters of St. Magdalen penitents was founded in 1224 outside the city walls, the only nunnery of the Middle Ages in Hildesheim. The oldest written reference dates from 1235th The nuns lived according to the Augustine rule and Süstern were popularly called, what the Süsternstraße near the Magdalene garden recalls today. The abbot of the nearby monastery Michaelis gave the nuns a piece of land in the immediate vicinity of their monastery. On this land, which was below the vineyard of the Michaelis monastery between the city walls and the heart, the fruit and vegetable garden of the Magdalene convent was founded in the 13th century. 1720-25 he was transformed into a garden ornament in the Baroque style.

In the course of secularization, the monastery was dissolved in 1810 and 1827 converted into a sanatorium and nursing institution. On the High Wall a high wall was erected in 1827 in order to escape the gaze of the walkers on the ramparts, the patients in the garden. Until the Second World War was the former monastery garden to the recovery of patients and was not open to the public. On 22 March 1945, the former monastery buildings and the Magdalene Church of bombs were destroyed and the garden was ravaged. After the reconstruction is taught here in 1952 which still exists today, a retirement home, which used the garden for the residents.

According to the plans of the Baroque era, the Magdalene garden was re-created from 2003 under the direction of landscape architect Dr. Hans -Joachim Tute in the style of the early 18th century. The original course of the way during the baroque era was still recognizable after the removal of the sod. In the summer of 2004, the Magdalene garden was inaugurated in its original form as a baroque garden again. The Rose Museum was opened on 1 June 2007.

Plant

The main part of the Magdalene garden consists of eight squares, four of which form a rose with over 1,500 roses. In the middle of the Rosarium is a gazebo with climbing roses rises. In another square fragrant roses were planted in another there is a herb garden. From the entrance of the garden, a 110 m long, central main road runs in a north -south direction, which was already marked on maps of the 18th century. He ends up at a statue of Mary in 1959, behind which extends a traditional orchard. This moves on to a small slope closes on which wine was produced in the Middle Ages and is used since 1995 as a vineyard. Above the vineyard offers from vineyard gazebo a beautiful view.

West of the Magdalene garden rises a wall of natural stones, built in 1827, to the east of it extends over several hundred meters a well-preserved part of the medieval city wall of Hildesheim. In the northeast of the Magdalene gardens, from the viewpoint " Old Bastion " in which it could actually be the remains of a medieval bastion, a beautiful panoramic view. In the vicinity of the vineyard, the easily recognizable remains of a tower of the city wall are also obtained.

On the western edge of the Rosarium a Baroque statue of the Roman goddess Ceres was placed on a pedestal. From here you can reach via a staircase to the so-called " Michael's view ," a viewpoint which provides a good overview of the entire Magdalene garden and an impressive view of St. Michael's Church. To the east of the Rosarium several magnolias were planted here too there is a gazebo.

Special

In Magdalene garden can be found in addition to the more than 1,500 roses still over 100 different tree and shrub species. Opened in 2007, connected to the Magdalene Rose Garden Museum you can, among other things inform about the cultural history of the rose.

A botanical rarity are in April in the west of the Magdalene garden blooming wild tulips (Tulipa sylvestris). This protected plant is native to the Mediterranean and arrived in the 16th century as an ornamental plant in Germany. For some gardens they feral and is still found in some old wall and parks. In Hildesheim she comes out in the garden in front of Magdalene in Kehrwiederspitze Wall. Maybe it's a relic of the baroque planting.

A special attraction in the northern part of the Magdalene garden is the small vineyard, which was planted in 1995 with 198 vines of the variety " Müller -Thurgau " and three years later the first crop threw.

A device which various insects to facilitate nesting and wintering - on the western edge of the orchard was a " insect hotel " built.

The Baroque statue of the goddess Ceres with a putto holding ears of corn in his hand, was made around 1720 and situated in the west of the Magdalene Gardens 2005. Their origin is unclear. Since 1945 she has been kept in the stone collection of the Roemer- und Pelizaeus - Museum, which was disbanded in 1998.

Visit

The Magdalene garden can be visited daily 9-18 clock, in the summer to 20 clock. Admission is free.

View of the Magnolia Pavilion

Orchard in April

Wild tulips at the lookout " Michaelis view "

Wild tulips in April

" Insect hotel " in the background Western Wall in 1827