The Grüneburgpark is a public park in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

, Germany, located in the Westend quarter. It began as a park for the Grüne Burg (Green Castle), a castle from the 14th century. In 1789, the banker Peter Heinrich von Bethmann Metzler acquired the property, and had the park designed. In 1837, the property was bought by the

Rothschild family The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Jewish noble banking family originally from Frankfurt. The family's documented history starts in 16th-century Frankfurt; its name is derived from the family house, Rothschild, ...

, who erected a palace-like mansion in the style of a French

Loire The Loire ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône. It rises in the so ...

palace. They commissioned Heinrich Siesmayer to develop an

English garden The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (, , , , ), is a style of "landscape" garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal ...

, completed in 1877. Under the Nazi regime, Albert von Goldschmidt-Rothschild had to give up his family home. The palace was destroyed in an air raid in 1944. After the War, the park was expanded to 29 hectares, and opened to the public. It has since been a popular recreation place, comprising the botanical garden of the university and a Korean Garden.

History

Grüneburgpark began as a park for the Grüne Burg (Green Castle), a castle from the 14th century. In 1789, the banker Peter Heinrich von Bethmann Metzler acquired the property, expanded the building and had the park designed. In the following years the great thinkers of the day met here, among them

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

and Bettina von Arnim. In 1837, the park was bought by the

, who had a palais constructed in the manner of a French

castle. The Rothschild family had a 29-hectare-large landscaped park developed in this location. The English-style park itself was finished in 1877 by . In 1935, after the Nazi rise to power, Albert von Goldschmidt-Rothschild, who committed suicide in emigration five years later, had to "transfer to the municipality" (quote from a letter to mayor Krebs) what had been the home of his family. The "New Palais" was destroyed in an air raid in 1944. After the Second World War, the park was expanded to 29 hectares. It has since been a popular place for recreation among the Frankfurters, especially in the summer months. The park's northwest corner is now the Botanical Garden Frankfurt. Another major botanical garden, the Palmengarten, is just across the street. The park is also home to a 4,800-square-metre Korean garden. It was a gift to the city as part of South Korea's presentation as the guest of honour at the 2005

Frankfurt Book Fair The Frankfurt Book Fair (German: , FBM) is the world's largest trade fair for books, based on the number of publishing companies represented. The five-day annual event in mid-October is held at the Frankfurt Trade Fair grounds in Frankfurt am ...

. It has been designed in the style of traditional Korean scholars' gardens.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gruneburgpark 1789 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire Geography of Frankfurt Parks in Germany Korean gardens