March 2006
Park Life
A few things you might have not known about the English Garden…
It’s a place where Münchner flock to for solace, solitude and serenity, away from chaotic city life. Stretching all the way from Odeonsplatz to Freimann, the English Garden has been Munich’s safe haven for over 200 years. But there’s more to it than just a place to take your leisurely Sunday stroll. We talked to the park’s main man, Thomas Köster, who gave us the inside scoop on the biggest city park in the world.
We know the park opened all the way back in April 1792. How did it come
to be?
It was the idea of an American, actually. Benjamin Thompson, alias Count Rumford—Bavarian Minister of War— was commissioned by the Elector of Bavaria, Karl Theodor, to establish a park where soldiers could grow their own food in order to save money. Thompson, however, favored the idea of a public park and managed to persuade the Elector that this would be a better use of the land.Thompson wanted it to be a place where all were welcome, unlike other parks, such as Nymphenburg Park, which were closed off to the public, only to be used by courtly society. The English Garden was intended for everyone—it was a gift to the people.
Where does the name come from?
The informal style of the park was modeled on English landscape gardens, which were all the rage at the time, hence the name.
So just how much land does the park encompass?
With 375 hectares, it’s even bigger than New York’s Central Park.
There seems to be a considerable Asian influence in the park, such as
the Chinese Tower. Why is this so?
Chinoiserie, the playful imitation of “exotic” Chinese art, was very much “in” when the park was designed. The tower is actually modeled after the Great Pagoda in London’s Kew Royal Botanic Gardens. When it was first opened, the ground floor was used for dining, the second for dancing and the third was where music was played. Now, however, it is closed to the public. Bands play in the tower on Wednesdays, Fridays and at weekends. The Japanese Teahouse was designed by Japanese architects for an exhibition of World Culture and Modern Art on the occasion of the 1972 Olympics in Munich. It still hosts traditional Japanese tea ceremonies from April to October, on the second and fourth weekends in the month.
Correct me if I’m mistaken, but I could have sworn one time I saw a flock of sheep grazing in the grass.
We have a sheep farm in Hirschau with between 150 and 300 animals. They save us approximately € 100,000 a year, mowing the lawn for us, you could say. The sheep also help preserve the natural ecosystem of the park, which enables a wide variety of flowers to grow and rare insects to survive.
Do the sheep ever bother the nude sunbathers?
No, because there are only two areas in the entire garden where nude sunbathing is allowed. One is behind the American Consulate, on the Schönfeldwiese; the other is in the north, on the Schwabinger Bucht.
I bet you can tell us a story or two
on this subject.
In 2003, we had an unbelievably hot, dry summer—I think only a couple of days of rain within a span of months. I was giving a television interview in the park, where some nude sunbathers were just behind me. A group of American firefighters just happened to be in town, with their wives. Of course, the cameras got the men gawking at the naked women lying topless in the grass and, even better, the reactions of their wives telling them to turn away. It was pretty funny. There’s also an older man, about 70, I reckon, who has lots of interesting piercings and who walks around naked every day in the summer on the grass in front of the American Consulate, of all places. It’s quite a sight to see!
I bet you get some outrageous requests from people wanting to build in the park.
Oh yes. The law forbids anything else being built in the grounds. Still, we get requests from people wanting to put up skate-board parks, golf courses, concert venues, ice-cream and donut stands and to hold hot-air-balloon events. Even Bill Gates asked us if he could land his private helicopter in the park when he was here in town.
And you refused him?
Yes, because he’s not a political figure. The only person ever to land in the park was Erich Honecker, back in the 1980s, I believe. That was before my time, though.
It’s only been recently, relatively speaking, that people are allowed to set foot on the park’s lawn at all, right?
Right. It was forbidden even to touch the grass until 1972. The rules changed after the Olympic Games were held in Munich, not only because they became too difficult to enforce, but also because you can’t just lock people out. It goes against the very nature of a public park. <<<
