Magdalenengarten

Last updated October 05, 2019

Magdalenengarten is a baroque park in Hildesheim in Lower Saxony, Germany.

Hildesheim[ˈhɪldəsˌhaɪ̯m](listen) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 104,230 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about 30 km (19 mi) southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the Leine River.

Lower Saxony is a German state (Land) situated in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with 47,624 km² (18,388 sq mi), and fourth-largest in population among the 16 Länder federated as the Federal Republic of Germany. In rural areas, Northern Low Saxon and Saterland Frisian are still spoken, but the number of speakers is declining.

Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany is a country in Central and Western Europe, lying between the Baltic and North Seas to the north and the Alps, Lake Constance and the High Rhine to the south. It borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, France to the southwest, and Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands to the west.

Location and size

Magdalenengarten is in the western part of the historic city center of Hildesheim. On the west side a well-preserved part of the medieval moat and rampart can be seen. On the east side the garden joins the Michaelisplatz and St. Michael's Church, one of the most famous sights of Hildesheim which is a World Cultural Heritage. St. Magdalena's Church, another sightworthy church is close by as well. The garden covers an area of about six acres.

The Church of St. Michael is an early-Romanesque church in Hildesheim, Germany. It has been on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list since 1985. It is now a Lutheran church.

The Magdalenenkirche or St. Magdalenen is one of the churches in Hildesheim, Lower Saxony, Germany. The Magdalenenkirche is a Catholic church that was once a monastery church, and is situated in the old town at 25 Mühlenstraße.

History

Magdalenengarten is one of the oldest historic parks in Lower Saxony. Originally, the area was used by the nuns of a nearby monastery (Magdalenenkloster), which had been founded in 1224, to grow medicinal herbs and vegetables.^[1] The name refers to the monastery and its church, Saint Magdalena's Church which is in the south of the park. A small hill in the north of the herb garden was used as a vineyard.

In 1720-25 the monastery garden was enlarged and transformed into a baroque ornamental garden with a regular network of footpaths.^[2] In 1810 the monastery was dissolved during the secularization and transformed into a lunatic asylum in 1827. The garden grew wild and was closed to the public. On 22 March 1945 the Magdalenengarten was devastated by bombs during an air raid.^[3] The former monastery was destroyed, rebuilt in 1952 and used as a home for the aged afterwards.

The Baroque is a highly ornate and often extravagant style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th until the mid-18th century. It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo and Neoclassical styles. It was encouraged by the Catholic Church as a means to counter the simplicity and austerity of Protestant architecture, art and music, though Lutheran Baroque art developed in parts of Europe as well.

Secularization is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward nonreligious values and secular institutions. The secularization thesis refers to the belief that as societies progress, particularly through modernization and rationalization, religion loses its authority in all aspects of social life and governance. The term secularization is also used in the context of the lifting of the monastic restrictions from a member of the clergy.

The German city of Hildesheim, c. 30 kilometres south of Hanover, was the target of eight Allied air raids in 1944 and 1945 and suffered considerable bomb damage.

When the home for the aged did not need the garden any longer it was restored in the original baroque style of the early 18th century. Restoration works using old paintings and maps started in 2003. More than 1,500 roses were planted. The original system of footpaths as straight as a die was found well-preserved under the sod. On the former vineyard 198 vines were planted. The restoration of Magdalenengarten as a baroque park was completed in summer of 2004.^[4]

Sights and attractions

Magdalenengarten mainly consists of eight squares four of which form a rosarium with 1,500 roses and a pavilion of climbing roses. One square is covered by a herb garden. There are more than 100 different kinds of trees and bushes in the park.

The main path with a length of 110 metres divides the park into an eastern and a western section. A very rare species of wild yellow tulips (tulipa sylvestris) which normally do not occur in central and northern Europe can be seen blossoming in the western section in April. Possibly the first of them were planted in Magdalenengarten in the 18th century as this Italian kind of tulips was very popular during the baroque period. Michaelisblick is a viewpoint in the western section offering a scenic view of the park, of St. Michael's Church and of the impressive belfry of St. Andrew's Church. A baroque statue of Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, with a putto dating from around 1720 can be seen in the western section as well.

In ancient Roman religion, Ceres was a goddess of agriculture, grain crops, fertility and motherly relationships. She was originally the central deity in Rome's so-called plebeian or Aventine Triad, then was paired with her daughter Proserpina in what Romans described as "the Greek rites of Ceres". Her seven-day April festival of Cerealia included the popular Ludi Ceriales. She was also honoured in the May lustratio of the fields at the Ambarvalia festival, at harvest-time, and during Roman marriages and funeral rites.

A putto is a figure in a work of art depicted as a chubby male child, usually naked and sometimes winged. Originally limited to profane passions in symbolism, the putto came to represent the sacred cherub ; and in the Baroque period of art, the putto came to represent the omnipresence of God. A putto representing a cupid is also called an amorino or amoretto.

There is a long and well-preserved part of the medieval city wall in the eastern section of the park with the Kuhtor, a small former city gate and Alte Bastion, another viewpoint. Several magnolias were planted near the Magnolia Pavilion.

The park includes an orchard with an insect hotel and a vineyard yielding about 200 bottles of wine per year. The Wine Pavilion on the hill in the northern part of the park offers a scenic view of the whole Magdalenengarten.

The Rose Museum in the south of Magdalenengarten was inaugurated in 2007.

The garden is open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. in summer. Admission is free.

Main path
Magnolia pavilion
Medieval city wall
Wild tulips in April
Vineyard

External links

Magdalenenfest Hildesheim in German.

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References

↑ Dr. Will Keller: Hildesheim, p. 111. Hamburg 1973.
↑ Anke Twachtmann-Schlichter: Baudenkmale in Niedersachsen Bd. 14.1 Stadt Hildesheim, p. 105. Hameln 2007.
↑ Hermann Seeland: Zerstörung und Untergang Alt-Hildesheims, p.12. Hildesheim 1947.
↑ Anke Twachtmann-Schlichter: Baudenkmale in Niedersachsen Bd. 14.1 Stadt Hildesheim, p. 106. Hameln 2007.

Coordinates: 52°09′09″N9°56′28″E / 52.15250°N 9.94111°E / 52.15250; 9.94111

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[1] Dr. Will Keller: Hildesheim, p. 111. Hamburg 1973.

[2] Anke Twachtmann-Schlichter: Baudenkmale in Niedersachsen Bd. 14.1 Stadt Hildesheim, p. 105. Hameln 2007.

[3] Hermann Seeland: Zerstörung und Untergang Alt-Hildesheims, p.12. Hildesheim 1947.

[4] Anke Twachtmann-Schlichter: Baudenkmale in Niedersachsen Bd. 14.1 Stadt Hildesheim, p. 106. Hameln 2007.