Rheinpark Golzheim

Rheinpark Golzheim

“Thousands of people stroll here in the evenings after the day’s work or in the afternoons on Sundays and public holidays and enjoy the beautiful landscape of the Lower Rhine, watch the nimble sailing boats and the laboriously working tugboats that let the panting clouds of dark smoke rise into the red gold of the evening sky” , wrote Baron von Engelhardt, director of the Düsseldorf Gardens Office at the time, in Düsseldorf’s self-portrayal published in 1925. At that time, the Rheinpark was still called Kaiser-Wilhelm-Park and, in Engelhardt’s opinion, offered “plenty of space for gymnastics, sports and games” with meadows, a hockey field and a riding school.

Sports and games are still top priorities for those looking for relaxation in the Rheinpark. The young footballers refine their technique, “bar teams” hold their tournaments, badminton, family tennis and jogging can be seen almost any time when the weather is nice. Thanks to its size, the Rheinpark can apparently cope with the extraordinarily high stress caused by the many sports enthusiasts without any major problems. If sports enthusiasts find a spot of meadow too bumpy, too wet or too dry, they look for another spot. There is enough of that between the individual willows, poplars, birches and maple trees on the 23-hectare Rhine floodplain-like park, so that recreational athletes can avoid the stressed lawns and relax. Urban gardeners therefore speak semi-seriously,

The Rheinpark didn’t always offer that much space for relaxation. Until the opening of the new trade fair, parts of the park near the Rheinterrasse were used for exhibitions in the neighboring old trade fair. That was not quite in the spirit of the city councillors, who, according to the minutes of a council meeting in 1927, had expressly expressed their wish to keep the green space free of buildings. They apparently still remembered the very successful “Gesolei” (Healthcare, Social Welfare and Physical Education) exhibition with its inevitable hype that had taken place the year before.