Spee’scher Graben

Romantic peninsular green space with a garden, benches & a popular forested playground.

The name of this elegantly landscaped park near numerous museums and ministries is derived from the Palais Spee, the seat of the City Museum on Schwanenspiegel/Berger Allee.

The fortress area south of the old town was redesigned by Maximilian Friedrich Weyhe around 1806 and again in the 1930s into a park ensemble that was primarily characterized by water. He incorporated an earlier bastion (“Marie Amalie”). 200-year-old plane trees, the rose garden at the Palais Spee, the heavy bastion walls and sculptures set characteristic accents today.

The design of the Königsallee, the estate buildings and the Spee’schen Graben took place in the first half of the 19th century with the intention of transforming the bastion complexes, which were razed under Napoleon and given to the city as a gift in 1811, into a green promenade. The plan was to develop the site into a “water ring” that was originally supposed to run around the center of Düsseldorf. However, these plans were not fully realized.

The eastern areas directly at the Palais Spee, today’s City Museum, were laid out by Maximilian Friedrich Weyhe in the early 19th century, as was a spacious, sunny garden on the peninsula. The formation of the water surface with the embankments also took place according to plans by Weyhe in the 1830s. Only after 1945 did the peninsula open to the public. The gardens at the Palais Spee were prepared for the public after they were bought by the city in the early 1960s. In this context, the small rose garden was created.

Climbing landscape in the Spee’scher Graben

The children’s playground on the peninsula was completely renovated in 2014. The newly created climbing forest, a rope landscape with various climbing elements, is very popular. This area was created with trunks of different heights with climbing baskets for swinging. The wood is natural, which means that the play elements are unobtrusive and fit perfectly into the historic park.

A circular square at the tip of the peninsula divides the area into a rest and a play area. While the relaxation area extends towards the tip of the headland and is equipped with benches, the play area merges into the adjacent meadow area in the middle of the island.

The sand play area for small children and a recreation area surrounded by a seating wall and hornbeam hedges have been created on the rondel. At the same time, the hedges serve as protection against passage to the zones near the banks. For safety reasons, filigree fences have also been added to the green areas to the east and west of the rondel to prevent children from crossing directly from the play areas to the water.

 

 

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  • Saturday24 hours open
  • Sunday24 hours open
  • Monday24 hours open
  • Tuesday24 hours open
  • Wednesday24 hours open
  • Thursday24 hours open
  • Friday24 hours open
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