Georgengarten

From its very beginning Georgengarten, laid out in the English landscape style, was intended as a public park and has remained so till today.

For Hanoverians, Georgengarten in the summer is their second home, alive with knockabout games of football and volleyball, even cricket and baseball practice, while entire families have barbecue parties or couples bring picnics. Every August the Chopin Society stages its classical open-air concert for thousands.

300 years of history

The 50 hectares of Georgengarten, named after George IV of Hannover and England, have seen 300 years of history. Around 1700, several members of the court aristocracy had summer residences built here close to the Elector's palace at Herrenhausen. In 1726 a four-row lime tree allée was laid out to connect the summer residence in Herrenhausen with the city of Hannover, a distance of two kilometres. It was completely renewed in 1972 – 1974. The historical heart of Georgengarten is the property of Duke Johann Ludwig von Wallmoden. Around his palace – today the Georgengarten Wilhelm Busch – German Museum for Caricature and Critical Graphic Arts, home to Max and Moritz – the Duke had Wallmodengarten laid out in English taste during the 18th century, thus creating a very early German example of the new garden style. All "orderly and educated people" were granted access to this park.

Plants and trees like theatrical settings

© Karl Johaentges

Unlike most other European stately home grounds, in Herrenhausen the Baroque garden was not reshaped because the 'old-fashioned' grounds were already recognised as an historical monument, and so Georgengarten was laid out right next to Grosser Garten from 1835 by royal garden inspector Christian Schaumburg, who redesigned and extended Wallmodengarten. His shaping idea was to create a landscape painting to walk through, with swathes of grass, ponds, rare trees and, at each bend in the paths, openings that offered views of the landscape and created frames for plants and trees like theatrical settings.

© Herrenhäuser Gärten

Herrenhausen Places

Wilhelm Busch Museum

Georgengarten is home to a museum to humour and satire: the "Wilhelm Busch – German Museum for Caricature and Critical Graphic Arts".

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