Körnerpark — Attraction in Berlin

A beautiful hidden gem in the depths of Neukölln. When you stumble on this on a stroll through the back alleys between Hermannstraße and Karl-Marx Str, it's an unexpected but pleasant surprise. Suddenly you are transported into what seems at first glance to be a palace garden. Fountains straying in the far side and vines creeping up the high walls. Also, you are looking down into a sweeping basin of well tended garden with signs that say, please don't sit on the grass which absolutely no one pays attention to. If you happen here at midnight, mind that you will get soaked by the automatic sprinklers. 😄 On one side there is a steeply rising hill covered by people and their picknick blankets on a sunny day. In the middle surrounded by two canals of water there is a huge stretch of grass also covered by people hugging the shade on a sunny day. And on the other side is a cafe and gallery. On Sundays in the summer there are sometimes concerts. This place is even home to many wayward souls mingling in the bushes and hidden in the walls. Wedding parties use this lovely backdrop for photo shoots and many Neuköllners celebrate birthdays...

In 1916, entrepreneur Franz Körner made the city of Berlin an offer it could not refuse. He had a gravel pit located at the junction of Jonasstraße, Schierkerstraße, Wittmannsdorfer Straße and Selkestraße. Körner wanted to bequeath it to the city, on the condition that a park would be created there that bears his name. The concept proposed by Neukölln Horticulture Director Hans Richard Küllenberg merged architectural and horticultural design to create a monumental edifice in a way typical of the turn of the last century. The idyllic garden area has experienced ups and downs in the course of its hundred years. It was once lauded by the media as “Neukölln’s Sanssouci” and “Berlin’s most beautiful gravel pit”, while other reviled it as “Neukölln’s Misery”. After the Second World War, the park fell more and more into a state of disrepair. It was not until 1977 when its reconstruction began as one of the largest construction projects in the district...

The park was created in a former gravel pit, which the owner, Franz Körner, donated to the then town of Rixdorf in 1910. The only condition was that the park bear his name. The park, probably designed by H. R. Küllenberg and built between 1912 and 1916 in the Neo-Baroque style, was intended by the city fathers to "give the surrounding district a particularly decorative character and encourage the implementation of an outstandingly beautiful redevelopment and the creation of a particularly desirable residential area." Restoration Edit Because the park lay directly in the flight path of the then Tempelhof Airport until its closure in 2008, it gradually fell into disrepair. Nevertheless, starting in 1977, the district office began to restore the gardens based on existing documents. The cascade system and the canals were renovated. Potted plants have now returned to the terrace in front of the Orangery, and the rich perennial plantings have...