International Forest Art Trail

International Forest Art Trail in Darmstadt

Art in the forest? Yes, there is, and it's permanent. Every two years, the "International Forest Art Trail" takes place in Darmstadt. On a circular path of just over three kilometers, numerous works of art integrated into the forest can be seen (even after the end of the official exhibition period) - often largely made of wood or natural materials. The organizing Verein für Internationale Waldkunst e.V. sees the path as a forest experience trail. In 2022, the action took place for the eleventh time - under the motto: "Art - Nature - Change", This time, 23 artists from 12 countries were present. A total of 30 works of art are on permanent display. With many works of art, the theme was not immediately recognizable, but only at second glance.

 (left: the famous forest submarine)

Since 2020, there has been an offshoot near the Messel Pit, a fossil site near Darmstadt, which is a World Natural Heritage site. There, too, a series of artworks can be seen under the motto "World/Nature/Fossil".

Chaiselonges

Chaiselonges are wooden loungers in the shape of waves, placed in the middle of the forest.  They invite you to lie down, linger, listen and enjoy the nature around you. It provides a welcome respite in which to relax.

House in the Woods

Walter van Broekhuizen, a Dutchman, realized thanks to the book: "Walden- Life in the Woods", written in 1854 by Henry David Thoreau a thought. His idea was to recreate the house in the woods.

The house should have three instead of four walls, no roof but a fireplace and no furniture.  In addition, he wanted to build the house around a tree, because he thought that his house should not be a foreign body in the forest.

Time Bomb

The "Time Bomb [in the wooden sky]" by Ernest Daetwyler from Canada is a sculpture in the form of a sphere with a diameter of 3.5 meters. It stands at the beginning of the forest art trail. The sphere is made of "bulky waste scraps" and many old wooden objects. The sign next to the sphere says: A recycled sphere built from discarded pieces of solid wood furniture makes time explode...

 

The Prince George Garden in Darmstadt

 

 The Prince George Garden in Darmstadt

Adjacent to the largest inner-city park in Darmstadt, another smaller garden is hidden behind a wall and obscured by the physical institutes of the Technical University. While the neighboring large Herrngarten is an English landscape park, the Prince Georg Garden exudes a baroque flair. Only 1.8 hectares in size, it was intended as a gift for Prince Georg Wilhelm in 1764. His father, the Landgrave, had two gardens united, which also explains the L-shape of the garden today. At one end is the Prince George Palace from 1710, which houses a porcelain museum and is therefore also called Prozellanschlösschen (Castle of porcelain). At the other end of the L is an ornately painted garden house that once belonged to Lieutenant General Johan Rudolf von Pretlack. The garden itself is planted with flowers, vegetables and herbs, making it both an ornamental and a kitchen garden.

 

 

The garden of Mathildenhöhe

 

The garden of Mathildenhöhe

Art Nouveau houses, a Russian chapel and the wedding tower known as the Five Finger Tower characterize Mathildenhöhe, which has been a World Heritage Site since 2021. Originally, a landscape park existed on this site, but it was redesigned in the style of a reform garden when the artists' colony was founded at the turn of the century. Geometric lines and pergolas with vines and wisteria characterize the garden today. 

 

 

 

In the 1960s, a narrow connecting park was created from the palace in the city center to Mathildenhöhe, which shows the style of the 60s in a very classical way: clear lines, seating niches and flower beds and water areas set in concrete. The name Mathildenhöhe refers to the wife of one of Darmstadt's princes.

 

 

 

The Rosenhöhe in Darmstadt

The Rosenhöhe in Darmstadt

The name says it all - on the top of the hill on the outskirts of Darmstadt there is a large rose garden. If you walk on from there, you will find yourself in a wooded hilly landscape that makes you forget the nearby big city.

The park was created in 1817, when Grand Duchess Wilhelmine commissioned a master garden designer from Schwetzingen to create an English landscape garden. At its edge, two mausoleums were built after 1826 as burial places for the grand ducal family.

The name-giving rose garden on the highest elevation was built after 1900. Rose dorms, pergolas, terraces and ponds were created. Parts of the original park were converted into farmland or cultivated after the World Wars and have disappeared today. What remained was about 18 hectares of landscape park. Besides the Rose Dome, the new and the old mausoleum, the Lion's Gate and the Biedermeier teahouse are worth seeing.

 

 1. The lion's gate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. The tea house 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. The old mausoleum

4. The new mausoleum

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Portal of Palais Brunnen (destroyed during World War II) 

 

 6. Ponds for water lillies (some ponds are heatable)

 

 

 

 

7. Pergola and rose dome

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. Modern art