The Tiergarten in Berlin is a tamed forest. Great Tiergarten (Großer Tiergarten) Great Tiergarten

Großer Tiergarten – Greater Tiergarten

GPS coordinates: 52° 30" 52"" N, 13° 21" 01"" E

The biggest and famous park in the center of Berlin in the Tiergarten district of the same name. Translated from German it means “zoo”. In the center of the park is one of Berlin’s famous squares – Big Star with Victory Column.

Initially, it was a forest right in front of the city gates, which wealthy citizens used for horseback riding and hunting. Over time, the city grew and the park was surrounded by urban buildings. After this, the park was reconstructed in 1742 under the leadership of Georg Wenceslaus von Knobelsdorff and in 1840 by Peter Joseph Lenne.

During World War II, the Greater Tiergarten park suffered greatly; many trees were cut down and used for firewood. In 1949, restoration of the park began when Mayor Ernst Reuther personally planted a lemon tree here. After that others German cities presented seedlings as a gift to Berlin. A list of these cities is on a memorial stone installed on the main alley.

Now the Greater Tiergarten park has an area of ​​210 hectares and stretches from west to east for more than 2.5 km. 17 June Street crosses along it, leading from. In the center of the park it intersects with several more highways in the shape of a star, forming a square called Big Star.

The square was founded by the court huntsman of Frederick I, Gemmrich, in 1698. During the reconstruction of the Tiergarten park, it acquired its modern look. In 1938, for the 50th anniversary of Hitler, it was moved here Victory Column. The column was originally built under William I in 1873 in honor of the victories of Prussia in the Danish, Austro-Prussian and Franco-Prussian wars and was located on the Royal Square (now the Republic Square in front of).

The height of the column is 67 m. On its top there is a sculpture of the goddess of victory Victoria, 8.3 m high, covered in gold, for which it is popularly nicknamed “Golden Elsa”. At an altitude of 48 m there is observation deck, where you can climb the stairs inside the column. At the bottom of the column there is a small historical museum. In the northern part of the square there is a monument to Otto von Bismarck, also moved here along with the Victory Column in 1937 from the Royal Square.

Other major thoroughfares in Berlin exit from the Big Star Square: Hofegerallee - to the south, Altonaer Strasse - to the north-west. Approximately 250 meters northeast of the Big Star is Bellevue Palace, which houses the residence of the federal president. The palace was built by the architect Michael Philipp Bouman in 1786 as summer residence for Prince August Ferdinand, younger brother Frederick II. The interior of the palace was restored after destruction in World War II according to original sketches.

On the northeastern edge of the park there is an unusual building in the shape of an open shell. This - Congress Hall, built in 1958. Now it houses the House of World Cultures - a center for contemporary non-European art, founded in 1989. Exhibitions, concerts, and film screenings of artists from Asia, Africa and South America. The annual festival of arts and digital culture Transmediale was also held here several times.

On 17 June Street in the eastern part of the park, approximately 350 meters from memorial Soviet soldiers who died in World War II. It was erected in 1945 by the architect Sergievsky and sculptors Lev Kerbel and Vladimir Tsigal. Behind the monument there is a burial place of approximately 2-2.5 thousand fallen soldiers. This is one of three monuments in memory of a total of 20 thousand Soviet soldiers who died in the Battle of Berlin. The other two are the monument to the Soldier-Liberator in Treptower Park and in Schönholzer Heide in the Pankow district.

In the southwestern part of the Greater Tiergarten park there is Lake Neuer, where you can go boating in summer and ice skating in winter. Here is also one of the best beer restaurants under open air in the city.

2012-2018 © Sights of cities and countries and guides to them. All materials posted on this site are protected by copyright. When using site materials, an active link to the source is required.

Berlin offers the traveler a lot of options for spending time: museums, galleries, nightclubs, palaces, cathedrals, shopping malls. With such diversity, parks fade into the background. But in vain! Walking in the fresh air is very useful, and in a foreign city it also helps you comprehend what you see and make future plans. And you don’t have to go far. In the very center of Berlin is the Tiergarten park. Ideal place as for active recreation(biking, rollerblading and skating, for example), and for idleness (picnics on the grass on the lake and tasting different types of beer are just two of many options). The place was attractive powerful of the world this back in the 16th century. The Electors enjoyed hunting here, hence the preserved name – “zoo”. And this continued until Frederick the Great came to power, who did not particularly favor hunting. It was under him, in the 18th century, that the park changed its role, becoming “pleasure”, and a century later – “landscape English type”.

In fact, the Tiergarten is not as simple as it seems. This is the best thing ever historical place. And many sculptural compositions remind us of this: monuments to Bismarck, Friedrich Wilhelm III, Goethe, Lessing, Wagner and many other German figures, as well as the Triumphal Column in honor of the victory of Prussia in the wars of the 19th century. and the statue of Victory crowning it, popularly called “Golden Elsa”. Fans of bird's-eye photography can climb up (overcoming about 300 steps) and take some panoramic shots of the city. Here another discovery awaits travelers: it turns out that the Triumphal Column is not the only attraction for which it was worth coming to the Tiergarten. Looking from above, you begin to realize what a park of 210 hectares means. IN walking distance– the Church of the Memory of Kaiser Wilhelm, the House of World Cultures, the Soviet War Memorial, the zoo, as well as the diplomatic and government quarters (someone may also find it useful). From here, from a height of 50 meters, you can even see Bellevue Palace, the presidential residence, which is closed to the public. Lovers of cultural recreation should pay attention to the constellation of museums (Kulturforum): there are graphics, crafts, musical instruments, and even the anti-fascist movement. The evening can be devoted to music or books: the Philharmonic and the Arts Library are nearby. For those who want to immerse themselves in history, the path lies towards the Reichstag, for those who are interested in something more modern - to Potsdamer Platz, famous for its newfangled architectural structures. Just have time to tick off where to go next. And who will now say that the Tiergarten should not be included in the list of must-see places in Berlin? It's time to buy a map with a detailed description of the park and set aside a whole day to explore it, isn't it?

Tiergarten (Berlin, Germany): detailed description, address and photo. Opportunities for sports and recreation, infrastructure, cafes and restaurants in the park. Reviews from tourists.

• Last minute tours all over the world

Previous photo Next photo

Hidden between a large city park and the famous Berlin Zoo, the Tiergarten, with its winding paths and wooded alleys, has long been favorite place recreation and entertainment for city dwellers tired of noise and a favorite attraction for numerous tourists.

With its provocative works of art and monuments, the Tiergarten is essentially the center of informal Berlin. The huge Tiergarten park, flea markets and cafes on the lake, as well as lawns, ponds, streams, walking paths and park sculpture - what is not a “cure” prescribed for the crazy pace of life?

The Tiergarten park, which occupies no less than 200 hectares, was laid out as a hunting ground back in the 16th century, and in the 19th it was converted from a place for royal hunting into landscape park English type. Since then, the Tiergarten park has been called “ green island in the middle of Berlin."

Walking around the Tiergarten

In addition to the city park, the most important and iconic attractions for the capital of Germany are located here, including the Victory Column, Bellevue Palace, and the Reichstag. Vladimir Nabokov, a famous Russian-American writer who lived in Berlin in the 1920s, loved walks in the Berlin Zoological Garden, located in the southern part of the Tiergarten. This is the largest and deservedly one of the best zoos in the country. It is in Tiergarten that the residences of high-ranking German officials are located, and nearby is the Embassy Quarter with diplomatic missions of many countries. So, walking along the alleys of the Tiergarten, you can meet not only ordinary townspeople and, by the way, many of our compatriots, but also those whose faces you “seem to have seen somewhere,” somewhere in the “News” program, to example.

The huge Tiergarten park, flea markets and cafes on the lake, as well as lawns, ponds, streams, walking paths and park sculpture - what is not a “cure” prescribed for the crazy pace of life?

In Tiergarten you will have time to relax, “see enough”, and get gifts for friends and family and, of course, yourself. By the way, at prices that compare favorably with those that you will see in fashion boutiques, at flea markets and in Tiergarten shops, you can buy clothes, shoes, dishes, and souvenirs of such quality that those same expensive boutiques can also envy.

What to see

In the northern part of the Tiergarten park there is the building of the former congress center of the 1957 International Building Exhibition, built according to the design of American architects. Today it is officially called the House of World Cultures, and unofficially - the “pregnant oyster”, since the building stands on the shore of an artificial reservoir and is covered with a curved roof. Various exhibitions and international musical evenings are held here. And in front of the building - right in the center of the pond - there is a bronze composition “Butterfly” by British sculptor Henry Moore.

The 68 bells of the Berlin Carillon are considered the largest and heaviest musical instrument in Europe.

Next to the “oyster” rises a 42 m tower made of black granite - the Berlin Carillon. There are 68 bells weighing 47.7 tons, driven manually or by computer and considered the largest and heaviest musical instrument of its kind in Europe. In the north-west of Tiergarten rises the 70-meter Victory Column, which is crowned with a 9-meter figure of the goddess of victory Victoria, whom Berliners call “Golden Elsa”.

We can say with confidence that you need to come to Tiergarten with a reserve of time and another battery for your camera - this is the only thing that is always missing here.

You can't help but like Tiergarten Park. One of the largest parks in the world, with an area of ​​210 hectares, located in the center of Berlin, with many monuments from different eras, is simply doomed to increased attention from tourists...

However, after many hours of walking around the Great Tiergarten, mixed feelings arise - admiration is adjacent to surprise and even bewilderment.

I want to say right away: it is beautiful, this huge modern descendant of the ancient German forest, stretching from the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate to the Berlin Zoo. With its countless alleys, canals, lakes, ponds, bridges, monuments and sculptural compositions, Tiergarten itself gives the impression of a kind of majestic green monument to German diligence, the love of Berliners for their city. But, as they say, you can’t erase a word from a song...

I'll start with the “official” oddities. Sculptural compositions, installed on the Fantasy Hall, we would call it a “military-patriotic theme.” There are four of them, and all of them, judging by the surroundings (clothing, weapons), date back to the period of the First World War. Severely damaged, some figures are missing arms and even heads. There are no inscriptions on the pedestals, only bullet holes. There are no explanatory signs either. In Berlin, sculptures can be found literally everywhere, among them there are many real, highly artistic works of art, but there are also obscure avant-garde delights and outright kitsch, but there is always some kind of stand or sign nearby with information about the author and the date of installation.

It can be assumed that these sculptures, very interesting in their own way, were previously installed in some other places and appeared in Tiergarten not too long ago. But this is just my guess; an intensive search on Google using photographs upon returning from Berlin did not yield anything. There are photographs of the sculptures on the Internet, but without comments. Agree, strange “secrecy”.

Traces of the activity of “forest vandals”, who disfigure trees with inscriptions on the bark, can, unfortunately, be found in any part of the world and in any green area. Therefore, when I saw in Tiergarten, on the shore of a picturesque overgrown lake, a huge beech tree, covered with the autographs of certain “Hans”, “Bren” and others, I was upset, but not particularly surprised. I took a photo, but had no intention of publishing it.

The surprise came only later, at home, when I was preparing this article, looking at materials about Tiergarten on the Internet and came across an article by a certain Lucy Westphal. Judging by the fact that the article is written in German, she is a resident of Germany. Lucy wrote with delight about the Tiergarten and, in particular, said that on the bark of the trees there are carved... the lyrics to the song “Stand By Me” by Ben E. King! I didn’t believe it at first, but Lucy posted the photo. This, as they say, does not fit into any gates, even the Brandenburg ones... Moreover, all the trees in the park have been counted, each has an individual number and, they say, even a passport.

One of the oddities of the Tiergarten is that the park is quite neglected. And this fact seems strange because Germany in the minds of our compatriots is strongly associated with order and discipline. I must say that in Berlin during my stay there it was quite dirty on the streets. But such that in the park, the world-famous Greater Tiergarten, there are beer bottles lying in the streams and plastic bags floating (which, by the way, are prohibited to use in Berlin, and they are not available in supermarkets), and in the thickets there are uncleaned dead trees and heaps of cut dry branches - I didn’t expect it. I remembered the parks that I saw in others big cities: Moscow, Kyiv, Polish Gdansk, the comparison is clearly not in favor of Berlin.

This is all the more strange since I did not see a large influx of people walking in the Tiergarten. Although I spent almost the whole day there, besides, the day off was Sunday, and it was a terrible 35-degree heat in Berlin. Some places in the park, picturesque, with beautiful landscape architecture - bridges, fountains, on the contrary, surprised us with their desolation. And this is most likely not an accident, judging by the meager number of benches in the park.

The problem is probably not with the visitors; all these oddities and paradoxes are obviously not on their conscience. The entire infrastructure of the park is concentrated on the outer perimeter of the park, near large transport highways crossing the Tiergarten - 17 July Street, Gofergerallee and others, where cafes, restaurants, beer gardens are densely located, there are attractions and playgrounds, an aquarium, and a zoo. There were a lot of people there on the day of my visit, in some places there were even long queues. And in the shady cool alleys, a little further away, there are rare pedestrians and small flocks of cyclists. Also a paradox. The reason for all the oddities and paradoxes described above is a mystery to me. However, I recommend the Tiergarten park to everyone who visits Berlin. No matter what.

The Tiergarten park was once a forest where wealthy city residents hunted or went horseback riding. This is the largest park in Berlin, its area is 210 hectares.

In the center of Tiergarten, on Big Star Square, there is a monument - the 67-meter Victory Column, which was installed here in honor of Prussian victories in several wars of the 1860s-70s. At the top of the column is a gilded statue of the goddess Victoria, and its base is decorated with battle scenes. At the Big Star Square, several of Berlin's main highways intersect and pass through the park.

Neat lawns coexist with natural vegetation and meadows, and restored sculptures of famous personalities, such as Goethe, Beethoven, Wagner, coexist with old dilapidated monuments.

One of the main attractions here is the Lutheran church - the Church of St. Matthew. It was there that Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who later participated in the anti-Nazi conspiracy, was ordained.

Tiergarten is also home to Bellevue Palace, where the residence of the German President is located. In the north-eastern part of the park you can see the unusual building of the Congress Hall, which now houses the House of World Cultures.

In winter, an ice skating rink opens in the Tiergarten park.

How to get there: There are several metro stations near the entrances to the park. The closest ones are Bundestag, Potsdamer Platz and Hansaplatz. Next to the Victory Column in the center of the park is located bus stop Grosse Stern (100, 106, 187, N26).