Munich - English Garden

(Local Name: Englischer Garten) The English Garden in Munich is the largest and one of the most beautiful city parks in Germany. Its naturally arranged groups of trees and plants, offering ever-changing vistas, its winding streams and its artificial lake combine to create the impression of a mature natural landscape.

In 1785, on the suggestion of Sir Benjamin Thompson (later made Count of Rumford), the Elector Karl Theodor had a Military Garden laid out on the banks of the Isar. It was intended, in his words, to "serve not only for the benefit and recreation of the military but also for general use as a public promenade." The landscaping of the garden was the work of Sir Benjamin Thompson, Baron Reinhard von Werneck and Ludwig von Sckell. In 1789 various schools and model farms and other establishments providing training in agriculture, forestry, dairy-farming, sheep-farming and horticulture, were set up in the garden. In 1802 Reinhard von Werneck oversaw the creation of the Kleinhesseloher Lake; and in 1810-11 the garden was extended from the Hirschbau (Deer Meadow) to the Aumeisterhaus (the Huntsman's Lodge), at which time the lake was also enlarged by Ludwig von Sckell.

The English Garden still serves for the "exercise and social recreation" of the people of Munich and for their "enjoyment of free and healthy air" exactly as its founder intended; in spring and summer in particular it is a popular resort for young and old alike, who come to walk, relax, sunbathe (there are special areas for nude sunbathing), surf on the Eisbach, make music, play games, and take a boat out on the lake.