Westfalen Park
Photo: XXnickiXx, modified.
Overview
The Japanese Garden / East Asian Garden in Westfalenpark Dortmund is a historic themed garden created for the 1959 Bundesgartenschau. Dortmund’s official description presents it as a traditional Japanese garden-art feature and one of the main attractions of Westfalenpark. The wider Westfalenpark is a major 70-hectare public park that hosted the Bundesgartenschau in 1959, 1969 and 1991.
History
Westfalenpark was opened for the 1959 Federal Garden Show on land that included the old Kaiser-Wilhelm-Hain, Buschmühlenpark, former allotments and other redeveloped areas. The East Asian / Japanese Garden was created as part of this original 1959 park design and became one of the park’s signature attractions. The original tea house above the Asian garden also opened in 1959 and functioned as a visual landmark until its demolition in 2014.
Design features
The garden covers around three hectares and is organised around the classic Japanese garden elements of water, stone, plants and architecture. The available official description emphasises an overall harmonious garden composition rather than giving a named designer or detailed element-by-element plan. The former tea house formed an important viewpoint above the garden, and the garden remains one of the park’s main quiet landscape areas.
Garden elements
Buildings
Waters and islands
Stones
Shinto elements
Other elements
Current status
Extant East Asian / Japanese-style garden within Westfalenpark Dortmund, a large public urban park created for the 1959 Bundesgartenschau. The garden was also created for the 1959 Bundesgartenschau and remains one of the park’s main themed garden attractions. Dortmund’s official Westfalenpark site describes it as Ostasiatische Gartenkunst and states that it covers around three hectares, combining water, stone, plants and architecture into a harmonious composition. The former tea house, inaugurated with the opening of Westfalenpark in 1959, was demolished in 2014 because of structural deterioration; plans for a new tea house have since been discussed. The garden remains accessible as part of the ticketed public Westfalenpark.