Grafenegg from A to Z

Many epochs of architectural art have left their traces in Grafenegg and, with their specific features, have resulted in the stimulating mix of styles that makes up the particular charm of the overall ensemble of castle and park: Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Historicism and the 21st century architecture equally characterize the location, whose first documentary mention dates back to the late 13th century. 

The neo-Gothic style castle with its stepped gables, arcades, and oriels, which despite its impressive size conveys a floating lightness, was built in the mid-19th century out of a Renaissance castle that had already been remodelled, rebuilt, and expanded several times. The oldest architectural testimony of Grafenegg's 700-year-old history is the mill at the Kamp, which was still in operation until the First World War. 

The 2006 revitalized Garden pavilion in the west of the park, on the other hand, contains stories of baroque cheerfulness. Today, bridal couples tie the knot in this pavilion, which also served as a theatre stage in the 19th century. The Wolkenturm in the park and the Auditorium between the castle tavern and the Reitschule stand in intriguing exchange with the diverse historical structure, which also includes the Meierhof or the four ramparts of the castle wall. These two impressive, newly built venues, whose construction marked the beginning of Grafenegg's most recent era as a musical site, are considered prime examples of successful concert architecture at the height of the present day.

The 23-meter tall Wolkenturm, which blends into a natural basin of the Castle Grounds and at the same time boldly rises above them, is one of the best open-air stages in Europe. Since the Grafenegg Festival was founded in 2007, this distinctive structure of concrete, steel and glass has shaped the scenery of Grafenegg in a similarly strong way as the historicist architecture of the castle. Old and new contrast each other in these two buildings. At the same time, they complete each other - and are thus representative of the constant change to which Grafenegg has committed itself as a location and as a music festival. 

The award-winning Wolkenturm, designed by the architect duo Marie-Therese Harnoncourt and Ernst J. Fuchs of «the next ENTERprise» and for whose elaborate sound design the acoustics office Müller-BBM is responsible, presents itself to the audience as a veritable monument of contemporaneity on 1700 seats and 400 lawn seats: Clouds and trees reflect in its metallic exterior surfaces, the large roofing of the stage allows it to appear as an enormous land art sculpture, and the many angles, slopes, and offset components create diverse light effects and constantly new, surprising perspectives of the park and castle. The open-air arena with its impressive acoustics delights summer after summer as a concert venue of very special atmosphere and beauty. Not far from the Wolkenturm, the bar «Wolke 7» also attracts the concert audience with contemporary architecture at its finest: Its curved concrete roof resembles a giant leaf swirling through the air. The surrounding nature of the Castle Grounds was the inspiration for this, as well.

Since its foundation in 2007, the festival under the artistic direction of Rudolf Buchbinder has become a cultural highlight on the national and international music and culture calendar. The famous pianist invites renowned orchestras, top conductors as well as leading soloists to perform in the unique ambience of the Grafenegg venues and the Castle Grounds. Grafenegg enjoys an excellent international reputation, as an orchestral festival: the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Wiener Philharmoniker, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Berliner Philharmoniker are just a small selection of the musical crème de la crème, which annually provides musical highlights within the framework of the wide-ranging festival programme.

The goal of Grafenegg Zeitgeist is to promote artistic excellence and to create a space of learning for various musical encounters. All aspects of its campus - such as workshops, master classes, music labs, symposia, composer’s workshops, joint rehearsals with or without audience participation - offer musicians that are on their way to a professional career a platform for exchange with professionals and, above all, plenty of opportunities to make music together. A central component of Grafenegg Zeitgeist is the Grafenegg Academy, which encourages young professional musicians from all over the world to take their professional future into their own hands in times of tremendous social change. Another essential part of the campus, that brings the creation process of contemporary music into the spotlight, is the format Ink Still Wet. Composers from all over the world can apply with compositions that will be developed in Grafenegg with an orchestra and under their own conducting before finally being premiered here. Ink Still Wet is always supervised by the composer in residence. Close artistic partnerships connect the Grafenegg Zeitgeist with the «European Chamber Music Academy» (ECMA), the European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO) and the mkm - Musik und Kunst Schulen Management Lower Austria.

Since 2007, the Castle Grounds, as an historical artistic synthesis, function also as a stage for works of contemporary sculpture and object art. In doing so, the park also takes up its own history: Both, the garden art of the Baroque period, and that of the English landscape gardens of the 19th century, which have equally left their traces in the grounds of Grafenegg, worked with the inclusion of artistic objects in their garden spaces. For «Art in the Park» artists have been invited to create outdoor sculptures for Grafenegg that critically reflect on the role of art in representational and display purposes. The park and the created sculptures form an exciting relationship with each other - and with the bold architecture of the open-air stage Wolkenturm. Some of the sculptures, such as the «Buchsdom Tower» by Mark Dion, the «Balance Capsule» by the Hungarian artist collective Little Warsaw, or Werner Feiersinger's white-painted, untitled stainless-steel sculpture reminiscent of a giant fence, are enriching the park as permanent art interventions. Since 2017, there are temporary artistic works to be seen in the Castle Grounds as well.

Around the summer solstice, when the days become particularly long and the nights in the castle park are especially balmy, Grafenegg begins its main season in June with the Midsummer Night’s Gala at the Wolkenturm. This includes a beloved tradition: year after year, the popular first march from Edward Elgar's «Pomp and Circumstance» can be heard as closing piece of the gala.  This beautiful finale always serves as the start for the summer sounds on Saturdays until mid-August. The Midsummer Night’s Gala is broadcasted on television all over Europe.

A place as picturesque as Grafenegg Castle is made to inspire creative minds of all kinds to artistic flights of fancy. This applies not only to the music that can be heard all year round in a wide range of settings around the park and castle. Movie makers also appreciate the distinctive ambience of Grafenegg. Would you like to have a small selection of the film and television productions for which Grafenegg has served as one of their shooting locations over the past decades? From TV crime series «Kommissar Rex» and «Soko Donau» to Thomas Brezina's popular children's movies of the "Tom Turbo" series to film adaptations of historical material such as the TV three-part «Maximilian I.» directed by Andreas Prohaska. In the movie «The Little Lady» (2011), an adaptation of the often-filmed literary classic «Little Lord Fauntleroy» Grafenegg Castle serves as the main shooting location: as the castle of the strict aristocratic grandmother, portrayed by Christiane Hörbiger, who wants to raise her nine-year-old granddaughter Emily, who grew up in New York, to become an aristocrat here.

Garden reception or packed picnic basket to take away, restaurant visit or concert buffet, canapés, and champagne at a set table on the castle lawn or bar table chat with snacks at the bars «Wolke 7» or «Wolke 8»: These are just some of the gastronomic options and treats available to Grafenegg visitors. It goes without saying: No festive castle without culinary delights! This is ensured by gourmet chef Toni Mörwald and his team not only in the Grafenegg Restaurant, which focuses primarily on fine regional cuisine with products from the surrounding area, but also, just on the other side in the picnic pavilion under the curved roof of the «Wolke 7» bar. Picnics or garden receptions can be pre-ordered, as well as set bar tables for the concert intermission. At moerwald.at, you can find all opening hours, as well as details on the different picnic sets and pre-reservation options. By the way, small snacks are also available at the Grafenegg Weinlounge, where regional vintners offer a wide range of wines and sparkling wines.

They were called Missy, Benji, Tipsy or Tschuri and were at different times the family dogs of the castle owners of Grafenegg. At one spot in the park, directly at a junction of pathways, there are six grave plaques embedded in the lawn with their names placed around a romantically mossy, laying dog sculpture. The «dog grave» is the stone carved monument of the love for the four-legged friends. It is only consequent that dogs are honoured with their own memorial in Grafenegg. It is thanks to another dog that the Castle Grounds were not destroyed after the end of the Second World War. During the Soviet occupation, the Russian administrative director of Grafenegg had already ordered the entire tree population of the park to be cut down in order to supply the farmers in the surrounding area with firewood. But his wife, who took her dog for a walk in the park every day, intervened and finally managed to keep the trees untouched. Thank dog!

The Info-Point and the box office in the foyer of the auditorium are the central information points on the premises: Whatever you would like to know about Grafenegg - from buying tickets to detailed concert programmes and overnight accommodation to gastronomy or renting rooms for festivities and celebrations - you will find it there or be referred to the right address. Please note that the opening hours of the Info-Point may vary depending on the season. 

The park remains accessible all year long. Solely during concerts at the Wolkenturm, the area is only accessible with a ticket one hour before the beginning of the prelude and three hours before the beginning of the concert. The castle can be visited during summer. Grafenegg is located in the heart of a cultural and gourmet landscape that is as rich in tradition as it is in modernity: some of Austria's best wine regions around Wagram, Kamptal or the world cultural heritage region of Wachau in the Danube valley are located nearby. The «Kunstmeile» of the wine city Krems with its museums and the new Landesgalerie Niederösterreich, the magnificent Stift Melk above the Danube, the blossoming meadow orchards of the Mostviertel or the old Sommerfrische river baths on the Kamp are just a stone's throw away from Grafenegg.

Visiting Grafenegg is enjoyable at all seasons of the year. The event schedule covers the whole calendar from January to December with music, culture, culinary delights, markets, and nature: whether Advent, summer sounds or festival, symphonic festive concerts, or chamber music - Grafenegg offers all this in constant change all year round. What varies just as much is the nature in the Castle Grounds. During spring and summer, flowers, leaves and fields turn the park into a lush green oasis of nature, and the air is filled with the chirping of birds and buzzing. In autumn, the changing leaves shine in warm shades of red, yellow, orange, and brown. And in winter, when the trees and bushes become leafless, the structures of the parks' design and the historically evolved interplay of sight lines, paths and garden spaces begin to truly become visible.

Knowing that the very first mirrors used by humans were made from polished copper, opens up the realms of association around the copper ceiling lining the shell of the Auditorium Grafenegg even wider. The shimmering copper tracks coating the concert hall, newly built and inaugurated in 2008, don´t just conceptually mirror the open skies over Grafenegg. The copper also reflects the historical building parts of the Reitschule and the restaurant, between which the Auditorium, with its lowered canopy, fits so perfectly. Simultaneously the golden red copper mantle throws kaleidoscopic reflections of lighting scenes and seasonal colours. It is an architectural representation of the many changes and developments Grafenegg has lived through over the years. Like the copper patina of the Auditorium, Grafenegg is ever evolving. The building, made from brick, glass and concrete was designed by the Dortmund based architectural company schröder schulte-ladbeck and the Viennese architect Dieter Irresberger, who cooperated on the much-acclaimed sound space with the acoustics office Müller-BBM, seats more than 1300 guests. It is the second biggest concert stage next to the open-air stage Wolkenturm and can serve as an alternative location for concerts at the Wolkenturm in the event of inclement weather.

Even in the oldest preserved plans of Grafenegg, the josephinist land survey from 1773, we can see the baroque lime tree avenue south of the castle. It spans arrow straight in east-west direction from the black gate to the garden pavilion. Today the avenue, with its over 300-year-old lime trees, is the most impressive relic of the former baroque castle gardens with their geometrical structures. From the end of the 18th century, this was gradually remodelled into an English landscape park with new, winding paths, a romantic pond and terrain modelling that was committed to naturalness, following the fashion of that time. With the transformation into an English Garden, the park also developed into an arboretum with a collection of trees from all over the world. The 32-hectare grounds, which laid in a deep slumber and became overgrown during the second half of the 20th century, were not restored until the turn of the millennium. Now it presents itself in fresh beauty, is being ecologically maintained and is one of the «Nature in the Garden» sites of Lower Austria. The old baroque lime tree avenue, which was called «star avenue» until the 19th century, has since 2018 found a modern echo in the star-shaped converging visual axes of the young lime tree avenues, which surround the 16 recently built Grafenegg Cottages on the northern edge of the Castle Grounds. With these, castle owner Tassilo Metternich-Sándor has created an accommodation facility providing all modern comforts in the historic park ambience.

With his self-designed neo-gothic rural mansion «Strawberry Hill» and his influential novel «The Castle of Otranto» (1764), the English aristocrat, writer and politician Horace Walpole did not only found the literary genre of the romantic Gothic novel. He also gave the impulse to a great medieval and knight fashion in educated circles, which spread like a wave across Europe and captured Count August Ferdinand Breuner-Enckevoirth, owner of Grafenegg from 1813 onwards. Following the example of «Strawberry Hill», Count Breuner began the great reconstruction of Grafenegg into a neo-gothic castle in 1847, including medieval building elements, countless battlements, turrets and facade decorations or a large knights' hall. Leopold Ernst, master builder of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna and an acknowledged expert on late Gothic architecture, was assigned to lead the project. Other renowned artists, such as the sculptors Franz Schönthaler and Vincenz Pilz, also contributed to giving Grafenegg its picturesque exterior, which still exists today, and to creating a lavish mixture of Neo-Gothic, Neo-Baroque and Neo-Renaissance styles in the interiors. A stone statue of Count Breuner as a window gazer, holding a money bag in his hand, testifies to his role as a financially powerful builder.

There are numerous special places in the park: The Napoleon Hill, for example, commemorates two visits that the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte paid to Grafenegg in 1809 after the Battle of Wagram. During the Napoleonic Wars, the castle with its turbulent history served as headquarter to French Marshal August Marmont. Another highly historic spot in the park, albeit of the spooky kind, is the Black Gate. It presumably got its name from the fact that people sentenced to death used to be led through this gate in the south-east of the park to the place of execution. The last time a convicted murderer walked through this gate was in 1843. If you continue walking towards the south-western side of the park, you will soon come across the old brick bridge of the 19th century and thus a particularly picturesque view of nature: from here you have an enchanting view of a turn in the leisurely flowing Mühlkamp. Together with the baroque Garden pavilion, the artificial ruin Eiskeller or the large pond Herzogteich, built in 2013, this belongs to the most beautiful places in the park.

Listening to music in the open air in Grafenegg is not only possible on the grandstand of the Wolkenturm, which is built into the hillside across the stage in the style of a Greek amphitheatre. When enjoying open-air music at the Wolkenturm, you can also keep it more casual and purchase a ticket for one of the 400 lawn seats to the left and right side of the stands. You can sit or lay down on picnic blankets in the grass, gaze upon the starlit sky and indulge in a literally more reclined way of listening to music. Besides, the lawn seats are also less expensive than the grandstand seats and, in this sense, also allow a more accessible approach to classical music on a big stage. The preludes in the castle courtyard, which take place in the afternoon during the Grafenegg Festival with smaller ensembles, also take place in the open air and set the mood for the great evening concerts. Of course, there is also a bad weather policy: for events taking place at the Wolkenturm, there will be a decision at least 30 minutes before the start of the concert as to whether it will be moved into the auditorium due to the weather condition.

The Grafenegg Festival is set to music from head to toe, in other words: from early in the morning until late in the evening. The musical panorama of the day does not only include the great evening orchestra concerts at the Wolkenturm and in the auditorium, but also the matinées on Sunday mornings of the festival and the intimate preludes in the castle courtyard, which are conceptualised as musical introductions to the main evening concerts. The preludes focus on chamber music. If you have a ticket for the evening concert you can attend them free of charge. Before that, at 2.30 pm on the four Sundays of the festival, young musicians will perform in the new series «Music in the Park» at varying locations in the Castle Grounds. The ensembles are often musicians of the Grafenegg Zeitgeist. The Reitschule is also one of the main locations of the Grafenegg programme. Not only the introductions to the evening concerts take place here. On selected days, the Reitschule also turns into a gathering spot for musical sounds in a relaxed lounge atmosphere during the Late Night Sessions following the evening concerts.

Grafenegg has gone through a lot during its 700-year long history. It has seen many different owners, and the course of time has left its mark on it. A small cross-section of its diverse history vividly illustrates that: Out of a tiny settlement with a mill, first mentioned in 1294, the first predecessor to today's castle emerged in the 15th century, which was soon expanded into a massive, fortified complex with a ring wall and moat. The name Grafenegg goes back to Ulrich von Grafeneck, field captain of Emperor Friedrich IV and landlord from 1450 onwards. Occupied by enemy troops both during the Thirty Years' War and at the time of the Napoleonic Wars, Grafenegg entered calmer waters in the 19th century and, from 1847 onwards, under its equally wealthy and art-loving owner August Ferdinand Count Breuner-Enckevoirth and his sons, underwent the major and decisive transformation into the castle complex in the romantic Tudor style as it presents itself today. The Second World War meant a massive setback for Grafenegg. After it had served as a shelter for deported children, as refugee quarters and as a Wehrmacht command post during the war years, the Soviet occupiers, who had confiscated Grafenegg, left it free for looting, destruction, and decay from 1945 onwards. The once extensive count's library with 40,000 volumes, of which only 2,500 remain today, got lost at that time, as did a large part of the art collection. It was not until the mid-1960s that the destroyed half-ruin was rebuilt. Today the castle belongs to the Metternich-Sándor family. Since 2007 Grafenegg has been an internationally established festival location, whose newly erected, large concert stages - Wolkenturm and Auditorium - shape the scenery of Grafenegg just as much as the spectacular historicist scenery of the castle itself.

Two renowned orchestras have particularly close ties to Grafenegg as residence orchestras: the Tonkünstler Orchestra Lower Austria and the European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO). The Tonkünstler Orchestra performs more than a dozen great concerts in Grafenegg throughout the year. The Tonkünstler open the summer season with the Midsummer Night's Gala, form the orchestral backbone of the Season Sounds together with the EUYO, and present themselves during the Advent season with programmes put together exclusively for Grafenegg. In addition, they premiere a major symphonic work each year, usually under the conducting of the composer in residence. For the European Union Youth Orchestra, which has long been considered one of the best youth orchestras in the world, Grafenegg has become a summer home. The up to 120 young orchestra musicians from all member states of the EU, who play and live in Grafenegg for three weeks starting in mid-July, not only provide multilingual artistic flair, but they also rehearse - sometimes with an audience - in the auditorium, perform in the summer concerts and start touring from here.

«The journey is always better than the finest inn» is a quote from Miguel de Cervantes, the famous Spanish creator of Don Quixote. It does not take a long journey to set out on the road. Even a park, if it is as spacious as the Grafenegg Castle Grounds, invites to extensive walks and tours. There are 32 hectares of landscaped nature that encourage to look and catch a breath, to walk and discover. The park is open all year round, even outside the Grafenegg event programme, and anyone who wants to bring their dog along is just as welcome as runners or weekenders in search of beautiful picnic spots. And who knows? Maybe you'll stroll across a performing string quartet - in summer, for example, during «Music in the Park» - and acquire a taste for it. It's no wonder that the Castle Grounds, with their large meadows and hidden corners, their shady spots under massive trees, and their winding paths, art objects and buildings, have established as a local recreation area for the entire region.

Not every opening is purely musical. At the Grafenegg Festival there also is an annual horticultural opener: the planting of the composer’s tree at the beginning of the festival. Since the founding of the festival, the composer who has been nominated Composer in Residence for that year plants a young tree of his or her choice in the Castle Grounds. This green tradition began with the first composer in residence, Krzysztof Penderecki, who himself built up a large arboretum in Poland. In Grafenegg, he planted a red-leaved trumpet tree in 2007. Since then, all other composers have followed his example, such as Tan Dun in 2009 with a handkerchief tree, James MacMillan in 2012 with a Scots pine, and Christian Jost in 2016 with a paper-bark birch. Peter Ruzicka has chosen a purple chestnut as the 2019 composer’s tree. It is part of the tradition that the Composers in Residence and the trees they have planted are presented in display cases in the castle library.

Grafenegg has its finger on the pulse of contemporary music creation with the Composer in Residence. Each year, a renowned composer is invited to create two works for Grafenegg, which are also being premiered here: One is a fanfare, which is performed at the opening of the Grafenegg Festival. The second is a large symphonic work that the Composer in Residence will create for a festival concert with the Tonkünstler Orchestra, in which he or she will also be conducting. The Composer in Residence is also the tutor of the Ink Still Wet programme, which itself focuses on the conditions under which current compositions are being created. The composers from all over the world, who successfully apply for Ink Still Wet with one of their sound works within the frame of Grafenegg Zeitgeist, have the opportunity to synchronize their musical ideas with the reality of the orchestral setting in Grafenegg. At the end of their residency, their compositions, which they have previously worked on under their own conducting with the Tonkünstler Orchestra, will be premiered in a concert. For the audience, they are delightful occasions to gain insights into dewy compositional and orchestral work.

Wine and art delight: how well these two fit together and how closely they are connected in Grafenegg! It almost seems as if a Dionysian force has had a hand in this geographical conflation. Because the climate, soils and sites of the region are among the best of the country. And so are the wines and sparkling wines produced in the well-known vineyards surrounding Grafenegg. Grüner Veltliner, Riesling and Zweigelt in particular enjoy ideal conditions in the Kamp and Kremstal and Wagram regions. This area is also the origin and basis of the "Österreichische Traditionsweingüter" (Austrian Traditional Wine Estates), an association of vintners who have committed themselves to the highest quality standards. Their grapes are used to produce the Grafenegg Festival wines every year.

The Grafenegg Weinlounge has dedicated itself entirely to the wines from the immediate surroundings of Grafenegg and is the perfect address for the "Spritzer" or the Achterl in between. It offers a rich wine assortment, professional consulting, tastings, or even small delicacies to complement the wine. Please find the seasonally varying opening hours on the website. grafenegg-weinlounge.at

The wilderness is never far away, even in the best-tended park. The woods, meadows, glades, waters, and enchanted corners of the Grafenegg Castle Grounds are the perfect habitat for numerous species of birds and other animals. Woodpeckers knock, robins sing, jays screech, colourful waxwings cross through, long-eared owls are building their nests in the trees, a grey heron likes to stand in the waters of the Duke's Pond, and kestrels are nesting in the castle and in the Meierhof. Their sharp, shrill screams are as much a part of the characteristic nature sounds of Grafenegg as are the calls of the cuckoo in the spring. And who knows: Maybe one day even the rare and endangered hoopoe, which has been reintroduced at the nearby Wagram, will appear in the Castle Grounds! Everyone who walks through the park is pretty sure to encounter some of the many deer that live here. The deer show just as little shyness as the brown and red squirrels that hop across the paths in big leaps, or the beavers that splash around in the water of the Mühlkamp. With some luck, you may come across stag beetles or praying mantises, and during the summer, blue- or brimstone butterflies like to flutter around in the meadows. There are plenty of hedgehogs, sand lizards take sunbaths, and the fact that so many of the now rare, protected vineyard snails live in the undergrowth also tells us a lot about the intact nature and ecological balance of the Grafenegg Castle Grounds.

Playing the xylophone, swinging the baton, and dancing, beating the drum, crafting your own instrument, or listening to music from all corners: Where would be a better place for children to pursue all these playful pleasures than at a location like Grafenegg, which lives of music? And even more so in the presence of the castle and the Castle Grounds, where every child can feel a little bit like a prince or princess? Because the little ones should not miss out on anything, Grafenegg gives great importance to children's and family programmes, for example at the annual Family Day in June, which presents itself as a colourful music and adventure Sunday with singing, dancing, concerts, crafts, and painting workshops for young and old. The Grafenegg Advent in December offers activity stations, workshops, concerts, crafts, and music workshops and lots of fun, games and sound experiences for the little ones and their families as well. Of course, the Castle Grounds also provide a wonderful terrain for childlike exploratory spirit and urge to move - all year round.

Over the years, the Grafenegg Reitschule has developed into an increasingly universal venue. Not only chamber concerts, recitals, introductory talks, preludes, or late-night sessions in a lounge atmosphere take place here. The Reitschule is also the stage for live broadcasts from the auditorium in case of inclement weather for all visitors who have purchased lawn seats or tickets of the category 7. In order to give each of these different events the optimal acoustic setting, the Reitschule has been equipped with a new sound system of the Y-series from the audio technology specialist d & b. It is the ideal and currently most up-to-date acoustic standard for speakers and amplifiers and proves itself especially for video broadcasting. In the auditorium as well, with its elaborate wall constructions that present themselves partly as acoustic and partly as design objects, the best sound without reverberation can be ensured. In the open-air sound spaces in the castle courtyard and especially at the Wolkenturm, Grafenegg relies - and this is one of the great special features of the location - on optimally utilized, marvellous natural acoustics.

Whether Gingko or Oriental spruce, Jeffrey pine or sequoia, incense cedar or Western Hackberry - the Grafenegg Castle Grounds are full of exceptional trees. They date back to the ambition of August Ferdinand Count Breuner-Enckevoirth, estate owner of Grafenegg from 1813 onwards, to expand his park into a dendrological collection of exotic tree and shrub species from all over the world. At the peak of its diversity, the arboretum included more than 2,000 different species of wooden plants, which declined to only 350 species as a result of the park's overgrowth during the war and post-war years. Meanwhile, the number has grown again to more than 700 different species of trees and shrubs - and the trend is increasing reliably. It is also unique wooden plants that give numerous places in the park their memorable character: whether the three giant plane trees near the Old Mill, the centuries-old linden trees of the baroque avenue, the shady hollow of the yew tunnel or the conifer hall. Flower-dotted meadows and colourfully planted flowerbeds provide further colour spots in this botanical roundel, which constantly appears in seasonally varying colour, scent, and blossom combinations.