The Volkspark Friedrichshain is the oldest public park in Berlin.
This huge area was created between 1840 and 1848, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Frederick the Great’s ascension to the Prussian throne. The original design was by the landscape architect Joseph Lenné, but the park has undergone significant changes over the years.
The two hills visible on the horizon today are in fact artificial, constructed using the rubble of buildings destroyed during the Second World War. The taller of the two, Mont Klamott, is 78 meters high, while the lower one is called Kleiner Bunkerberg. Today the area is equipped with sports facilities, tennis courts and even an open-air cinema with a capacity of 300 people.
A leisure time favorite with the locals, the park is a must-see for tourists too, thanks to the opportunities to both enjoy a pleasant walk and to admire the surroundings and the historical monuments.
The whole of the southern part, flanked by Landsbergerstrasse, is occupied by Friedhof der Märzgefallenen, a cemetery in which the fallen of the 1848 March Revolution and the 1918 November Revolution are laid to rest.
In the north-western corner of the park is one of the few monuments in Berlin that survived the bombings during the war and is now one of the main attractions of the park: the Märchenbrunnen, or Fairytale Fountain. The entire fountain, the work of Ludwig Hoffmann, features statues of characters from the well-known tales of the Brothers Grimm.
There are two other important monuments worth checking out: the Denkmal der Spanienkämpfer, erected in memory of the Germans who lost their lives during the Spanish Civil War, and the monument commemorating the Polish soldiers and German partisans who fought against the Nazis.
Let me leave you with an interesting fact: the collection of fairytales written by the Brothers Grimm – including Cinderella, Puss in Boots, Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves – is Germany’s best-known work of literature. It is also one of the most widely translated, having been published in more than a hundred languages.
