The Müschpark garden monument is constantly being maintained and further developed: in summer 2014, important measures to renovate the park were completed. These include the new bank protection of two ponds, the restoration of an ornamental pool, the design of planting areas and the creation of paths and seating areas. New trees have also been planted. As a "crowning glory", new pavilions have been erected on two viewing platforms in the style of historical models. At the entrances on Purweider Weg and Buchenallee, two steles with information about the history and design of the park invite visitors to take a "walk in the park".
Private property becomes a public park for everyone
In 2005, the Religious Cooperative of the Daughters of the Holy Cross offered its properties at the St. Raphael Convent for sale, including the Müschpark. The most informative description of the park up to that point was written by Bodo von Koppen in his book "Alt Aachener Gärten", published in 1987. He describes how the design of this green space - which directly adjoins the Lousberg to the north - dates back to the same period shortly after the French Revolution as the transformation of the Lousberg into a park through the plans of Maximilian Friedrich Weyhe. Unlike the Lousberg, however, the Müschpark was a private area until 2005. While Wilhelm Körfgen, the secretary general of the French prefect of the departmental capital of Aachen, was instrumental in the transformation of the Lousberg from 1805 onwards with the Aachen Civic Society, he had a country residence with a private park built for himself in the form of a "Ferme Ornèe" on the immediately neighboring grounds of the Obere Müsch estate. Literally translated as a decorated farm, it is a mixture of landscaped park and agricultural land.
Garden monument since 2010
"The characteristic elements of the "Decorated Farm/Ferme Ornée" type of landscape garden can still be seen in Müschpark today and can be worked out even more intensively in detail through targeted maintenance measures. As this type of landscape garden is only rarely found in the Rhineland, the Müschpark is of particular importance for the history of garden design in the Rhineland." These are the words of an expert opinion by Petra Engelen from the Office for the Preservation of Monuments in the Rhineland, dated March 17, 2010.
Thanks to this expertise and further research and sources that prove the significance of the park, Müschpark was entered in the city of Aachen's list of monuments in 2010.
The level of knowledge about the Müschpark was considerably improved by Rita Hombach's doctoral thesis on landscape gardens in the Rhineland and by Dr. Vogelsang's research on Joseph Clemens Weyhe (1807 - 1871), the son and professional successor of Maximilian Friedrich Weyhe, who designed the Lousberg. Dr. Hombach came across a report on a tour of the Lousberg and the Müschpark by the German Dendrological Society (dendrology is the science of trees). The report praised the "wonderful, old trees, tulip trees, amber trees..., 20 m high oaks!". The report allows conclusions to be drawn about the type and age of the trees. Dr. Vogelsang found an order list in the Düsseldorf city archives for an extensive delivery of trees for the Müschpark, which J.C. Weyhe had written in 1866. This confirms that J.C. Weyhe was active as a garden artist for the Müschpark. It is not known whether he acted in an advisory or design capacity.
White Way and EuRegionale 2008
The Müschpark is located in the area of the White Trail, which stretches 30 kilometers from the Lousberg to Kerkrade. Together with the stations, it is the main element of the EuRegional 2008 Horse Country Park project. The Lousberg terrace with its hammocks is located right next to the Müschpark. The EuRegionale 2008 provided the opportunity to purchase the Müschpark with funding and to restore the park's structures, which had been severely neglected in recent decades. The Euregionale provided the favorable opportunity to receive 80 percent federal and state funding for the costs of the park maintenance work as well as for the essential measures for designing the park in line with its listed status and for its further development.
Nature conservation expertise
The Müschpark is also located in a landscape conservation area (Soers cultural landscape) and provides a habitat for many species, particularly due to the old trees and ponds. These include species that are rarely found in the city. The various bat species deserve special mention. For this reason, the administration commissioned a comprehensive study of the flora and fauna by the "raskin /Umweltplanung und Beratung" office in parallel with the park maintenance work. The raskin office examined and evaluated the measures proposed in the park maintenance work from a nature conservation and species protection perspective and made recommendations that will be taken into account in the maintenance and further development.
What is a park maintenance work?
A park conservation report is a report that essentially consists of three parts. It researches the history. It evaluates the existing structures in relation to the historical findings and uses this as the basis for developing the monument conservation concept. Thirdly, a concept is drawn up for ongoing maintenance and the necessary and desirable measures for preservation and further development. Landscape architects Achim Röthig and Elke Lorenz, both from the Röthig office in Haan, worked on the park maintenance concept for Müschpark.
Development concept, measures, use and maintenance
The report states that the park has a strong basic structure that is still easy to understand today. For example, the pathways essentially correspond to the situation that has developed historically since 1810. In short: there are no breaks but rather extensions in continuity. The basic shape of the grounds of Körfgen's summer residence has been respected throughout the centuries. Nevertheless, the park maintenance work had to deal with serious losses in the park: "Above the pond at the edge of the forest was one of the pavilion sites, of which a concrete floor slab still remains today. The view from here towards the lower pond is certainly one of the main design principles of the park, but is now considerably disturbed by overgrowth and hanging branches."
Garden monument preservation and nature conservation
One of the most noticeable changes was achieved through the measures "Restoration of the historical spatial structure as a wet meadow - removal of the maple plantation and the pole wood south of the pond on Purweider Weg". This part is one of the historical "core areas" of the park. It was not until well into the second half of the 20th century that maple poles were planted here, close together. The motive for this remains unclear. This planting smothered all other plant and design structures and was a foreign body both in terms of landscape architecture and biology.
The "Nature conservation statement on the park maintenance work" (Büro raskin) therefore also comes to the following assessment: "The removal of young pioneer trees, especially sycamore maple, and in some cases also somewhat older specimens up to the middle tree wood corresponds in principle with the nature conservation objectives for the forest areas. The sycamore maple in particular has changed the natural forest communities quite considerably and should therefore be pushed back. This positive synergy effect also affects the typical herbaceous layer rich in spring geophytes that it promotes." The semi-wild daffodils and wood anemones, for example, will then be able to develop there again.
The raskin statement sees further positive effects in the replanting of orchards. It makes recommendations for the type and manner of ongoing maintenance and the preservation of old tree torsos as cavities and breeding sites, which will be incorporated into the ongoing maintenance plans for the coming years.
Implementation of the measures of the first priority level
Thanks to the EuRegionale 2008, the fortunate circumstance arose that immediately after the park maintenance plan was drawn up, the first priority measures that could be implemented in the short term could be realized with 80 percent funding from the federal and state governments. The White Path in the Horse Country Park leads through the Müschpark; for the "Platz am Wasser" station, originally planned at the torrent and not realized there due to the renaturation, we found an adequate location at the ponds of the Müschpark. Essential elements that make up the charm and cultural-historical value of the park can thus be restored, reclaimed in a contemporary form and used for attractive local recreation.