Deutsch-Französischer Garten
When I was living in Germany in the city of Saarbrucken I was going pretty often to the Deutsch-Französischer Garten because I was following an university seminar that was taking place in the space of the garden. Before having the course there, I went for the first time into the garden with some of my Erasmus fellows because our german language teacher recommended this park to us due to its big open space, nature and arrangement.
Where is the garden located and how you can get to the park from the city?
The park is located on the southwestern outskirts of Saarbrücken near the German-French border. It has 2 entrances:
Personally, because I was living on Großherzog-Friedrich-Straße, I was taking the bus 126 from Paul Maurien station to go to the garden. Usually, the duration of the trip was lasting between 20 to 30 minutes depending on the traffic.
There are other central stations where this bus stoped from where I could pop up on like Karstadt or Johannes Kirche. The good thing about this bus was the fact that it stoped me right in front of the north entrance, and all I had to do was crossing the street and then I would be quickly in the park.
On the other hand, if I wanted to enter the park from the south, there were different buses that could let me there like 123, 106, 107 and 109.
The admission into the park was totally free of charge and the garden was open 24 hours.
If you are coming to the garden for the first time, at both entrances you will find big panels on which is represented the map of the park, so you will get to know for a bit the configuration of the place and its points of interest. If you know that you have bad memory then is good to take a photo of the map to consult it when needed.
Small history of the Deutsch-Französischer Garten
Besides the panel with the map, at the north entrace there is another panel on which is written some information linked with the history of the park. As much as I can remember, the area of the garden used to be a battlefield during theFranco-Prussian War of 1870-1871.
More later, after this episode, the space of the Deutsch-Französischer Garten played an important role in German defense in the context of the outbreak of World War II. German troops were laying here starting with the year of 1935 and their presence is proved today by the war structures that still can been seen throughout the garden such as bunkers and tank barriers.
Speaking of that, I had the lucky opportunity to go inside one of the bunkers located around the Sunny Health Garden zone. The experience was very interesting because it was my first time going inside a bunker and I didn't knew what to expect. The bunker was not so big, but the space was narrow, the ceiling was down and the atmosphere created by the feeling of the humid air was overwhelming in a bad way. I was trying to image how people would have felt while staying in those bunkers and I got the cold chills immediately.
What the garden has to offer?
The lake
Right at the north entrance starts the lake of the park. Going around it you can find many species of ducks, geese, swans and other small birds which I don’t know the name about. Some of the animals are more friendly like ducks and other such as geese are often annoyed by the people who are getting to closer to them.
It is strictly forbidden to feed the birds with any kind of foods because by doing so their natural state and habitat can be affected. In the late spring the ducks are having babies and it is so interesting and cute to watch them, but a bit from distance so they will not get scared.
There is the possibility to rent swan-shaped hydrobicycles for pedaling on the surface of the lake. A water organ has been installed on the inner part of the lake which I think is played when festivals, concerts or other type of events are taking place.
The forest and the green areas
From the north entrance if you go left and climb the stairs you will find yourself on a forest’s path. This area of the garden was one of my favorite place to go to because it has always remembered me of the time spend into Romania’s mountain forests. If you want more intimacy then going along those paths can be a solution of finding a bit of peace and quiet time.
One of the paths leads to the Sunny Health Garden, a zone with a diversity of flowers and many bees flying around it. Near to this spot and more on the right there is also a hidden bunker.
The Deutsch-Französischer Garten is crossed by a narrow stream along which, on the left and right, green areas are laid out with green meadow where people can have a picnic with family and friends, play badminton or catch the ball while admiring the landscape of the garden defined by various species of trees.
The cable car and the mini train
At both entrances, in the south and in the north, there are mini train stations where people can choose to hop on a small train that goes almost all around the space of the garden. On the other hand, if somebody wants to see the surroundings from up high, there is a cable car that starts closer to the lake and goes up until the south entrance.
Each way of entertainment is suitable not only for children but for adults too. The cable car and the train runs - as far as I know only - only on Sunday and in the free days when there is a holiday or a celebration.
My experience in the German French Garden
A thing that I would never forget and which happened in this garden was our last international dinner when each Erasmus student came with cooked food to celebrate our remaining days together.
This time we were here with the german language teacher who recommended the park to us since the beginning of our mobility. We sat at one of the tables, we ate, discuss, huged, laughed while sharing strange experiences and took photos. It was so beautiful, friendly, memorable and a bit sad because the mobility was about to an end.
The Baum&Bild exhibition project
As I was writing in the beginning of this article, I was going almost weekly into this park because I was following an university seminar called Baum&Bild. On every Tuesday we were meeting in different spots of the garden to discuss and work on our projects linked with the space of the park. Each student had to develop an artwork inspired by some specific place of The Deutsch-Französischer Garten.
In my case, the creative intervention that I was working on was placed near the Sunny Health Garden at the end of the path coming from the forest.
My work was called “Putting light together” and the meaning of it had to do with the revival of an area with cut trees, dry branches and vegetation. The yellow color was used to give back the light to the nature by creating a continuous network starting from one cut part of a tree to the other. “The light” represented by the yellow color was going along the dry branches in an imaginary line.
The opening of the exhibition took place on 18th of July and many people came that evening and night to discover the artworks spreading all around the garden. Each visitor received a map of the park on which it was marked every spot that contained an artistic intervention, so it was easier to notice the works.
The event was very nice and interesting for me and I think also for the viewers because the exhibition was not a regular one in a gallery or museum, but outdoor, in the open space and with the materials, landscape or support that the garden offered us. People stayed until the midnight to see all of the works of each some were light installation which could be seen only into the darkness.
Unfortunately, the exhibition lasted only for 4 days, some of the works being ephemeral.
As far as I understood, this project is hold every semester by the teachers of Hochschule der Bildenden Künste Saar and it always ends with an exhibition and opening like this.
For me it was definitely a challenge to come up with an artwork in an open space, but I really enjoyed the process of developing and creating “Putting light together” in The Deutsch-Französischer Garten and I hope that in the future I will be involved in similar projects.
