The donkey calls for his companion, the sheep graze peacefully, and the cows relax under the protection of the fruit trees. The perennials, flowers and herbs show their full strength and liveliness, in their bright colours and varied forms. Visitors to the Goetheanum enjoy the atmosphere and reflect individually or collectively on the park benches new impulses.
The Goetheanum Garden Park vibrates in the peak of late summer: colourful, lively, diverse and inviting to rest, reflect and enjoy.
Benno Otter and his team have created an exceptional park on a total of 12 hectares of land around the School of Spiritual Sciences in Switzerland. The diverse park uniquely combines functionality and aesthetics. Here, visitors can experience gardening practice and beauty at the same time.
In addition to a vegetable garden, orchards with the possibilities for cherry sponsorship, fragrant gardens for medicinal plants and flower oases, the main focus here is on the holistic design of the park areas. The exceptional Jurassic limestone scenery is brought into harmony with the architecture of the buildings and the principles of biodynamic agriculture. By this approach, the park is viewed as an organism. Therefore, it is managed and designed to create a unique quality. This is reflected in the taste of the vegetables, but also in the atmosphere that one can perceive here.
In the vegetable garden, different types of vegetables are cultivated in a way that it is central and visible to everyone. The vegetables are cultivated on locally adapted soil and fertilized with various kinds of compost. Together with inclusive workers, high-quality vegetables are produced. To ensure that they can be enjoyed by everyone, a market stall is set up twice a week for direct marketing. Additionally, the vegetables are prepared in the Anfora associated where they are served as delicious meals.
In addition, the garden offers a variety of flowers, perennial beds and ornamental elements. These are thoroughly selected based on the local soil conditions, the effects of light, heat and water, and the function of the place. The design of the perennial beds in the West is therefore clearly different from that of the East. Visitors to the Goetheanum are given access to the beauty of the flowers during their conferences and events, both in the grounds and in the rooms.
Besides these elements, the team of the Garden Park, under the direction of Jörg Mensens, creates various private gardens and landscape parks according to the principles of biodynamic horticulture. In this way, the experiences made on the Goetheanum grounds can spread to the outside world and bring joy to even more people.
Further information and contact: https://gaertnerei.goetheanum.org/