Garden of Heavenly Peace: A unique jewel of Chinese garden culture in the middle of Frankfurt

If, in times like these, one doesn’t like to travel too far, it’s worth to take a look right on one’s doorstep. In the Chinese Garden within Bethmannpark in Frankfurt, one can comfortably enjoy Far East Culture and get enchanted by this wonderful garden world.

The main gate guarded by two lions is the entrance to an Asian oasis of peace, kind of hidden behind thick walls. The path behind the entrance leads over the “bridge of half boat” to the rectangular water pavilion.

Main gate guarded by two lions

Bridge of half boat

Water pavilion

Pavilion

On top of a rock the “pavilion in shimmering green” rises.

Pavilion in shimmering green

Behind the water pavilion, the “gallery of scented water” is situated along the pond’s bank and ends at the quadratic mirror pavilion.

Archway in the Chinese garden

Mirror pavilion in the Chinese Garden

Across the zigzag running jade belt bridge the journey continues to the north bank.

Zigzag bridge

The Garden of Heavenly Peace was opened in 1989. The construction material as well as the skilled workers came specially from China. It was created by the archetype of the famous Shiukou-Gardens from Huizhou. The buildings are constructed in the style of the simple houses in the province of Anhui. Through Chinese garden culture, the harmony of the world should be illustrated in a right balance of the “seven parts”: earth, heaven, water, stones, buildings, living beings and plants. The Garden of Heavenly Peace contains typical characteristic elements of a Chinese garden like the stone arch, the wooden “bridge of half boat”, the “jasper green pond”, the water pavilion of the purified heart” and the traditional zigzag bridge.