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Verna-Park
Verna-Park
open daily
Just a stone's throw from the ruins of the fortress destroyed in 1689, Verna Park lies like a tranquil oasis in the heart of the industrial city. This late-Romantic landscape garden, modeled on English designs, is the life's work of Wilhelmine von Verna (1803–1878). After the untimely accidental death of her husband, the grieving widow transformed the grounds into a place of longing and contemplation.
In her "garden kingdom," Wilhelmine resurrected the Middle Ages: artificial castle ruins, a shattered tower, and a temple ruin explore the theme of transience and form a charming contrast to the nearby "real" fortress ruins. From the balcony of her castle room, her gaze once swept far across the banks of the Main River to the Taunus Mountains. A high dry-stone wall protected this monastic refuge from the bustling life of the growing industrial city.
Since 1912, the park has been owned by the city and serves as a green lung for Rüsselsheim. A particular highlight is the restored trompe-l'oeil painting on the west wall, which once again offers a view of a distant, idealized landscape. Along the winding paths, visitors today, like Wilhelmine herself, wander through a vibrant Gesamtkunstwerk of Romanticism.