How does the English Garden sound?

History of the Park
STIMMENSPUR ENGLISCHER GARTEN: The Audio Experiment
Voices from the English Garden

_{This trailer (in German) previews the contents of the Stimmenspur audio tour. Vera Kovács and Katharina Theresa Müller, 2017, 1 min 46 s.}

As the first Volkspark in the world—a park open to the public—the English Garden has always been a place for encounters between people and the environment. With the audio experiment Stimmenspur (Sound Trail), we guide you through these present-day relationships and their histories. On an ecologically and historically mindful walk, you can experience the environment with other eyes and ears. Hear conversations with a landscape architect, with the head of administration of the English Garden, with a yoga teacher, a street musician, and many others. Let the natural acoustics of the English Garden wash over you as you form your own impressions of this wondrous space.

Download the Stimmenspur tour in German free of charge and rediscover the English Garden!

What we offer:

• The voices of people, animals, and plants in the park
• 3 hours of entertainment with scheduled breaks
• 21 amazing stations along a 5 km path

What you need:

• a sunny day
• a Smartphone/MP3 Player with headphones
• comfortable shoes
• a plastic bag for collecting trash

History of the Park

The English Garden was created according to a strictly regulated layout. Traces of this history are still detectable today. In the style of an English landscape garden, it was created on the Wittelsbach royal family’s former hunting grounds. In 1789, after Count Rumford had been given the task of looking after poorly paid Bavarian soldiers, he began to use parts of the land to cultivate potatoes, kohlrabi, and carrots. In the years that followed, as a reaction to the French Revolution, the military garden became a public park. Since 1793, the southern part has been open to everybody.

Today the park is considered a natural monument and a work of art. Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell (1750–1823) is the mastermind behind the park’s layout and design. Gently rolling meadows, noble clusters of trees, winding paths, and buildings create a visceral experience. These features appear, disappear, reappear, as if the landscape itself is inhaling and exhaling—lulling us into total relaxation.

Due to urbanization throughout the twentieth century, the park became constricted and the construction of a road divided it into two. Soon, however, the northern and southern parts will again be reunited, heralding a new chapter in the park’s history. 

Vera Kovács and Katharina Theresa Müller (2017)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Vera Kovács and Katharina Theresa Müller (2017)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Vera Kovács and Katharina Theresa Müller (2017)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Vera Kovács and Katharina Theresa Müller (2017)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Vera Kovács and Katharina Theresa Müller (2017)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

L. Sasha Gora (2017)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Vera Kovács and Katharina Theresa Müller (2017)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Vera Kovács and Katharina Theresa Müller (2017)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Vera Kovács and Katharina Theresa Müller (2017)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

L. Sasha Gora (2017)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

_{Visual impressionsof the English Garden collected while doing research for Stimmenspur. Photos: Vera Kovács, Katharina Theresa Müller, and L. Sasha Gora. These works are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.}

STIMMENSPUR ENGLISCHER GARTEN: The Audio Experiment

Map showing the path of the Stimmenspur audio tour. Design by Alfred Küng and Katharina Kuhlmann. Vector data for the map: Bayerische Schlösserverwaltung (Bavarian Administration for Public Castles), Michael Degle.

Map showing the path of the Stimmenspur audio tour. Design by Alfred Küng and Katharina Kuhlmann. Vector data for the map: Bayerische Schlösserverwaltung (Bavarian Administration for Public Castles), Michael Degle.

Design by Alfred Küng and Katharina Kuhlmann. Vector data for the map: Bayerische Schlösserverwaltung [Bavarian Administration for Public Castles], Michael Degle.

This work is used by permission of the copyright holder.

00. Introduction
01. Our Voice, Your Way
02. “Peace in a Cup of Tea”
03. Surfer Paradise
04. “That Looked Good”
05. Beauty of Nature
06. Field Democracy
07. S-C-K-E-L-L
08. “The English Garden is a Paradise”
09. Close Your Eyes and Arrive
10. Sycamore
11. Ash
12. Elm
13. Honey Locust
14. “Without Nature There is Nothing”
15. Mindfulness Path
16. A Break at the Chinesicher Turm
17. The Mysterious Enemy
18. A Bird Oasis at the Kleinhesseloher Lake
19. “Point of No Return”
20. Farewell

Voices from the English Garden

DD Beck – Street musician

“The English Garden has existed for over 250 years. I am just playing my tin guitar next to an old tree, which tells me a story about what it was like 150 years ago.”
All photos are by Vera Kovács and Katharina Theresa Müller. These works are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Thomas Köster – Head of the administration of the English Garden

“I am the landlord. I am the administrator here of all taxpayers. That means that I am personally liable. And that is my biggest problem.”

Michael Degle – Landscape architect, Bayerische Schlösserverwaltung (Bavarian Administration for Public Castles)

“I find that it never appears old; instead, it always seems timeless. Because humans have grown accustomed to these landscapes for many centuries, perhaps for even thousands of years.”

Evelyn Lichtenwald & Sabine Laske – Rumfordschlössl Natur- und Kulturtreff für Kinder und Jugendliche (Rumford Castle Nature and Cultural Association for Children and Youth)

“This luxury to immerse oneself in harmony with nature, it is not given to everyone. Not everyone can obtain it.”
“I love this work. I am simply a nature person; I like to be outside. So an office job would be the last thing for me. And I enjoy showing children the beauty of nature.”

Anette Kolb – Gesellschaft der Freunde des Teeweges in der Bundesrepublick Deutschland e.V. (Society for Friends of the Tea Ceremony in Germany)

“Prepare a cup of tea and arrange the charcoal so that it heats the water. Arrange the flowers in the way that they grow in the field. And in the summer create a sense of cool and in the winter a sense of warmth and security.”

Sandra Reinalter – Yoga teacher

“The goal of yoga is to calm the mind. The complete peace of the mind. What we are doing with these exercises is simply the physical side.”

Curators: Vera Kovács and Katharina Theresa Müller

How to Cite: Kovács, Vera, and Katharina Theresa Müller. “Sound Trail.” In “Ecopolis München,” edited by L. Sasha Gora. Environment & Society Portal, Virtual Exhibitions 2017, no. 2. Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society. http://www.environmentandsociety.org/node/7965.