The squares in the Kurpark offer the opportunity to enjoy nature and let your thoughts run free at any time of year. The monuments commemorate events of important personalities from Wiesbaden's history.
Places
Nizza cookies
The Nizza square is located directly at the main entrance. Framed by the Kurhaus columns, it is the entrance to the Kurpark.
The flowerbed on the Nizzaplätzchen was designed to be spatially aligned with the Muschelsaal, so that you could open the hall doors and stroll directly out to the Nizzaplätzchen with its adjoining spa gardens.
Today, the flowerbed is planted with seasonal flowers depending on the time of year. Framed between the columns of the old Kurhaus and the bust of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, it is a lovely place to linger.
Ice cellar hill
The ice cellar hill was created before the spa park was built. It was only later integrated into the spa park.
In the past, when there were no electric fridges, people cooled their food with natural ice sticks or plates. These were stored in the ice cellars for up to a year. Ice cellars are fully or partially underground structures that were often attached to castles and other stately buildings. The ice was brought into the kitchen in the cool air of the early morning hours. It was physically hard work to remove the ice blocks from the ice and then transport them to the ice cellar mounds.
Small ice cellars were still being built at the beginning of the 20th century and were used until the 1950s. The underground ice cellar predates the Kurpark (before 1808). When the spa park was enlarged, the ice cellar hill was included in the park area. Today, the ice cellar is no longer open to the public.
The concert shell was also built when the new Kurhaus was constructed. The listed building can accommodate an orchestra of up to 60 musicians. The concert area in front of the concert shell offers up to 3,200 seats from which guests can watch the concerts. Between the old trees, there is a wonderful view over the pond into the spa gardens.
Small concert terrace
The small concert terrace offers a wonderful view of the concert square, the concert shell and the adjacent pond.
The terrace is ideally located on the Kurparkweiher pond, with the best view of the early 20th century concert shell and the Kurpark, which is laid out in the style of an English landscape garden.
Just in time for the wedding and open-air concert season, the small concert terrace on the Kurpark's concert square was reopened in May 2016 following extensive repairs.
The terrace, which measures over 100 square meters in total, can be used for a variety of event formats: Weddings or wedding receptions, customer events and receptions as part of concerts. The terrace can accommodate up to 150 people for a reception.
Monuments
Ferdinand Hey'l Monument
A marble bust was erected in the spa gardens in honor of Wiesbaden's first spa director, Ferdinand Hey'l.
The spa facilities were transferred from Prussia to the city of Wiesbaden in 1873. Ferdinand Hey'l (1830-1897), a local councillor at the time, was thus appointed the first spa director. The former actor and writer turned the spa town into one of the leading spas of its time.
The largest monument in the Kurpark to date was dedicated to the writer Gustav Freytag, who spent the last years of his life in Wiesbaden.
As the writer Gustav Freytag (1816-1895) spent the last years of his life in Wiesbaden, a monument was erected in his honor in the Kurpark in 1905. The monument by sculptor Fritz Schaper and court architect Felix Genzmer is the largest monument in the Kurpark. According to tradition, he is said to have passed this spot on his frequent trips to the Sonnenberg Stickelmühle.
In 1965, the seated youth playing the flute was donated by Werner Pollack from Wiesbaden.
Werner Pollack (1886-1979) from Wiesbaden donated the bronze sculpture "The Flute Player" in 1965. The seated youth playing the flute was created by Walter Wadephul (1901-1968).
Fish figure in the pond
The cast-iron sculpture in the middle of the pond dates back to 1950 and was designed by Erwin Schutzbach.
The cast-iron sculpture dates from 1950 and was designed by Erwin Schutzbach. Its original location was the old water basin on the ice cellar hill. After the basin was dissolved, the fish sculpture took its current place in the pond.