Volkspark Friedrichshain, Berlin

Volkspark Friedrichshain is a large urban park, and its most striking feature is that two wooded hills here were made from the ruins of wartime Berlin. The larger hill, Mont Klamott, reaches 78 metres, while the smaller rises to 68 metres; both have viewing platforms. After the war, more than two million cubic metres of rubble were used to create them, following a design by Reinhold Lingner.

The park itself began in 1846 as Berlin’s first municipal green space, laid out from plans by Gustav Meyer. Its best-known surviving artwork is the Märchenbrunnen, completed in 1913 after twelve years of construction. Ludwig Hoffmann designed the fountain, and Ignatius Taschner created ten groups of figures drawn from the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm.

Altogether, the fountain contains 106 stone sculptures. Look for the fountain’s carved figures and the park’s broad paths, lawns, sports areas, and open-air theatre. The theatre dates from 1950.

At the park’s western edge, a six-metre bronze figure commemorates the German volunteers who served in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War. The park’s architects include Gustav Meyer and Reinhold Lingner, linking its landscaped origins with its remarkable reconstruction from rubble.