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Klein Flottbek – Jenisch Park, Teufelsbrück and Botanical Garden

Photo Album

• Klein Flottbek

Official Website

• Jenischpark Verein [www.jenischparkverein.de]
• Botanischer Garten [www.bghamburg.de]

How to get there?

Jenisch Park:
Baron-Voght-Straße 50
22609 Hamburg

Teufelsbrück:
Fähranleger Teufelsbrück
22609 Hamburg

Botanical Garden:
Ohnhorststraße 18
22609 Hamburg

Opening Times

Botanical Garden:
Daily from 9 am till dawn.
The admission is free.

Gastro Tip

The snack bar “Lucifer” on the pontoon bridge Teufelsbrück offers delicious grilled sausage with French fries. Don’t fail to try it.

The district Klein Flottbek – in the west of Hamburg – offers some nice destinations, which I’d like to reveal to you.

Jenisch Park

[23 May 2003] — One of my favourite parks in Hamburg is the Jenisch Park. It is situated close to the Elbe banks and attracts many visitors in nice weather. Its vast lawns with the put up solar chairs really invite to relax in the sun. I like to go there for a walk quite often. And as the weather is particularly nice this afternoon, I am on my way to the park – with my camera in my pocket. It is one of the first warm days of the year. The trees and bushes blossom colourfully and a delightful smell of flowers lies in the air.

The Jenisch Park is one part of a country seat founded at the end of the 18th century by Caspar Voght. In 1785 Voght started to create a spacious land ownership by purchasing several farms. His property was composed of three estates, the Parc du Nord, Parc de l’Est and the Parc de Midi (called Jenisch Park today). In 1828 Voght sold his land ownership to his friend Senator Martin Johann Jenisch. After World War I Altona’s mayor Max Brauer leased the Jenisch Park for public use.

A small brook, the Flottbek, flows idyllically through the green and into the Elbe river at the park’s end. The Flottbektal (Flottbek Valley) is one of the last existing tidal influenced meadows in Hamburg. This rare and endangered biotope houses plants and animals that are classified as protected species and is thus protected likewise.

Those who are interested in culture find even two museums in the Jenisch Park. The Jenisch House, in the middle of the park, is a museum of bourgeois home décor. It exhibits furniture of the time between the late Renaissance and the Jugendstil. Some objects and pieces of furniture are descended from the family property of the Jenischs.

The Ernst Barlach House at the north edge of the park shows works of the German expressionist sculptor Ernst Barlach (1870 – 1938).

Teufelsbrück

If you cross the avenue Elbchaussee at the south end of the Jenisch Park you reach the Elbe banks at Teufelsbrück landing place. Like the park Teufelsbrück is a worthwhile and popular destination for a walk in the west of Hamburg. A miles long promenade stretches at this part of the banks, lined with cafés and bistros every now and then. In nice weather additional seats were put up outwards.

Also on the small pier and on the pontoon at Teufelsbrück landing place you find nice restaurants and pubs to have a drink or to enjoy a hanseatic meal spiced with the fantastic view on the Elbe river. Sitting outside in the sun with a glass of tasty wine or beer while watching the passing ships, is probably a wild affair – not only for Hamburgers. It goes without saying that you should pocket some extra money if you like to stop off at this site.

The landmark of Teufelsbrück is a devil’s sculpture. Unfortunately the sculpture seems to have a fascinating attraction to rogues. Thus the sculpture has been damaged or even stolen five times since its erection and to be substituted with a new one.

Maybe someone or other interested reader asks himself, why this little spot at the river has such an unusual name (Teufelsbrück means devil’s bridge). What did the devil seek for at this place? I have gone to the bottom of this question and pursued some kind of research. There are many stories about the origin of the name “Teufelsbrück”. Thus I could read in a guide book that the name goes back to the farmer Düwel (devil) who ran a tree nursery at this place. The question is: what should have been so exceptional in this farmer that one erected a monument to him? I found a more interesting story in free encyclopaedia Wikipedia:

Where today the Elbchaussee crosses the Flottbek brook, carts had accidents over and over again. One supposed that the devil had a finger in the pie. As a result a carpenter was asked to build a bridge across the brook. The carpenter enlisted the help of the devil to construct the bridge and promised him the soul of the first living being that would cross the bridge in return. After the priest had blessed the bridge on the day of the inauguration he wanted to set foot on the bride. However a hare, startled by the crowd, ran as the first living being aross the bridge. Still today a small statue reminds of the devil that broods, with the hare in his hand, how this could happen to him – as he was looking forward to getting the soul of the priest!

Botanical Garden

Last but not least there is another nice destination in Klein Flottbek, namely the Botanical Garden of the University of Hamburg. If you take the street Baron-Voght-Straße from Teufelsbrück northwards you reach the garden after a small walk in the Ohnhorstraße (directly opposite to the suburban railway station Klein Flottbek). Founded in 1821, it is one of the oldest public institutions of the city. Since 1919 the garden has been affiliated to the University and thus has been primarily used for academic teaching and researches.

The about 25 hectare (62 acres) open area is made up of three sections: the plant system, the plant geography and the section of plant and human. The whole arrangement has been created very nicely with a small pont in the middle of the park and numerous benches that invite for staying. The Japanese part of the garden with its pavilion is especially nice.