Park Nells Ländchen

In the 18th century, anyone who wanted to create a high-profile garden had to choose between two extremes: The French variety, in which nature was trimmed, tamed, arranged and transformed into geometric shapes, and the English variety, where the intention was for visitors to stroll through the garden as if in a painting, and feel like nature had created the landscape all on its own.

Johann Nikolaus Nell, canon at the St Paulin Monastery was a fan of the latter. In 1792/93, he bought a 95,000-sq-m block north of the city, and spent many years toiling away at creating a garden which, once completed in 1801, is said to have even sent Napoleon into raptures. So captivated was he, that he allegedly sent Trier landscape gardener Jakob Gotthard, who had actively implemented Nell’s plans, a French dinner set.

Today, 'Nells Ländchen' is the largest public park in Trier – a place where winding paths snake past mighty trees, rhododendron bushes, a pond, and a rose garden containing some 400 varieties. At the end is the manor built in 1861, and which is today a hotel. An obelisk continues to act as a memorial to the park’s founder.