Herrenhausen Gardens

The Herrenhäuser Gärten lie in the northern edge of Hanover, a short tram ride from the city centre. They began as the pleasure grounds of the Hanoverian electors in the 17th century and now spread across 120 hectares. Four separate gardens share the grounds: the formal Great Garden, the botanical Hill Garden, the English-style Georgen Garden and the Guelf Garden. Each reflects a different moment in landscape design and royal ambition. The Great Garden is one of Europe’s finest Baroque gardens, laid out by Sophia of Hanover and the French gardener Martin Charbonnier. Its centrepiece is the rebuilt Herrenhausen Palace, rebuilt after war damage in 2013. A 260-foot fountain, first planned by Gottfried Leibniz, still shoots water into the air when conditions allow. The garden hosts summer festivals, open-air theatre and a grotto decorated by Niki de Saint Phalle with mosaics of glass and mirrors. Sophia, her husband Ernest Augustus and their son George I are buried in the Hill Garden mausoleum. The Hill Garden started as a kitchen garden and became a botanical showcase. A palm house designed by Georg Ludwig Friedrich Laves once held the largest palm collection in Europe. The garden’s mausoleum, built in the 1840s, shelters the remains of Hanoverian royalty. Mature oaks planted in the 18th century frame the graves, and a later glass-and-steel greenhouse now displays palms and decorative fountains. Together with the adjoining English gardens, the grounds remain a quiet retreat for city dwellers.