Büsingpark - a garden in the heart of the city
With its lush greenery and well-tended flowerbeds, Büsingpark invites you to linger on one of the many park benches. Old memorabilia meets new elements and the close proximity to the stately Büsingpalais makes you feel like you've stepped back in time. Here you can relax in the middle of the city, despite the noise of the cars.
The 2.5-hectare park, which stretches behind the Büsingpalais along Berliner Straße to Kaiserstraße, originally belonged to the estate of the Bernard and d'Orville manufacturing families.
The manor house, today's Büsingpalais, was built around 1775 and the park was laid out in the style of an English landscape garden.
Used as a town hall in the 1920s
The Hamburg merchant Adolf Büsing, a descendant of the d'Orville family, acquired the property in 1890. At the turn of the century, he had the now overgrown park redesigned and from 1899 to 1902 had the manor house converted into a magnificent Baroque-style palace by the architect Wilhelm Manchot.
The park only became accessible to the public when it was acquired by the city of Offenbach and used as a town hall from 1921 and has been known as Büsing Park ever since. The Monopteros, an open circular temple, stands on a small hill at the back. The rococo-style staffage structure was built around 1790 and was probably used as a stage for musical performances.
In 2004, the city had it renovated with financial support from the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments. The false gate on the border to Kaiserstraße was also restored. It was probably built around 1900 - around the same time that the Büsingpalais was given its present form. The gate was probably never intended as an entrance; rather, the remaining supports indicate that there was a bench in the niche from which one could look straight onto the Büsingpalais.
The false door was purchased by Adolf Büsing in 1893 at the World's Fair in New York. Sculptures of men adorn the park The athlete "Golden Man" was erected in 1955, the other sculpture is called "Seated Man". The modern sculpture "Unfolded D" by Californian sculptor Fletcher Benton found a prominent location on the corner of Berliner Strasse and Kaiserstrasse after its relocation from the Puteaux Promenade.
The front area of the Büsingpark facing Berliner Straße is characterized by fountains and water features as well as the Senefelder sculpture erected in 2010.
The generously laid out Sophie-von-La-Roche-Platz is available for various types of events and refers to the neighboring city library. The ground is paved with alternating concrete slabs and grass strips. A water-bound surface next door invites you to play boules. Bird cherry trees form a sparse grove. The large playground right next to it is ideal for families.
The strengthened connection between Büsing Park and Lilipark, which will also extend to the neighboring d'Orville Park in the future, is part of the "City-Park-River" urban development concept. Following the example of the historic Maingärten, the parks are intended to form a gentle transition between the city center and the banks of the Main.
Remembrance of rabbis in Offenbach
Paths in Büsingpark are named after famous Offenbach residents of the Jewish faith: Rabbi Dr. Salomon Formstecher (1808-1889), who was born in Offenbach, is considered one of the pioneers of the reform that fundamentally reshaped Jewish community life in the 19th century.
Regina Jonas, who was murdered in Auschwitz in 1944, was the first woman in the world to be ordained as a rabbi in Offenbach in 1935.
In 2004, when Offenbach celebrated its 50th anniversary as a major city, a birthday party was held in Büsing Park with more than 18,000 candles and the active participation of numerous associations. It was the rediscovery of the park as a venue for cultural events.
Since then, the Festival of Lights has enjoyed growing popularity year after year.
The city's efforts to upgrade Büsing Park were also supported by Energieversorgung Offenbach. It had the transformer house on the corner of Berliner Strasse and Kaiserstrasse designed by professional graffiti artists with portraits of famous personalities from Offenbach's city history: While one of the pictures commemorates Goethe's Offenbach summer of 1775, another illustrates Offenbach's tradition in the field of lettering and shows the owner of the Klingspor type foundry.
Alois Senefelder stands for the invention of lithography, which was used commercially with great success in the Offenbach "Notenfabrique" by Anton Andre from 1799.
