The government of Japan engaged the president of the Japanese landscape gardeners association, Dr. Akira Sato, to create a Japanese garden as a present and a contribution to the Federal Horticultural Show in 1979.

An impressive monument of Japanes horticultural art was created whose fascination has remained unchanged. Nature and harmony characterise the overall composition of the garden that is dominated by two water cascades, a small lake and a thirteen stage pagoda.

The great art of growing small trees is on exhibit annually at Whitsun (Saturday to Monday). The Bonsai-team Bonn organises a show of manifold exhibits of miniature trees within the precinct of this precious garden.

The apiary was completely destroyed by a devastating fire in 2001; it has been reconstructed and been put into service again by the Bonner Bienenzuchtverein e.V (beekeeping club Bonn) in May 2003.

Bee colonies have moved in and now feel at home in their new apiary in the Rheinauen Park. Since the Federal Horticultural Exhibition in 1979, the apiary has not only informed about how to make honey and wax but has also demonstrated the importance of beekeeping in horticulture.

50 to 70 classes per year will now again have the opportunity to hike across the Rheinauen Park in order to learn in practical lessons about natural honey-making and the life of bees. Beekeepers can study in workshops how to increase bee colonies by raising queen bees.

 
Contact: Bonner Bienenzuchtverein 1867 e.V., phone 0228 - 24 01 56 41,  www.bonner-bienenzuchtverein.de (opens in a new tab)

Three special sights of the Park are close to each other:

The waters plunge over the spectacular cascade several meters down into the Rheinaue lake. The design of the cascade corresponds to the architectural style that was typical of Bonn and Bad Godesberg arount the turn of the 19th century. Visitors can cross the water on steps at the foot of the fall.

Up from the cascade and next to the so-called Spoon Forest there is a row of ancient tombstones from the Roman era. 26 cast copies of Roman tombstones and altars found in the Rhineland are shown at this Roman street.

Bonn´s citizens love to stroll in the Rheinaue Leisure Park, specially because of the flowers and their scent.

The Garden of the Blind is 2,000 square meters in size and was inaugurated in 1983 to enable also blind persons to enjoy the flora of the park. There is a bronze slab near the entrance with a map giving an overview on the entire garden. Of course, inscriptions are also in braille, as are the explanations of the names of the plats, eg. thyme, peony, carnation, rosemary.

Touching the plants is explicitly encouraged.

One of the main attractions of the park is the lake with a 15 hectare surface and six pontoon bridges. The island in the middle of the lake has been conceived as a bird protection zone.

In the northern part of the lake, you can hire pedal or rowing boats for an amusing boat trip. It is even possible to learn there how to operate a motorboat or a sailing boat correctly and you can get all official sport boat certificates. For more information call
0228 - 23 31 32.

There are always many ‘shipwrights’ on the lakeside, who launch their lovingly created model boats.

The annual "Tree of the Year” has been planted in Bonn ever since 1989. So the idea came up on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the park to plant all Trees of the Year in one central place in the Rheinaue Park.

A marked track leads along the trees.

J. Sterling Morton who came as a pioneer to the tree-bare landscapes of North America was the first to propose a holiday to plant trees. On January 4, 1872, he suggested an "Arbor Day” which was celebrated for the first time on April 10, 1872. The Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations issued a recommendation on November 27, 1951, to celebrate a World Day of the Tree. Federal President Theodor Heuss planted a maple tree in the Hofgarten Green in Bonn on April 25, 1952, thus determining the date of the annual "Day of the Tree”.

In 1968, a first expert report was made about ways of developing the Rheinaue, an area between Bonn, Beuel and Bad Godesberg, at that time still autonomous municipalities. A nation-wide competition was held for conceptual propositions in 1970. The first and second prize-winners were invited to submit preliminary blueprints.
The "spiritual father” of the park, Gottfried Hansjakob, had a spacious modelling of the terrain in mind with a gentle transition from the landscape part to the built-up urban areas. For this purpose the park was split in three zones: the strip of flood plain along the bank of the Rhine, a zone with clusters of trees and a mixed area with vantage points in the transition zone towards the city.
A novelty in the execution of the biggest landscaping project of its time in the Federal Republic was the absence of fences in order to enable the citizens to use the recreation area from the very beginning. The 15 hectare lake in the flood-plain zone was equipped with bitumen and an insulated wall to prevent its water level from adjusting to that of the Rhine.

The Rheinaue Leisure Park was completed on time for the Federal Horticultural Show 1979. After that event of 178 days´ duration, the park was handed over as a recreation area to the Bonners and their guests. Bonn´s green heart with its surface of 160 hectares (of which 35 hectares on the right bank of the Rhine) is almost the size of downtown Bonn.