Körnerpark

Koernerpark in Berlin-Neukoelln is a roughly 2.4-hectare green space that opens four metres below street level like a sunken palace garden. Laid out between 1912 and 1916 on a former gravel pit owned by entrepreneur Franz Koerner, who donated the land to the city on the condition that it bear his name, the park was deliberately designed as a baroque counterpoint to the surrounding tenement blocks. Water cascades, balustrades and symmetrical beds lead to the Orangerie, which today houses a cafe and rotating exhibitions. In summer, concerts and theatre performances fill the forecourt. The park is a quiet contrast to the noisy Karl-Marx-Strasse two blocks away.