27-Jun-2004

"Himmelgartentor" re-established again - restored after smashing


"Himmelgartenportal" re-established
(translated article taken from the newspaper "Der Bote für Nürnberg-Land", 29-Jun-2004)

"Himmelgartenportal" (portal to heaven's garden) re-established. Last weekend, the 17th century portal of the baroque garden in Grünsberg has been ceremonially reinaugurated.
As reported, in 1999 the portal collapsed due to construction work going on in the garden, when the company "Anubis Tierbestattungen" had establish its cemetary. In the occasion of the inauguration mayor Rainer Pohl thanked Roland Merker, the founder of Anubis, who after the mishap five years ago had to put substantial company funds into the restoration of the destroyed gate. His thanks also went to Rotraut Stromer-Baumbauer, who is involved with the preservation of Grünsberg Castle. At that time, "Landesamt für Denkmalpflege" together with "Landratsamt" had urged the re-establishment of the portal. The stone mason Andreas Vestner from Altdorf restored the gate in close coordination with "Landesamt für Denkmalpflege". For this purpose a detailed plan existed on how to reassemble the fragments and which materials were appropriate for the repair. The Munich "Denkmalschutzbehörde" had proposed Merker a bunch of Bavarian stone masons for performing the work. The Anubis boss then decided to take Andreas Vestner being a local craftsman. Already his grandfather and granduncle had dealt with "Himmelgartenportal". This occurred 54 years ago. At that time, the gate had to be moved because of street construction work. In 1999, when the gate collapsed, Merker promised to celebrate the re-establishment with a big festival. Now he redeemed this promise.
Besides mayor Rainer Pohl, various town councillors, Rotraut Stromer-Baumbauer from "Stromer’sche Kulturgut-, Denkmal- und Naturstiftung" and many guests followed the invitation for the inauguration. In 1997, Roland Merker together with Professor Wolfgang von Stromer had stopped the decay of the historic garden. Professor Wolfgang von Stromer meanwhile faded away.

Himmelgartentor At that time, under taking account of monument protection principles, one had renovated the terraces of "Himmelgarten". The garden was cultivated and the historic wayside cross was reconstructed based on elaborate excavations. Since the completion of the facility in October 2000 pets are buried in "Himmelgarten". In the occasion of the inauguration Rotraut Stromer-Baumbauer talked about "a terrific day of rejoicing". She thanked the town of Altdorf for the good cooperation and expressed her hope for a traffic calming for Grünsberg to be achieved by the implementation of a traffic refuge at the entry of the village when coming from Pattenhofen. The traffic calming shall not be prevented by real estate negotions: the trust is the owner of the land right and left to the road. "We would like that the re-established "Himmelgarten" will not be damaged by the car traffic", says Rotraut Stromer-Baumbauer, who receives applause for her proposal of calming the traffic.
The celebration of inauguration was musically framed by the Golden Gospel Choir lead by Oliver Schott. The guests had the opportunity of patricipating tours through the castle guided by Rotraut Stromer-Baumbauer.


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