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Isn’t it romantic here? The rose garden is at its most beautiful in the morning or evening. Then you can enjoy the roses in peace and quiet and their sweet fragrance when they are in bloom. The garden was donated by the German-American coffee king Hermann Sielcken, a great patron and honorary citizen of Baden-Baden, and opened to the public in 1909. It is named after the former mayor Albert Gönner!
The imposing Art Nouveau fountain was designed by the Munich sculptor Joseph Flossmann. The donor named the fountain after his wife Josephine, just like the bridge, the Josephinenbrücke.
The entire complex was designed by Max Laeuger. He was the founder of the Deutscher Werkbund and Professor of Garden Art and Urban Design at the Karlsruhe School of Art. Even as a student, he wrote about the similarities between architecture and garden planning: “In both cases, they are spaces – the only difference being that here the ceiling is made of sky, the walls of hedges or trees, the ground of flowers or grass, while there the ceiling, walls and ground are made of stone or wood.”
The rose garden was replanted after the Second World War. Today, more than 25,000 specimens of over 400 rose varieties grow here. Together with the rose novelty garden on the Beutig, of which there are only two dozen in the world, the Gönner complex is one of the international elite of rose gardens and rosaria.
An annual rose novelty competition has been held in Baden-Baden since 1952. Rose lovers from all over the world travel to the event. One particularly prominent rose lover was Konrad Adenauer. He took over the patronage of the rose shows here in the Gönneranlage.
A rose variety was even named after him – a noble rose with intensely dark red flowers that exude an intoxicating fragrance. Just take a look at the many illustrious names of the noble plants…
