The Oranienpark: Oranians in Bad Kreuznach In the two-hectare Oranienpark between Roseninsel (Rose Island) and Kurpark, we are on ground steeped in history. The Augustinian convent of St. Peter marked the beginning of the settlement after 1180. The monastic property developed into an extensive estate with its own spring - today the street "Kuhtränke". After the Reformation, the Electors of the Palatinate dissolved the monastery and took over the neglected estate. A Count Palatine then moved to Kreuznach in 1666 with his wife Maria von Nassau Oranien. The prince gave the monastery property to his wife after his death (1673). She acquired meadows and 20 dairy cows and built a milking parlour in memory of her Dutch homeland. She has bequeathed the name of the Oranians to the estate ever since. Oranienpark acquired a whole new status in the form of a magnificent luxurious hotel with the age of the spa from 1830. The Oranienhof Hotel had the luxury of its own brine spring, the 'Oranienquelle' on today's 'Roseninsel'. Brine water was piped exclusively into the hotel. The tower, which still exists today, served as a brine reservoir. Noblemen and wealthy bourgeoisie took the cure here. In 1895, Marcel Proust spent a few weeks in Bad Kreuznach with his mother. During World War I, Paul von Hindenburg resided here for a time in the Great Headquarters and after the war French occupation soldiers moved in. In 1929, the hotel was demolished with the exception of an outbuilding, which today houses a restaurant. The site, which originally sloped down to the Nahe River, was terraced and transformed into a park with winding paths, 120 large-crowned trees, a water basin and a pergola arcade. A popular miniature golf course has been established on a lawn since1958. The rectangle in the middle is accentuated by a pergola arcade planted with roses and wisteria and a water basin in the middle, around which there are planting beds with rose varieties of varying colours from light pink to white, yellow, red-orange and dark red. The splendour of the blossoms in the sunny months is followed in autumn by the colours and shapes of the fruits of the small shrubs and in winter by the noble silver-greys such as saints' wort, noble rue, dwarf silver rue, hornwort, globe thistle or lavender, to name but a few. The sculptures "Floating Goddess" and the bull created as part of a memorial for the war of 1870/71 by Hugo Cauer (1864-1914) set artistic accents. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
