Merheimer Heide
A right-bank Cologne green space born from plans for the Outer Green Belt — meadows, woodland, and a variety of sports facilities.
Merheimer Heide lies on the right bank of the Rhine in Cologne and grew out of Fritz Schumacher's vision of an Outer Green Belt encircling the city. Its open spaces reach into the districts of Buchheim, Holweide, Merheim, and Höhenberg.
Source: Wikipedia
At a Glance
- Type
- Landscape park and local recreation area
- Location
- Right bank of the Rhine; Höhenberg district, Kalk borough
- Original size
- 150 hectares, reduced in the east by residential and motorway development
- Origins
- Resolution passed 1927, park construction carried out over three years from 1929
- Vegetation
- Beech and oak with ash, poplar, birch, and scattered conifers
- Uses
- Equestrian club, multiple sports facilities, off-lead dog area
- Heritage status
- Listed monument in North Rhine-Westphalia
The Merheimer Heide was developed from 1927 on a former Prussian military drill ground – and was prepared by so-called 'emergency workers' (unemployed people during the Weimar Republic), with plans to transform an exhausted gravel pit into a pond with a café.
Area comparison
Area compared with other Cologne parks and green spaces.
History
It was only towards the end of the 1920s that concrete plans emerged to give the eastern districts a green space comparable to the left-bank Outer Green Belt. On 29 December 1927, city councillors voted to convert a former Prussian military drill ground into a landscape park, entrusting the design to garden engineer and building director Theodor Nußbaum. The site was laid out by relief workers, with allotment gardens making up much of the early provision.
The Original Concept
The plan called for allotments to frame the park to the northwest and northeast, alongside public meadows and play areas. A worked-out gravel pit was to become a pond with a café beside it. Where a fortification had once stood, Nußbaum envisioned an open-air sunbathing and exercise facility in the spirit of Fritz Encke's FreiLuGa in Cologne-Müngersdorf, complemented by a rustic inn.
Layout and Setting
The main section of the park stretches west of the A3/A4 motorway interchange, bounded by the tram line 1 to the south and Frankfurter Straße to the west. In the north the park extends along Schlagbaumsweg past the Cologne-East interchange; east of the motorway a footbridge south of the junction provides access. An equestrian club has established itself in the northern part on the site of a former Prussian outwork, set amid meadows that include a cross-country course for eventing.
Today
The southern section is dominated by open meadows, only partially shielded from the noise of the sunken motorway by a belt of scrub; narrow strips of older woodland run along the western edge. In January 2018 Storm Friederike toppled several old poplars and conifers; in 2020 the city sowed wildflowers in the northern part of this zone to support pollinators. Between the woodland and Frankfurter Straße a series of sports facilities lines up — tennis courts, a shooting club, and football clubs among them. Dogs are permitted off the lead in a dedicated area; elsewhere in Merheimer Heide leads are required.
Timeline
- 1927City council resolves on 29 December to turn Merheimer Heide into a landscape park
- 1929Start of the three-year construction works on the park
- 2018Storm "Friederike" uproots numerous old poplars and conifers in January
- 2020City of Cologne creates wildflower beds to promote insect diversity
Map
Blue dots: other places nearby — tap to explore.
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Auto-generated, last verified: 2026-06-26