An idea comes to live

The Lutheran-influenced Reformation spread worldwide.  The upcoming Reformation anniversary celebration will effectively bring out this aspect in the town of Wittenberg.  In preparation for the 500 year Reformation celebration, the Luther Garden will emerge on town grounds through 2017.

The Luther Garden will be an oval garden in which 270 trees from around the entire world will be planted.  It has the shape of an ellipse with a width of 70 meters (7x5x2=70 prime numbers) and the distance between the foci of the ellipse is 95 meters (for the 95 Theses). Preferably, an additional 230 trees will be planted in the area near the town fortification grounds, so that the total trees planted will be 500.  (500 trees stand symbolically for the 500 years of the Reformation, 1517 -2017.)

In the middle of the garden, there will be a special plaza in the shape of the Luther Rose.  Plans are to use polygonal natural stone pavers with grass in between.  In the center of this plaza, there will be a raised cross (raised about 20 inches/50 cm.) which will be covered with travertine flagstones colored to match the surrounding areas.

For the outside edges of the Luther Rose, there will be small granite cobblestones taken from the ground of the former site so that there will be a clear separation from the surrounding area.  The central plaza will be bordered by a hedge of privet.  In the center, 5 linden trees will highlight the image on the plaza.  (The linden is the tree from the village square that stands for community, justice and assembly.)

From here, there are seven paths that symbolically lead one out into the world.  A primary path, lined with a row of linden trees traces a heavenly bow through the garden.  Here, again, the measure of 95 meters is evident (the distance from the center to the edge of the ellipse). Five additional paths lead south toward the Elbe River, symbolically into the world: The row of lindens with the international avenues. Each defines itself with a different species of tree that corresponds to the respective continents and regions of the LWF.  Between the avenues, there will be mixed fruit tree orchards made up of local fruit trees, planted more randomly in contrast to the orderly avenues.  The backbone of the garden will be comprised of the international groves where the tree varieties of the avenues will be mixed to show their array.

The existing area of grass will be developed into a year-long flowering meadow. The surrounding elliptical border will be constructed as a self-binding gravel path. The same materials will be used for the paths ("the heavenly bow", "the international avenues").  The path widths will be between 5 and 8 feet.  The breadth of the upper bow will be about 8 feet.

The existing network of paths on the site will be integrated into the project.  This connects the Luther Garden with the Town Center, especially with the Castle Church and the Town Church.

The entire construction process will be completed in 9 construction phases from 2009 through 2017.
To see how the garden is developing and for further details about the project, see the following links: