A gem of a park in Sittard has been completely renovated. The fallen mad Wilg was allowed to remain happy after a public action

In many parks it is blown on sun -drenched spring days. Not in the Stadspark in Sittard. The joggers, the dog walkers, the youngsters and the conversing older gentlemen on a bench: they are there, but the numbers are modest. And where a good proportion of the inhabitants of the Limburg city ignore these eighteen hectares of greenery, hardly anyone knows that this is the only park in the Netherlands in addition to the Amsterdam Vondelpark with the status of national monument.

With the planting of almost three thousand special aquatic plants, this spring, the renovation of the Stadspark is gradually coming to an end. The work started in 2014. The delivery was planned for 2021, exactly one hundred years after the start of the original construction. But that was not achieved.

Only tons for the renovation came from the empire. National monument are no large pots opens

Dirk Tersteeg once designed the park, which winds itself through Sittard like a green snake. The former tree nurser (1876-1942) was a much sought after garden and landscape architect. He drew the plans for the greenery in cities and around country houses, including that of industrial Gerard Philips in Eindhoven.

Tersteeg’s name and approach helped the Sittard city park in 2000 to the status of national monument. In his design, the landscape architect took good account of the original height differences. Different parts of the park breathe their own atmosphere. “Tersteeg sought new” rooms, “Kees Blankers explains. He was project manager at the municipality two years ago until his retirement. “Tersteeg connects those rooms with each other and with surrounding neighborhoods through beautiful sight lines.”

Mirror pond

The recognition as a national monument came because the city park remained fairly in its original state over the years. The renovation of recent years put that in order even further. Blankers: “Tersteeg worked a lot with symmetry. If he placed so many specimens of a certain tree species on one side, mirrored exactly the same amount came on the other side.”

Other elements, such as the extensive flower beds from Tersteeg, have not returned in the current park. The maintenance would require too much from the municipality. Numerous rhododendrons ensure other flowering power in the spring.

The plan to still realize the non -realized Spiegelvijver from Tersteegs to realize original design also died. “Unfortunately too expensive,” says alderman Leon Geilen (GOB, public space). The municipality invested seven million in the renovation of Park and the surrounding area. Other parties, such as the province, contributed one and a half million. In the meantime, the Limburg Water Board De Geleenbeek and Molenbeek, who walk through the park, tackled on a large scale. Geilen: “Only tons for the renovation came from the government. Its national monument does not open large pots. It mainly means recognition and the duty to submit plans in advance to the National Service for Cultural Heritage.”

Sentence sentence

Oak and a hornbeam of a century old are still proudly standing in the Stadspark. Rare Geelhout has been replaced before. Other trees died, because of the redesign but mainly because they were ‘on’. That was against the sore leg of many Sittardenaren. Carolien Leers, who lives close to the city park, saw the white crosses stand on trees in 2020 as a sign of a soon death sentence. “I thought: saving them all will not work anymore, but one maybe.”

Leers’ choice fell on a fallen mourning willow on the corner of the rowing pond. “Pretty the first tree that I see, when I see the city park. My children played there. There are hearts in that tree. There are often wedding photos made. I started an action on Facebook where thousands of responses came in no time. Not much later the alderman called.”

The originally swampy terrain of the town park has dried over over the years, among other things due to groundwater consumption of a nearby milk factory

The tree remained. With his former crown, he turned out to be carrots in the bottom of the pond and therefore strong enough for preservation. The weeping willow initially had to give way to a embankment around the water. It now runs past water at the tree.

The originally swampy terrain of the Stadspark has dried over over the years, among other things due to groundwater use of a nearby milk factory. Climate change will cause more extremes in the coming years. During the major summer flow of 2021, a newly landscaped bypass from the Geleenbeek opened openly and helped away parts of Sittard keep dry.

Swimming pool years

A festive delivery of the renovated park is not yet planned. Coincidentally, the nostalgically tinted performance Swimming pool years Planned, a representation of the Theater Company the Lowland, operating from Sittard, which can be seen in June and July. It is loosely based on collected memories of the open -air swimming pool that was in the middle of the park between 1933 and 1985.

The script of Swimming pool years Was written by renowned (child) book writer Benny Lindelauf, who spent many hours there as a child. He says: “It is a very nice place. Many stories that I appear. They are going to swim about separate swimming – for faith reasons – from men and women in the early years, bags of chips, wet kisses and the near milk factory opened a wrong slider and did not run hot water to the pool but milk and chocolate milk.”

Where buildings of historical importance can be recognized in the well -known blue -white monument shield, the city park is hardly marked. Geilen: “There is a sign at one entrance, but it is. Many people do not know that it is a national monument. We will be better out for the future in the near future.”

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