BUGA 2023 in Mannheim Opens Today

After 1907 and 1975, for the third time the German garden show will be held in Mannheim this year. Starting today, April 14, visitors can look forward to over 5,000 events as well as a variety of attractions and exhibitions until October 8. BUGA 2023 will take place on two city park sites, Luisenpark and Spinelli Park. For this major event, the conversion area around the former Spinelli barracks was unsealed and developed into a garden show area. Of the total 82 hectares, 62 hectares were transformed into a park. It forms the central part of the green corridor northeast, which connects the event site with Mannheim’s city center via 220 hectares of intervening green spaces. Visitors can travel back and forth from Luisen Park to Spinelli Park and vice versa within eight minutes thanks to a cable car from Doppelmayr with 55 gondolas.

© ©BUGA 23 Daniel Lukac The garden show was designed with the four guiding themes of climate, environment, energy and food security in mind. Together with the team of the Bundesgartenschau Mannheim, the renowned creative agency Northern Light from the Netherlands developed an exhibition concept for the BUGA. In the traditional Luisenpark, visitors will find a new building complex in organic shapes that expands the visitor area by around 3,000 square meters and offers a walk-in underwater world, a newly designed “South America House” and various gastronomic offerings. A new 1,300-square-meter free-flight aviary is about three times larger than the previous one and thus offers better conditions for the birds that live there. The 30 Humboldt penguins in Luisenpark have also been given a new enclosure, which can also be seen from the Gondoletta boats on the lake. The company of KaGo & Hammerschmidt created nature identical rock landscapes for the animal enclosures.

© ©BUGA 23 Carina Drexler In Spinelli Park, guests will find the new “Climate Park”, a local recreation area that will continue to be an attractive amenity for Mannheim residents after the BUGA. In the “Inventors Park”, which connects the Climate Park with a newly developed housing estate, visitors can let off steam in a play and adventure park inspired by great Mannheim inventions such as the tractor, car, airship and elevator. A climbing facility, a new water playground and a calishenics sports facility offer exercise opportunities for young and old. In addition, all play facilities are barrier-free accessible. Since Mannheim is the UNESCO City of Music, an interactive play station with acoustic elements was created. In the outdoor area, along the path structures of the former barracks, visitors can expect exhibitions on the above-mentioned guiding themes of the event. Among others, the chemical company BASF will be represented here with an interactive exhibition and an outdoor area in cooperation with John Deere, as well as with experimentation and career orientation offers for students and families.

© ©BUGA 23 Daniel Lukac With the aforementioned attractions, 19 flower hall shows, seas of blossoms, concerts, sports courses, workshops and a specially written Joy Fleming musical, BUGA 2023 in Mannheim offers a diverse range of offerings with something for all ages. This year, 2.1 million visitors are expected – 50,000 season tickets have already been sold in advance. (eap)