Westpark, Public park in Sendling-Westpark, Germany
Westpark is a 69-hectare park in Sendling-Westpark, laid out by landscape architect Peter Kluska for the 1983 International Garden Expo and extending about 2.4 km east to west. Garmischer Straße splits it into two halves joined by a wide green footbridge. An artificial pond, the Mollsee, lies in the wooded eastern section, while a red running track with a green infield sits beside low pale buildings at the park's edge.
The site was mostly open wasteland in the 1970s, crossed by the Lindauer Autobahn and bordered by an abandoned gravel works and a disused velodrome. Munich's 1975 development plan proposed a Westpark, and in February 1977 Peter Kluska won the competition with a design modelled on pre-Alpine valleys. The park opened with the International Garden Expo in 1983.
Four of the 23 national gardens from the 1983 International Garden Expo remain. The walled Chinese garden, the first authentic one in Europe, leads around a pond through the four seasons and four stages of life. The Japanese garden was a gift from sister city Sapporo; a Nepali pagoda was carved by 200 master carvers, and a Thai-Sala shelters Germany's first consecrated Gautama Buddha statue.
Westpark is split by Garmischer Straße into an eastern and a western half; a wide, planted footbridge carries pedestrians and cyclists across. The eastern section holds the Mollsee, where model-boat enthusiasts gather, and the Hopfengarten beer garden; the western section has the lake stage, the rose garden and the Wirtshaus am Rosengarten. Paths, playgrounds, sports areas and barbecue spots are spread through both halves.
The park's two lakes are linked by a pumped water system: groundwater is drawn up and fed through the western lake, then flows on through ponds and streams to the eastern Mollsee. A treatment facility cleans the water before it is returned to the circuit. The Mollsee regularly draws model-boat enthusiasts.
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