Volksgarten, Public park in Neustadt-Süd, Germany

Volksgarten is a 13.9-hectare (34-acre) green space in Neustadt-Süd with an artificial lake and a 28-meter (92-foot) fountain. The park contains wide walking paths, ancient trees, and different zones for relaxation and play.

The park was created between 1887 and 1889 on the site of the Prussian Fort Paul, which was built from 1816 to 1825. Parts of the original fortress structures remain visible within the park today.

The Orangerie began as a munitions magazine built deep into the ground in 1841; its crescent-shaped blast walls are still visible. Glasshouses were later added for use as a greenhouse, and the building served as the first home of the Botanical Institute of the University of Cologne, re-founded in 1919. It now hosts music events, films and theatre performances.

The park lies between Volksgartenstraße and Vorgebirgswall; the wall side is open only to pedestrians and cyclists. Pedal boats are rented at the 1.3-hectare pond, and the city tolerates barbecuing on the meadow. Two playgrounds sit by the rose garden and on Volksgartenstraße.

The park began as Fort Paul, a Prussian fortification built between 1816 and 1825 and named after Grand Duke Paul Friedrich of Mecklenburg. Its main work, with a gate and two round towers, survives beside the rose garden, and the curved blast walls of the 1841 underground ammunition magazine, later the Orangerie, can still be made out.