Naturbauten Park – Nentershausen, Germany - Atlas Obscura
THE GASTRO OBSCURA BOOK An eye-opening journey through the history, culture, and places of the culinary world. Just released! The Gastro Obscura book is here! Order Now
What's near me?

Naturbauten Park

Nentershausen, Germany

At this unusual park, domes, ladders, chairs, and more are made from trees.  

View all photos
The Ash House. Courtesy of Konstantin Kirsch (Used with permission)
The Ash House. Courtesy of Konstantin Kirsch (Used with permission)
The Ash House. Courtesy of Konstantin Kirsch (Used with permission)
Chairs growing in place. Courtesy of Konstantin Kirsch (Used with permission)
The Linden Dome. Courtesy of Konstantin Kirsch (Used with permission)
A wall grown from trees. Courtesy of Konstantin Kirsch (Used with permission)
A detail of the Ash House wall. Courtesy of Konstantin Kirsch (Used with permission)
9
253
Top Places in Germany
The Mummy of Knight Kahlbutz
Neustadt, Germany
The Prinzhorn Collection
Heidelberg, Germany
Mengenlehreuhr
Berlin, Germany
 See All

Almost three decades ago Konstantin Kirsch started experimenting with shaping trees into sculptures and structures.

Inspired by the work of Arthur Wiechula, a German visionary who imagined elaborate buildings made from trees, Kirsch started planting domes with walls made of grafted saplings, cross-hatched together.

Today, Kirsch’s Naturbauten park has domes made of linden, ash, hazel, beech, willow, and other trees. He has experimented with training trees to become ladders, tool handles, and chairs.

Some of these projects are impressive in scale: The Ash House began with 1,300 trees and was designed to have five rooms and a bathroom circling an interior court.

Know Before You Go

There are guided tours on the first Sunday of the month, from May to October, at 3:00 p.m. Visitors are welcome at other times, but you must call or email ahead. In either case, there's a strongly suggested donation.

Atlas Obscura Trips

Hidden Berlin: Exploring the City’s Abandoned and Underground Spaces

Book Now
trees parks plants architectural oddities architecture
Nearby
Wartburg Castle
16.66 miles
GRIMMWELT Kassel (Grimm World Kassel)
28.90 miles
Walter De Maria's Vertical Earth Kilometer
28.91 miles
Want to see fewer ads? Become a Member.
Near This Place
Eisenach, Germany

Wartburg Castle

The castle where Martin Luther secretly translated the New Testament from Greek to German while in hiding.
Kassel, Germany

GRIMMWELT Kassel (Grimm World Kassel)

A modern museum dedicated to the fairytales and dictionary work of the Brothers Grimm.
Kassel, Germany

Walter De Maria's Vertical Earth Kilometer

A two-inch thick solid brass rod that extends an astounding one kilometer straight into the earth.
Kassel, Germany

Museum of Sepulchral Culture

This German museum is devoted to all aspects of grave culture from headstones to coffins.
Related Places
Barry's Bay, Ontario

Crooked Slide Park

Inside this park, an engineering marvel from the early 20th-century still stands.
Alnwick, England

The Treehouse Restaurant at Alnwick Gardens

This giant wooden treehouse within a sprawling garden has its own eatery.
Three Rivers, California

Tharp’s Log

A 19th-century cabin built into a hollowed-out Sequoia tree.
Montreal, Québec

St. Patrick's Basilica

Its columns were all carved from the same white oak tree.
Appears in 1 List
List

The Many Ways to Shape a Tree

See the astonishing ways people around the world have trained trees to grow.
Sarah Laskow December 13, 2017
Want to see fewer ads? Become a Member.
From Around the Web