Paul Sullivan enjoys one of Berlin’s most memorial-studded parks…

Even by Berlin’s high standards, the Volkspark Friedrichshain stands out as one of the city’s finest green spaces. Established a century-and-a-half ago to commemorate the centennial of Frederick the Great’s accession to the throne, it offers some compelling history, swathes of Liegewiese (sunbathing areas), an abundance of leisure opportunities and more than its fair share of interesting landmarks.

Casually straddling the boroughs of Prenzlauer Berg and Friedrichshain, and within easy walking distance from Mitte, the park takes up an audacious fifty-two hectares, making it the second largest park in Berlin after the sprawling Tiergarten. It was actually the park that gave the Friedrichshain district its name—the oldest parts were laid out in 1846-1848, a good seventy years before the district came into being, constructed on the space of a former vineyard.

One of its most distinctive features—and a good place to begin an exploration—is the westernmost corner, where Am Friedrichshain collides with Friedenstraße. From here, a pleasant narrow lane leads to the park’s splendorous showpiece, the Märchenbrunnen, a neo-baroque fountain designed by Ludwig Hoffmann and built at the turn of the twentieth century.

The structure features 106 stone sculptures including a set of limestone figures inspired by Grimm’s fairy tales, created as a gift for lower class children threatened by typhoid fever and rickets. The fountain, although refurbished, is one of the few elements of the park that survived World War Two.

Thanks to the installation of anti-aircraft towers and bunkers in 1941 by the Nazis, the park was a prime target during the war. Afterwards, the rubble from the park and surrounding areas was collected together into two large hills, known today as the Große Bunkerberg (seventy-eight metres tall—the highest elevation point of al…