Herrenhausen Gardens

Sophia of Hanover developed the Grosser Garten between 1676 and 1714 and it survives largely as she left it, one of the few major baroque gardens in Europe not remodelled in the English style later; the layout, hedges, parterres and garden theatre are essentially the original design. The Great Fountain, built with technical help sought from across Europe, throws water to about eighty metres and was the highest in a garden of its time. The philosopher Leibniz was Sophia's correspondent and librarian in Hanover. The palace was destroyed in 1943 and rebuilt in 2013 as a conference centre and museum behind a reconstructed facade.

What you actually see

• The unchanged baroque plan - a garden essentially as laid out by 1714.
• The Great Fountain - a jet reaching about eighty metres, on a schedule.
• The garden theatre - a hedged open-air stage with gilded figures.
• The rebuilt palace - a 2013 reconstruction behind the original facade line.

When to go

April to October; the fountain runs at published times, not continuously. Illuminated evenings and a fireworks competition run through summer. Winter is bare.

Honest expectations

The fountain operates only at set hours. The palace is a 2013 reconstruction, not original. The garden is formal and bare outside the growing season.

Nearby

Marienburg castle lies south; Hanover's centre is east.