1999: According to the idea of André Heller, a magical park was to be created as part of the city project “Bochum Innenstadt West.” An official pamphlet said: “ANIMA – a quiet place of meditative power that consciously runs counter to the noise and effervescence of the irritated world. (…) ANIMA becomes the new soul of the city, the impulsing center of the revitalization of new construction, urban growth, human identity. The terrain behind the Jahrhunderthalle  is transformed into a magical park, a chamber of botany, where classic elements of the garden tradition such as labyrinth, water landscape, grotto, botanically designed surfaces with highly sophisticated Contemporary art merges. (…)”

Twenty years later, a few orphaned joggers sweat their way through the Westpark. The Jahrhunderthalle  appears in it like a monolith, the surrounding area: wonderless.

Did Bochum miss out on returning to paradise?