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A woman from Düsseldorf has to remove a seven meter high wooden cross including a concrete foundation from her garden.
The Düsseldorf district court decided on Monday (Az .: 290 AC 179/20).
The woman who had the cross erected did indeed have the special right to use the garden.
Because of its size and lighting intensity, the cross is "not part of the usual garden design".
Rather, the Christian symbol represents an "unlawful impairment of property" that is not to be tolerated, the court found.
Crosses of this size and luminosity are a disadvantage for the orderly coexistence.
The original condition of the garden is to be restored in the form of a lawn.
The cross, which is illuminated in the dark by a circumferential light chain, also makes it difficult for the plaintiff to fall asleep.
Two owners of their respective apartments live in the house to which the garden belongs.
One had had the cross erected in the garden, the other sued against it.
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Despite all understanding of religious freedom, the limit of what is justifiable was clearly exceeded in this case, argued the plaintiff's lawyer. The defendant had claimed that the neighbor in the house had agreed to the construction in advance. The plaintiff had denied this. The judgment can still be appealed to the regional court.