Summary
Kassel, the home of the Brothers Grimm, showcases the wealth of the Hessian Landgraves and Electors, contributing to two of Europe’s most remarkable gardens.
To the west lies the Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe, recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Scattered along a hillside are Romantic ruins, a Neoclassical palace featuring a gallery of Old Masters, enchanting water features, and an 18th-century statue of Hercules, which has become the emblematic image of the city.
On the eastern side of Kassel, along the same axis, resides a Baroque park and palace, which includes an exquisite marble bathhouse and a collection of ancient scientific instruments.
Since the 1950s, Kassel has emerged as a leader in the contemporary art scene, hosting “documenta”, a globally acclaimed art exhibition that spans 100 days every five years.
This article explores the top attractions in Kassel:
1. Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe
Designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2013, Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe is the largest hilltop park in Europe, covering an area of 240 hectares on Karlsberg.
At the conclusion of the 17th century, a French formal garden was established in front of Schloss Wilhelmshöhe.
Over the following 150 years, this garden was transformed into an English-style landscape, adorned with innovative monuments inspired by Romantic ideals.
Many of these structures are noteworthy attractions on their own.
Among the palatial monuments to discover are the Ballhaus, constructed in the early 1800s by Jérôme Bonaparte, Napoleon’s younger brother, and the Großer Gewächshaus (Great Greenhouse), erected in 1822 and open from October to May.
2. Schloss Wilhelmshöhe
This Neoclassical palace, located on the eastern side of the park, was constructed at the end of the 18th century for Landgrave William IX of Hesse and served as a favored summer retreat for Germany’s last Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II, between 1888 and 1918.
Today, it houses a collection of antiquities, alongside the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Painting Gallery of the Old Masters), which showcases an extraordinary selection of works by Rembrandt, Rubens, Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Poussin, Titian, van Dyck, Jacob Jordaens, Frans Hals, Jan Brueghel the Elder, and Caravaggio.
This collection was primarily assembled by William VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, during the first half of the 18th century.
3. Wasserspiele
Among the most picturesque sights in Bergpark is the 250-meter water cascade that flows down from the summit of Karlsberg.
This spectacle springs to life every Wednesday and Sunday at 14:30 from May through October.
The mechanisms employed are consistent with those used in the days of the Margraves and Electors.
The display culminates with a waterfall beneath the Teufelsbrücke (Devil’s Bridge) and another stunning waterfall that appears to emanate from the ruins of a Roman aqueduct.
The performance reaches a dramatic finale at an artificial pond near Schloss Wilhelmshöhe, where, at 15:45, a fountain propels a water jet over 50 meters into the air.
4. Hercules Monument
At the summit of Karlsberg, the northernmost point of the park, stands a statue of Hercules, which has been in place since 1717. The monument was sculpted over a span of 16 years by the Italian artist Giovanni Francesco Guerniero.
While the ascent to the summit involves climbing 200 steps, the reward is a breathtaking view of Kassel, extending down the cascade, along the axis that leads through the city, all the way to Schloss Wilhelmshöhe.
Hercules is positioned atop a pyramid that rests on an octagonal base.
This combined structure rises to 71 meters, offering an observation platform on the octagon where visitors can admire the Nordhessische Mittelgebirge mountain range in the distance.
5. Löwenburg
One of the attractions within Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe resembles a medieval castle in ruins.
Löwenburg was constructed from 1793 to 1801 in a Scottish architectural style.
It drew inspiration from the Scottish Ossian cycle of epic poems, which was highly popular during the Romantic period.
Löwenburg was commissioned by Landgrave William I of Hesse-Kassel and was embellished with the finest adornments of the era.
The venue still houses a splendid collection of paintings, tapestries, furniture, glassware, bronzes, armor, ceremonial weapons, and medieval stained glass.
This armory is included in the guided tour, along with the Landgrave’s apartments and the palace’s chapel.
6. Karlsaue
Located at the easternmost point of Wilhelmshöher Allee, is another distinguished park, designed for Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, in the early 18th century.
Predating Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe, Karlsaue features a formal design.
The pond, Aueteich, is symmetrically shaped, with canals and a central pathway converging at a spacious lawn to the north, in front of Charles’s palace, the Orangerie.
A notable highlight is the Siebenbergen island, situated in the Aueteich at the park’s southernmost point.
This area was adorned with botanical flowerbeds and a small arboretum in the early 18th century, later enhanced by court gardener Wilhelm Hentze in 1822.
7. Orangerie
The palace of Charles I in Karlsaue was designed as both a summer retreat and a venue to house his collection of Mediterranean plants.
Decorating the balustrade and the roof of the palace’s avant-corps, classical-style statues from the mid-18th century represent figures from ancient mythology.
The central structure includes the Astronomisch-Physikalisches Kabinett, a collection of clocks, microscopes, astronomical instruments, adding machines, and navigational instruments that date from the late 16th century through 1900. Additionally, the largest planetarium in Hesse is attached to the Orangerie, accommodating audiences of 50 beneath its 10-meter dome.
8. Marmorbad (Marble Baths)
In the western pavilion of the Orangerie lies an opulent bathhouse built in the 1720s for Charles I. The Marmorbad is unique in Germany and regarded as a masterpiece of Late Baroque design, featuring one of the most splendid 18th-century sculptural collections north of the Alps.
The sculpture and decorations were crafted by the French-Italian sculptor Pierre-Étienne Monnot.
This includes 12 life-sized marble statues and 10 wall reliefs that evoke the Metamorphoses of the Roman poet Ovid.
The bathhouse is adorned with medallions featuring portraits of the Landgrave and his wife, Maria Amalia of Courland, who passed away earlier that century.
9. Documenta
No exploration of Kassel would be complete without mentioning this internationally renowned contemporary art exhibition, often referred to as the “Museum of 100 Days”. This exhibition occurs every five years, with the next session scheduled for 2022. Established as a response to the culturally desolate years during National Socialism, documenta was inaugurated when Kassel hosted the Bundesgartenschau (Federal Garden Show) in 1955, inviting notable artists like Picasso and Kandinsky to present their works.
The most recent exhibition, documenta 14, featured contributions from performance artists such as Katalin Ladik and Tracey Rose, environmental artist Bonita Ely, and installation artist Hans Haacke.
The Fridericianum, located near the Orangerie, serves as the heart of documenta, although various spaces across the city, including Schloss Wilhelmshöhe and the Karlsaue, are also utilized for the event.
10. Fridericianum
After monetizing Hessian soldiers during the American Revolutionary War, Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, utilized the funds to construct the first public museum building on the European continent.
This Neoclassical structure initially housed art and scientific instruments, which have since been relocated to Schloss Wilhelmshöhe and the Orangerie.
Following 1913, the Fridericianum became a state library and suffered considerable damage during air raids in 1941 and 1943. It was later revived as a cultural space by documenta in 1955, and since 1988, it has hosted temporary exhibitions between each edition.
Recent exhibitions have featured retrospectives of experimental filmmaker Paul Sharits and Belgian conceptual artist Marcel Broodthaers.
11. Museum für Sepulkralkultur (Museum for Sepulchral Culture)
This museum provides insights into how cultures commemorate death.
The primary exhibition traces the history of death and funerary practices from the Middle Ages to the present.
An engaging yet somber collection of coffins, gravestones, shrouds, carriages, and depictions of mourning illustrates the continuities and changes in attitudes towards death and mourning across time.
Additionally, the museum hosts temporary exhibitions that delve into specific themes, often with artistic interpretations, and it served as one of the venues for documenta 14 in 2017.
12. Grimmwelt Kassel
Most people are aware of the Brothers Grimm and are familiar with classic tales like the Frog Prince, Hansel and Gretel, and Cinderella. However, fewer know that Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were also esteemed scholars in lexicography and linguistics, significantly contributing to the field of German language studies.
The museum dedicated to the brothers opened in 2015 and explores their lives and work.
In the Erlebnisraum Grimmwelt, multimedia displays and interactive exhibits immerse visitors in the world of their fairytales, while also revealing their contributions to the German language and their efforts to compose the first German dictionary.
13. Markthalle Kassel
Situated in the heart of the city between Königsplatz and Fulda, Kassel’s market hall is a delight for food enthusiasts.
The gabled building exhibits Renaissance Revival architecture and hosts Kassel’s central weekly market.
This market operates throughout the day on Thursdays and Fridays and on Saturday mornings.
The market features 70 vendors who source products from North Hesse, Thuringia, eastern Westphalia, and the southern parts of Lower Saxony.
Beyond fresh produce, the market hall offers specialty foods such as homemade jams, olives, freshly baked pastries, artisanal mustard, and handmade chocolates.
Saturday mornings see visitors enjoying breakfast at the market’s eateries, often paired with a glass of champagne!
14. Ottoneum
Kassel’s natural history museum is located in a building with a fascinating history.
The Ottoneum is Germany’s first purpose-built theatre, constructed at the beginning of the 17th century.
The theatre enjoyed a relatively smooth decade before the outbreak of the Thirty Years’ War.
By the end of the century, it was transformed into a private museum to showcase the Landgrave’s collections of art and natural history.
The museum’s allure lies in the remarkable age of its collections.
For example, the Ratzenburger Herbarium contains 700 pressed plants organized in three leather-bound volumes from the late 16th century.
The plants are classified by species, predating Carl Linnaeus’ taxonomical classification.
Another captivating exhibit features the skeleton of an elephant, which was lent to Goethe for anatomical study in the 1770s.
15. Stadtmuseum
This city museum reopened in 2016, chronicling Kassel’s triumphs and challenging times over a millennium.
The permanent exhibition is organized into three chronological sections.
The first section delves into Kassel’s origins and development as the capital of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel from 1567 into the 1700s.
This is followed by an exploration of industrialization and the rising influence of the bourgeoisie, detailing the rapid urbanization of the city at the turn of the 20th century.
The third segment addresses the extensive destruction caused by the Second World War, which devastated much of the city center.
Finally, the exhibition covers the subsequent reconstruction and Kassel’s cultural and economic revival, driven by documenta, the automotive industry, and advancements in renewable technologies in the 21st century.
