Story
The story of Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe
When the Great Fountain here first shot about 50 meters into the air in 1767, it was the largest fountain in Europe. Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe, a 2.4-square-kilometre park on a hillside west of Kassel's centre, was begun in 1689 for the Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel and took about 150 years to build.
Start at the summit, where the Hercules monument stands: a 40-meter pyramid topped by an 8.5-meter statue of the Greek hero, a copy of the Farnese Hercules. From reservoirs behind it, water flows through channels, aqueducts and water-wheels, down a Great Cascade 350 meters long, past a grotto, a water theatre and two hydraulic organs.
Listen at the basins below Hercules: when the water display is on, centaurs and fauns sound their horns. Since 2013 the park has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
This story is compiled from Wikipedia and other open sources; dates and numbers are checked against the source. The text is shared under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. Source ↗
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More highlights in Kassel
- KarlsaueThe Karlsaue (German) Park is a public and inner-city park of 1.50 km2 (0.58 sq mi) in Kassel (Northern Hesse, Germany).
- FridericianumThe Fridericianum is a museum in Kassel, Germany. Built in 1779, it is one of the oldest public museums in Europe.
- Grimmwelt KasselGrimmwelt is an exhibition centre presenting the lives, fairy tales and dictionary work of the Brothers Grimm through interactive displays.
- Hercules monument, KasselThe Hercules monument is a landmark in the German city of Kassel. It is located in the Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe (Wilhelmshöhe Mountainpark) in northern Hesse, Germany. Hercules is a copper statue depicting the ancient Greek demigod Heracles.
- Schloss WilhelmshöheThe Wilhelmshöhe Palace is a Neoclassical palace located in Bad Wilhelmshöhe, a part of Kassel, Germany. It was built for Landgrave Wilhelm (William) IX of Hesse in the late 18th century.
- LöwenburgThe Löwenburg is a pleasure palace built from 1793 in the Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe, designed to look like a ruined medieval castle. It stands above Wilhelmshöhe Palace at about 350 m altitude.