Editing Kassel (section)

== Sights ==

The [[Bombing of Kassel in World War II|bombing raids of 1943]] destroyed 90% of the city center. The city center was almost completely rebuilt during the 1950s and is a combination of renovated or reconstructed old buildings and architecture of the 1950s. Outside the city center, the suburbs are dominated by 19th-century architecture. Timber-framed old towns are situated in suburbs like Harleshausen and Bad Wilhelmshöhe. The oldest monument is the Druselturm; the Brüderkirche and the [[St Martin's Church, Kassel|Martinskirche]] are also, in part, of medieval origin. The towers of the Martinskirche are from the 1950s.

=== Churches ===

==== St. Martin, Kassel ====
The main Protestant church of Kassel, it was begun in 1364 and finished in 1462. Severely damaged by British bombing in 1943, it was later reconstructed in a more modern style between 1954 and 1958.

==== St. Bonifatius, Kassel ====
St. Bonifatius was designed and built in 1956 by [[Bieling Architekten|Josef Bieling]].

===Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe===
{{Main|Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe}}The complex includes Wilhelmshöhe Palace (with the Antiquities Collection and Old Masters), the Hercules monument, and the Lions Castle.
[[Wilhelmshöhe Palace]] above the city was built in 1786, by landgrave Wilhelm IX of Hesse-Kassel. The palace is now a museum and houses an important collection of Graeco-Roman antiques and a fine gallery of paintings comprising the second largest collection of [[Rembrandt]]s in Germany.  It is surrounded by the beautiful [[Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe]] with many appealing sights.  The complex was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2013.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/news/1049 | title=Sites in Germany and Italy bring to 19 the number of sites inscribed on the World Heritage List this year | publisher=UNESCO World Heritage Organization | date=23 June 2013 | access-date=9 July 2013}}</ref>[[File:Wilhelmshoehe - Herkules mit Kaskaden.jpg|thumb|[[Hercules monument (Kassel)|Herkules Monument]] and water running down the cascades during the water features in the Bergpark of the [[Wilhelmshöhe Palace]]]]
[[File:Kassel asv2022-02 img07 Orangerie.jpg|thumb|The [[Orangerie (Kassel)|Orangerie]] in the [[Karlsaue]] park]]The [[Hercules monument (Kassel)|Hercules monument]] is a huge octagonal stone structure carrying a giant replica of [[Hercules|Hercules "Farnese"]] (now at [[National Archaeological Museum, Naples|Museo Archeologico Nazionale]] in Naples, Italy).  From its base down to Wilhelmshöhe Palace runs a long set of artificial cascades. Every Sunday and Wednesday afternoon at 14:30 (from May until October), the famous [[Hercules monument (Kassel)|water features]] take place, which start at the Oktagon, and during a one-hour walk through the park visitors can follow the water's way until they reach the lake of the Wilhelmshöhe Palace, where a fountain of about {{convert|50|m|ft}} marks the end of the features.

The ''[[Löwenburg (Kassel)|Löwenburg]]'' ("Lions Castle") is a replica of a medieval castle, also built during the reign of Wilhelm IX. After the [[Franco-Prussian War]] of 1870–71, [[Napoléon III]] was imprisoned in Wilhelmshöhe. In 1918, Wilhelmshöhe became the seat of the German Army High Command (OHL); it was there that the military commanders [[Paul von Hindenburg|Hindenburg]] and [[Erich Ludendorff|Ludendorff]] prepared the German capitulation.

===Staatspark Karlsaue (Karlsaue Park)===
The [[Karlsaue]] is a large park along the Fulda River that is part of the [[European Garden Heritage Network]]. Established in the 16th century, it is known for the [[Orangerie (Kassel)|Orangerie]], a palace built in 1710 as a summer residence for the landgraves. Today, the Orangerie contains the Museum of Astronomy and Technology, with a scale model of the [[Solar System]] spanning the entire park and beyond. 
In addition, the Park Schönfeld contains a small, municipal [[botanical garden]], the [[Botanischer Garten Kassel]].

===Art museums===
Europe's first public museum, the [[Fridericianum|Museum Fridericianum]], was founded in 1779.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fridericianum |url=https://fridericianum.org/fridericianum/ |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=Fridericianum |language=en-US}}</ref> By the end of the 19th century, the museum held one of the largest collections of watches and clocks in the world.
Other art museums in Kassel include: 
* [[Wilhelmshöhe Palace]] (Antiquities Collection and Old Masters: [[Albrecht Dürer]], [[Peter Paul Rubens|Rubens]], [[Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn|Rembrandt]], [[Frans Hals]], [[Anthony van Dyck]])
* [[New Gallery (Kassel)|New Gallery]] ([[Tischbein family]], [[Joseph Beuys]])
* [[Hessian State Museum, Kassel|Hessisches Landesmuseum]] (with a world-famous wallpaper collection).

===Other museums===
* Museum of Natural History (in the Ottoneum building)
* Museum of physics and astronomy in the [[Orangerie (Kassel)|Orangerie]]
* Marmorbad (marble bath) in the [[Orangerie (Kassel)|Orangerie]]
* Caricatura (in the Hauptbahnhof Kassel)
* Museum of Local History
* Tram Museum Kassel
* Technical Museum and Henschel Museum
* [[Louis Spohr]] Museum (classical music composer) Museum in the [[Bellevue Palace, Kassel|Bellevue Palace]], remaining part of the [[Schloss Bellevue (Kassel)|Bellevueschloss palace complex]]
* Museum for Sepulchral Culture
* Museum of the Brothers Grimm (known as Grimmwelt Kassel)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.grimmwelt.de|title=Startseite: GRIMMWELT|website=www.grimmwelt.de|access-date=4 May 2017}}</ref>
* Museum of Modern Art (Neue Gallerie)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.museum-kassel.de/de/museen-schloesser-parks/neue-galerie|title=neue galerie – Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel|website=www.museum-kassel.de|access-date=4 May 2017}}</ref>
* Gemäldegallerie Kassel in the Wilhelmshöhe Palace (Schloss Wilhelmshöhe)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.museum-kassel.de/de/museen-schloesser-parks/unesco-welterbe-bergpark-wilhelmshoehe/schloss-wilhelmshoehe|title=schloss wilhelmshöhe – Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel|website=www.museum-kassel.de|access-date=4 May 2017}}</ref>
* Botanical Island (Insel Siebenbergen)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.museum-kassel.de/de/museen-schloesser-parks/staatspark-karlsaue/insel-siebenbergen|title=insel siebenbergen – Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel|website=www.museum-kassel.de|access-date=4 May 2017}}</ref>