Kassel and the 300 Year-Old Hercules Monument

We left work Wednesday evening and drove to Kassel. We are on our way to a family reunion in Bielefeld Friday and Saturday. Kassel was right on our way. This evening we checked into this family-owned hotel, we found a fun restaurant down the street where we enjoyed a good meal and one of the big soccer matches on a big screen TV.

In the morning we got up and drove to the huge park that’s on the side of a mountain with a Huge Hercules monument up on the top. It’s built on a huge platform with a tower. Hercules stands about 8,3 meters tall up on the top. He’s 300 years old, put there by King Karl. We explored the monument (climbed up it) and looked down over the park that has lots of amazing water features that are only turned on 2 days a week (not today).

The castle-like Hercules was built between 1701 and 1717 based on designs by the Italian Giovanni Francesco Guerniero . The entire complex, including the cascades in front of the Hercules, is also called Karlsberg after the builder, Landgrave Karl of Hesse-Kassel . Under this term, both spatially and architecturally, it is a baroque aspect and the western end of the Wilhelmshöhe mountain park.

A giant hero who reigns above all

In ancient mythology, the demigod Hercules is known for great heroic deeds. Landgrave Carl chose him over 300 years ago as a symbol of his own power: he had a huge Hercules statue erected high above the Wilhelmshöhe mountain park, which was to be visible from far away. It is one of the oldest buildings in the park and is now considered a landmark of the city of Kassel.

The entire Hercules monument is 70 meters high and consists of three parts. The water features start in the lower, rocky grotto structure. The grotto leads into an open-plan “giant castle” with a large viewing platform. Here you can enjoy a unique view of the mountain park and the surrounding area. Above it is a pyramid with the statue.

Hercules played a major role in the mountain park being designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site: it is considered a unique princely “representation of power” and the most important landmark in the park.

From up on top, you can look down on the gardens and water features that cascade down the mountain side. There are waterfalls and pools (empty today). Off on once side is a medieval castle built in the 1800s (to look old). We didn’t go see it, it was too far to walk. Instead we drove to a palace that is now an art museum at the lower end of the park.