3 Parks - 3 Palaces: Wilhelmshöhe - Karlsaue – Wilhelmsthal

All Kassel visitors agree that the city´s biggest attractions are its breathtaking park landscapes. Set off on a tour of discovery and get to know Europe´s largest hillside park, the Karlsaue Park, a baroque complex not far from the city centre and the Wilhelmsthal Palace Park in Calden with its rococo garden.

Wilhelmshöhe Bergpark
As Europe’s largest hillside park, the Wilhelmshöhe Berg Park is the city’s main attraction. Here, two different styles of European garden architectures have been combined to form one unit in full harmony – the (French) baroque grounds with the Octagon waterfall flowing down and cascading over stone steps, and the English landscape gardens by way of an extensive park.
A special attraction in the Wilhelmshöhe Palace Park is the Löwenburg in the picturesque location at the edge of the Wolfsschlucht ravine and with the outwardly defiant appearance of a medieval knight’s castle. Inside, however, the castle contains magnificent living quarters of a baroque design, on a par with everything the prince’s court had to offer. The castle was built by Landgraf Wilhelm IX at the end of the 18th century at a time of great social upheaval in the region. Nowadays it is the host of a collection of old weapons and knight’s armour in addition to porcelain from Kassel. The castle courtyard offers a delightful atmosphere and serves during warm summer evenings as as the ideal place for romantic musical concerts.

Karlsaue Park
The oldest of the three Landgraf gardens, built 1680 below the former royal palace outside the medieval city. From Moritzaue, the renaissance pleasure grounds situated on marshland on the river Fulda, Landgraf Karl started building this vast baroque park.

© Kassel Marketing GmbH
             

Wilhelmsthal Palace Park
From Wilhelmshöhe the road Rasenallee climbs upwards before heading north for about 9 km to the village of Calden (suburb of Kassel). Here you can marvel at a magnificent piece of rococo, designed by a French architect and in the north of the State of Hesse, Landgraf Wilhelm VIII, established the Kassel art gallery from 1743 onwards at the Wilhelmsthal palace and park in at that time rural areas with the intention for his summer residence, pleasure grounds and hunting lodge.


Schloss Wilhelmshöhe - Weißensteinflügel
The style transformation to classic stucco work on walls and ceilings, furniture in the styles of the Empire / Louis XVI and marble sculptures based on antique originals is a strong contrast to the baroque era and bears the ideas / convictions of noble clients.

© Kassel Marketing GmbH

Schloss Wilhelmshöhe – Galerie Alte Meister (Famous paintings)
The collection focuses on masterpieces of the 16th and 17th century from German, Italian, French and Spanish painters, and furthermore by paintings by Albrecht Dürer and Titian. Most paintings, however, relate to Dutch paintings, e.g. the “Paris Judgement” by Frans Floris and the “Field Sentry in the Clearing in the Woods” by Jan Brueghel the Elder. With works such as the “Triumph of Victory” by Peter Paul Rubens, portraits by Anton van Dyck and Jacob Jordaens' “Bean Feast” the three main representatives of Flemish painting in the 17th century are represented in this Kassel collection.


© Kassel Marketing GmbH

Rembrandt’s famous "Saskia" and "The Man with the Slouch Hat" by Frans Hals are two of many outstanding masterpieces of Dutch painters

More information