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Other Comments: 0 Apr 21, 2017

The free city Kassel is after Frankfurt am Main and Wiesbaden the third largest city of Hesse and is located in the northern part of this state, on the border with Lower Saxony and Thuringia. Currently, the population is around 200,000 people. Every five years, Kassel is the venue of the most important international exhibition of contemporary art and has therefore been named "documenta-Stadt" since 1999.

The name of the town is probably derived from "Chassalla" or "Chassella", the name for the royal court of Konrad I, located at the Kassel Fulda. The name was first discovered on a document from the year 913. There are also other names derivations; Thus it could be of Germanic origin and translated as "buildings on a terrain", whereby the origin of the name is far back in the prehistory.

Settlements have existed already in the pre-Christian era, but there has been secrecy before the 10th century,when it first appears in the documents. Since the end of the 12th century, Kassel has been gilded in the modern sense as a city and became the headquarters of the Hessian Landgrave Heinrich I a few decades later. The townscape was decisively influenced by Landgraf Karl from 1700 onwards.

Kassel - had man been seen in the city's ice cream?

During the Second World War the old town of Kassel was unfortunately massively destroyed, so there is no longer a closed historical cityscape. Nevertheless, as a former residence, Kassel has a lot of locals. The Protestant Brethren Church is the oldest church building in the city. A typical baroque building is the Ottoneum, the first permanent theater building in Germany, which now houses a museum of natural history. From the 13th century we have the Renthof, the relic of a former Carmelite monastery. However, there is also the Martinskirche with its distinctive towers, the Karlshospital, the Druselturm, or the Ständehaus, built in the neo-Renaissance style. Also worth a visit is the Fridericianum, the famous museum building in Kassel, which every five years is the site of the documenta and is already impressive by its architecture alone. It is also recommended to take a walk through the Orangerie at the Karlsauesowie, a walk through the district of Vorderer Westen. The parking area Bergpark Wilhelsmhöhe, which has been part of the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage since 2013, is one of the top 100 sights in Germany. The Wilhelmshöhe Castle, the Löwenburg Castle, as well as the Herkules, the landmarks of the city of Kassel, can be visited from the beginning of the 18th century. The popular Kassel water games are held twice a week during the summer months.

Kassel is an extremely culturally shaped city. There are also plenty of art galleries and community theaters, as well as a variety of museums and galleries. In addition to contemporary art in the Fridericianum, In the Wilhelmshöhe Palace, as well as in the Old Masters Gallery you can admire an antique collection. The Grimmwelt, which was inaugurated in 2015, is dedicated to the work of the Brothers Grimm, who spent a long time in Kassel.

Kassel offers a wide range of hotels, guesthouses, hostels and holiday apartments for its guests. In addition to art and culture, you should not miss outits cuisine. Typical specialties in Kassel are the "Weckewerk", a dish prepared from cooked rind and minced meat. There are "Ahle Wurscht" and the traditional Speckkuchen.which is  equally popular with both locals and tourists.