Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the

Fulda River The Fulda () is a river of Hesse and Lower Saxony, Germany. It is one of two headstreams of the Weser (the other one being the Werra). The Fulda is long. The river arises at Wasserkuppe in the Rhön mountains in Hesse. From there it runs north ...

in northern

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Da ...

, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the

Regierungsbezirk A ' () means "governmental district" and is a type of administrative division in Germany. Four of sixteen ' ( states of Germany) are split into '. Beneath these are rural and urban districts. Saxony has ' (directorate districts) with more res ...

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2 ...

and the

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020. The former capital of the state of

Hesse-Kassel The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (german: Landgrafschaft Hessen-Kassel), spelled Hesse-Cassel during its entire existence, was a state in the Holy Roman Empire that was directly subject to the Emperor. The state was created in 1567 when the Lan ...

has many palaces and parks, including the

Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe is a landscape park in Kassel, Germany. The area of the park is , making it the largest European hillside park, and second largest park on a hill slope in the world. Construction of the ''Bergpark'', or "mountain park", bega ...

, which is a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. I ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

. Kassel is also known for the ''

documenta ''documenta'' is an exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. The ''documenta'' was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgartenschau (Federal Horticultura ...

'' exhibitions of contemporary art. Kassel has a public university with 25,000 students (2018) and a multicultural population (39% of the citizens in 2017 had a migration background).

History

Kassel was first mentioned in 913 AD, as the place where two

deed In common law, a deed is any legal instrument in writing which passes, affirms or confirms an interest, right, or property and that is signed, attested, delivered, and in some jurisdictions, sealed. It is commonly associated with transferrin ...

s were signed by King Conrad I. The place was called ''Chasella'' or ''Chassalla'' and was a fortification at a bridge crossing the

Fulda river The Fulda () is a river of Hesse and Lower Saxony, Germany. It is one of two headstreams of the Weser (the other one being the Werra). The Fulda is long. The river arises at Wasserkuppe in the Rhön mountains in Hesse. From there it runs north ...

. There are several yet unproven assumptions of the name's origin. It could be derived from the ancient ''Castellum Cattorum'', a castle of the Chatti, a German tribe that had lived in the area since Roman times. Another assumption is a portmanteau from Frankonian ''cas'', meaning "valley or recess," and ''sali'' meaning "hall or service building," which can be interpreted as "(town)hall in a valley." A deed from 1189 certifies that Cassel had city rights, but the date when they were granted is not known. In 1567, the

Landgraviate of Hesse The Landgraviate of Hesse (german: Landgrafschaft Hessen) was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire. It existed as a single entity from 1264 to 1567, when it was divided among the sons of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse. History In the early Mid ...

, until then centered in

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approx ...

, was divided among four sons, with

(or Hesse-Cassel) becoming one of its successor states. Kassel was its capital and became a centre of

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

Protestantism Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

in Germany. Strong fortifications were built to protect the Protestant stronghold against Catholic enemies. Secret societies, such as

Rosicrucianism Rosicrucianism is a spiritual and cultural movement that arose in Europe in the early 17th century after the publication of several texts purported to announce the existence of a hitherto unknown esoteric order to the world and made seeking it ...

flourished, with Christian Rosenkreutz's work ''

Fama Fraternitatis ''Fama fraternitatis Roseae Crucis oder Die Bruderschaft des Ordens der Rosenkreuzer'', usually listed as ''Fama Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis'', is an anonymous Rosicrucian manifesto published in 1614 in Kassel, Hesse-Kassel (in present-day German ...

'' first published in 1617. In 1685, Kassel became a refuge for 1,700

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Bez ...

s who found shelter in the newly established borough of Oberneustadt. Landgrave Charles, who was responsible for this humanitarian act, also ordered the construction of the ''Oktogon'' ( Hercules monument) and of the ''

Orangerie An orangery or orangerie was a room or a dedicated building on the grounds of fashionable residences of Northern Europe from the 17th to the 19th centuries where orange and other fruit trees were protected during the winter, as a very large ...

''. In the late 18th Century, Hesse-Kassel became infamous for selling mercenaries ( Hessians) to the British crown to help suppress the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolu ...

and to finance the construction of palaces and the Landgrave's opulent lifestyle. In the early 19th century, the

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among th ...

lived in Kassel. They collected and wrote most of their

fairy tales A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful beings. In most cult ...

there. At that time, around 1803, the Landgraviate was elevated to a Principality and its ruler to ''

Prince-elector The prince-electors (german: Kurfürst pl. , cz, Kurfiřt, la, Princeps Elector), or electors for short, were the members of the electoral college that elected the Holy Roman Emperor, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. From the 13th century ...

''. Shortly after, it was annexed by Napoleon and in 1807 it became the capital of the short-lived

Kingdom of Westphalia The Kingdom of Westphalia was a kingdom in Germany, with a population of 2.6 million, that existed from 1807 to 1813. It included territory in Hesse and other parts of present-day History of Germany, Germany. While formally independent, it was a ...

under Napoleon's brother Jérôme. The Electorate was restored in 1813. Having sided with Austria in the

Austro-Prussian War The Austro-Prussian War, also by many variant names such as Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as ("German War"), (; "German war of brothers") and by a variety of other names, was fought in 186 ...

to gain supremacy in Germany, the principality was annexed by

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

in 1866. The Prussian administration united Nassau,

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its ...

and Hesse-Kassel into the new Prussian province of

Hesse-Nassau The Province of Hesse-Nassau () was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1868 to 1918, then a province of the Free State of Prussia until 1944. Hesse-Nassau was created as a consequence of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 by combining the p ...

. Kassel ceased to be a princely residence but soon developed into a major industrial centre, as well as a major railway junction.

Henschel & Son Henschel & Son (german: Henschel und Sohn) was a German company, located in Kassel, best known during the 20th century as a maker of transportation equipment, including locomotives, trucks, buses and trolleybuses, and armoured fighting vehicl ...

, the largest railway locomotive manufacturer in Germany at the end of the nineteenth century, was based in Kassel. In 1870, after the

Battle of Sedan The Battle of Sedan was fought during the Franco-Prussian War from 1 to 2 September 1870. Resulting in the capture of Emperor Napoleon III and over a hundred thousand troops, it effectively decided the war in favour of Prussia and its allies ...

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A neph ...

was sent as a prisoner to the Wilhelmshöhe Palace above the city. During World War I the German military headquarters were located in the Wilhelmshöhe Palace. In the late 1930s Nazis destroyed Heinrich Hübsch's

Kassel Synagogue The Kassel Synagogue is the description given to a succession of prayer houses of the Jewish community in Kassel, Hesse. Construction in 1839 In 1827, a previous synagogue was closed due to its dilapidated state. In 1828, the government offere ...

. During World War II, Kassel was the headquarters for Germany's

Wehrkreis The military districts, also known in some English-language publications by their German name as Wehrkreise (singular: ''Wehrkreis''), were administrative territorial units in Nazi Germany before and during World War II. The task of military distr ...

IX, and a local subcamp of

Dachau concentration camp Dachau () was the first concentration camp built by Nazi Germany, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents which consisted of: communists, social democrats, and other dissidents. It is ...

provided forced labour for the Henschel facilities, which included tank production plants. The most severe

bombing of Kassel in World War II The Kassel World War II bombings were a set of Allied strategic bombing attacks which took place from February 1942 to March 1945. In a single deadliest raid on 22–23 October 1943, 150,000 inhabitants were bombed-out, at least 6,000 people di ...

destroyed 90% of the downtown area, and some 10,000 people were killed and 150,000 were made homeless. Most of the casualties were civilians or wounded soldiers recuperating in local hospitals, whereas

factories A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery A machine is a physical system using power to apply forces and control movement to p ...

survived the attack generally undamaged. Karl Gerland replaced the regional

Gauleiter A ''Gauleiter'' () was a regional leader of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) who served as the head of a '' Gau'' or ''Reichsgau''. ''Gauleiter'' was the third-highest rank in the Nazi political leadership, subordinate only to ''Reichsleiter'' and to th ...

, Karl Weinrich, soon after the raid. The Allied ground advance into Germany reached Kassel at the beginning of April 1945. The US 80th Infantry Division captured Kassel in bitter house-to-house fighting during 1–4 April 1945, which included numerous German panzer-grenadier counterattacks, and resulted in further widespread devastation to bombed and unbombed structures alike.

Post-war In Western usage, the phrase post-war era (or postwar era) usually refers to the time since the end of World War II. More broadly, a post-war period (or postwar period) is the interval immediately following the end of a war. A post-war period ...

, most of the ancient buildings were not restored, and large parts of the city area were completely rebuilt in the style of the 1950s. A few historic buildings, however, such as the

Museum Fridericianum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

(see below), were restored. In 1949, the interim parliament ("

Parlamentarischer Rat The ''Parlamentarischer Rat'' ( German for "Parliamentary Council") was the West German constituent assembly in Bonn that drafted and adopted the constitution of West Germany, the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, promulgated on ...

") eliminated Kassel in the first round as a city to become the provisional capital of the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south ...

(

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

won). In 1964, the town hosted the fourth ''

Hessentag The Hessentag (; en, Hesse Day) is an annual event, both fair and festival, organized by the German state of Hesse to represent the different regions of Hesse. The events are shown for a week to the visitors, with an emphasis on cultural displ ...

'' state festival (again in 2013). In 1972 the Chancellor of West Germany

Willy Brandt Willy Brandt (; born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm; 18 December 1913 – 8 October 1992) was a German politician and statesman who was leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1964 to 1987 and served as the chancellor of West Ge ...

and the Prime Minister of the German Democratic Republic

Willy Stoph Wilhelm Stoph (9 July 1914 – 13 April 1999) was a German politician. He served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister) of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1964 to 1973, and again from 1976 until 1989. H ...

met in Wilhelmshöhe Palace for negotiations between the two German states. In 1991 the central rail station moved from "Hauptbahnhof" ( en, main station) (today only used for regional trains) to "Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe". The city had a dynamic economic and social development in the recent years, reducing the unemployment rate by half and attracting many new citizens so that the population has grown constantly.

Economy

Several international operating companies have factories or headquarters in the city (Volkswagen, Mercedes Benz, SMA, Wintershall, Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, Rheinmetall, Bombardier). The city is home of several hospitals; the public Klinikum Kassel is one of the largest hospitals in the federal state, offering a wide range of health services.

Geography

Kassel is the largest city in the north of the

federated state A federated state (which may also be referred to as a state, a province, a region, a canton, a land, a governorate, an oblast, an emirate or a country) is a territorial and constitutional community forming part of a federation. Such state ...

of Hesse in the south-western part of Germany, about 70 kilometers northwest of the geographic center of Germany. It is located on both sides of the river Fulda. Kassel's deepest point is in the north-eastern Fulda valley at 132.9 m above sea level. The urban area of Kassel is divided into 23 local districts, each of which has a local council with a local mayor as chairman. The local councils are elected every five years by the population of the local districts. The local advisory board can be heard on all important issues affecting the local district. However, the final decision on a measure rests with the Kassel city council.

Neighboring communities

Around Kassel is the

administrative district Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-l ...

(''

Landkreis In all German states, except for the three city states, the primary administrative subdivision higher than a ''Gemeinde'' (municipality) is the (official term in all but two states) or (official term in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia a ...

'') of

Landkreis Kassel Kassel district (German: Landkreis Kassel) is a district in the north of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Northeim, Göttingen, Werra-Meißner, Schwalm-Eder, Waldeck-Frankenberg, Höxter. The independent city of Kassel is nearly complet ...

. The following cities and municipalities border the city of Kassel (starting clockwise in the north): Ahnatal,

Vellmar Vellmar is a town in the Kassel district, in Hesse, Germany. It is located on the Ahne river. History Vellmar gained city rights on August 30, 1975 to mark its 1200th anniversary, becoming, together with Baunatal, the youngest city in the district ...

Fuldatal Fuldatal is a municipality in the district of Kassel, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated along the Fulda River, 5 km northeast of Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germ ...

, Staufenberg, Niestetal,

Kaufungen Kaufungen is a municipality in the district of Kassel, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated in the narrow valley of the river Losse, surrounded by the steep, wooded hills of the Kaufunger Wald, approx. 10 kilometres east of Kassel. Geography Di ...

Lohfelden Lohfelden is a municipality in the district of Kassel, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated 6 km southeast of Kassel. It has three parts Crumbach, Ochsenhausen and the former independent Vollmarshausen. Geography Lohfelden / Vollmarshausen bor ...

Fuldabrück Fuldabrück is a municipality in the district of Kassel, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated along the Fulda river, 8 kilometers south of Kassel. The municipality of Fuldabrück consists of the former independent villages Bergshausen, Dittershausen ...

Baunatal Baunatal is a town in the district of Kassel, in Hesse, Germany. It is a comparatively young town which arose from fusion of the formerly independent municipalities ''Altenbauna'', ''Altenritte'', ''Großenritte'', ''Guntershausen'', ''Hertings ...

, Schauenburg, Habichtswald. Of these, Vellmar and Fuldatal in the north, Kaufungen in the east, Lohfelden in the southeast and Baunatal in the south are growing ever closer to the urban area.

Culture

In 1558, the first German

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. H ...

was built in Kassel, and a later version from 1714 survives as the Bellevue Palace. The ''Ottoneum'', the first permanent German theatre building, was built in 1604. The old building is today the Natural History Museum, and the now-called

Staatstheater Kassel The Staatstheater Kassel is a state-owned and operated theater in Kassel, Germany. History A permanent theatre house existed in Kassel during the first decade of the 17th century. It stood immediately next to the Ottoneum near the State Theatre ...

is located in a nearby building that was constructed in the 1950s. Since 1927, Kassel has been home to Bärenreiter, one of the world's most important music publishers. Since 1955 the ''

'', an international

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibiti ...

of modern and

contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic co ...

, has been held regularly in Kassel. The ''documenta'' now takes place every five years. As a result of the ''documenta 6'' (1977), Kassel became the first town in the world to be illuminated by

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The firs ...

beams at night (Laserscape, by artist Horst H. Baumann). This laser installation is nowadays still visible at weekends. Artworks from former editions of the ''documenta'' (mainly sculptures) can be found in many places in Kassel; among those are the " 7000 Oaks", a work of

land art Land art, variously known as Earth art, environmental art, and Earthworks, is an art movement that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, largely associated with Great Britain and the United StatesArt in the modern era: A guide to styles, schools, & mov ...

by the German artist

Joseph Beuys Joseph Heinrich Beuys ( , ; 12 May 1921 – 23 January 1986) was a German artist, teacher, performance artist, and art theorist whose work reflected concepts of humanism, sociology, and anthroposophy. He was a founder of a provocative art mov ...

. The latest/current edition of the ''documenta'', known as "''documenta 15''", runs from June 18 until September 25, 2022.

Climate

Kassel experiences an

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...

( Köppen: ''Cfb'') but not so far from marine climates, with a more notable

continental Continental may refer to: Places * Continent, the major landmasses of Earth * Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US * Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US Arts and entertainment * ''Continental'' (a ...

influence than

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

. Using the 1961-1990 normal and 0 °C isotherm, the city already had a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...

(''Dfb'').

Demographics

Sights

The bombing raids of 1943 destroyed 90% of the city center. The city 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. The oldest monument is the Druselturm; the Brüderkirche and the 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 is a Catholic church and parish in Kassel, Hesse, Germany. It was completed in 1956, designed by Josef Bieling. The parish is dedicated to Saint Boniface, and belongs to the Diocese of Fulda. It is now part of a merged parish St. E ...

St. Bonifatius was designed and built in 1956 by Josef Bieling.

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 Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally co ...

s in Germany. It is surrounded by the beautiful

with many appealing sights. The complex was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2013. Wilhelmshoehe - Herkules mit Kaskaden

The Hercules monument is a huge octagonal stone structure carrying a giant replica of Hercules "Farnese" (now at Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples, Italy). From its base down to Wilhelmshöhe Palace runs a long set of artificial cascades which delight visitors during the summer months. Every Sunday and Wednesday afternoon at 14:30 (from May until October) the famous water features take place. They 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 marks the end of the spectacle. The '' 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 Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

was imprisoned in Wilhelmshöhe. In 1918, Wilhelmshöhe became the seat of the German Army High Command (OHL): it was there that the military commanders Hindenburg and Ludendorff prepared the German capitulation.

Staatspark Karlsaue (Karlsaue Park)

Another large park and also part of the

European Garden Heritage Network The European Garden Heritage Network is a nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organi ...

is the

Karlsaue The Karlsaue Park is a public and inner-city park of in Kassel (Northern Hesse, Germany). It was redesigned as a landscape garden in 1785 and consists of a mixture of visible Baroque garden elements and arranged “natural areas”. Location ...

along the Fulda River. Established in the 16th century, it is famous for the

, 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 The Solar System Capitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar ...

spanning the entire park and beyond. In addition, the Park Schönfeld contains a small, municipal

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

, the Botanischer Garten Kassel.

Art museums

Europe's first public museum, the

was founded in 1779. 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,

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition ...

Frans Hals Frans Hals the Elder (, , ; – 26 August 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, chiefly of individual and group portraits and of genre works, who lived and worked in Haarlem. Hals played an important role in the evolution of 17th-century gro ...

, Anthony van Dyck) * New Gallery ( Tischbein family,

) *

Hessisches Landesmuseum Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt (HLMD) is a large multidisciplinary museum in Darmstadt, Germany. The museum exhibits Rembrandt, Beuys, a primeval horse and a mastodon under the slogan "The whole world under one roof". As one of the oldest pub ...

(with a world-famous wallpaper collection).

Other museums

* Museum of Natural History (in the Ottoneum-building) * Museum of physics and astronomy in the

* Marmorbad (marble bath) in the

* Caricatura (in the Hauptbahnhof Kassel) * Museum of Local History * Tram-Museum Kassel * Technical Museum and Henschel Museum *

Louis Spohr Louis Spohr (, 5 April 178422 October 1859), baptized Ludewig Spohr, later often in the modern German form of the name Ludwig, was a German composer, violinist and conducting, conductor. Highly regarded during his lifetime, Spohr composed ten Sy ...

Museum (classical music composer) *

Museum in the Bellevue Palace (closed) * Museum for Sepulchral Culture * Museum of the Brothers Grimm (known as Grimmwelt Kassel) * Museum of Modern Art (Neue Gallerie) * Gemäldegallerie Kassel in the Wilhelmshöhe Palace (Schloss Wilhelmshöhe) * Botanical Island (Insel Siebenbergen)

Sports

Hessen Kassel is the football club in the city, who plays in the

Hessenliga The Hessenliga (until 2008 ''Oberliga Hessen'') is the highest football league in the state of Hesse and the Hessian football league system. It is one of fourteen Oberligas in German football, the fifth tier of the German football league system. ...

after being relegated from the

Regionalliga Südwest The Regionalliga Südwest ( en, Regional League Southwest) is the fourth tier of the German football league system in the states of Hesse, Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland. It is one of five leagues at this level, together wit ...

in the 2017/2018 season. The city's own football stadium, the

Auestadion Auestadion is a multi-use stadium in Kassel, Germany close to the Karlsaue park. It is used mainly for football matches and athletic events and is the home stadium of KSV Hessen Kassel. The stadium is able to hold 18,737 people with 8,700 sea ...

was built in 1953 and is able to hold 18,737 people. It is located in the south of Kassel at the quarter Südstadt, next to the Karlsaue. Kassel has a long ice hockey tradition, but it was not until 1977 that the Kassel ice rink (Eissporthalle) opened on a private initiative. The

Kassel Huskies The EC Kassel Huskies are a professional ice hockey club based in Kassel, Hessen, Germany. The club currently competes in DEL2, the second level of ice hockey in Germany. The Huskies were founded in 1977 and have competed in the top five levels o ...

were founding members of the

DEL Del, or nabla, is an operator used in mathematics (particularly in vector calculus) as a vector differential operator, usually represented by the nabla symbol ∇. When applied to a function defined on a one-dimensional domain, it denotes ...

in 1994, belonging to the league from 1994 to 2006 and again from 2008 to 2010. In

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

, they were runners-up in the championship playoffs, losing to

Adler Mannheim The Adler Mannheim (English: ''Mannheim Eagles'', formerly Mannheimer ERC) is a professional ice hockey team of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, the highest-level ice hockey league in Germany. The team is based in Mannheim, a city in the northern par ...

, and reached the semifinals on three more occasions. The Huskies ran into financial difficulties and dissolved in 2010. The "Young Huskies," which is a junior and youth hockey club, decided to enter a men's team in the Hessenliga. This is the fifth division and the lowest men's competition in the state of

. The new club was expecting no more than 3,000 supporters for the first home game in the Hessenliga. However, they had over 5,000 supporters come to watch.

Transport

KasselStassenbahnObereKoenigsstrasse2489

Kassel has seven tram lines (1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8), with trams arriving usually every 15 minutes. The city also operates a light rail

Stadtbahn ' (; German for "city railway"; plural ') is a German word referring to various types of urban rail transport. One type of transport originated in the 19th century, firstly in Berlin and followed by Vienna, where rail routes were created that co ...

network called ''

RegioTram The Bogotá suburban rail (''Spanish: Tren de cercanías de Bogotá''), also known as RegioTram, is a transportation project to create a mass and rapid transport system to connect Bogotá with surrounding cities. The railways of the former Bogot� ...

'' using

Regio Citadis The Alstom Citadis is a family of low-floor trams and light rail vehicles built by Alstom. , over 2,300 Citadis trams have been sold and 1,800 tramways are in revenue service throughout the world, with operations in all six inhabited continent ...

low-floor trams which run on both tram and main line railway tracks with three lines (RT1, RT4, RT5). Moreover, a number of low-floor

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

es complete the Kassel public transport system. The introduction of low-floor buses led to the development of the Kassel kerb which improves the accessibility at bus stops. The city is connected to the

national rail network In United States railroading, the term national rail network, sometimes termed "U.S. rail network", refers to the entire network of interconnected standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gaug ...

at two stations, Kassel Central, and Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe. The traditional central station (Hauptbahnhof) has been reduced to the status of a regional station since the opening of the Hanover-Würzburg high-speed rail line in 1991 and its station (Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe) on the high-speed line at which the

InterCityExpress The Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE ()) is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany. It also serves some destinations in Austria, Denmark (ceased in 2017 but planned to resume in 2022), France, Belgium, Switzerl ...

(ICE) and

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at ma ...

services call as well as

Nightjet Nightjet (stylised as nightjet) is a brand name given by the Austrian Federal Railways ÖBB to its overnight passenger train services. ''Nightjet'' operates in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Switzerland. Th ...

and Flixtrain. Kassel is connected to the

motorways A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...

A 7, A 49 and A 44. The city is served by

Kassel Calden Airport Kassel Airport (formerly ''Kassel-Calden Airport'', German ''Flughafen Kassel'') is a minor international airport serving the German city of Kassel in the state of Hesse. It is located west of Calden, northwest of Kassel and is mainly used for ...

Politics

Mayor

The current mayor of Kassel is Christian Geselle of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

(SPD), who was elected in 2017. The most recent mayoral election was held on 5 March 2017, and the results were as follows: ! colspan=2, Candidate ! Party ! Votes ! % , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Christian Geselle , align=left,

, 30,403 , 56.6 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Dominique Kalb , align=left, Christian Democratic Union , 9,854 , 18.3 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Eva Koch , align=left,

Alliance 90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (for ...

, 4,957 , 9.2 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Murat Cakir , align=left, Kasseler Left , 4,483 , 8.3 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Bernd Hoppe , align=left,

Free Voters Free Voters (german: Freie Wähler, FW or FWG) in Germany may belong to an association of people which participates in an election without having the status of a registered political party. Usually it involves a locally organized group of voters ...

, 2,561 , 4.8 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Matthias Spindler , align=left,

Die PARTEI (''Party for Labour, Rule of Law, Animal Protection, Promotion of Elites and Grassroots Democratic Initiative''), or Die PARTEI (''The PARTY''), is a German political party. It was founded in 2004 by the editors of the German satirical magazin ...

, 1,460 , 2.7 , - ! colspan=3, Valid votes ! 53,718 ! 99.0 , - ! colspan=3, Invalid votes ! 552 ! 1.0 , - ! colspan=3, Total ! 54,270 ! 100.0 , - ! colspan=3, Electorate/voter turnout ! 148,706 ! 36.5 , - , colspan=5, Source
City of Kassel

City council

The Kassel city council (''Stadtverordnetenversammlung'') governs the city alongside the Mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 14 March 2021, and the results were as follows: ! colspan=2, Party ! Lead candidate ! Votes ! % ! +/- ! Seats ! +/- , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(Grüne) , align=left, Awet Tesfaiesus , 1,201,167 , 28.7 , 10.7 , 20 , 7 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(SPD) , align=left, Patrick Hartmann , 1,028,529 , 24.6 , 4.9 , 17 , 4 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) , align=left, Michael von Rüden , 802,551 , 19.2 , 1.5 , 14 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Kasseler Left (KL) , align=left, Violetta Bock , 469,800 , 11.2 , 0.6 , 8 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

Free Democratic Party Free Democratic Party is the name of several political parties around the world. It usually designates a party ideologically based on liberalism. Current parties with that name include: *Free Democratic Party (Germany), a liberal political party in ...

(FDP) , align=left, Matthias Nölke , 236,057 , 5.6 , 0.0 , 4 , ±0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

Alternative for Germany Alternative for Germany (german: link=no, Alternative für Deutschland, AfD; ) is a right-wing populist * * * * * * * political party in Germany. AfD is known for its opposition to the European Union, as well as immigration to Germany ...

(AfD) , align=left, Sven Dreyer , 233,609 , 5.6 , 5.4 , 4 , 4 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(FW) , align=left, Christian Klobuczynski , 94,443 , 2.3 , 0.7 , 2 , ±0 , - , , align=left, Save the Bees , align=left, Bernd Hoppe , 77,703 , 1.9 , New , 1 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(PARTEI) , align=left, Jennifer Rieger , 41,169 , 1.0 , New , 1 , New , - ! colspan=3, Valid votes ! 61,687 ! 95.7 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=3, Invalid votes ! 2,765 ! 4.3 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=3, Total ! 64,452 ! 100.0 ! ! 71 ! ±0 , - ! colspan=3, Electorate/voter turnout ! 147,462 ! 43.7 ! 0.9 ! ! , - , colspan=8, Source
Statistics Hesse

Education and research

University of Kassel

The

University of Kassel The University of Kassel (german: link=no, Universität Kassel) is a university founded in 1971 located in Kassel, Hessen, in central Germany. As of February 2022 it had about 25,000 students and about 3300 staff, including more than 300 profe ...

is a public higher education institution and was founded in 1971 as a so-called reform university offering new and innovative models of teaching. It is the newest university in the state of

Hessen Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are ...

and has an urban and lively inner-city campus between the city center and the Northern city district, a typical working-class area with a multicultural population. There were 25,000 students enrolled at the university in 2018, 3381 of them non-Germans. Two hundred and twenty-four students obtained their doctorate from the university in 2017. The University offers a wide range of study programs from organic agriculture to social work. Furthermore, it offers several Englis
master's programs
as well as two short-term international programs, the

Summer University The Summer University Project is a short-term mobility program for young people all over Europe. Each summer, students from more than 120 university cities join to organize around 80 Summer Universities all over Europe, each of which lasts from te ...

and the Winter University. The

Kunsthochschule Kassel Kunsthochschule Kassel (German; "Kassel College of Art") is a college of fine arts in Kassel, Germany. Founded in 1777, it is a semi-autonomous department of the University of Kassel . Notable people * Daniel Stieglitz * Peter Angermann * S ...

(University of Fine Arts) is also part of the university with a satellite campus directly at the Karlsaue park in the Southern city district.

Other institutions

* Kassel School of Medicine (KSM) * Fraunhofer-Institut für Windenergie und Energiesystemtechnik (IWES), the former Institut für Solare Energieversorgungstechnik (ISET) * Fraunhofer-Institut für Bauphysik (IBP) Projektgruppe Kassel * Forschungszentrum für Informationstechnik-Gestaltung (ITeG) * International Center for Development and Decent Work (ICDD) * Internationales Zentrum für Hochschulforschung Kassel (INCHER) * Zentrum für Umweltbewusstes Bauen (ZUB) * Center for Interdisciplinary Nanostructure Science and Technology (CINSaT) * AG Friedensforschung

Associations

* Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge

German War Graves Commission The German War Graves Commission ( in German) is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of German war graves in Europe and North Africa. Its objectives are acquisition, maintenance and care of German war graves; tending to next of kin; youth ...

* Gesellschaft für Christlich-Jüdische Zusammenarbeit Kassel * Spitzenverband der landwirtschaftlichen Sozialversicherung * Deutsche Rentenversicherung Hessen * Industrie- und Handelskammer Kassel (Chamber of Commerce Kassel)

Courts

Several

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to Adjudication, adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and carry out the administration of justice in Civil law (common law), civil, C ...

s are located in Kassel, including: *

Federal Social Court of Germany The Federal Social Court (''Bundessozialgericht'') is the German federal court of appeals for social security cases, mainly cases concerning the public health insurance, long-term care insurance, pension insurance and occupational accident insur ...

(Bundessozialgericht) * Hessischer Verwaltungsgerichtshof (Administration Court of Hesse) * Hessisches Finanzgericht * Sozialgericht Kassel (Social Court Kassel) * Arbeitsgericht Kassel (Employment Court Kassel) * Verwaltungsgericht Kassel * Oberlandesgericht Frankfurt/Main in Kassel * Landgericht Kassel (Regional Court Kassel) * Amtsgericht Kassel and Staatsanwaltschaft Kassel (Local Court Kassel)

Notable people

Academia

Helmut Hasse Helmut Hasse (; 25 August 1898 – 26 December 1979) was a German mathematician working in algebraic number theory, known for fundamental contributions to class field theory, the application of ''p''-adic numbers to local class field theory a ...

(1898–1979), fundamental theorist in algebra and number theory *

Dieter Koch-Weser Dieter Koch-Weser (July 13, 1916 – July 19, 2015) was a German-American physician and social medicine and HIV/AIDS researcher based in the Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health. He was a long-time advocate of Dr. Albert ...

(1916–2015), Professor,

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools ...

and

Harvard School of Public Health The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is the public health school of Harvard University, located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. The school grew out of the Harvard- MIT School for Health Officers, the nation's firs ...

Franz Rosenzweig Franz Rosenzweig (, ; 25 December 1886 – 10 December 1929) was a German theologian, philosopher, and translator. Early life and education Franz Rosenzweig was born in Kassel, Germany, to an affluent, minimally observant Jewish family. His f ...

(1886–1929), Jewish-German theologian, philosopher and translator *

Georg Friedrich Sartorius Georg Friedrich Sartorius (after 1827 Freiherr von Waltershausen; 25 August 1765 Kassel – 24 August 1828 Göttingen) was a German research historian, economist and professor at Göttingen University. Biography Sartorius was born in Kassel, whe ...

(1765–1828), academia, research historian and economist

Actors and entertainment

Daniel Bandmann Daniel E. Bandmann (November 1, 1837 – November 23, 1905) was an internationally known German-American Shakespearean actor who after retiring from the stage became a noted Montana rancher. In 1885 Bandmann published ''An Actor's Tour: or, Sevent ...

(1837–1905), actor-manager * Hubertus Meyer-Burckhardt (born 1956), television journalist and talk show host *

F. W. Murnau Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau (born Friedrich Wilhelm Plumpe; December 28, 1888March 11, 1931) was a German film director, producer and screenwriter. He was greatly influenced by Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Shakespeare and Ibsen plays he had seen at th ...

(1888–1931), movie director in the

silent era A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...

* Barbara Rudnik (1958–2009), actress *

Otto Sander Otto Sander (; 30 June 1941 – 12 September 2013) was a German film, theater, and voice actor. Life Education and early career Sander grew up in Kassel, where he graduated in 1961 from the Friedrichgymnasium. After leaving school he s ...

(1941–2013), actor *

Meryem Sahra Uzerli Meryem Sarah Uzerli (; born on 12 August 1983) is a Turkish-German actress who rose to prominence by playing Hürrem Sultan in the Turkish TV series '' Muhteşem Yüzyıl'' (2011–2013), for which she received critical acclaim and won numerous ...

(born 1982), Turkish-German actress

Artists and designers

Arnold Bode Arnold Bode (23 December 1900 – 3 October 1977) was a German architect, painter, designer and curator. Arnold was born in Kassel, Germany. From 1928 to 1933, he worked as a painter and university lecturer in Berlin. However, when the Nazis ca ...

(1900–1977), architect, painter, designer, and founder of the documenta *

Simon Louis du Ry Simon Louis du Ry (13 January 1726 in Kassel - 23 August 1799 in Kassel) was a classical architect. Biography Simon Louis du Ry was the son of the Huguenot architect Charles du Ry and grandson of Paul du Ry of Kassel. He was from a French ref ...

(1726–1799), architect * Hugo Wilhelm Arthur Nahl (1833–1899), artist who designed the

Seal of California The Great Seal of the State of California was adopted at the California state Constitutional Convention of 1849 and has undergone minor design changes since then, the last being the standardization of the seal in 1937. The seal shows Athena in ...

* Albrecht Rosengarten (1809–1893), architect famous for synagogue buildings in Central Europe

Business

Georges Kugelmann Georges Kugelmann (1809–1882) was born in Kassel, where he served his apprenticeship as a compositor. Soon after, he went to Paris, where he was employed in the office of Ambroise Firmin-Didot. After trying publishing, he entered into a partners ...

(1809–1882), newspaper printer *

Horst Paulmann Horst Paulmann Kemna (born 22 March 1935) is a German-Chilean billionaire entrepreneur. He is founder and chairman of Cencosud, the largest retail chain in Chile and the third largest in Latin America. According to ''Forbes'', as of July 2022 ...

(born 1935), German-Chilean billionaire entrepreneur. He is founder and chairman of

Cencosud Cencosud S.A. is a publicly traded multinational retail company. It's the largest retail company in Chile and the third largest listed retail company in Latin America, competing with the Brazilian Companhia Brasileira de Distribuição and the Me ...

, the largest retail chain in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

and the third largest in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...

Peter Gandert Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

(1948-2016), Baker

Musicians

Franz Curti __NOTOC__ Jean Baptist Joseph Franz Henry Curti (1854–1898) was a Swiss-German opera composer. Curti was born 16 November 1854 at Kassel, son to the lawyer and court opera singer Anton Curti (1820-1887), and his wife Marie Clementine, née G ...

(1854–1898), opera composer * Andreas Dippel (1866–1932), operatic tenor * Chris Hülsbeck (born 1968), video game music composer *

Gertrud Elisabeth Mara Gertrud Elisabeth Mara (née Schmeling) (23 February 1749 – 20 January 1833) was a German operatic soprano. Life She was born in Kassel, the daughter of a poor musician, Johann Schmeling. From him she learnt to play the violin, and while s ...

(1749–1833), operatic soprano *

Israel Meyer Japhet Israel Meyer Japhet (7 March 1818—10 November 1892) was a teacher, choir director, and grammarian. He was choir director at the Realschule (Adass Jeschurun) in Frankfurt am Main under Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, and composed music for synagogue ...

(1818–1892) choral director in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian dialects, Hessian: , "Franks, Frank ford (crossing), ford on the Main (river), Main"), is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as o ...

(1784–1859), composer and violinist, commemorated by a museum in the city *

Charlotte Sporleder Charlotte Wilhelmine Eringarde Freiin Spiegel von und zu Peckelsheim Sporleder (November 8, 1836 - January 9, 1915) was a German composer who won a medal at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. She published her music under the name Charlotte Sporlede ...

(1836–1915), composer * Johannes von Soest (1448–1506), medieval musician, music theorist, poet, and composer. *

Milky Chance Milky Chance is a German rock band originating in Kassel. It consists of vocalist and guitarist Clemens Rehbein, bassist and percussionist Philipp Dausch, and their band members, Antonio Greger and Sebastian Schmidt. Their first single, " Stole ...

(2013–present), band.

Politicians, military and civil servants

* Holger Börner (1931–2006), politician * Hans Eichel (born 1941), politician *

Philipp Scheidemann Philipp Heinrich Scheidemann (26 July 1865 – 29 November 1939) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). In the first quarter of the 20th century he played a leading role in both his party and in the young Weima ...

(1865–1939), briefly Germany's Chancellor after the First World War *

Josias von Heeringen Josias von Heeringen (9 March 1850 – 9 October 1926) was a German general of the imperial era who served as Prussian Minister of War and saw service in the First World War. Early life Heeringen was born in Kassel in the Electorate of Hesse. ...

(1850–1926), general *

Johanna Vogt Johanna Sophia Wilhelmine Caroline Vogt (16 June 1862 – 12 March 1944) was a German suffragette and the first woman on the city council of Kassel starting in 1919. From 1922 until 1923, Vogt was one of the six Lutheran members (and among them, th ...

(1862–1944),

suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...

and the first woman on the city council of Kassel starting in 1919

Royalty and socialites

Jérôme Bonaparte Jérôme-Napoléon Bonaparte (born Girolamo Buonaparte; 15 November 1784 – 24 June 1860) was the youngest brother of Napoleon I and reigned as Jerome Napoleon I (formally Hieronymus Napoleon in German), King of Westphalia, between 1807 and 1 ...

(1784–1860), Prince, brother of

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

, lived in Kassel while he was king of

Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regi ...

Maria Amalia of Courland Princess Maria Anna Amalia of Courland (12 June 1653 – 16 June 1711) was Landgravine of Hesse-Kassel through her marriage to Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel. She was the child of Jacob Kettler, Duke of Courland and Semigallia and Margr ...

(1653–1711), noblewoman, participated in creation of park at

Prince Charles of Hesse-Kassel Prince Charles of Hesse-Kassel (, German and ; 19 December 1744 – 17 August 1836) was a cadet member of the house of Hesse-Kassel and a Danish general field marshal. Brought up with relatives at the Danish court, he spent most of his life in De ...

(1744–1836) *

Prince Frederick of Hesse-Kassel Prince Frederick of Hesse-Kassel (11 September 1747 – 20 May 1837) was a younger member of the dynasty that ruled the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) and a Danish general. He was born as the youngest son of Hereditary Prince F ...

(1747–1837) * Princess and Landgravine Augusta of Hesse-Kassel (1797–1889), consort to

Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, (Adolphus Frederick; 24 February 1774 – 8 July 1850) was the tenth child and seventh son of the British king George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. He held the title of Duke of Cambridge from 18 ...

Landgravine Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel (20 November 1627 – 26 March 1686), was a German princess of the House of Hesse-Kassel and by marriage Electress#Electresses Palatine (junior line), Electress Palatine during 1650–1657 as the first wife of Charles I L ...

(1627–1686), noblewoman, member of the

House of Hesse-Kassel The House of Hesse is a European dynasty, directly descended from the House of Brabant. They ruled the region of Hesse, one branch as prince-electors until 1866, and another branch as grand dukes until 1918. Burke's Royal Families of the World ...

Louise of Hesse-Kassel da, Louise Wilhelmine Frederikke Caroline Auguste Julie , succession = Queen consort of Denmark , image = Louise of Hesse-Kassel.jpg , reign = 15 November 1863 – 29 September 1898 , spouse = , issue = , house ...

(1817–1898), princess of Hesse-Kassel, later queen consort of King Christian IX of

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...

William IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel William IV of Hesse-Kassel (24 June 153225 August 1592), also called ''William the Wise'', was the first Landgrave of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel). He was the founder of the oldest line, which survives to this day. Life Lan ...

(1532–1592), the first

Landgrave Landgrave (german: Landgraf, nl, landgraaf, sv, lantgreve, french: landgrave; la, comes magnus, ', ', ', ', ') was a noble title used in the Holy Roman Empire, and later on in its former territories. The German titles of ', ' (" margrave"), ...

of the

Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (german: Landgrafschaft Hessen-Kassel), spelled Hesse-Cassel during its entire existence, was a state in the Holy Roman Empire that was directly subject to the Emperor. The state was created in 1567 when the La ...

Scientists and physicians

Valerius Cordus Valerius Cordus (18 February 1515 – 25 September 1544) was a German physician, botanist and pharmacologist who authored the first pharmacopoeia North of the Alps and one of the most celebrated herbals in history. He is also widely credited wit ...

(1515–1544) physician and botanist, authored

pharmacopoeias A pharmacopoeia, pharmacopeia, or pharmacopoea (from the obsolete typography ''pharmacopœia'', meaning "drug-making"), in its modern technical sense, is a book containing directions for the identification of compound medicines, and published b ...

and herbals. *

Friedrich Armand Strubberg Friedrich Armand Strubberg (born Fredèric Armand Strubberg, March 18, 1806 – April 3, 1889) was a merchant, physician, and pioneer colonist. Born in Germany, Strubberg spent many decades in the United States. In Texas, he used the pseudonym Dr. ...

(1806–1889), merchant, physician, colonist in North America, direct descendant of

Frederick I of Sweden Frederick I ( sv, Fredrik I; 28 April 1676 – 5 April 1751) was prince consort of Sweden from 1718 to 1720, and King of Sweden from 1720 until his death and (as ''Frederick I'') also Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel from 1730. He ascended the thron ...

Justus Carl Hasskarl Justus Carl Hasskarl (6 December 1811 – 5 January 1894) was a German explorer and botanist specializing in Pteridophytes, Bryophytes and Spermatophytes. He was co-founder of the Society of Natural Curiosities of India, in Bavaria and spent his ...

(1809–1894), botanist specialising in

Pteridophytes A pteridophyte is a vascular plant (with xylem and phloem) that disperses spores. Because pteridophytes produce neither flowers nor seeds, they are sometimes referred to as " cryptogams", meaning that their means of reproduction is hidden. ...

Bryophytes The Bryophyta s.l. are a proposed taxonomic division containing three groups of non-vascular land plants (embryophytes): the liverworts, hornworts and mosses. Bryophyta s.s. consists of the mosses only. They are characteristically limited i ...

, and

Spermatophytes A spermatophyte (; ), also known as phanerogam (taxon Phanerogamae) or phaenogam (taxon Phaenogamae), is any plant that produces seeds, hence the alternative name seed plant. Spermatophytes are a subset of the embryophytes or land plants. They inc ...

Carl Friedrich Claus Carl Friedrich Claus (born 9 November 1827 in Kassel; died 29 August 1900 in London) was a German chemist and inventor. He patented the Claus process. Life Claus studied chemistry at University of Marburg in Germany. He emigrated to England, w ...

(1827–1900), chemist * Adolf Eugen Fick (1829–1901), physiologist *

Jakob Stilling Jakob Stilling (22 September 1842 – 30 April 1915) was a German ophthalmologist from Kassel. He studied medicine at several locations including Paris and Würzburg, and obtained his doctorate in 1865. In 1867 he became an eye doctor in Kas ...

(1842–1915), ophthalmologist, son of Benedict Stilling, surgeon, and brother of Heinrich Stilling, pathologist *

Carl Kaiserling Johann Carl Kaiserling (3 February 1869 - 20 August 1942) was a German pathologist who was a native of Kassel-Wehlheiden. He studied medicine in Munich, Kiel and Berlin, earning his medical doctorate in 1893. In 1902, he became privatdozent at ...

(1869–1942), pathologist

Sports

Leni Junker Helene "Leni" Junker (later Thymm; 8 December 1905 – 9 February 1997) was a German sprint runner who competed at the 1928 Summer Olympics. She won a bronze medal in the 4 × 100 m, but failed to reach the final of the individual 100 m event. E ...

(1905–1997), sprinter * Yunus Mallı (born 1992), Turkish footballer *

Annika Mehlhorn Annika Mehlhorn (born 5 August 1983) is a butterfly and medley swimmer from Germany. She competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the 200 m butterfly, but failed to reach the final. She became European champion in the 200 m butterfly at the ...

(born 1983), butterfly and medley swimmer *

Yona Melnik Yona Melnik ( he, יונה מלניק; born 27 May 1949) is an Israeli former judoka and current coach. He is the first Israeli judoka to achieve 8th dan from the International Judo Federation. Biography Melnik is Jewish, and was born in Kassel ...

(born 1949), Israeli Olympic judoka

Writers and journalists

*The

, Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Grimm (1786–1859), academics, linguists, cultural researchers, and authors who collected folklore and published several collections as

Grimms' Fairy Tales ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', originally known as the ''Children's and Household Tales'' (german: Kinder- und Hausmärchen, lead=yes, ), is a German collection of fairy tales by the Grimm brothers or "Brothers Grimm", Jacob and Wilhelm, first publis ...

Helmut Kollars Helmut Kollars (born 1968 in Graz) is an Austrian illustrator and writer of children's books. Biography Kollars first set up a business as a freelance illustrator in Vienna. Stifled by laws in Austria that required artists to carry health insura ...

(born 1968), writer and illustrator *

Rudolf Erich Raspe Rudolf Erich Raspe (March 1736 – 16 November 1794) was a German librarian, writer, and scientist, called by his biographer John Patrick Carswell a "rogue". He is best known for his collection of tall tales '' The Surprising Adventures of Baro ...

(1736–1794),

librarian who fled to England after embezzling significant funds from

Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel Frederick II (german: Landgraf Friedrich II von Hessen-Kassel) (14 August 1720 – 31 October 1785) was Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) from 1760 to 1785. He ruled as an enlightened despot, and raised money by renting soldiers ( call ...

, and wrote (or compiled) '' The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchhausen'' *

Paul Reuter Paul Julius Reuter (born Israel Beer Josaphat; 21 July 1816 – 25 February 1899), later ennobled as Freiherr von Reuter (Baron von Reuter), was a German-born British entrepreneur who was a pioneer of telegraphy and news reporting.Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was est ...

news agency * Lucien Scheler (1902–1999), French poet, writer, and publisher * Peter-Matthias Gaede (born 1951), journalist

Others

* Herman Lamm (1890–1930), German-American bank robber * Norbert Trelle (born 1942), Roman Catholic German bishop *

Nils Seethaler Nils Seethaler (born August 18, 1981, in Berlin) is a German cultural anthropologist. He researches historical collections of ethnological objects and human remains. Personal life Nils Seethaler was born in Berlin-Lichterfelde and spent his yout ...

(born 1981), Ethnologist Rathaus ks

Twin towns – sister cities

Kassel is

twinned Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to: * In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so; * Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning * Twinning inst ...

with: *

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

, Italy (1952) * Mitte (Berlin), Germany (1962) *

Mulhouse Mulhouse (; Alsatian: or , ; ; meaning ''mill house'') is a city of the Haut-Rhin department, in the Grand Est region, eastern France, close to the Swiss and German borders. It is the largest city in Haut-Rhin and second largest in Alsace af ...

, France (1965) *

Rovaniemi Rovaniemi ( , ; sme, Roavvenjárga ; smn, Ruávinjargâ; sms, Ruäʹvnjargg) is a city and municipality of Finland. It is the administrative capital and commercial centre of Finland's northernmost province, Lapland, and its southern part Per� ...

, Finland (1972) *

Västerås Västerås ( , , ) is a city in central Sweden on the shore of Lake Mälaren in the province of Västmanland, west of Stockholm. The city had a population of 127,799 at the end of 2019, out of the municipal total of 154,049. Västerås is the se ...

, Sweden (1972) *

Yaroslavl Yaroslavl ( rus, Ярослáвль, p=jɪrɐˈsɫavlʲ) is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historic part of the city is a World Heritage Site, and is located at the confluence ...

, Russia (1988) * Arnstadt, Germany (1989) *

Ramat Gan Ramat Gan ( he, רָמַת גַּן or , ) is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel, located east of the municipality of Tel Aviv and part of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. It is home to one of the world's major diamond exchanges, and man ...

, Israel (1990) * Kocaeli, Turkey (1999)

History

Economy

Geography

Neighboring communities

Culture

Climate

Demographics

Sights

Churches

St. Martin, Kassel

St. Bonifatius, Kassel St. Bonifatius is a Catholic church and parish in Kassel, Hesse, Germany. It was completed in 1956, designed by Josef Bieling. The parish is dedicated to Saint Boniface, and belongs to the Diocese of Fulda. It is now part of a merged parish St. E ...

Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe

Staatspark Karlsaue (Karlsaue Park)

Art museums

Other museums

Sports

Transport

Politics

Mayor

City council

Education and research

University of Kassel

Other institutions

Associations

Courts

Notable people

Academia

Actors and entertainment

Artists and designers

Business

Musicians

Politicians, military and civil servants

Royalty and socialites

Scientists and physicians

Sports

Writers and journalists

Others

Twin towns – sister cities

See also

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links