Hercules monument (Kassel)
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The Hercules is deemed to be the landmark of the city of Kassel, it is located in the "Bergpark (mountainpark) Wilhelmshöhe", northern Hesse, Germany.
Actually the Hercules is a copperstatue of the ancient Heracles (lat. Hercules, german Herkules). The statue is located on the pinnacle of a Pyramid, which stands on top of the Octagon, the giant-castle. Today Hercules is not only the statue but the whole monument which is the starting point for the summerly trick fountains in the mountainpark. The Octagon and the Hercules trace back to different construction phases.
The monument is located in Bad Wilhelmshöhe, on the eastern rigde of the Habichtswald. It was built in an artificial dell of the Karlsberg on the most western and at the same time highest location (515 m) of the line of sight Schloss Wilhelmshöhe - Hercules.
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[edit] Building history
The Hercules was build in the years 1701 to 1717 based on the design of the Italian Giovanni Francesco Guerniero. The entire complex is the western termination and an important baroque aspect of the Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe. Already in 1696 the construction of a centre line for the, at that time, decent Bergpark were started.
[edit] Octagon & statue
The Herkules has a total height of 70.5 m whereof 32.65 m pertain of the Octagon; 29.60 m for the pyramid and 8.25 m for the Hercules statue itself.
[edit] Cascades
The Cascades are a 250m long stone structure that forms gigantic waterstairs.
[edit] Building material
[edit] Literature
- Giovanni Francesco Guerniero, Delineatio Montis, Cassel 1706
- Faksimile, Leipzig 1988 (auch Stuttgart 1988)
- Paul Heidelbach, Die Geschichte der Wilhelmshöhe. Klinkhardt & Biermann, Leipzig, 1909
- Faksimile, Hrsg: Dieter Carl, Vellmar 2005
- Christiane Lukatis (Hrsg.), Herkules. Tugendheld und Herrscherideal. Das Herkules- Monument in Kassel- Wilhelmshöhe., Eurasburg 1997, ISBN 3-9323-5306-4
- Thomas Ludwig, Der Herkules in Kassel, 2004, ISBN 3-7954-1668-X
