The Hercules monument is an important landmark in the German city of Kassel. It is located in the "Bergpark (Mountainpark) Wilhelmshöhe", northern Hesse, Germany.
Hercules is a copper statue depicting the ancient Greek demigod Heracles (Gr. Ηρακλής, German Herkules). The statue is located at the top of a Pyramid, which stands on top of the Octagon; the statue and the other parts of the monument were constructed at different times. Today "Hercules" refers not only to the statue, but the whole monument, including the Octago and Pyramid. The monument is the highest point in the Wilhelmshöhe Bergpark.
The monument is located in Bad Wilhelmshöhe, on the Eastern ridge of the Habichtswald. It was built in an artificial dell of the Karlsberg (526m above sea level) on the most western and at the same time highest location (515 m) of the line of sight Schloss Wilhelmshöhe - Hercules.
Contents |
Construction of the Bergpark began in 1696. The Hercules statue was built in the years 1701 to 1717 and is based on the design of the Italian Giovanni Francesco Guerniero. The entire complex is the Northern-most part of the park and is an important baroque aspect of the Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe.
For the first time the water features took place on the 3rd of June in 1714. Today during the summer (from May until October every wednesday and sunday afternoon) visitors can attend this event. Additionally, every first saturday of the months of june, july, august and september this event takes place during the evening with lights of different colors illuminating the water, the fountain and the different monuments. Every time about 350.000 liters of water are needed and visitors can follow the water's way starting from the Hercules monument and ending at the big lake of the castle Wilhelmshöhe. The water runs down the cascades, the Steinhöfer's waterfall, the devil's bridge, until it tumbles down the aqueduct before finally arriving at the lake of the castle where a fountain of about 50 meters ends the spectacle. This whole system is working on a natural basis with the help of natural pressure assured by several water reservoirs and underground pipelines whose locks are opened manually. Remarkably this way of working has been preserved for almost 300 years now.
The Hercules monument has a total height of 70.5 meters. 32.65 meters are accounted for by the Octagon; 29.60 meters for the Pyramid and 8.25 meters for the Hercules statue itself. The height difference between top of the statue and the bottom of the cascades is 179 meters.
The Cascades are a 250m long stone structure that forms gigantic waterstairs.
The complete structure (Octagon & Cascades) are made of Tuff that was sourced from quarries nearby. This soft material has the advantage of a good workability but weathers quickly, particularly by frost-related erosion. This rapid weathering process has been a structural issue for the statue in its 300 years of existence. In late 2005 a complete restructuring process of the entire monument, including the Hercules statue, was initiated. Expected to be completed in 2009, the restoration of the statue and monuments has been estimated to cost more than 24 million Euro.