Talk:Kassel

This entry is based on an article from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

Kassel was the capital of the former electorate of Hesse-Cassel.Since the annexation by Prussia in 1866, Kassel was the capital of theprovince of Hesse-Nassau. Pop. (18x5) 64,083; (1905) 120,446.

It is pleasantly situated, in a hilly and well-wooded country, on bothsides of the river Fulda, over which a stone bridge leads to the lowernew town, 124 m. by rail N.N.E. from Frankfort-on-Main. The river isnavigable for barges, and railways connect the town with all parts ofGermany.The streets of the old town are narrow and crooked, and containmany picturesque gabled houses, generally of the 17th century, but thoseof the upper and lower new town; and the three suburbs, are notsurpassed by any in Germany. The principal streets are theKönigs-strasse (5100 ft. long and 60 broad), the Schöne Aussicht, andthe Stände-platz (180 ft. broad with four rows of linden trees). Thelarge Friedrichs-platz is 1000 by 450 ft. in area. In it stands a marblestatue of the landgrave Frederick II. There is a fine view from the openside. The former residence of the electors (Residenzschloss) fronts thissquare, as well as the Museum Fridericianum, with a façade ofRoman-Ionic columns. The museum contains various valuable collections ofcuriosities, interesting mosaics, coins, casts, a library of 230,000volumes, and valuable manuscripts. In the cabinet of curiosities thereis a complete collection of clocks and watches from the earliest to thepresent time. Among these is the so-called Egg of Nuremberg, a watchmade about 1500 by Peter Henlein. Among other public places andbuildings worthy of notice are the Roman Catholic church, with asplendid interior; the Königs-platz, with a remarkable echo; theKarls-platz, with the statue of the landgrave Charles; and theMartins-platz, with a large church St. Martins with twin towers, containingthe burial-vaults of the Hessian princes. The gallery of paintings,housed in a handsome building erected in 1880 on the Schöne Aussicht,contains one of the finest small collections in Europe, especially richin the works of Rembrandt, Frans Hals and Van Dyck.

The town contains numerous educational institutions, including atechnical college, a school of painting, a celebrated classical school,which the emperor William II. attended, and a military academy. Thedescendants of the French refugees who founded the upper new town have achurch and hospital of their own. There are three Roman Catholicchurches, an English church, and two synagogues. Music is muchcultivated, and there is an opera with a first-rate orchestra, of whichLudwig Spohr was at one time conductor. The opera-house or theatrewas built by Jerome Napoleon, but in 1906 money was voted for a newbuilding on the Auetor. A new Rathaus (town-hall) has beenerected. There are also the Bose Museum, containing collections ofpictures and antiquities of Hessian origin, museums of natural historyand ethnography, an industrial exhibition hall, and an industrial artschool. A handsome Gothic Lutheran church was erected in 1892-1897, apost office (Renaissance) in 1881, and new administrative offices andlaw courts in 1876-1880. The municipal (or Murhard) library, in theHanau park, contains 118,000 volumes. The most noticeable of the modernpublic monuments are those to the emperor William I. (1898), to themusician Spohr (1883), and the Löwenbrunnen (1881). In the Karlsaue, afavourite public promenade lying just below the Schöne Aussicht, arethe Orangerie and the marble baths. Cassel is the headquarters of theXI. German army corps, and has a large garrison. It is a favouriteresidence for foreigners and retired officers and governmentofficials. The industries embrace engine-building, the manufacture ofrailway carriages and plant, scientific instruments, porcelain, tobaccoand cigars, lithography, jute-spinning, iron-founding, brewing andgardering(?).

On a slope of the Habichtswald Mountains, 3 m. W. of Cassel, andapproached by an avenue, is the summer palace of Wilhelmshöhe, erectedin 1787-1794. Napoleon III. resided here, as a prisoner of war, afterthe battle of Sedan. The surrounding gardens are adorned withfountains, cascades, lakes and grottos, the principal fountain sendingup a jet of water 180 ft. high and 12 in. in diameter. Here also isan interesting building called the Löwenburg, erected in 1793-1796 inthe style of a fortified castle, and containing among other thingsportraits of Tudors and Stuarts. The principal curiosity is theKarlsburg cascade, which is placed in a broad ravine, thickly wooded onboth sides. A staircase of 900 steps leads to the top. On one of thelandings is a huge rudely-carved stone figure of the giant Enceladus,and at the top is an octagon building called the Riesenschloss,surmounted by a colossal copper figure of the Farnese Hercules, 31ft. high, whose club alone is sufficiently capacious to accommodate fromeight to ten persons. In different parts of the park, and especiallyfrom the Octagon, charming views are obtained. The park was first formedby the landgrave Frederick II., the husband of Mary, daughter of GeorgeII. of England, and was finished by his successor the landgrave William,after whom it was named.

The earliest mention of Cassel is in 913, when it is referred to asCassala. The town passed from the landgraves of Thuringia to thelandgraves of Hesse in the 13th century, becoming one of the principalresidences of the latter house in the 15th century. The burghersaccepted the reformed doctrines in 1527. The fortifications of the townwere restored by the landgrave Philip the Magnanimous and his sonWilliam IV. during the 16th century, and it was greatly improved by thelandgrave Charles (1654-1730), who welcomed many Huguenots who foundedthe upper new town. In 1762 Cassel was captured by the Germans from theFrench; after this the fortifications were dismantled and New Cassel waslaid out by the landgrave Frederick II. In 1807 it became the capital ofthe kingdom of Westphalia; in 1813 it was bombarded and captured by theRussian general Chernichev; in 1830, 1831 and 1848 it was the scene ofviolent commotions; from 1850 to 1851 it was occupied by the Prussians,the Bavarians and the Austrians; in 1866 it was occupied by thePrussians, and in 1867 was made the capital of the newly formed Prussianprovince of Hesse-Nassau.

See Piderit, Geschichte der Haupt- und Residenzstadt Kassel (Kassel,1882); Fr. Müller, Kassel seit 70 Jahren (2 vols., 2nd ed., Kassel,1893); and Hessler, Die Residenzstadt Kassel und ihre Umgebung (Kassel,1902).--Keichwa 17:10 Apr 26, 2003 (UTC)

I have vague memories from a German exchange in this part of the world many years ago of a local catchphrase, possibly done as a call and response thing, along the lines of "Fulle wasser, Fulle wasser! Hoi, hoi, hoi!" I have no idea whether that's spelt correctly, or whether it's widely used, but I thought I might as well mention it. Loganberry (Talk) 17:37, 3 April 2009 (UTC)

It's used during the "Zissel" as you can see here.BTW: Your spelling is correct. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.68.179.139 (talk) 17:07, 10 April 2009 (UTC)

This is historical propaganda and since that as often wrong as it is quoted:Hesse-Kassel became infamous for selling mercenaries (Hessians) to the British crown to help suppress the American Revolution and to finance the construction of palaces and the landgrave's opulent lifestyle. 1. The Hessians were very well trained professional soldiers - among the best of its time - and they were no foreing mercenaries.2. At that time smaller middle states and also the democratic swiss republic lease their troops because of the need to maintainin such powerfull troops between the powerfull states of Prussia, France, Habsburg, Britain and Russia.3. the money was earned by the real Hessians from Hessen-Kassel as professional soldiers was spend for guerdon and social welfare foundations. For example the Waisenhaussitftung zu Kassel was closed in the 1920 years because of inflation and not because the landgraves opulent lifestyle.Greets from Kassel

The paragraph Demographics displays only one table, ranking top 5 largest nationalities of immigrants.Without any context or explanations, it reads like there was no German inhabitants. I'd suggest to delete this section until it is fed with background informations.--77.8.225.24 (talk) 21:39, 2 May 2015 (UTC)

After someone deleted the table mentioned above, I've added a Template:Expand section, hoping to use this talk page section to figure out how to improve the demographics section in the article. I know nothing about Kassel, so we could use some locals. Benica11 (talk) 01:44, 23 April 2020 (UTC)

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The article currently claims that the name was changed from Cassel to Kassel in 1928; the German article says 1926. In neither case is there a source, or any explanation as to why this happened. Cassel (disambiguation) also says 1926. I know nothing about this, but I'm changing this article to 1926 on the basis that the German article is more likely to be correct, and adding a cn tag. I'd have thought this was a fairly significant change, which should be properly documented and explained. GrindtXX (talk) 13:20, 12 July 2020 (UTC)