3. - Schlösser-Magazin

3. The
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3. Justification for Inscription
Palace and Park of Wilhelmshöhe
Basic Facts
Location: Germany, state of Hessen, city of
Kassel
Historical outline: 1527 dissolution of
the monastery of Weißenstein, estate
afterwards used as a hunting lodge; 1606
replacement of the monastery building with
a Renaissance summer palace and garden by
Landgrave Moritz; 1701-1714 construction
of the “Octogon” and cascade on the wooded
Habichtsberg hill from plans, based on Italian
Renaissance models, by Giovanni Francesco
Guerniero, whom Landgrave Karl (1670-1730)
had met while traveling in Italy; only about
a third of the planned layout was actually
built; 1717 Hercules statue installed on the
“Octogon”; 1763-1785 under Landgrave
Friedrich II. (r. 1760-1785) construction of
the palace and redesign of the garden by
Court Gardener August Daniel Schwarzkopf
in an “anglo-Chinese“ style including many
architectural elements (“Mulang“ village
1782-1785 by Simon Louis de Ry, Pyramid,
Sibyl’s Grotto, Temple of Mercury, Socrates’
Hermitage); 1789-1795 Island of Roses;
from 1793 construction of the Löwenburg,
a neo-Gothic miniature castle; 1798 estate
named “Wilhelmshöhe“; from 1803 further
landscaping under Landgrave Wilhelm IX (r.
1785-1821), installation of two water displays
from plans by Heinrich Christoph Jussow,
de Ry and Karl Friedrich Steinhofer; 1826
construction of New Waterfall by Steinhofer;
1822 construction of the large greenhouse by
Johann Conrad Bromeis, one of the earliest
glass and iron structures in Germany; 1822-
1864 enlargement of the park in the area
surrounding the New Waterfall by Wilhelm
Hentze.
Characteristics: Wilhelmshöhe is considered
outstanding not least because of the numerous
and varied water displays made possible
by the estate’s location on the slopes of the
Habichtsberg hill. Inspired by Italian models
already a century old when the gardens were
first laid out, the monumental “water stair”
in particular, albeit only realised in part,
provided the estate with a distinctive identity.
Topical Comparison
Summer residence: Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe was
the summer residence of the Landgraves of
Hessen-Kassel from 1527 (although at first
used as a hunting lodge), after the annexation
by Prussia it was that of the Prussian Kings
(1866-1918) and from 1871 of the German
Emperors; the connection with the city by
way of an axis that extends well into the city
centre is still visible today, although the heavy
damage suffered by the city and palace during
WWII has changed the overall appearance.
Synthesis of gardening styles: It is remarkable
that for all the landscaping and extensions
in the late 18th and the 19th-centuries the
Baroque cascade was never in any danger – it
was always respected as an essential part of
the garden.
Furnishing: The early 18th-century water
stair and the numerous late 18th-century
water displays, the Waterfall, “Devil’s Bridge”
and Aqueduct have survived largely intact; a
large part of the more ephemeral decorative
buildings from the earlier landscape gardens