The Orangery in the Karlsaue in Kassel

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The Kassel Orangery

Kassel Orangery Karlsaue
The Orangery


Just next door to the Orangery is:

Kassel Marble Baths
The Marble Bath House

Lowenburg Castle in Kassel Germany

In theWilhelmshöhe Hill Park:

Kassel Wilhelmshöhe Palace


Orangerie Karlsaue Kassel

The Landgrave Karl (1670 -- 1730), who gave his name to the landscape that took form on the floodplain of the Fulda river in Kassel, called the "Karlsaue" or "Charles' Meadow", had the Orangery built in 1710 as the centerpiece of his new baroque gardens.  It was a type of hot house or indoor Winter Garden designed protect the potted orange trees, palms, and lemon trees which lined the pathways of the Karlsaue during the summer.  The presence of rare botanical specimens from the Mediterranean region within his garden was a potent status symbol.  The cultivation of these non-native plants that required a year around heating was a public proclamation of apparently limitless funds.  In the 1700's  orangeries had became indispensable features of great landed states.  They were typically constructed as a single story building and their function was instantly recognizable by the profusion of large windows running along the whole building both front and back.  Inside they are light and airy, their most elaborate decoration was often iron grillwork on the floor through which the hot air from the heating system was directed towards the orange and lemon trees above.

Kassel Orangery Karlsaue Seen From Bridge

In 1747 the Orangery became the home for two months to Clara, a large and precocious rhinoceros, that traveled the courts of Europe as a one of a kind living oddity.  Clara had a special liking for oranges (and beer), and the Landgrave had probably been intrigued by her fondness for the fruit. 

Kassel Orangery Karlsaue in Mist

Around 1750 the baroque sculptor from Kassel Johann Georg Kötschau designed the statues in the form of gods and goddesses and other mythological figures which were then in stalled along the balustrade on the roof of the Orangery.  The orangery he continued to serve its function as a Winter Garden or greenhouse until the beginning of World War II.  Since 1992 Kassel's Museum for Astronomy and Science, including a planetarium, have been housed in the building., and in 2007 it was the largest site in the Documenta art show.  Right next door to the Orangery is the beautiful Marble Bath House.

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