Kassel: Karlsaue Park and Siebenbergen Island
Karlsaue Park
The Isle of Swans Schwanen Insel in the Karlsaue Park in Kassel
The Orangery seen from the Mittelallee in Karlsaue Park
Just steps away from downtown Kassel, the Karlsaue is a city park built in the original floodplains of the Fulda river. It is anchored with the palace like royal greenhouses of the Orangery and the Marble Bath House at northern end, and the Victorian era show gardens of Siebenbergen Island at the southern. In between are five tree-lined avenues laid out along long ornamental ponds and providing beautiful vistas to enjoy while strolling. Starting in the meadow, just in front of the Orangery, where the Documenta art show is being held in the summer of 2007, there are views up the three largest avenues: the Mittelallee (Middle Avenue), Küchengraben (Kitchen Ditch) and Hirschgraben (Stag Ditch). If you follow the Mittelallee, the avenue that leads straight from the Orangery, you arrive at a large lake surrounding the Isle of Swans (Schwaneninsel) and crowned by a domed temple. Behind that are the beautiful Victorian show gardens of Siebenbergen Island
For almost 300 years the Landgrave's and, later, Electors a of Hesse (Hessen) -- Kassel used Karlsaue as a summer residence. Skirted by two arms of the Fulda river, the water meadows form an island, which came bit by bit into the possession of the territorial overlords. Starting with the renaissance garden, laid out in the 16th century (close to today's stadium - the Hessenkampfbahn), the entire area was tamed to meet the formal requirements of its absolutist owners, resulting in a baroque park. The water was channeled into artistic forms, such as pools and ornamental framework of canals. Like so many other baroque gardens, the Karlsaue was altered from the late 18th century into a landscaped park, although its water framework survived almost entirely as did the principal baroque vista, which on such a grand scale links the orangery palace via Karl's meadow, the middle avenue, the great pool and its isle of swans, with Siebenbergen Island in the small pool, offering panoramas across the picturesque botanical medley of this meadow land park.
Siebenbergen Island Insel Siebenbergen
From the outset, Siebenbergen Island was thoughtfully planted as a "point de vue" at the southern tip of the principal baroque vista. From 1763, under Landgrave Friedrich II, some valuable trees and shrubs were added.Siebenbergen Island was to enjoy a second heyday under Wilhelm Hentze who, as director of Court Gardens in Hesse (Hessen), took charge of the Electors' properties from 1822 until 1864. The girdle of water which induces a favorable microclimate on the island, plus mild winters allow virtually all shrubs, ornamental trees, rhododendrons and rare conifers to thrive. Here Hentze designed beautiful gardens of flowers and other plants. Today, the island is as Hentze laid it out in the years in 1832 to 1864, a pristine example of a Victorian pleasure garden.
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