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Kassel
Onomastics: Chassalla [meaning controversial; castellum (Latin,= fortification); or: kas- (Germanic,= hollow) -sella (from sali, Germanic,= building)] --> Cassel
first documentary mention: 913 A.D.
Number of inhabitants: 204,000
Surface area: 106.78 km²
State: Hesse
Administrative district: Kassel
Vehicle registration plate: KS
River: Fulda
The Club Dublex Saunaclub is located in Kassel-Forstfeld.

Kassel sounds suspiciously either like a Hessian mountain province, a local salted meat speciality (smoked pork chop) or a French actor. But it's hard to be mistaken - Kassel is a city whose former absolutist splendour still appears in many places and which can easily compete with the other Hessian cities at eye level. As far as the salted meat is concerned - this is not a Kassel speciality, it was named after the Berlin butcher Cassel, who writes himself just like the French actor.
The truth is that Kassel is located almost in the geographical centre of Germany, embedded in a valley basin, which is scenically surrounded by the low mountain ranges of the Habichtswald in the west and the southern foothills of the Reinhardswald in the northeast, the Kaufunger Wald in the east and the Söhre in the south. The view from Kassel's landmark to the city, the so-called Hercules, which is west of Kassel on the Wilhelm Height, is uplifting to say the least.
This means that some of Kassel's greatest sights are already mentioned. Kassel's Wilhelm Height is a landscape park of world renown and UNESCO World Heritage; it is the largest mountain park in Europe and houses Hercules with water features and cascades, Wilhelmshöhe Castle and the artificial ruins of Löwenburg Castle. Hercules is a copper statue of the Greek demigod Herakles and stands in the line of sight with Wilhelmshöhe Castle at 515 m above sea level. The castle is a mighty classicist building which was completed shortly after the French Revolution. The building was erected by the Landgraves Karl and Wilhelm IX, who initially built the baroque park, which was later refined with elements of an English landscape garden.
Another baroque magnificent park, the Hessian Karlsaue State Park, is located in Kassel's Southern City and houses the Orangerie with the Museum of Astronomy and History of Technology, the Marble Bath and the Flower Island Siebenbergen. On the opposite bank of the Fulda there is a third large park, the Fuldaaue, which was created in 1981 for the national garden exhibition.
As in so many German cities, the Old Town of Kassel was irretrievably destroyed in World War II; nevertheless, impressive buildings and sights can still be found, including the Ottoneum - Germany's first fixed theatre building - as a representative building of the baroque residential city of Kassel, the Fridericianum, the Marstall, the Ständehaus, the town hall and a rich museum landscape. The last series of 1000 DM banknotes features the image of the Brothers Grimm from Hanau, who played a major role in Kassel, as well as several of the buildings mentioned above. They bear witness to a proud past.
Around 1189 the settlement, which had been in existence for almost 300 years, was granted city rights on the site of today's Kassel. In 1277 Kassel became the main residence of the first Hessian Landgrave Heinrich I of the newly created Landgraviate Hessen, which embodied the sovereign order in Kassel for the next centuries. Only under Napoleonic occupation in 1813 did Kassel become the capital of the newly founded kingdom of Westphalia, which was ruled by Napoleon's brother Jérôme. After the withdrawal of the Bonapartes, Kassel went back to Kurhessen until it finally came under Prussian domain after the lost German War in 1866. Considering the attractive location of the city, the emperor's family spent the summer months in Kassel.
Kassel's exposed location on the former inner-German border also made the city a candidate for the new capital of the Federal Republic of Germany after World War II. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the regained central geographical location in the heart of reunited Germany became the focus of traffic planning; the three motorways A7, A44 and A49 intersected near Kassel and the newly built Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe railway station was opened for rail traffic in 1991.
Numerous important industrial companies have established a branch office in Kassel. Originally from Kassel are the oil company Wintershall, the natural gas supplier Wingas, the potash and salt producer K+S and SMA Solar Technology AG. Kassel is home to the Federal Social Court, the University of Kassel and the documenta, the world's most important series of exhibitions of contemporary art.
Among Kassel's famous sons and daughters, apart from numerous offspring from Hessian noble families, are Philip Scheidemann, Elisabeth Selbert, Paul Julius Reuter, Ludwig Mond, Ulrike Folkerts, Hans Eichel, Arnold Bode, Holger Börner and Brigitte Zypries.