Herkules_klein

ACA 2016
Kassel (Germany) August 1st - 4th

22nd Conference on
Applications of Computer Algebra
August 1st - 4th, 2016
Kassel University Germany

Additional Program 

Kaskade_klein

Museums at Kassel

    GRIMMWELT
    Gemäldegalerie
    Orangerie
Conference Excursion

Short information (pdf)
Detailed information

Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe
Herkules
Water Features
Conference Dinner

By clicking on some pictures you can view an enlarged version.


Conference Excursion

We are offering a conference excursion to the beautiful Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe to see the famous Wasserspiele on Wednesday afternoon.

Here you can look at a short information.

Now a detailed information with several specific links.

Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe

Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe is a unique landscape park. The area of the park is 2.4 square kilometres (590 acres), making it the largest European hillside park, and second largest park on a mountain slope in the world. Construction of the Bergpark began in 1696 at the behest of the Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel and took about 150 years.
On 23 June 2013 the Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe with the Hercules were proclaimed as World Heritage Site.

Descending a long hill dominated by a giant statue of Hercules, the monumental water displays of Wilhelmshöhe were begun by Landgrave Carl of Hesse-Kassel in 1689 around an east-west axis and were developed further into the 19th century. Reservoirs and channels behind the Hercules Monument supply water to a complex system of hydro-pneumatic devices that supply the site’s large Baroque water theatre, grotto, fountains and 350-metre long Grand Cascade. Beyond this, channels and waterways wind across the axis, feeding a series of dramatic waterfalls and wild rapids, the geyser-like Grand Fountain which leaps 50m high, the lake and secluded ponds that enliven the Romantic garden created in the 18th century by Carl’s great-grandson, Elector Wilhelm I. The great size of the park and its waterworks along with the towering Hercules statue constitute an expression of the ideals of absolutist Monarchy while the ensemble is a remarkable testimony to the aesthetics of the Baroque and Romantic periods. (Text from UNESCO)
An excellent description of the Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe can be found in the dossier for getting the status of a World Heritage Site:
Nominierung zur Eintragung in die UNESCO-Welterbeliste
Kassel: Hessisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst, 300 pages, 2011. (pdf, 45 MB)
Some pictures of this description are taken from that dossier. This will be noted by mhk_dossier. (mhk : Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel)
You may look at a new animated cartoon film "Die Wasserspiele - Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe" (4.33 min) produced by mhk..
Two other films on youtoube about the Bergpark Wilshelmshöhe produced by
Hessischer Rundfunk Die Wasserkunst von Wilhelmshöhe (44.36 min)
and Südwestfunk Schätze der Welt - Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe (14.57 min)
Free Bergpark Apps: iTunes and  Google Play

You can examine the whole location of our excursion on a contemporary leaflet (pdf) or a historic map of Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe (about 1810).
 mhk_dossier_S10

The Hercules Monument

The monument was built from 1701 until 1717 after plans of the Landgrave Karl by the italian architect Giovanni Francesco Guerniero and a lot of serfs of the surrounding villages. The monument was built for mere representative purpose.

The monument is located 515 m above sea level.

The Hercules monument has a total height of 70.5 meters. 32.65 meters are accounted for by the Octagon; 29.60 meters for the Pyramid and 8.25 meters for the Hercules statue itself. The height difference between top of the statue and the bottom of the cascades is 179 meters.

Today, after a lot of restoration work, it is possible to ascend to the platform  (more pictures)  for getting a nice view over the city of Kassel.
 Wikipedia_Panorama
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Herkules_Kassel_Ausblick_Panorama.jpg



mhk_dossier_S24
 
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The Statue




The copper statue on the top of the pyramid was manufactured at the Messinghof  near Kassel by the goldsmith Johann Jacob Anthoni from copper sheets (thickness about 3 mm).
The work endured from 1714 until 1717.

It is a copy of the marble Farnese Hercules.
 MAN Napoli

Water Features
At 2.30 pm the water features start at the Giant's Head Basin at the foot of the Hercules.
The water is collected in different basins and flows from the octagon of the Hercules-building over the cascades.
There are 535 steps at each side of the cascades.

The Cascades (1701 - 1717)

mhk_dossier_S46


From 1783 until 1799 the „romantic“ part of the Bergpark was constructed with the Steinhöfer Waterfall (3.05 pm), Devil's Bridge (3.20 pm), Aqueduct (3.30 pm).
The conclusion is the Grand Fountain at 3.45 pm lasting until around 4.00 pm. The water flows through all the stations by means of natural pressure alone.

Steinhöfer Waterfall (1793)

Steinhöfer


The Devil's Bridge (1792 - 1793).
The railing of the bridge is of cast iron and was built in 1826.

mhk_dossier_s56


The Aqueduct (1788 - 1792, height: 43 m).
The Aqueduct was built as a ruin.

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The Grand Fountain (1789 - 1790, height 52 m)

  
The whole system of the water features is working on a natural basis with the help of natural pressure assured by several water reservoirs and underground pipelines whose locks are opened manually. Since 1790 this simple mechnism works well.
The valve of the fountain is opened by a
simple iron chain at the end of a hand gear
which lifts a heavy iron plate.


The „Wassermeister“ comes …
… to fetch the chain …

… to a secure place.

He withdraws the middle part of the gangplank.

The public and the ducks are waiting.

The Wassermeister tears the chain …

… and the fountain begins.


The public disappears …

… and the foutain …

… finishes.



Conference Dinner

On the evening, after our visit to Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe, there will be the conference dinner at Brauhaus Knallhütte near Kassel. The tavern has its own brewery.

Knallhütte

Some historical remarks about the tavern:
Dorothea Viehmann was born as Katharina Dorothea Pierson at the Knallhütte near Kassel as the daughter of the tavern owner. Her paternal ancestors were persecuted Huguenots who fled from France to Hesse-Kassel after the Edict of Nantes was revoked. As she grew up, Viehmann picked up numerous stories, legends and fairy tales from the guests of her father's tavern. […] She became acquainted with the Brothers Grimm in 1813 and told them more than forty tales and variations. [More …]
Some remarks about the „Märchenstunde“, i.e. a performance of fairy tales.

The contemporary menu of the tavern.

Some Museums at Kassel
 
           GRIMMWELT
           Gemäldegalerie
           Orangerie


GRIMMWELT

With regard to the history of the brothers Grimm there is a new museum at Kassel: the GRIMMWELT.

GRIMMWELT


On the left upper corner of this picture you can see an other outstanding museum: Museum für Sepulkralkultur (Museum for sepulchral culture).

Practically everybody has heard of the Brothers Grimm and connects them with memories going back far into childhood. With their collection of Children’s and Household Tales, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm have made their mark on many generations. But that is not the full extent of their merits by far. They were important linguists and are considered to be the founders of German language studies. They belonged to the Göttingen Seven, and in 1848 Jacob Grimm was a member of the National Assembly at St. Paul’s Church in Frankfurt. [More …] The GRIMM WORLD Kassel will pay worthy tribute to all these aspects.

The first edition of the Children's and Household Tales (1812 / 1815) with the original marginal notes of the brothers Grimm became a part of the UNESCO World Heritage in 2005. You may look at these books in the GRIMMWELT.

The Guardian declared the GRIMMWELT as one of the ten best new museums of the world which were opened in 2015.

Schloss Wilhelmshöhe 

Palace Wilhelmshöhe originated as part of the superordinate artwork Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe in 1786 over several construction phases. While the Baroque park grounds were redesigned as an English landscape garden, Landgrave Wilhelm IX, later Prince Elector Wilhelm I (reign 1785–1821), planned the palace project. [More ... ]


Museum Palace Wilhelmshöhe
Old Masters Picture Gallery

The collection contains more than 1,200 paintings (about 450 are presented for visitors) and features European paintings of the Late Gothic, Renaissance, the Baroque and Classic with a special focus on Dutch and Flemish painting of the 17th century. [More ...]
You may look at the pictures in an online catalogue  e.g. from Brueghel d.Ä., Cranach d.Ä., Dürer, Anthonis van Dyck, Hals, Jordaens, Nickelen, Raffael, Rembrandt,  Rubens, Teniers, Tizian, Veronese, Wouwerman. 
Two famous pictures from the gallery:
mhk_32782

Franz Hals
Der Mann mit dem Schlapphut
 mhk_33761

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn
Saskia van Uylenburgh


Orangerie RS

 The landgraves’ collection of scientific instruments owes its foundation to the continual promotion of the natural sciences by the Hessian landgraves. The five exhibition areas Astronomy, Clocks, Geodesics, Physics and Mathematics/Information Technology guides the visitor through the entire range of emerging quantifying natural sciences from the Late Renaissance to the eve of the Industrial Revolution. [More ...]
 
Jost Bürgi (1552 – 1632) active primarily at the courts in Kassel and Prague, was a Swiss clockmaker, a maker of astronomical instruments and a mathematician. Several of his best instruments (mechanized celestial globes, clocks) are shown here.
Some authors consider Bürgi as one of the inventors of logarithms.