Places to visit in Hesse

Hesse is a state of low mountain ranges and river meadows. The Rhön, Spessart, Vogelsberg and Odenwald lie here, along with the floodplains of the Rhine, Werra, Fulda, Eder and Lahn. Wine grows in the Rheingau and on the Bergstraße, and there are also the lakes of the Waldecker Land. The present-day state came into being on 19th September 1945, at first under the name Greater Hesse, from the former Prussian administrative districts of Kassel and Wiesbaden and the former People’s State of Hesse.

The state capital is Wiesbaden, whose Kurhaus (‘spa house’) combines neoclassical architecture with Art Nouveau motifs. In the Muschelsaal (‘shell hall’), scallop shells of stucco sit in the ceiling vaults, and real nautilus and mussel shells on the column capitals; the frescoes on the walls were painted by Fritz Erler. The south wing with the large concert hall was destroyed in the Second World War; later the Kurhaus was restored according to the surviving original plans. In Frankfurt am Main, the town hall, the Römer (literally ‘Roman’), stands on the Römerberg with its Gothic stepped gables. The old town was largely destroyed in the Second World War; most of the houses around the square are reconstructions or new buildings, including the half-timbered houses of the Ostzeile (‘East Row’).

The Mathildenhöhe in Darmstadt was an artists’ colony and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The ensemble includes the Hochzeitsturm (‘Wedding Tower’), exhibition buildings, a plane-tree grove and the Russian Chapel, as well as studio buildings and experimental houses; some parts were restored after damage in the Second World War. The Messel Pit Fossil Site, likewise World Heritage, preserves fossils from the Eocene, from complete mammal skeletons to stomach contents. In Lorsch, the Carolingian gate hall, the remains of the monastery and the Altenmünster (‘old minster’) belong to the World Heritage Site; the gate hall has preserved its original appearance apart from its Gothic gables.

In the Oberstadt (‘upper town’) of Marburg stand half-timbered houses and historic university buildings below the Landgraves’ castle. In the castle you can see the Gothic Fürstensaal (‘Princes’ Hall’) and the castle chapel with medieval frescoes. The Elisabethkirche (‘St Elisabeth’s Church’) is a Gothic hall church with a trefoil-shaped choir; its furnishings include the shrine of St Elisabeth and stained-glass windows of the 13th century with scenes from the saint’s life.

In Kassel, the Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe (‘Wilhelmshöhe hillside park’) is part of the UNESCO World Heritage. Reservoirs and canals behind the Hercules feed the water features: cascades lead down the hill, and in the lower park follow waterfalls, ponds and a large fountain. In the Kellerwald-Edersee National Park, areas of beech forest belong to the transboundary World Heritage Site of the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe.