…won’t keep me away. I decided to take it mostly easy and get a late start which was nice just to take a bit of a break, especially after finding out one of my plans involves having to sign up for a tour ahead of time with the local Kassel Fire Department – for a tour through the Weinberg Bunker. A network of underground tunnels where beer and wine were kept in the 1800’s, as well as an air raid shelter during allied bombing runs.
It then started with a trip to the Naturkunde Museum, (Natural History) it was small, but a really, really well done museum for such a cheap price. The whole bottom floor had an exhibit dedicated to bugs and people’s effect on the environment, then the next floor focused on forest wildlife around the Kassel area, and the third floor focuses on prehistoric life. Dinosaurs and all that good stuff. Incredibly well done, designed and theme.
The next stop was the Orangerie, that big yellow palace from a couple days ago. It’s not a garden/conservatory where plants are kept safe during the Winter anymore. Instead it is now a museum dedicated to space observation and discovery and science! It’s basically full of all kinds of old astronomical clocks, sundials, old spatial measuring devices, clocks, telescopes from very old to sort of new, and the evolution of computers. It was pretty interesting! No pictures were allowed inside. Oh well.
Finally the day ended with a trip to the Stadtmuseum Kassel, or the Kassel City Museum. Which obviously explains Kassels nearly 1000 year old history. Detailing it during the medieval times, during the late medieval/renaissance times, and during WW2. It had several special galleries on notable people who lived in the city. Mayors, writers, and the like. It was neat. It was hot and very sunny all day long, then shortly after I got back in my hotel it start raining… hmmm. Now have some pictures.
Cool sculpture. Completely static.Friedrichsplatz (Frederick’s Plaza). It has a very strange installation.This thing. It’s just a little brass coin on the ground in the middle.Yep, just a little brass circle on top of a sandstone block. What if I told you this is a solid brass rod that goes 10 feet straight into the ground? What if I said it’s just a plain ol’ brass rod that goes 100 feet into the ground, for no purpose? What about 1,000 feet into the ground? 3,000 feet? This is the “Erdkilometer” and it’s a solid brass rod that goes 3,280 feet straight down, or 1 kilometer. “The Vertical Earth Kilometer, located in the Friedrichsplatz Park in Kassel, Germany, is a one-kilometer long brass rod five centimeters (two inches) in diameter. The full length of the rod is inserted into the ground with the top lying flush to the surface of the earth. A red sandstone square surrounds the brass rod’s flat circular top, commemorating the undistinguished top of the pole, which could otherwise be mistaken for a large blank coin. Installed in 1977, the VEK is the work of famed American artist Walter De Maria, whose other work with metal rods includes the Lightning Field and the Broken Kilometer. But this is by far De Maria’s most subtle, and bizarre, work. The piece is almost entirely hidden from view, confining its existence to the trusting mind of the viewer. The boring of the shaft, which goes through six geological layers, took seventy-nine days. The continuous metal rod is made up of lengths measuring 167 meters each, that are screwed tightly together. The sandstone square which surrounds the top of the shaft is at the intersection of two paths which traverse the Friedrichsplatz in Kassel, Germany, site of the international contemporary art survey, Documenta.”Random figure high up on a church tower.Natural History Museum in the former music hall was was almost completely destroyed in WW2.A little floppy swimmy crawler creature.Cavepeople!A wooly mammoth! At it’s feet are old mammoth leg bones (on display, not in the big figure).
The weirdest dinosaur I’ve ever seen. Looks like a creature from Star Wars.
The Orangerie/Astrophysics Center.Inside the Kassel City Museum.A destroyed firebomb cannister, probably dropped from an Allied plane.Melted wine glass.Each one of those little white spots is a little bomb icon. And every single little bomb icon represents 100 firebombs dropped on Kassel. Kassel was an important manufacturing center for the Nazi war effort. Nearby my place is the old Henschel Factory where the famous Tiger Tanks were made. Being such an important city, and relatively close to England, it got the middle finger extra hard and very often from British bombing runs. About 400,000 firebombs were dropped on this city. Damn.Nazi Pennant. Not sure if it had any significant background.A really goofy looking German car. A BMW Isetta from 1957, owned by soccer player Karl-Heinz “Gala” Metzner. The museum even had a section on Kassel during the time of German division – which is strange, because Kassel wasn’t in East Germany. It has two wheels in the back, but close together.A lay out map of the city after the devastation of WW2. Turns out that random church tower from a couple days ago wasn’t just a chirch tower. It was just the tower of a church, but the whole rest of the church was destroyed and demolished, and all that’s left is the tower. So I guess that clears that mystery up.
Great museum in Kassel, very interesting! The brass rod artwork is sure weird, especially since it is all underground and you can’t see it! Did you say prove it to me??!!!
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Great museum in Kassel, very interesting! The brass rod artwork is sure weird, especially since it is all underground and you can’t see it! Did you say prove it to me??!!!
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