page_title: Kassel
section_title: Culture
hierarchical_section_title: Kassel / Culture
caption_attribution_description: documenta IX: "Die Ankunft der Fremden", von Thomas Schütte, auf dem Portikus des ehemaligen Roten Palais in Kassel, 1992
context_page_description: Kassel is a city located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 200,507 inhabitants in December 2015. The former capital of the state of Hesse-Kassel has many palaces and parks, including the Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Kassel is also known for the documenta exhibitions of contemporary art. Kassel has a public university with 25,000 students and a multicultural population.
context_section_description: In 1558, the first German observatory was built in Kassel, followed in 1604 by the Ottoneum, the first permanent German theatre building. The old building is today the Natural History Museum, and the now-called Staatstheater Kassel is located in a nearby building that was constructed in the 1950s. 
  Since 1927, Kassel has been home to Bärenreiter, one of the world's most important music publishers.
  Since 1955 the Documenta, an international exhibition of modern and contemporary art, has been held regularly in Kassel. The Documenta now takes place every 5 years. The most recent exhibition, documenta 14 is being held from June to September, 2017. As a result of the Documenta 6 (1977), Kassel became the first town in the world to be illuminated by laser beams at night (Laserscape, by artist Horst H. Baumann). This laser installation is nowadays still visible at weekends. Other Documenta remnants (mainly sculptures) can be found in many places in Kassel; among those are the "7000 Oaks", a work of land art by the German artist Joseph Beuys. All over the city are art pieces from former Documenta exhibitions. Currently the city plans to construct a Documenta institute connected to the university.
caption: Installation by Thomas Schütte during Documenta IX, 1992
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