3004 GERMANY (Hesse) - Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe (UNESCO WHS)

Located on the Fulda River, Kassel has been known throughout history primarily as a centre of Calvinist Protestantism, as source of mercenaries (Hessians) hired by the British crown to help suppress the American Revolution, and as home of the Brothers Grimm. In WWII, Kassel was heavily bombed by allied aviation, and after war most of the ancient buildings were not restored, large parts of the city area being completely rebuilt in the style of the 1950s. An exception is Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe, an exceptional symbol of the era of European Absolutism.

2978 GERMANY (Hesse) - Half-timbered houses in Rotenburg an der Fulda

Located south of the Stölzinger Gebirge (range), in the narrowest part of the Fulda valley, Rotenburg an der Fulda is a romantic, medieval town in the charming garden, surrounded by forests. The settlement on the Fulda's left bank, today’s Altstadt (Old Town), had its first documentary mention as a town in 1248. A great fire destroyed it in 1478 along with the newly built castle. In 1615, 57 houses burnt down in Braach, and in the Thirty Years' War, in 1637, the town and the town hall burnt.

GERMANY (Rhineland-Palatinate / Hesse) - Upper Middle Rhine Valley (UNESCO WHS)

The Upper Middle Rhine Valley, popular named Rhine Gorge, is a 65 km section of the River Rhine between Koblenz and Bingen. It was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites for a unique combination of geological, historical, cultural and industrial reasons. Its strategic location as a transport artery and the prosperity that this engendered is reflected in its sixty small towns, the extensive terraced vineyards and the ruins of castles that once defended its trade. It is intimately associated with history and legend and for centuries has exercised a powerful influence on writers, artists and composers.

2838 GERMANY (Hesse) - Braunfels Castle

Lying at a height of some 100m above the valley of the River Lahn, an eastern tributary of the Rhine River, Braunfels is considered in nowadays a climatic spa. The history of the town is closely linked with the history of the castle erected on the crest of a basalt rock, which has been (and still is) the home of the Counts and Princes of Solms-Braunfels for more than 800 years. It seems that the house of Solms has its roots in the 8th century, but the first Lord of Solms appeared in a document in 1129.

2660 GERMANY (Hesse) - Frankfurt Airport

Located at 12km southwest of central Frankfurt, Frankfurt Airport is operated by Fraport and serves as the main hub for Lufthansa. It has a capacity of approximately 65 million passengers per year, being the busiest airport by passenger traffic in Germany as well as the 4th busiest in Europe. Frankfurt Airport has two large main passenger terminals (1 and 2) and a much smaller dedicated First Class Terminal which is operated and exclusively used by Lufthansa.

0410-0413, 1368, 2637 GERMANY (Hesse) - Skyline of Frankfurt am Main

0410 Skyline of Frankfurt am Main (1)

Posted on 12.12.2012, 21.12.2014, 25.06.2016
Grown around a fort built by the Franks in the 8th century on the site of a Roman settlement, where the River Main was shallow enough to be crossed by wading, Frankfurt am Main (Franconofurd - fort of the franks)  became one of the most important cities in Holy Roman Empire. From 855 the German kings and emperors were elected in Frankfurt and crowned at first in Aachen (until 1562), then also in Frankfurt (until 1792). The Frankfurter Messe (Frankfurt Trade Fair) was first mentioned in 1150, and in 1372 the city became a Reichsstadt (Imperial city), directly subordinate to the Holy Roman Emperor.

0411 Skyline of Frankfurt am Main (2)

It remains practically a free city until 1806, when become part of the principality of Aschaffenburg, and in 1866, after the Austro-Prussian War, Prussia annexed it. After WWII, it was incorporated in the German state of Hesse, and in the recent years, even it isn't so large in terms of population (about 700,000 inhabitants), became the financial and transport centre of Germany and the largest financial centre in continental Europe. It is also the richest city in Europe by GDP per capita, followed by Karlsruhe, Paris and Munich.

0412 Skyline of Frankfurt am Main (3)

Frankfurt is one of the few European cities with a significant number of skyscrapers. Because of the city's skyline, Germans sometimes refer to Frankfurt as "Mainhattan", a portmanteau of the local Main River and Manhattan. 14 out of a total of 15 skyscapers in Germany are in Frankfurt, most of them being located in the financial district (Bankenviertel) near the city centre, around the trade fair premises (Europaviertel) and at Mainzer Landstraße between Opernplatz and Platz der Republik, which connects the two areas. In postcards can be seen almost all, but I will write only about the ones that I identified them:

0413 Skyline of Frankfurt am Main (4)

● Commerzbank Tower (259m / built 1994-1997 / architect: Norman Foster). Is the tallest in the images (with a red and white antenna spire), the tallest in Frankfurt, the tallest in Germany and the second tallest in the European Union (after The Shard, in London). It had been the tallest building in Europe from 1997 until 2003 when it was surpassed by the Triumph-Palace in Moscow. Is lighted at night with a yellow lighting scheme. It was the world's first so-called ecological skyscraper: besides the use of 'sky-gardens', environmentally friendly technologies were employed to reduce energy required for heating and cooling.

1368 Skyline of Frankfurt am Main (5)

● Messeturm / Trade Fair Tower (257m / built 1988-1990 / architects: Helmut Jahn and Richard Murphy). Is the one with a pyramid on the top (which brought its the nickname Bleistift - The Pencil). With only 2m shorter than Commerzbank Tower, was built postmodern architectural style, similar to Bank of America Plaza in Atlanta (Georgia) or Key Tower in Cleveland (Ohio). The tower uses numerous geometric shapes in its design such as the square footprint which is the main shape used throughout the tower. The construction of the building's foundation set a world record for the longest continuous concrete pour.

2637 Skyline of Frankfurt am Main (6)

 

● Westend Tower, known also as Westendstrasse 1 (208m / built 1990-1993 / architect: Kohn Pedersen Fox). Is the one cylindrically shaped, to the left of Commerzbank Tower and it has on top a truncated cone-shaped structure, with the small base facing down, in fact a ring beam, known commonly as the crown, a reminiscent of the Statue of Liberty, but also a reminder to Frankfurt's history as the city where German emperors were crowned. Is similar in style to a later building by the same architect, 1250 René-Lévesque in Montreal.

0976 GERMANY (Hesse) - A Bembel of Apfelwein, please, and Handkäse mit Musik!

Cider or cyder (named also "apple wine" in some regions) is a fermented alcoholic beverage made from fruit juice, traditionally apple juice, which varies in alcohol content from 1.2% ABV to 8.5% or more. Can be classified from dry to sweet, its appearance ranges from cloudy with sediment to completely clear, and its colour from light yellow through orange to brown,  the variations in clarity and colour being mostly due to filtering between pressing and fermentation. Is popular in the United Kingdom, that has the highest per capita consumption, as well as the largest producing companies in the world, but is also traditional in other European countries, such as Ireland, France (Brittany and Normandy), Spain (Asturias, Basque Country and Galicia), Poland or Germany (Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse).

0961 GERMANY (Hesse) - Express locomotive 01 523 in 1965 in Bebra station

The DR Class 01.5 was the designation given by the Deutsche Reichsbahn in East Germany to express train locomotives that were reconstructed from DRG Class 01, the first standardised (Einheitsdampflokomotive) steam express passenger locomotives built by the unified German railway system. They were of 4-6-2 wheel arrangement in the Whyte notation, or 2′C1′ h2 in the UIC classification, almost globally known as Pacific type. The firms of AEG and Borsig, together with Henschel, Hohenzollern, Krupp and BMAG previously Schwartzkopff, delivered a total of 231 of these locomotives between 1926 and 1938,  the one from the postcard,  No. 01 191, being built in 1937.

0748 GERMANY (Hesse) - Hundertwasserhaus Waldspirale in Darmstadt

If Die Grüne Zitadelle von Magdeburg (The Green Citadel of Magdeburg) has been started a year before the death of Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Hundertwasserhaus Waldspirale (the Wooded Spiral) was completed even in the year of the artist's death, in 2000, so it can be interpreted as a loud testament to his hatred of straight lines (the "devil's tools", according to his opinion) and his allegiance to nature. The Waldspirale is a residential building complex located in Darmstadt's Bürgerparkviertel, and contains 105 apartments, a parking garage, a kiosk as well as a café and a bar.

0692 GERMANY (Hesse) - Schwälmer Tracht

If you find that the girl in this postcard looks like Little Red Riding Hood, you're not wrong, because the story of Brothers Grimm originates in the Schwalm, from where also come the children from the picture. The Schwalm is a small area situated in the north of the German state of Hesse, through which flows the river of the same name.

0143 GERMANY (Hesse) - The cathedral and the castle from Limburg

The fifth who joined "those born on August 8" (ie in the same day as me) is called Benedikt Binder (danken Ihnen, Benedikt) and is the first male (even if is only 12 years old) from this category, what calmed me a little. Not that I wouldn't like the ladies company, God forbid, but I strongly believe in balance and I was, though, too isolated.