10 reasons to love Hesse

There are some 400,000 timber-framed buildings in Hesse. A lot is done to preserve them. Their facades are the workmanship of medieval craftsmen, who with wood and clay created something sustainable and durable. Visitors can spend an idyllic night in some timber-framed houses like the Guild building on the market of Fritzlar.

Frankfurt’s skyline comprises hundreds of skyscrapers. One that stands out from the crowd is the headquarters of the European Central Bank. For critics, it’s a monstrosity representing the follies of capitalism. Others consider it a proud hallmark of Hesse’s largest city.

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm are known the world over for their collection of 86 children's stories, like "Little Red Riding Hood" or "Sleeping Beauty". Born in Hanau, they later, as students in Marburg, developed an interest for linguistics and for the 1848 Revolution. In Kassel they concentrated on their effort on releasing standard setting works on German grammar and a German dictionary.

Every five years Kassel hosts the world's most important contemporary art exhibition, the Documenta. Every time the town on the Fulda river purchases a work of art, like this bronze sculpture, featuring a large granite boulder. This man-made tree by Guiseppe Penone is located on the edge of the Karlsaue, one of the most attractive inner-city parks in Germany.

Powered by gravity as much as 350,000 liters of water run down the cascades, and visitors can walk along side the flow. In 2013 the Bergpark Kassel Wilhelmshöhe was awarded World Heritage status by UNESCO. The landscape park with the water features and Hercules statue was created at the beginning of the 18th century.

Green countryside is always close by. Primeval forests grow here, like the nature park Kellerwald-Edersee in northern Hesse. A century ago one of the biggest reservoir lakes in Germany measuring an impressive 27 kilometers (16 mi) was created here. Other landscapes worth visiting are the Odenwald in the south, and to the east the Rhön with Hesse's highest peak the 950 meter (3116 ft) Wasserkuppe.

Stiftsruine Bad Hersfeld is regarded as the biggest Romanesque monastery ruin in the world. Every summer it is turned into an open-air stage to host a theatre festival. Architect Frei Otto, famous for his roof construction in Munich's Olympic Stadium, built a mobile roof for the church ruin. Deployed in a matter of minutes, the 1600 strong audience is always protected from any wind or weather.

On the Mathildenhöhe in Darmstadt the so-called Hochzeitsturm or Wedding Tower reaches into the sky like a hand. Around 1900 Darmstadt became a center of the Art Noveau movement. To this day the "Wedding Tower" landmark is dedicated to the art movement's patron, Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse. Some 500 weddings still take place every year in this church.

The state capital Wiesbaden due to its many hot mineral springs has been a renowned spa town since the 19th century. Russian aristocracy in particular used to like to mill around the Kurhaus or spa house which also boasts Europe's longest colonnade. The Russian orthodox Saint Elizabeth church in was built on Wiesbaden's Neroberg hill around this time.

Frankfurt’s Städel Museum celebrated recently its 200th anniversary. The institution doesn’t just boast a rich history however; it’s also fully embraced the digital age. You can admire many masterpieces of the museum online. One of its most prized paintings, "Goethe in the Roman Campagna" by Johann Tischbein will be among the digital collection.