Ibis Hotel Kassel

Kassel houses the world-famous documenta every five years - that's a well-known fact. What is less known, however, is that the city buys at least one piece of art after each exhibition. Thus, many areas of Kassel have become safe havens for artworks which would otherwise have disappeared. These documenta leftovers can be seen in many places. For instance, there's the "Man walking to the sky" just in front of the train station Kassel-Hauptbahnhof. It's an impressive artwork with a man who walks up a long iron construction which looks like a diagonal lamppost. Btw, an advertisement with this man was used by the Kassel candidate of the German CDU during the election campaing in 2002. Famous, though hardly visible is an artwork on the Freidrichsplatz: the earth kilometre. It's basically a piece of metal on the ground which reminds you of the spectacular drilling of a 1km-hole at this site. All over Kassel, you come across trees (oaks, to be specific) with a block of basalt at their side. They belong to the Beuys artwork "7000 oaks" and have made Kassel's streets a lot greener. One thing I like very much is the "Pickaxe" at the Auedamm in the Karlsaue park. It looks just like a giant's favourite tool which he left for whatever reason at the shore of river Fulda.