water features

The Baroque structures were built from the late 17th century onwards under Landgrave Carl (r. 1677–1730). Landgrave Wilhelm IX – later to become Elector Wilhelm I (r. 1785–1821) – complemented them in the late 18th and early 19th centuries with huge water sceneries in the style of an English landscape garden. The water features have been operating for 300 years now, always on the same principle, utilising the laws of physics and without the need for pumps. In their sophisticated orchestration of the elemental force of water, they are a stunning metaphor of the Absolutist claim to power of the Landgraves of Hesse.

On its way downhill, it operates the park's sceneries including Steinhöfer Waterfall, Devil's Bridge and the Aqueduct, where it thunders down a 30-m waterfall. Visitors accompanying it on its way will have covered about 2.3 km when they finally reach Fountain Pond where the Great Fountain will rise, a 50-m artificial geyser and the crowning glory of the water displays.