Mannheim

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This article is about the German city. For other uses see Mannheim (disambiguation).

__NOTOC__ Mannheim is a city in Germany. With 307,640 inhabitants it is the second largest city in the state of Baden-Württemberg after the capital Stuttgart.

Mannheim is situated at the confluence of the rivers Rhine and Neckar, in the northwestern corner of the state of Baden-Württemberg. The Rhine separates Mannheim from the adjacent Rhineland-Palatinate city of Ludwigshafen. The Hessian border is north of the city. Mannheim is the largest city of the Rhine Neckar Area, a metropolitan area with 2.4 million inhabitants.

Mannheim is unique among German cities in that its central area is laid out in a grid pattern (called Quadrate, squares), much like many North American cities. The main route through the squares leads to an enormous 18th century palace. This former seat of the Electors of the Palatinate now houses the University of Mannheim.

Mannheim is also home to the Nationaltheater Mannheim (National Theatre), where Schiller's "Räuber", published in 1781, premiered on January 13, 1782, and of the Kunsthalle Mannheim, erected in 1907 to commemorate the 3rd centennary of the city's foundation, and since then a renowned museum of modern and contemporary art.

Mannheim's city symbol is the Wasserturm (water tower), located in the east of the downtown area.

History

Mannheim is first mentioned in a document from 766, the "Codex Laureshamensis" from the Lorsch Cloister. It is listed as "Mannenheim" (Home of Manno). It remained a village until Frederick IV, Elector Palatine initiated building the fortress Friedrichsburg and the adjacent grid-like city core.

The city was destroyed subsequently in the Thirty Years' War in 1622 by Tilly's troops, and in the Nine Years War for the Palatinate succession in 1689 by the French.

Rebuilt in 1720, the capital of the Palatinate was transferred from Heidelberg to Mannheim. It was then that Karl III Philip, Elector Palatine began construction of the Mannheim Palace and the Jesuitenkirche. They were completed in 1760. In the 18th century Mannheim was home to the so-called Mannheim School of classical composers. It was reputed to have one of the best court orchestras in Europe under the leadership of Carlo Grua. Karl Benz invented and drove the world's first car in Mannheim in 1885. He was granted a patent for that first automobile in January of the next year. Earlier still in 1817, Karl Drais invented and rode the first two-wheeled contraption called Laufmaschine or velocipede—the very start of horseless personal transport. Banker Otto Hermann Kahn was also born there.

During the Second World War, Mannheim (as a key industrial centre) was heavily damaged by U.S. and British bombing. The city was occupied by the U.S. Army on March 29, 1945. There has been a large American military presence in the Mannheim area ever since (see United States military installations below).

Main sights

Industry

The successor to the Karl Benz automobile manufacturing companies begun in Mannheim, DaimlerChrysler has had a large presence in Mannheim. Today, trucks and buses are assembled there. The Swiss Roche Diagnostic group (formerly known as Boehringer Mannheim) has its division headquarters in Mannheim. Additionally, the city also hosts large factories/offices of ABB, Alstom, BASF, Bombardier, Fuchs Petrolub AG, John Deere, Siemens, Südzucker and other companies.

United States military installations

A number of United States military installations are present in Mannheim, including the headquarters of the 5th Signal Command, the Army's telecommunications command in the European theater. The following installations make up the U.S. Army Garrison Mannheim:

Funari Barracks (Mannheim-Käfertal) (5th Signal Command headquarters)
Sullivan Barracks (Mannheim-Käfertal) (7th Signal Brigade headquarters) (Headquarters of 504th Signal Battalion, 1961 - 1965)
Benjamin Franklin Village (Mannheim-Käfertal) Also home to the Mannheim American High School, The Bison.
Taylor Barracks (Mannheim-Vogelstang) (2nd Signal Brigade headquarters)
Spinelli Barracks (Mannheim-Feudenheim)
Turley Barracks
Coleman Barracks (Mannheim-Schonau) (AFN, U.S. Army Confinement Facility Europe)
Friedrichsfeld Quartermaster Depot

The long-term future of the Mannheim military community is in doubt, since it was not included in U.S. Army Europe's 2004 announcement of those military communities that would remain after a long-term restructuring and downsizing of U.S. forces in Germany. However, specific plans concerning the future of the American military community in Mannheim have yet to be announced.

Transportation

The Mannheim/Ludwigshafen area is surrounded by a ring of motorways connecting it to Frankfurt in the north, Karlsruhe in the south, Saarbrücken in the west and Nürnberg in the east.

Mannheim's main train station is southern Germany's most important railroad junction and part of the ICE high-speed train system with connections to Frankfurt am Main / Berlin, Karlsruhe / Basel and Stuttgart / Munich. The city is also home to the second largest river port in Germany.

Although Frankfurt International Airport is only 65 km north, since 2004 there have been daily passenger flights from Mannheim City Airport (IATA code MHG) to Berlin, Hamburg and Saarbrücken.

Sister cities

- Bydgoszcz, Poland

External links

Rhein Neckar Guide Regional hotel, restaurant and tourist guide
504th Signal Battalion Photos and maps of Benjamin Franklin Village, Sullivan Barracks and the Mannheim Military Community in the 1960s
U.S. Army Garrison Mannheim homepage

Cities in Baden-Württemberg | Cities on the Rhine | Historic Jewish communities