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This article is about the city in Germany. For other uses, see Mannheim (disambiguation).
   Mannheim is a city in Germany. With 311,342 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 unusual 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's city symbol is der Wasserturm (the water-tower), located in the east of the city centre. Mannheim is start and finish of Bertha Benz Memorial Route.
[edit] History"Mannenheim" (Home of Manno) is first mentioned in connection with a legal transaction in 766, in the "Codex Laureshamensis" from Lorsch Abbey. It remained a village until Frederick IV, Elector Palatine initiated building the fortress Friedrichsburg and the adjacent grid-like city core in 1606. On 24 January 1607 he gave Mannheim city privileges. 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. After the rebuilding since 1698, the capital of the Electoral Palatinate was transferred from Heidelberg to Mannheim in 1720. It was then that Karl III Philip, Elector Palatine began construction of the Mannheim Palace and the Jesuit Church. 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. The court left Mannheim in 1778 and two decades later, Mannheim was transferred to the Grand Duchy of Baden in 1802. In 1819 Norwich Duff made the following observations:
[edit] InventionsSome important inventions were made in Mannheim.
[edit] World War IIDuring World War II, Mannheim (as a key industrial center) was heavily damaged by U.S. and British bombing. The inner city area was practically annihilated. The first deliberate "terror bombing" of German civilians was the December 16, 1940 bombing of Mannheim.[1] 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). In 2007, Mannheim celebrated its 400th birthday with a series of cultural and other events spread over the whole year. The 400th birthday proper was in 2006, since Frederick IV, Elector Palatine laid the foundations of the Mannheim citadel, on March 17, 1606. [edit] TheatreThe "Nationaltheater Mannheim" was founded in 1779 and is the oldest "Stage" in Germany. In 1782 the premier of "Die Räuber" written by Friedrich Schiller was shown. [edit] Climate
[edit] Main sights
    
[edit] IndustryThe successor to the Karl Benz automobile manufacturing companies begun in Mannheim, Daimler AG has had a large presence in Mannheim. Today, diesel engines 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 and offices of ABB, Alstom, BASF (Ludwigshafen), Bilfinger Berger, Bombardier, Fuchs Petrolub AG, John Deere, Siemens, SCA, Südzucker and other companies. [edit] United States military installationsA 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 area. The following installations make up the U.S. Army Garrison Mannheim:
The following installations are part of the U.S. Army Garrison Heidelberg but are within the area of the city of Mannheim:
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 Europe. The U.S. Army has already closed installations in Mannheim such as the Rhine River Patrol compound in Sandhofen (1958), Gendarmerie Kaserne in Schönau, the NATO bunker in Feudenheim and Turley Barracks in Wohlgelegen. [edit] Transportation[edit] Roads 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. [edit] RailwayMannheim Hauptbahnhof (central station) is at the end of the Mannheim-Stuttgart high-speed rail line and is the most important railway junction in the southwest of Germany, served by ICE high-speed train system with connections to Frankfurt am Main / Berlin, Karlsruhe / Basel and Stuttgart / Munich. A new high speed line to Frankfurt is also planned to relieve the existing Ried Railway (Riedbahn). Mannheim Harbour is the second largest river port in Germany. [edit] AirportsAlthough 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. [edit] Local Public TransportLocal public transport in Mannheim includes the RheinNeckar S-Bahn, eleven tram lines and numerous bus lines operated by Rhein-Neckar-Verkehr (Rhine-Neckar transport). The RheinNeckar S-Bahn, established in 2003, connects most of the Rhine-Neckar area including lines into the Palatinate, Odenwald and southern Hesse. All S-Bahn lines run through Mannheim Hauptbahnhof. Further S-Bahn stations are at present Mannheim-Rangierbahnhof, Mannheim-Seckenheim and Mannheim-Friedrichsfeld-Süd. Metre-gauge trams are operated in Mannheim, Ludwigshafen and Heidelberg by Rhein-Neckar-Verkehr GmbH (RNV), a company wholly owned by the three cities mentioned and a couple of municipalities in the Palatinate. RNV is the result of a merger on 1 October 2009 between the region's five former municipal transportation companies.[3] Interurban trams are operated by RNV on a triangular route between Mannheim, Heidelberg and Weinheim, and the company also operates interurban trams between Bad Dürkheim, Ludwigshafen and Mannheim. In the 1970s a proposal to build a U-Bahn out of the Mannheim and Ludwigshafen tramways was begun, but only small sections were in fact built due to lack of funds. The only underground station in Mannheim is the Haltestelle Dalbergstraße. U-Bahn planning has now stopped. All public transport is offered at uniform prices set by the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar (Rhine-Neckar transport union, VRN). [edit] Sport The football Bundesliga club TSG 1899 Hoffenheim was based in Mannheim's Carl-Benz-Stadion from July until December 2008 (until the completion of its new stadium, the Rhein-Neckar-Arena), as is the 4th-division club SV Waldhof Mannheim. The Adler Mannheim is an ice hockey team playing (formerly MERC, Mannheimer Eis- und Rollhockey Club) in the professional Deutsche Eishockey Liga, having won the championship six times. The Rhein-Neckar-Loewen (Rhine-Neckar-Lions) is a Handball team (formerly SG Kronau-Oestringen) playing in the professional German Handball League. The WWE visited Mannheim in 2008 and grossed over half a million dollars with over 6500 fans attending the event. Mannheim hosted the 2007 European Show Jumping Championships[4] 14 - 19 August, in the MVV-riding stadium. This is second time the city has hosted it, it previously held the championships in 1997. [edit] Sister cities
[edit] Famous people from Mannheim
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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