Mannheim
Encyclopedia
Mannheim is a city
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...

 in southwestern Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...

, following the capital city
Capital City
Capital City was a television show produced by Euston Films which focused on the lives of investment bankers in London living and working on the corporate trading floor for the fictional international bank Shane-Longman....

 of Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....

.

Mannheim is located at the confluence of the River Rhine and the River Neckar
Neckar
The Neckar is a long river, mainly flowing through the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg, but also a short section through Hesse, in Germany. The Neckar is a major right tributary of the River Rhine...

 in the northwestern corner of Baden-Württemberg. The Rhine separates Mannheim from the city of Ludwigshafen, just to the west of it in Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....

. The border of Baden-Württemberg with the Bundesland of Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...

 is just north of Mannheim, and Mannheim is just downstream along the Neckar from the city of Heidelberg
Heidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...

.
Mannheim is the largest city of the Rhine Neckar Area
Rhine Neckar Area
The Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region , often referred to as Rhein-Neckar-Triangle is a polycentric metropolitan region located in south western Germany, between the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main region to the North and the Stuttgart Region to the South-East.Rhine-Neckar has a population of some 2.4 million...

, a metropolitan area with about 2.4 million inhabitants.

Mannheim is unusual among German cities in that the streets and avenues of Mannheim's central area are laid out in a grid pattern, just like most North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

n and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n cities and towns. Because of this, the city's nickname is "die Quadratestadt" (the German word for "city of the squares"). One main route through the streets and avenues runs by a large 18th century palace, the Mannheim Palace
Mannheim Palace
Mannheim Palace is a large Baroque palace in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was originally the main residence of the Prince-electors of the Electoral Palatinate...

. This former home of the rulers of the Palatinate
Prince-elector
The Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Roman king or, from the middle of the 16th century onwards, directly the Holy Roman Emperor.The heir-apparent to a prince-elector was known as an...

 now houses part of the University of Mannheim
University of Mannheim
The University of Mannheim is one of the younger German universities. It offers Bachelor, Master, and PhD degrees.The University is mainly located in Mannheim’s palace the largest baroque palace in Germany. The whole city center of Mannheim is aligned symmetrically to the palace.About 800 scholars...

.

The civic symbol of Mannheim is der Wasserturm (the water tower
Water tower
A water tower or elevated water tower is a large elevated drinking water storage container constructed to hold a water supply at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system....

), an old tower that is located just east of the city's centre.

Mannheim is also the location of both the start and the finish of Bertha Benz Memorial Route
Bertha Benz Memorial Route
The Bertha Benz Memorial Route is a German tourist and theme route in Baden-Württemberg and member of the European Route of Industrial Heritage...

.

Early history

"Mannenheim" ("Home of Manno") is first mentioned in connection with a legal transaction in the year 766, in the "Codex Laureshamensis
Lorsch codex
The Lorsch Codex is an important historical document created between about 1175 to 1195 AD in the Monastery of Saint Nazarius in Lorsch, Germany. It consists of 460 pages in large format containing more than 3800 entries...

" from Lorsch Abbey
Lorsch Abbey
The Abbey of Lorsch is a former Imperial Abbey in Lorsch, Germany, about 10 km east of Worms, one of the most renowned monasteries of the Carolingian Empire. Even in its ruined state, its remains are among the most important pre-Romanesque–Carolingian style buildings in Germany...

. Mannheim remained a mere village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 until Frederick IV, Elector Palatine
Frederick IV, Elector Palatine
Frederick IV, Elector Palatine of the Rhine , only surviving son of Louis VI, Elector Palatine and Elisabeth of Hesse, called "Frederick the Righteous" .-Life:Born in Amberg, his father died in October 1583 and...

 started building the fortress of Friedrichsburg and the adjacent city centre (die Stadt) in 1606 – with its grid of streets and avenues. On January 24, 1607, Frederick IV gave Mannheim the status of a "city", whether it really was one by then or not.

Middle Ages

Mannheim was mostly leveled during the Thirty Years War in about 1622 by Johan Tilly's troops
Johan t'Serclaes, Count of Tilly
Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly , commanded the Imperial forces in the Thirty Years' War. He had a string of important victories against the Protestants but was then defeated by forces led by the King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden...

, and once again during the Nine Years' War in 1689 by the French Army
French Army
The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces.As of 2010, the army employs 123,100 regulars, 18,350 part-time reservists and 7,700 Legionnaires. All soldiers are professionals, following the suspension of conscription, voted in...

.

After the rebuilding of Mannheim that began in 1698, the capital of the Electoral Palatinate was moved from Heidelberg to Mannheim in 1720. This was when Karl III Philip, Elector Palatine
Karl III Philip, Elector Palatine
Charles III Philip, Elector Palatine was a ruler from the house of Wittelsbach. He was Elector Palatine, Count of Palatinate-Neuburg, and Duke of Jülich and Berg from 1716 to 1742...

 began the construction of the Mannheim Palace and the Jesuit Church
Jesuit Church (Mannheim)
The Mannheim Jesuit Church is a church in Mannheim, Germany.-History:The church was built between 1733 in 1756 as the Court Church of the Mannheim electors Charles Philip III and Charles Theodore to a design of the Italian architect Alessandro Galli da Bibiena. It was completed in 1760 and...

. These were completed in the year 1760.

18th and 19th centuries

During the 18th century, Mannheim was the home of the "Mannheim School
Mannheim school
Mannheim school refers to both the orchestral techniques pioneered by the court orchestra of Mannheim in the latter half of the 18th century as well as the group of composers who wrote such music for the orchestra of Mannheim and others.-History:...

" of classical music composers. Mannheim was said to have one of the best court orchestras in Europe under the leadership of the conductor Carlo Grua
Carlo Grua
Carlo Luigi Grua was an Italian composer who is best known for his position as Kapellmeister for the Electoral Court at the German city of Mannheim....

. The royal court of the Palatinate left Mannheim in 1778, and just over two decades later, Mannheim was removed from the Palatinate and given to the Grand Duchy of Baden
Grand Duchy of Baden
The Grand Duchy of Baden was a historical state in the southwest of Germany, on the east bank of the Rhine. It existed between 1806 and 1918.-History:...

 (in 1802).

In 1819, Norwich Duff
Norwich Duff
Admiral Norwich Duff was a Royal Navy officer.The son of Captain George Duff RN, and Sophia Dirom, he was born at 9 South Castle Street, Edinburgh. He entered the Royal Navy in July 1805, just before his 13th birthday, serving aboard his father's ship HMS Mars as a midshipman...

 made the following observations about Mannheim:
Mannheim is in the Duchy of Baden and situated at the confluence of the Rhine and Neckar
Neckar
The Neckar is a long river, mainly flowing through the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg, but also a short section through Hesse, in Germany. The Neckar is a major right tributary of the River Rhine...

 over both of which there is a bridge of boats. This is the third town of this name having been twice burnt. The houses are large, and the streets broad and at right angles to each other, and is one of the most airy clean towns I have seen in Germany. It was formerly fortified, but the fortifications were rased in 1806 and gardens fill their places. There is a large chateau
Château
A château is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor or a country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally—and still most frequently—in French-speaking regions...

 here belonging to the Grand Duke and a very good garden; part of the chateau was destroyed when the town was bombarded and has never since been repaired, the other part is occupied by the Grand Duchess widow
Stéphanie de Beauharnais
Stéphanie, Grand Duchess of Baden was the consort of Karl, Grand Duke of Baden.-Biography:...

 of the late Grand Duke
Karl, Grand Duke of Baden
Charles, Grand Duke of Baden became ruler of Baden on June 11, 1811 and ruled until his death. He was born in Karlsruhe....

 who was succeeded by his uncle
Ludwig I, Grand Duke of Baden
Ludwig I, Grand Duke of Baden became Grand Duke on December 8, 1818.He was the uncle of his predecessor Karl Ludwig Friedrich, and when he died the Zähringen line of the Baden house came to an end...

 having left only three daughters. She is the sister of Eugene Beauharnais [sic, she was in fact his second cousin]. There is a cathedral, a theatre which is considered good, an observatory, a gallery of pictures at the chateau, and some private collections. About two km (one mile) below the town the Russian Army
Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army was the land armed force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian army consisted of around 938,731 regular soldiers and 245,850 irregulars . Until the time of military reform of Dmitry Milyutin in...

 crossed the Rhine in 1813. Population 18,300.

World War II

During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, since Mannheim was an important industrial centre for Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

, Mannheim was heavily damaged during aerial bombing
Strategic bombing
Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in a total war with the goal of defeating an enemy nation-state by destroying its economic ability and public will to wage war rather than destroying its land or naval forces...

 by the R.A.F.
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

 and the U.S. Air Force. In addition to bombing the important factories, the R.A.F. razed the city center of Mannheim with nighttime area bombing.

Some sources state that the first deliberate "terror bombing" of German civilians by the R.A.F. occurred at Mannheim on December 16, 1940.

The Allied ground advance into Germany reached Mannheim in late March 1945, which was potentially well-defended by German forces. However, these suddenly abandoned the city and the US 44th Infantry Division entered unopposed on 29 March 1945.

There has been a large American military presence in the Mannheim area ever since (see United States military installations below).

Post-reunification

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
Frederick IV, Elector Palatine
Frederick IV, Elector Palatine of the Rhine , only surviving son of Louis VI, Elector Palatine and Elisabeth of Hesse, called "Frederick the Righteous" .-Life:Born in Amberg, his father died in October 1583 and...

 laid the foundations of the Mannheim citadel, on March 17, 1606.

Inventions

Some important inventions were made in Mannheim.
  • Karl Drais
    Karl Drais
    Karl Drais was a German inventor and invented the Laufmaschine , also later called the velocipede, draisine or "draisienne" , also nicknamed the dandy horse. This incorporated the two-wheeler principle that is basic to the bicycle and motorcycle and was the beginning of mechanized personal...

     built the first two-wheeled draisine
    Draisine
    A draisine primarily refers to a light auxiliary rail vehicle, driven by service personnel, equipped to transport crew and material necessary for the maintenance of railway infrastructure....

    in 1817.
  • Karl Benz
    Karl Benz
    Karl Friedrich Benz, was a German engine designer and car engineer, generally regarded as the inventor of the gasoline-powered car, and together with Bertha Benz pioneering founder of the automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz...

    ' first car appeared on the streets of Mannheim in 1886. At his workshop in Mannheim he produced a lightweight three-wheeled vehicle
    Benz Patent Motorwagen
    The Benz Patent-Motorwagen , built in 1886, is widely regarded as the first automobile, that is, a vehicle designed to be propelled by a motor...

     powered by a single cylinder petrol/gasoline
    Gasoline
    Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...

    -fueled engine
    Internal combustion engine
    The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer in a combustion chamber. In an internal combustion engine, the expansion of the high-temperature and high -pressure gases produced by combustion apply direct force to some component of the engine...

    , first shown in public around 1886. This powered tricycle subsequently came to be widely regarded as the first automobile/motor car
    Automobile
    An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

     powered by an internal-combustion engine. Karl's wife Bertha Benz
    Bertha Benz
    Bertha Benz was born on 3 May 1849 in Pforzheim, Germany. She married inventor Karl Benz on 20 July 1872, and died 5 May 1944 in Ladenburg...

     undertook the world’s first road trip
    Road trip
    A road trip is any journey taken on roads, regardless of stops en route. Typically, road trips are long distances traveled by automobile.-Pre-automobile road trips:...

     by automobile from Mannheim to Pforzheim
    Pforzheim
    Pforzheim is a town of nearly 119,000 inhabitants in the state of Baden-Württemberg, southwest Germany at the gate to the Black Forest. It is world-famous for its jewelry and watch-making industry. Until 1565 it was the home to the Margraves of Baden. Because of that it gained the nickname...

     in August 1888.
  • The Lanz Bulldog, a popular tractor with a rugged, simple Diesel engine was introduced in 1921.
  • Julius Hatry
    Julius Hatry
    Julius Hatry was a German aircraft designer and builder. He is remembered for his contributions to sailplane development in the early twentieth century and for building the world's first purpose-built rocket plane, the Opel RAK.1.Hatry was born in Mannheim and developed an early interest in...

     built the world's first rocket plane in 1929.

Theatre

The "Nationaltheater Mannheim" was founded in 1779 and is the oldest "Stage" in Germany. In 1782 the premier of Die Räuber, written by Friedrich Schiller
Friedrich Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life , Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...

, was shown.

Climate



Mannheim is located in Germany's warmest region, the "Rhine shift
Upper Rhine Plain
The Upper Rhine Plain, Rhine Rift Valley or Upper Rhine Graben is a major rift, straddling the border between France and Germany. It forms part of the European Cenozoic Rift System, which extends across central Europe...

". In summer, temperatures sometimes rise up to 35 C° and higher. The highest recorded temperature was 41 C° during the 2003 European heat wave. The daily lows during that time were also very high (around 25 C°). In comparison to other regions of Germany, Mannheim has a higher humidity in summer which causes a higher heat index. Snow is rare, even in the cold months. Precipitation occurs mostly during afternoon thunderstorms during the warmer period (average days of thunderstorms in a year is 40–50).

Main sights

  • Fernmeldeturm Mannheim
    Fernmeldeturm Mannheim
    The Fernmeldeturm Mannheim is a 212.8 metre high concrete telecommunication tower with an observation deck in Mannheim, Germany. It was designed by the architects Heinle, Wischer und Partner and built from 1973 and 1975. It contains transmission facilities for UHR radio services, microwave...

  • Synagogue Mannheim - imposing post-WWII synagogue
  • Yavuz Sultan Selim Mosque
    Yavuz Sultan Selim Mosque
    The Yavuz-Sultan-Selim mosque is a religious building in Mannheim, Germany, named for Selim I. It is the biggest mosque in Germany, and attracts up to 3,000 Muslims every weekend....

  • Luisenpark
    Luisenpark
    The Luisenpark is a municipal park in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, whose attractions include a greenhouse, "gondoletta" boats and a variety of facilities for children...

     – named one of the most beautiful parks of Europe
  • Mannheim Palace
    Mannheim Palace
    Mannheim Palace is a large Baroque palace in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was originally the main residence of the Prince-electors of the Electoral Palatinate...

     (Mannheimer Schloss) – the city castle and main building of the University of Mannheim
    University of Mannheim
    The University of Mannheim is one of the younger German universities. It offers Bachelor, Master, and PhD degrees.The University is mainly located in Mannheim’s palace the largest baroque palace in Germany. The whole city center of Mannheim is aligned symmetrically to the palace.About 800 scholars...

  • Wasserturm – the town's landmark water tower
  • Jesuit Church
    Jesuit Church (Mannheim)
    The Mannheim Jesuit Church is a church in Mannheim, Germany.-History:The church was built between 1733 in 1756 as the Court Church of the Mannheim electors Charles Philip III and Charles Theodore to a design of the Italian architect Alessandro Galli da Bibiena. It was completed in 1760 and...

  • SAP Arena
    SAP Arena
    SAP Arena is a multi-purpose arena in Mannheim, Germany. It is primarily used for ice hockey and handball, and is the home arena of the Adler Mannheim ice hockey club and the "Rhein-Neckar-Löwen" handball club. Inaugurated in 2005, the arena has a capacity of up to 15,000 people.More than a...

     – multifunctional Stadium, home of the Mannheim ice-hockey Team "Die Adler"
    Adler Mannheim
    Adler Mannheim are an ice hockey team of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, the highest ice hockey league in Germany. The team is from Mannheim, a city in the north of Baden-Wurttemberg...

    , which means "The Eagles."
  • Breite Strasse, Kunststrasse, and Kapuzinerplanken – Mannheim's main shopping destination
  • International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg
    International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg
    Mannheim-Heidelberg International Filmfestival is an annual film festival held jointly by the cities of Mannheim and Heidelberg in Baden-Württemberg. The festival was established in 1952. In Mannheim there are six cinema centres and 19 single cinemas.The festival presents arthouse films of...

  • Wildpark and Waldvogelpark am Karlstern
  • The city centre, designed in squares (Quadratestadt)
  • Reißinsel, a natural area that an honorary citizen of Mannheim, Carl Reiß, bequeathed to the inhabitants of Mannheim
  • Marktplatz (Market place), this is the square where fresh farmer's market takes place every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Fresh fruits, vegetables, and flowers can be purchased.

Industry

The 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
Alstom
Alstom is a large multinational conglomerate which holds interests in the power generation and transport markets. According to the company website, in the years 2010-2011 Alstom had annual sales of over €20.9 billion, and employed more than 85,000 people in 70 countries. Alstom's headquarters are...

, BASF (Ludwigshafen)
BASF
BASF SE is the largest chemical company in the world and is headquartered in Germany. BASF originally stood for Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik . Today, the four letters are a registered trademark and the company is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange, and Zurich Stock...

, Bilfinger Berger
Bilfinger Berger
Bilfinger Berger is a large, internationally active construction and services company based in Mannheim, Germany.-History:Bilfinger Berger dates back to 1880 when August Bernatz founded an engineering business which became known, from 1886 as Bernatz & Grün and, from 1892, as Grün & Bilfinger.In...

, Bombardier, Fuchs Petrolub AG
Fuchs Petrolub
Fuchs Petrolub AG is the world's largest independent manufacturer of lubricants, and related speciality products. The company's headquarters are at Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, where the company was founded in 1931.-Fuchs products:...

, John Deere
Deere & Company
Deere & Company, usually known by its brand name John Deere , is an American corporation based in Moline, Illinois, and the leading manufacturer of agricultural machinery in the world. In 2010, it was listed as 107th in the Fortune 500 ranking...

, Siemens
Siemens AG
Siemens AG is a German multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Munich, Germany. It is the largest Europe-based electronics and electrical engineering company....

, SCA
Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget
Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget is a Swedish consumer goods company and pulp and paper manufacturer with headquarters in Stockholm. It has approximately 45,000 employees and a turnover of approximately SEK 107 billion...

, Südzucker
Südzucker
Südzucker AG is a German company, the largest sugar producer in Europe with an annual production of around 4.8 million tonnes.-Sugar segment:The company has 30 sugar factories and 3 refineries in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania Slovakia and...

 and other companies.

U.S. Army locations

A number of U.S. Army Europe installations were located in and near Mannheim. The following locations provided services to and housed the "U.S. Army Garrison Mannheim" and other units of the U.S. Army. The U.S. Army Garrison Mannheim was formally deactived on 31 May 2011.
  • The Benjamin Franklin Village
    Benjamin Franklin Village
    Benjamin Franklin Village, also called BFV, is an United States Army installation in Mannheim-Käfertal, Germany. It opened in 1947 after World War II and was named after Benjamin Franklin....

     (Mannheim-Käfertal), housing. Also, it was the home of the Mannheim American High School and the Middle School http://www.mann-ms.eu.dodea.edu/, which closed on June 9, 2011. It will be vacated by 2014.
  • Coleman Barracks and Coleman Army Airfield
    Coleman Army Airfield
    Coleman Barracks/Coleman Army Airfield is a United States Army military installation located in the Sandhofen district of Mannheim, Germany. It is assigned to U.S. Army, Europe and administered by the U.S. Army Installation Management Command-Europe...

     (Mannheim-Sandhofen) (The headquarters of the American Forces Network
    American Forces Network
    The American Forces Network is the brand name used by the United States Armed Forces American Forces Radio and Television Service for its entertainment and command internal information networks worldwide...

    -Europe, and the home of the Army's 28th Transportation Battalion
    Battalion
    A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...

    . Also, the location of the "U.S. Army Confinement Facility Europe". It will be vacated by 2015.
  • Funari Barracks (Mannheim-Käfertal), which will be vacated by 2014.
  • Spinelli Barracks (Mannheim-Feudenheim), which will be vacated by 2015.
  • Sullivan Barracks (Mannheim-Käfertal) – formerly the headquarters of the U.S. Army's 7th Signal Brigade
    7th Signal Brigade (United States)
    The 7th Signal Brigade is an military communications brigade of the United States Army subordinate to the 5th Signal Command and located at Ledward Barracks in Schweinfurt, Germany.* 7th Signal Brigade...

    ; will be vacated by 2014.
  • Taylor Barracks
    Taylor Barracks
    Taylor Barracks is a military installation in the Vogelstang suburb of Mannheim, Germany, operated and administrated by the United States Army, Europe, USAREUR...

     (Mannheim-Vogelstang) – formerly the headquarters of the U.S. Army's 2nd Signal Brigade
    2nd Signal Brigade (United States)
    The 2nd Signal Brigade is a military communications brigade of the United States Army subordinate to the 5th Signal Command and located at Wiesbaden Army Airfield .-Composition:* 2nd Signal Brigade...

    ; it was vacated in 2011.


The following locations were part of the "U.S. Army Garrison Heidelberg
Heidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...

" but were within the area of the city of Mannheim; They were vacated in 2010 and 2011:
  • Friedrichsfeld Service Center (Mannheim-Friedrichsfeld)
  • Hammonds Barracks (Mannheim-Seckenheim)
  • Stem Kaserne (Mannheim-Seckenheim)


All personnel of the U.S. Army military community will leave Mannheim by 2015, some of them moving to Wiesbaden. With the exception of four barracks, all other barracks formerly occupied by the U.S. military had been returned to the German state for conversion to civilian use in 2011.

Roads

The Mannheim/Ludwigshafen area is surrounded by a ring of motorways connecting it to Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...

 in the north, Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...

 in the south, Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken is the capital of the state of Saarland in Germany. The city is situated at the heart of a metropolitan area that borders on the west on Dillingen and to the north-east on Neunkirchen, where most of the people of the Saarland live....

 in the west and Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...

 in the east.

Railway

Mannheim Hauptbahnhof
Mannheim Hauptbahnhof
is the central railway station of Mannheim in Germany. It is the second largest traffic hub in southwestern Germany after Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof, with 658 trains a day, including 238 long-distance trains. 100,000 passengers embark, disembark or transfer between trains at the station each day...

 (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
InterCityExpress
The Intercity-Express or ICE is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany and neighbouring countries. It is the highest service category offered by DB Fernverkehr and is the flagship of Deutsche Bahn...

 high-speed train system with connections to Frankfurt am Main / Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...

 / Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...

 and Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....

 / Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

. A new high speed line to Frankfurt is also planned to relieve the existing Ried Railway (Riedbahn).
Mannheim Harbour
Mannheim Harbour
Mannheim Harbour is a river port on the Rhine in Mannheim and is one of the most important inland ports in Europe. The port covers 2.68 square kilometres of water and 8.63 km² of dockland. In 2005, 8.1 millions tonnes of freight were loaded and unloaded in the port and 2.4 millions tonnes of...

 is the second largest river port in Germany.

Airports

Although Frankfurt International Airport
Frankfurt International Airport
Frankfurt am Main Airport , or simply Frankfurt Airport, known in German as Flughafen Frankfurt am Main or Rhein-Main-Flughafen, is a major international airport located in Frankfurt, Germany, southwest of the city centre....

 is only 65 km to the north, since 2004 there have been daily passenger flights from Mannheim City Airport
Mannheim City Airport
Mannheim City Airport serves Mannheim, Germany. It is operated and administrated by Rhein-Neckar Flugplatz GmbH.-Location:...

 (IATA code
IATA code
IATA codes are abbreviations that the International Air Transport Association publishes to facilitate air travel. They are typically 1-, 2-, 3-, or 4-character combinations that uniquely identify locations, equipment, companies, and times to standardize international flight operations...

 MHG) to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

,
Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

 and Saarbrücken.

Local Public Transport

Local public transport in Mannheim includes the RheinNeckar S-Bahn
RheinNeckar S-Bahn
The Rhine-Neckar S-Bahn forms the backbone of the urban rail transport network of the Rhine Neckar Area, including the cities of Mannheim, Heidelberg and Ludwigshafen....

, eleven tram lines and numerous bus lines operated by Rhein-Neckar-Verkehr (Rhine-Neckar transport).

The RheinNeckar S-Bahn
RheinNeckar S-Bahn
The Rhine-Neckar S-Bahn forms the backbone of the urban rail transport network of the Rhine Neckar Area, including the cities of Mannheim, Heidelberg and Ludwigshafen....

, established in 2003, connects most of the Rhine-Neckar area including lines into the Palatinate, Odenwald
Odenwald
The Odenwald is a low mountain range in Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg in Germany.- Location :The Odenwald lies between the Upper Rhine Rift Valley with the Bergstraße and the Hessisches Ried in the west, the Main and the Bauland in the east, the Hanau-Seligenstadt Basin – a subbasin of...

 and southern Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...

. All S-Bahn lines run through Mannheim Hauptbahnhof, except S5. 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. Interurban trams are operated by RNV on a triangular route between Mannheim, Heidelberg
Heidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...

 and Weinheim
Weinheim
Weinheim is a town in the north west of the state of Baden-Württemberg in Germany with 43 000 inhabitants, approximately 15 km north of Heidelberg and 10 km northeast of Mannheim. Together with these cities, it makes up the Rhine-Neckar triangle...

, and the company also operates interurban trams between Bad Dürkheim
Bad Dürkheim
Bad Dürkheim is a spa town in the Rhine-Neckar urban agglomeration, and is the seat of the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :...

, 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
Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar
Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar is a public transport network covering parts of the German states of Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse in south-west Germany...

 (Rhine-Neckar transport union, VRN).

Sport

There are two nationally renowned football clubs in Mannheim, SV Waldhof Mannheim 07
SV Waldhof Mannheim
SV Waldhof Mannheim is a German association football club, located in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg. The club today has a membership of over 2,400.-History:...

, who are currently playing in the 4th tier Regionalliga Süd
Regionalliga Süd
The Regionalliga Süd is currently the fourth tier of the German football league system. Until the introduction of the 3rd Liga in 2008, it was the third tier. It currently is the highest regional league for the southern part of Germany...

, but who have played in the top tier, the Fußball-Bundesliga
Fußball-Bundesliga
The Fußball-Bundesliga is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of Germany's football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is contested by 18 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the 2. Bundesliga...

; and VfR Mannheim
VfR Mannheim
VfR Mannheim is a German association football club based in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg formed in 1911 out of the fusion of Mannheimer FG 1896, Mannheimer FG 1897 Union, and FC Viktoria 1897 Mannheim...

, winner of the German championship in 1949, now playing in the 5th tier Oberliga Baden-Württemberg
Oberliga Baden-Württemberg
The Oberliga Baden-Württemberg is the highest Football League in the state of Baden-Württemberg and the Baden-Württemberg football league system. It is one of eleven Oberligas in German Football, the 5th tier of the German football league system...

.

The Adler Mannheim
Adler Mannheim
Adler Mannheim are an ice hockey team of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, the highest ice hockey league in Germany. The team is from Mannheim, a city in the north of Baden-Wurttemberg...

 (formerly MERC, Mannheimer Eis- und Rollsport-Club) are an ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 team playing in the professional Deutsche Eishockey Liga, having won the championship a total of six times.

The city is home to the Mannheim Tornados
Mannheim Tornados
The Mannheim Tornados are a baseball and softball club from Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg. Founded in 1975, it is the oldest continuing baseball club in Germany. The first men's team plays in the first division of the Baseball Bundesliga and has won 11 championships, the most of any club to reach...

, the oldest operational baseball and softball club in Germany. The Tornados play in the first division of the Baseball Bundesliga
Bundesliga (baseball)
The Baseball-Bundesliga is the elite competition for the sport of baseball in Germany. In it, the men's German championship is determined annually. Like most European sports leagues, the Bundesliga uses a system of promotion and relegation...

 and have won the championship 11 times, more than any other club.

The Rhein-Neckar-Loewen
Rhein-Neckar Löwen
Rhein-Neckar Löwen is a handball club from Mannheim, Germany. The club was founded in 2002 as a merger of TSG Kronau and TSG Baden Östringen, competing initially under the name SG Kronau/Östringen...

 (Rhine-Neckar-Lions) is a Handball
Team handball
Handball is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each pass a ball to throw it into the goal of the other team...

 team (formerly SG Kronau-Oestringen) playing in the professional German Handball League
Bundesliga (handball)
The Handball-Bundesliga is the top German professional handball league. The league has been sponsored by Toyota since 2007 and therefore the league is called the Toyota Handball-Bundesliga...

.

The WWE visited Mannheim in 2008 and grossed over half a million dollars with over 6500 fans attending the event.

Mannheim hosted the European Show Jumping Championships
European Show Jumping Championships
The FEI European Show Jumping Championships is the European Championship for the equestrian discipline of show jumping. Like most other European Championships, it is held every two years. Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals are awarded in both the individual and team competition...

 in 1997, and the FEI European Jumping Championships in 2007
2007 FEI European Jumping Championship
The 2007 FEI European Jumping Championship was the 29th edition of the European Show Jumping Championships. It was held at the MVV Riding Stadium in Mannheim, Germany from August 14 to August 19, 2007 for the second time following the 1997 championships. Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum of Germany won...

 14–19 August, in the MVV-riding stadium.

Twin towns


Mannheim is twinned
Town twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...

 with: Bydgoszcz, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 Chişinău
Chisinau
Chișinău is the capital and largest municipality of Moldova. It is also its main industrial and commercial centre and is located in the middle of the country, on the river Bîc...

, Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...

 Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...

, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 Klaipėda
Klaipeda
Klaipėda is a city in Lithuania situated at the mouth of the Nemunas River where it flows into the Baltic Sea. It is the third largest city in Lithuania and the capital of Klaipėda County....

, Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

 Swansea
Swansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...

, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

  Toulon
Toulon
Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....

, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 Windsor
Windsor, Ontario
Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada and is located in Southwestern Ontario at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. It is within Essex County, Ontario, although administratively separated from the county government. Separated by the Detroit River, Windsor...

, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 Zhenjiang
Zhenjiang
Zhenjiang is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Jiangsu province in the eastern People's Republic of China . Sitting on the southern bank of the Yangtze River, it borders the provincial capital of Nanjing to the west, Changzhou to the east, and Yangzhou across the river to the north.Once...

, China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...


Famous people from Mannheim

  • 1762: Constanze Mozart
    Constanze Mozart
    Constanze Mozart was the wife of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.-Early years:Constanze Weber was born in Zell im Wiesental. Her mother was Cäcilia Weber, née Stamm. Her father Fridolin Weber worked as a "double bass player, prompter and music copyist." Fridolin's half-brother was the father of composer...

    , wife of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...

     (1756–1791)
  • 1821: Friedrich Engelhorn, founder of BASF
    BASF
    BASF SE is the largest chemical company in the world and is headquartered in Germany. BASF originally stood for Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik . Today, the four letters are a registered trademark and the company is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange, and Zurich Stock...

  • 1856: Henry Morgenthau, Sr.
    Henry Morgenthau, Sr.
    Henry Morgenthau was a lawyer, businessman and United States ambassador, most famous as the American ambassador to the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. He was father of the politician Henry Morgenthau, Jr. and the grandfather of Robert M. Morgenthau, who was the District Attorney of...

    , United States politician and manager
  • 1887: Emmy Wehlen
    Emmy Wehlen
    Emmy Wehlen was a German-born Edwardian musical comedy and silent film actress who vanished from the public eye while in her early thirties.-Biography:...

     Musical comedy actress and silent screen star
  • 1897: Sepp Herberger
    Sepp Herberger
    Josef "Sepp" Herberger was a German football player and manager...

    , coach of the German national soccer team 1936–1964 ("The Miracle of Bern
    The Miracle of Bern
    The Miracle of Bern is a 2003 film by Sönke Wortmann, which tells the story of a German family and the unexpected West German miracle victory in the 1954 World Cup Final in Bern, Switzerland.The film can be regarded as a portrait of post-war Germany...

    ", world champion with his team in 1954)
  • 1905: Albert Speer
    Albert Speer
    Albert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office...

    , Nazi architect, Minister for Armaments and Munitions during World War II
  • 1939: Christiane Schmidtmer
    Christiane Schmidtmer
    Christiane Schmidtmer was a German actress, fashion model and nude model of the 1960s and 1970s.-Early life:Christiane Schmidtmer was born in Mannheim, Germany to Gertrud and Jakob Schmidtmer on Christmas Eve 1939...

    , Hollywood actress
  • 1946: Fred Breinersdorfer
    Fred Breinersdorfer
    Fred Breinersdorfer is a prominent German screenwriter, producer and film director.- Work :Fred Breinersdorfer studied law and worked as a lawyer before he debuted as an author of crime fiction in 1980, writing detective novels published by Rowohlt...

    , writer
  • 1960: Norbert Schwefel
    Schwefel
    Schwefel is a German independent band founded in 1984 by Norbert Schwefel .- History :In 1984 musician and producer Norbert Schwefel started recording tapes and records, in the beginning all by himself, later in collaboration with several musicians...

    , musician
  • 1962: Uwe Rahn
    Uwe Rahn
    Uwe Rahn is a former German football player.Rahn played 318 Bundesliga matches in his professional career, scoring the majority of his 107 Bundesliga goals in his eight years at Borussia Mönchengladbach where he grew to a West Germany international and lifted the kicker-Torjägerkanone award for...

    , football player
  • 1969: Steffi Graf
    Steffi Graf
    Steffi Graf is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24...

    , tennis player
  • 1971: Xavier Naidoo
    Xavier Naidoo
    Xavier Kurt Naidoo is a German singer-songwriter, record producer and occasional actor. Born and raised in Mannheim, Naidoo worked in several jobs in the gastronomy and the musical industry before relocating to the United States in the early 1990s, where he released his first full-length English...

    , pop singer
  • 1972: Christian Wörns
    Christian Wörns
    Christian Wörns is a retired German footballer who played as a sweeper. Wörns was widely considered one of the finest German defenders of his generation and one of the best sweepers of his era. He started his career with Waldhof Mannheim but played the majority of his career with Bayer Leverkusen...

    , football
    Football (soccer)
    Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

     player for Borussia Dortmund
    Borussia Dortmund
    Ballspielverein Borussia Dortmund, commonly BVB, are a German sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. Dortmund are one of the most successful clubs in German football history. Borussia Dortmund play in the Bundesliga, the top league of German football...

     and formerly Germany
    Germany national football team
    The Germany national football team is the football team that has represented Germany in international competition since 1908. It is governed by the German Football Association , which was founded in 1900....

  • 1977: Jochen Hecht
    Jochen Hecht
    Jochen Hecht is a German professional ice hockey player for the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League .-Playing career:...

    , Buffalo Sabre National Hockey League
  • See also: Famous people from Mannheim (German)

External links

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