Search

The Online Encyclopedia and Dictionary

 
     
 

Encyclopedia

Dictionary

Quotes

 

Heidelberg

Map of Germany showing Heidelberg
Map of Germany showing Heidelberg


Heidelberg (halfway between Stuttgart and Frankfurt) is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. As of 2002, there are 140,000 people living on the city's 109 km2.

View from the so called "alley of philosophers" (Philosophenweg) towards the Old Town, with , and the
Enlarge
View from the so called "alley of philosophers" (Philosophenweg) towards the Old Town, with Heidelberg Castle, Heiliggeist Church and the Old Bridge

Heidelberg lies on the river Neckar at the point where the Neckar leaves its narrow, steep valley in the Odenwald hills to flow into the Rhine valley where, 20 kilometers northwest of Heidelberg it joins the Rhine at Mannheim. The old city is long and narrow and is dominated by Heidelberg Castle which perches 200 metres above the Neckar on the steep wooded hill of the Königstuhl , surrounded by a park where the famous poet J.W. Goethe once walked.

The city is a vibrant mixture of tradition and modernity. In the past it has been a centre for both science and the arts and today this tradition is carried on with many research centres located in or around the city.

Heidelberg not only boasts a medieval castle, but it also is home to one of Europe's oldest educational institutes, the University of Heidelberg. Among the prominent thinkers to have been associated with the University over the centuries are Hegel, the philosopher of hermeneutics Hans-Georg Gadamer, the critical theorist Jürgen Habermas, and the discourse philosopher Karl-Otto Apel . Heidelberg's most momentous student was Karl Drais who invented the bicycle in 1817.

The "Untere Straße" (lower street), a typical side street in the Old Town.
Enlarge
The "Untere Straße" (lower street), a typical side street in the Old Town.


History

  • Heidelberg was first mentioned in 1196.
  • Its university, the oldest in Germany, was founded in 1386.
  • Heidelberg Catechism approved in 1563.
  • The great classical scholar Friedrich Sylburg was librarian to the elector palatine from 1591 to 1596.
  • City burned and castle partly destroyed by the French during the War of the Palatinate Succession 1693 (In fact this is a legend: Most of the destruction was caused by citizens who stole the stones for the reconstruction of the city after the war.)
  • Discovery of spectral analysis by Robert Bunsen and Kirchhoff in 1860.

External links

Last updated: 06-02-2005 13:22:02
The contents of this article are licensed from Wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. How to see transparent copy