Contents
Heidelberg
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
on hill and the Old Bridge over river Neckar
Coordinates 8°42′36″E / 49.41222°N 8.71°E / 49.41222; 8.71
Administration
Country Germany
State Baden-Württemberg
Admin. region Karlsruhe
District Urban district
Lord Mayor Dr. Eckart Würzner (Ind.)
Basic statistics
Area 108.83 km2 (42.02 sq mi)
Elevation 114 m (374 ft)
Population 145,642 (31 December 2008)
- Density 1,338 /km2 (3,466 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate HD
Postal codes 69115–69126
Area codes +49 6221
Website heidelberg.de
Heidelberg is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. As of 2008, over 145,000 people live within the city's 109 square kilometres (42 sq mi) area. Heidelberg is a unitary authority. The Rhein-Neckar-Kreis rural district surrounds and has its seat in the city, but the city itself does not form a part of it.
Heidelberg lies on the river Neckar at the point where it leaves its narrow, steep valley in the Odenwald to flow into the Rhine valley where, 20 kilometres (12 mi) northwest of Heidelberg, it joins the river Rhine at Mannheim. Heidelberg is part of a densely populated region known as the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region.
History
Approximately 1,000,000 years ago, the "Heidelberg Man", whose jaw-bone was discovered in 1907, the earliest evidence of human life in Europe, died at nearby Mauer.
In the 5th century BC, there was a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of worship on the Heiligenberg, or "Mountain of Saints". Both places can still be identified.
In 40 AD, a fort was built and occupied by the 24th Roman cohort and the 2nd Cyrenaican cohort (CCG XXIIII and CCH II CYR). The Romans built and maintained castra (permanent camps) and a signalling tower on the bank of the Neckar and built a bridge with wooden top on stone pillars across the river Neckar. The first civilian settlements would develop under the protection of the camp. The Romans remained until 260 AD, when the camp was conquered by German tribes.
Modern Heidelberg can trace its beginnings to the 5th century when the village Bergheim ("Mountain Home") is first mentioned in documents dated to 769 AD. Bergheim now lies in the middle of modern Heidelberg.
In 863 AD, the monastery of St. Michael was founded on the Heiligenberg inside the double rampart of the Celtic fortress, and, around 1130, the Neuberg Monastery was founded in the Neckar valley. At the same time, the bishopric of Worms extended its influence into the valley, founding Schönau Abbey in 1142. Modern Heidelberg can trace its roots to this monastery.
In 1155, Heidelberg castle and its neighboring settlement were taken over by the house of Hohenstaufen, and Conrad of Hohenstaufen became "Count Palatine of the Rhine" (German: Pfalzgraf bei Rhein).
In 1195, the Palatinate passed to the House of Welf through marriage.
The first reference to Heidelberg can be found in a document in Schönau Abbey dated to 1196. This is considered the founding date for Heidelberg.
In 1225, Louis I, Duke of Bavaria obtained the Palatinate, and thus also the castle, which is mentioned in a document.
In 1303, two castles are mentioned; the one located further up the mountain was destroyed in a gunpowder explosion in 1537. The palace of today was then built at the site of the lower castle. In 1356, the Counts Palatine were granted far-reaching rights in the Golden Bull in addition to becoming Electors.
In 1386, the University of Heidelberg was founded by Rupert I, Elector Palatine. The University played a leading part in the era of humanism and reformation and the conflict between Lutheranism and Calvinism in the 15th and 16th centuries. Heidelberg's library, founded in 1421, is the oldest public library in Germany still intact. A few months after the proclamation of the 95 theses, in April 1518, Martin Luther was received in Heidelberg, to defend them.
In 1620, the royal crown of Bohemia was offered to the Elector, Frederick V (married to Elizabeth, eldest daughter of James VI of Scotland). He became known as the "winter king", as he only reigned for one winter until the Imperial house of Habsburg regained the crown by force. This marked the beginning of the Thirty Years' War.
In 1622, after a siege of two months, the armies of the Catholic League, commanded by Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly, captured Heidelberg. He gave the famous Bibliotheca Palatina from the Church of the Holy Ghost to the Pope as a present. The Catholic Bavarian branch of the house of Wittelsbach gained control over the Palatinate and the title of Prince-Elector. In 1648, at the end of the war, Frederick V's son Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine, was able to recover his titles and lands.
In order to strengthen his dynastic power, he married his daughter Liselotte to Philip I, Duke of Orléans, the brother of Louis XIV, king of France. In 1685, after the death of Charles Louis' son Elector Charles II, Louis XIV laid claim to his sister in law's inheritance. The claim was rejected and war ensued. In 1689, city and castle were both taken by French troops, who brought about an almost total destruction in 1693.
In 1720, religious conflicts with the citizens of Heidelberg caused the Prince-Elector Charles III Philip to transfer his residence to nearby Mannheim, where it remained until the Elector Charles Theodore became Elector of Bavaria in 1777 and established his court in Munich.
In 1742, Elector Charles Theodore began rebuilding the Palace. In 1764, a lightning bolt destroyed other palace buildings during reconstruction, causing the work to be discontinued. Heidelberg fell to the Grand Duchy of Baden in the year 1803. Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Baden re-founded the University, named "Ruperto-Carola" after its two founders. Notable scholars soon earned it a reputation as a "royal residence of the intellect".
In 1810, the French revolution-emigrant Count Charles Graimberg began with the preservation of the palace ruins and the establishment of a historical collection.
In the 18th century, the city was rebuilt in Baroque style on the old Gothic layout.
In 1815, the Emperor of Austria, the Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia formed the "Holy Alliance" in Heidelberg.
In 1848, it was decided to have a German National Assembly in Heidelberg. In 1849, during the Palatinate-Baden rebellion, Heidelberg was the headquarters of a revolutionary army which was defeated by a Prussian army near Waghaeusel. Until 1850, the city was occupied by Prussian troops.
Between 1920 and 1933, the University of Heidelberg's reputation was enhanced by a number of notable physicians (Czerny, Erb, Krehl) and humanists (Rohde, Weber, Gundolf).
Nazi and post-war era
During the Nazi regime (1933–1945), Heidelberg was a stronghold of the NSDAP, which was the strongest party in the elections before 1933. The NSDAP received approximately 50% of the votes in the last free elections before WWII.
Non-Aryan university staff were discriminated against, and by 1939, the University had "lost" one third of its staff due to racial and political reasons.
During the Kristallnacht on 9 November 1938, Nazis burned down synagogues at two locations in the city. The next day systematic deportation of Jews started, and 150 Jews were sent to the Dachau concentration camp. On 22 October 1940 during the "Wagner Buerckel event", 6000 local Jews, including 280 from Heidelberg, were deported to a concentration camp in France, Camp Gurs.
Between 1934 and 1935, the Reichsarbeitsdienst (State labor service) and enthusiastic University of Heidelberg students built a huge amphitheatre, called "Thingstätte", located on the Heiligenberg north of the old part of Heidelberg for Nazi (NSDAP) and SS events. A few months later, the inauguration for a huge memorial cemetery (Ehrenfriedhof) completed the second and last NSDAP project in Heidelberg. This cemetery is located on the southern side of the old part of town, a little south of the Königstuhl hilltop. During WWII and after Wehrmacht soldiers were also buried on the premises. The U.S. Army used the "Thingsstätte" for cultural and religious events starting in the late 1940s and civilian use started in the early to mid 1980s for occasional concerts and other cultural events. Today, especially the celebrations on "Hexennacht" (Witches' Night, also called Walpurgis Night), the night from 30 April to 1 May, are a regular "underground" fixture at the Thingstätte. Thousands of mostly young people spontaneously congregate there to drum, to fire breathe and to juggle. The event has gained fame throughout the region, as well as a certain notoriety due to the amount of rubbish left behind.
On 29 March 1945, the Wehrmacht left the city after destroying three arches of the old bridge, Heidelberg's treasured river crossing, as well as the other more modern bridge crossing a little further downstream. The blown up bridges proved no obstacle for the U.S. Army forces (3rd Infantry, 7th Army), which entered Heidelberg on 30 March 1945. Heidelberg was handed over without any resistance by the civilian population.[1]
It has been theorized by some that Heidelberg escaped bombing in the Second World War because the U.S. Army wanted to use the city as a garrison after the war. In fact, as Heidelberg was neither an industrial center nor a transport hub, there was felt to be nothing worth bombing in Heidelberg. Being an old renowned university town probably contributed as well, as other such towns like Tübingen and Göttingen were spared as well. Instead, allied air raids focused extensively on the nearby industrial cities of Mannheim and Ludwigshafen.