Heidelberg

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Map of Germany showing Heidelberg

Heidelberg is a city in Baden-WÃÂÃÂ¼rttemberg, 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 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 KÃÂÃÂ¶nigstuhl, 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.

Besides for the castle Heidelberg is very famous for 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 JÃÂÃÂ¼rgen Habermas, and the discourse philosopher Karl-Otto Apel. Heidelberg's most momentous student was Karl Drais who kicked off modern horseless automobility with his two-wheeler invention of 1817.

The "Untere StraÃÂÃÂe" (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.
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

Official site of Heidelberg (a small English section is available)
The site of Fluxus Heidelberg Center (with photos of Performances done in Heidelberg)

Districts and district-free towns in Baden-WÃÂÃÂ¼rttemberg

A few tiny towns in the United States are called Heidelberg:

And in Australia:

Heidelberg, Victoria

And in Canada:

Heidelberg, Ontario (near Kitchener, Ontario)

Also two towns in South Africa:

Heidelberg, Gauteng
Heidelberg, Western Cape

Other things called Heidelberg:

Heidelberg School (Australian art movement)