I went there on my own when my hb was busy at his conference. It is only 15 min by train from Heidelberg and I thought it won’t take me a long time to explore. It was naïve of me to think that, of course – I’ve spent whole day in Manheim and it wasn't even close to the enough! Despite of that it has become an important industrial centre of the region, it still has an interesting history, I suppose, like any other city on the planet. Any place has something special about it just not many have time to discover it…
Well, actually, Manheim is the second largest city in the region after Stuttgart. One of the unique features of Mannheim is its central area. It is laid out in a grid pattern much like those in American cities. To me, of course, it was not something I was accustomed to and it took few wrong turns before I’ve managed to navigate the “blocks”. Funny how what seems to be so complex to you someone else might find totally logical. Although, no offence, but I found streets named by numbers to be a little bit…faceless. BlockA5 tells you nothing of the history, doesn’t it? When Planken Street brings up images of the wooden planks ('Planken' in German) laid out along the entire street extent so that aristocratic ladies would not get their feet wet while shopping.
Ok, so anyway, accidentally Manheim turned out to be quite an interesting place. On my arrival, I’ve bought a local map and worked out the route that would let me see the main things worth seeing in Manheim. So, what are the main attractions? Of course, the central square – Marktplatz itself and a City Hall. It has to be mentioned also that while I was sitting there, drinking coffee in one of those open air cafes right on the Marktplatz, I was accidentally entertained by watching a TV shooting scene. Though I must admit, after you’ve seen some amount of Marktplatzes in various cities, every new one lacks the charm of novelty, they all seems to be the same design, the same purpose and the same functionality. Every Marktplatz would have a Town Hall, a fountain and as it was still warm like in summertime, there would be lots of open air cafes scattered all over the square...all the marktpltzes, all similar, yet each with its own charm...the same applies to the churches, although beautiful and I’m sure, each being unique, the amount of them over my visit exceeded my ability to grasp the special things about each one. So I only remember one of them, but what a place! Christuskirche - the Protestant Church. It is by all the most impressive neo-baroque building. It may be also that by coincidence, when I walked inside, there was an organ’s rehearsal going on, which enhanced the general effect. Believe me, it is totally different experience when not one, but few senses got involved into the picture. The other interesting thing about it - the frescoes above the altar depicted various scenes of, what I could guess, the Heaven...but on the contrary to what one expects to see in the church, those were unusually sensual. Unusual for a church, I'd say, but nevertheless very beautiful...for some reason inside the church it felt like...Italy...(now, here I must admit that I've never been to Italy yet, so this is a very questionable statement, based entirely on my perception of what Italy might be like)
Except of the churches, Manheim has got the Palace – again – this is something quite normal for the many cities in Germany. This palace dated back to 18 century, built in baroque style and now houses Manheim’s University. Large. Impressive, but not the one that makes your imagination picture fairy tales.
Wassertum – Water Tower is the image for Manheim Postcard - the most recognized landmark, surrounded by a huge park, a fountain, all inside a huge traffic circle. It is, actually, just what it is – a Water Tower, built in the end of 1800s, about 60 meters high, with the statue of some Greek goddess on its top. A nice park at its feet, that reminded me of the 50s movies for some reason.
In conclusion: some interesting facts about Manheim – his famous inhabitants like Karl Benz, who invented and drove the world's first car and also another Karl - Karl Drais who claimed to be the inventor of the first bicycle (they called it Laufmaschine or velocipede). Of course, they’ve got dedicated museums there.
It is always happens like this: just when you’d think there is nothing much to the place, its wonders keep unfolding in front of you and soon you found short of time to see all that you’d like to see there. I feel like I should’ve dedicated a couple of days to this city…
Well, actually, Manheim is the second largest city in the region after Stuttgart. One of the unique features of Mannheim is its central area. It is laid out in a grid pattern much like those in American cities. To me, of course, it was not something I was accustomed to and it took few wrong turns before I’ve managed to navigate the “blocks”. Funny how what seems to be so complex to you someone else might find totally logical. Although, no offence, but I found streets named by numbers to be a little bit…faceless. BlockA5 tells you nothing of the history, doesn’t it? When Planken Street brings up images of the wooden planks ('Planken' in German) laid out along the entire street extent so that aristocratic ladies would not get their feet wet while shopping.
Ok, so anyway, accidentally Manheim turned out to be quite an interesting place. On my arrival, I’ve bought a local map and worked out the route that would let me see the main things worth seeing in Manheim. So, what are the main attractions? Of course, the central square – Marktplatz itself and a City Hall. It has to be mentioned also that while I was sitting there, drinking coffee in one of those open air cafes right on the Marktplatz, I was accidentally entertained by watching a TV shooting scene. Though I must admit, after you’ve seen some amount of Marktplatzes in various cities, every new one lacks the charm of novelty, they all seems to be the same design, the same purpose and the same functionality. Every Marktplatz would have a Town Hall, a fountain and as it was still warm like in summertime, there would be lots of open air cafes scattered all over the square...all the marktpltzes, all similar, yet each with its own charm...the same applies to the churches, although beautiful and I’m sure, each being unique, the amount of them over my visit exceeded my ability to grasp the special things about each one. So I only remember one of them, but what a place! Christuskirche - the Protestant Church. It is by all the most impressive neo-baroque building. It may be also that by coincidence, when I walked inside, there was an organ’s rehearsal going on, which enhanced the general effect. Believe me, it is totally different experience when not one, but few senses got involved into the picture. The other interesting thing about it - the frescoes above the altar depicted various scenes of, what I could guess, the Heaven...but on the contrary to what one expects to see in the church, those were unusually sensual. Unusual for a church, I'd say, but nevertheless very beautiful...for some reason inside the church it felt like...Italy...(now, here I must admit that I've never been to Italy yet, so this is a very questionable statement, based entirely on my perception of what Italy might be like)
Except of the churches, Manheim has got the Palace – again – this is something quite normal for the many cities in Germany. This palace dated back to 18 century, built in baroque style and now houses Manheim’s University. Large. Impressive, but not the one that makes your imagination picture fairy tales.
Wassertum – Water Tower is the image for Manheim Postcard - the most recognized landmark, surrounded by a huge park, a fountain, all inside a huge traffic circle. It is, actually, just what it is – a Water Tower, built in the end of 1800s, about 60 meters high, with the statue of some Greek goddess on its top. A nice park at its feet, that reminded me of the 50s movies for some reason.
In conclusion: some interesting facts about Manheim – his famous inhabitants like Karl Benz, who invented and drove the world's first car and also another Karl - Karl Drais who claimed to be the inventor of the first bicycle (they called it Laufmaschine or velocipede). Of course, they’ve got dedicated museums there.
It is always happens like this: just when you’d think there is nothing much to the place, its wonders keep unfolding in front of you and soon you found short of time to see all that you’d like to see there. I feel like I should’ve dedicated a couple of days to this city…