Heidelberg: The Romantic Ruin, Germany's Oldest University, and a City That Survived the War Intact
Heidelberg has a population around 143,000 and sits where the Neckar river exits the Odenwald hills into the Rhine plain. The Schloss Heidelberg, partly ruined since French troops blew it up in 1693, is Germany's most visited ruin and appears on virtually every Romantic-era painting of the Rhineland. The Ruprecht-Karls-Universitaet, founded in 1386, is Germany's oldest university. Mark Twain spent months here in 1878 and wrote about it in "A Tramp Abroad." The Alte Bruecke (Old Bridge) across the Neckar dates from 1788.
Heidelberg was one of the few German cities not bombed in the Second World War, leaving its Baroque old town intact. The US Army maintained a major presence here until 2014; the former Campbell Barracks and other military sites are being converted to civilian use. EMBL (European Molecular Biology Laboratory) and DKFZ (German Cancer Research Center) are headquartered here. The Philosophenweg on the hill opposite the castle offers a famous view. Adult companionship in Heidelberg follows Baden-Wuerttemberg's framework, with a sector shaped by the university and tourism character.
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Heidelberg has a population around 143,000 and sits where the Neckar river exits the Odenwald hills into the Rhine plain. The Schloss Heidelberg, partly ruined since French troops blew it up in 1693, is Germany's most visited ruin and appears on virtually every Romantic-era painting of the Rhineland. The Ruprecht-Karls-Universitaet, founded in 1386, is Germany's oldest university. Mark Twain spent months here in 1878 and wrote about it in "A Tramp Abroad." The Alte Bruecke (Old Bridge) across the Neckar dates from 1788.
Heidelberg was one of the few German cities not bombed in the Second World War, leaving its Baroque old town intact. The US Army maintained a major presence here until 2014; the former Campbell Barracks and other military sites are being converted to civilian use. EMBL (European Molecular Biology Laboratory) and DKFZ (German Cancer Research Center) are headquartered here. The Philosophenweg on the hill opposite the castle offers a famous view. Adult companionship in Heidelberg follows Baden-Wuerttemberg's framework, with a sector shaped by the university and tourism character.
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