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On sights:
Mannheim is dubbed to be a city of arts and cultures. There are numerous galleries and museums around the city namely: the National Theatre, the municipal Art Gallery, the Reiss-Engelhorn Museum, the Planetarium and the State Museum for technology and labour. Ironically, I have never been to any of these museums. I will visit these places once we stay in there for a longer period of time. A city tour would be a great thing to do when in Mannheim.
The Main Train Station (Die Hauptbahnhof) - was built in the years 1871 to 1876.
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The Water-Tower (Wasserturm) is Mannheim's most famous landmark. It dominates the Friedrichsplatz and was built in 1886 according to plans of the then only 24-year-old architect Gustav Halmhuber. The construction is made of yellow sandstone, has a height of about 60 metres, holds 2000 cubic metres of water and is built in the Roman monumental style. The top of the Water-Tower is adorned by a statue of Amphitrite, the wife of the god of the sea, Poseidon. Bronze groups of mermaids and tritons adorn a small pool and two groups of centaurs made of stone can be found at the big pool. The park at the foot of the Water-Tower was designed by Bruno Schmitz (1901-03). The semicircular arcades made of red sandstone, together with the Festival Hall and the Art Gallery, which face each other across the park, were a model of modern urban development even before World War I.
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The Rosengarten - One of Mannheim's most famous and impressive buildings is the Rosengarten culture and conference centre. The name Rosengarten hints at the original use of this area, but whoever now expects to find themselves somewhere far off from Mannheim's city centre, is wrong: the culture and conference centre is part of a unique art nouveau complex, the Friedrichsplatz, and lies directly across from Mannheim's most famous landmark, the Water-Tower.
The Christ Church - The city's largest church, situated not far from the Friedrichsplatz, was built 1907-11 by the Mannheim architect Christian Schrade and restored after the war. The neo-baroque rotunda with its low transepts and narrow, 65 metres high, copula has the twelve Apostles grouped around it. It is crowned by the statue of St. Michael sounding his trumpet. On the main portal and in the mighty pediment above it, reliefs by K. Albiker and L. Habich are to be found.
The Mosque - built by the Islamischer Bund (Islamic Society) Mannheim e.V. and the largest mosque in Germany to date, was officially opened on March 4th 1995 in the Jungbusch, a district of Mannheim, after two years of construction. It has a capacity of about 2,500. Mannheim itself has approximately 20,000 Moslem inhabitants. The building cost about 10 million DM, which was donated by Mannheim Moslems. The site on which the mosque stands incorporates an area of 1,209 square metres. Aside from 50 underground car park spaces there are 6 business premises, one executive room, facilities for young people and women, a picture gallery, an Institute for German-Turkish Integration Studies, as well as an ornate ritual washing-room with a fountain.
The Observatory - The Jesuit Christian Mayer was the first astronomer in the Electoral Palatinate. He asked the Elector Carl Theodor to put up a new building in Mannheim instead of the temporary observatory in the castle in Schwetzingen. At first the plan was to redesign the tower near the Jesuit College. But this plan was rejected because of the bad condition the "old tower" was in. The observatory was then built according to the plans of Johann Lacher west of the Jesuit Church from 1772 to 1774.
The Jesuit Church -was built in the years 1733 to 1760. The plans for the ecclesiastical building were modelled upon the mother-church Al Gesu in Rome and were designed by the architect Allessandro Galli da Bibiena from Bologna. The foundation stone was laid in 1733, the topping-out ceremony was celebrated in 1748 and in 1760 the prince-bishop Joseph von Augsburg consecrated the church, which is over 100 metres long and can hold up to 3,000 people, in the presence of the electoral court. According to the foundation deed of 1728, the "Patribus of the Societas Jesu" - the Jesuits - were supposed to be the owners of the then Great Court Church for "all time", but only 13 years after the consecration Pope Clement XIV. abolished the order of the Jesuits.
The history of the church in photo, before the World War II, during ang after.
The Mannheim National Theatre has had a very eventful past, as one can see by its many different and contrasting buildings. The historical National Theatre in B 3, for instance, underwent a number of reconstructions, the changes by Joseph Mühldorfer 1853-55 being the most noteworthy. The famous theatre designer and decorator, architect and engineer entirely changed, among other things, the exterior form of the building by constructing a fourth floor and roofing over the courtyards. These traditional features, however, were completely destroyed during World War II. (September 1943).
The Reiss-Engelhorn Museums- Those interested in art history and city history should go to the museum for art, city and theatre history in the Reiss Museum. The museum puts on a varied programme of exhibitions, lectures, symposiums, concerts and educational events. The basis for all activities are the extensive and valuable collections, which cover the wide spectrum of archaeology, nature study, ethnology and art, city and theatre history. The Reiss Museum's exhibition area of 7,500 square metres is located in the former armoury in C 5 and contains the museum for art, city and theatre history. The new building in D 5 contains the museum for archaeology and ethnology. In 1997 the new building in D 5 also became the home of the museum for nature study, which is now a part of the entire complex.
At the heart of the Planetarium lies the dumbbell-shaped projector, weighing 2.5 tons and with a height of 5 metres, on its hydraulic lifting platform: the only one of its kind in Germany apart from those in Stuttgart and Hamburg. It is able to project 9,000 stars of the northern and southern firmament as well as the sun, the moon and the planets, in all their complex motions, onto the domed ceiling. Since 1997 laser show interludes are possible. Since its opening in December 1984, 1.5 million visitors have passed through its doors.
The State Museum for Technology and Work is not only remarkable for its unique architectonic exterior, but also for its experimental, unconventional exhibition programme and design. The visitor is led through 16 stages, structured chronologically and starting at the top of the building, which display and narrate the technological and social changes of the last two and a half centuries. In 1992 it was awarded the European Museum of the Year Prize for innovation and creativity. Some of the exhibits on display are working models and the visitor is given a demonstration as to how these function. Some have been reconstructed from scratch, others have been translocated in their entirety, such as a weaving mill, a paper mill and a Porsche manufacturing unit. The museum provides a unique chance to see fully functioning machines and manufacturing processes as well as quality control and safety procedures. The visitor is aided on his "journey" through two and a half centuries by relevant contemporary images and quotes which flesh out the historical situation
The Art Gallery on the south side of the Friedrichsplatzes contains one of the most important 19th and 20th century collections of paintings and sculptures, the main focus being France and Germany.
The two municipal parks, the Luisenpark and the Herzogenriedpark, are firm favourites with the public, even beyond the city limits. With an area of 41 hectares, the Luisenpark is the bigger of the two. Its history stretches back to the time before 1900. It was laid out between 1892 and 1894 according to the plans of the Siesmeier brothers, Frankfurt landscape gardeners, and was named after the Grand Duchess Luise.
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Source on Sights: http://www.mannheim.de/
On transportation:
The main public transportation in the city is Straßenbahn (street cars) and some buses. Every streetcar stop/station has a route map, as well as the timings of arrivals and departures. Many of the stations have automatic ticket dispensers. Tickets can be used in both streetcars and buses. On board, passengers should insert their tickets into the stamp machines located in various points. Controllers are checking for the tickets randomly. Failure to show a ticket will cost the passenger 40 euro. Monthly and yearly cards, as well as individual route maps are also available from the respective transport line offices. I was advised that the passengers with pets should have a license and must purchase a ticket for their pets as well.
A very comprehensive public transport planner is available online. http://efa9.vrn.de/vrn/XSLT_PS_REQUEST2?language=dethis includes various types of transport i.e. streetcars, buses, trains ... When the desired trip is completed, you can print the plan to take with you during the trip. I am personally impressed with its versatility in providing relevant information.
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On Shopping:
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Posted by:
Jernie
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