Heidelberg – small city of big contrasts
Heidelberg is a city of contrasts. It is a charming and romantic, with its old town nestling in a narrow, natural bowl formed by the hills of the Odenwald along the bank of the Neckar river under the brooding ruins of its famous castle, one of the most iconic pictures in Germany.
Heidelberg university is Germany’s oldest, founded in 1386. Famous scholars who worked at the university include the father of sociology Max Weber, the philosophers Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and more recently Karl Jaspers, and the chemist Robert Bunsen, who invented the Bunsen burner.
But Heidelberg is also very modern, a center of top-quality science, home of several Nobel prizewinners, of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL Heidelberg), of biotech start-ups, and of the multinational companies SAP, in nearby Walldorf, and the Heidelberg Print Machine Company, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen. The Druckmaschinen’s Print Media Academy opposite the main railway station is one of very few ultra-modern buildings in the center of Heidelberg and a very beautiful one at that, a glass tower which also houses a post-modern cocktail bar and a Michelin-starred restaurant, Schwarz, probably one of the best staff canteens in the world.
Mark Twain enjoyed a visit in 1878 when he apparently came on May 6 for the day and loved it so much that he stayed three months. There were already quite a few Americans and British people living in Heidelberg by 1878 so he had plenty of people to talk to in his native language.
The city, being fairly small (population around 135,000, 28,000 of which are students at the university) is rather quiet but it hosts world-class annual jazz (www.enjoyjazz.de) and film (www.iffmh.de) festivals, both in conjunction with its neighboring city of Mannheim.
The city’s Kurpfalzmuseum (Kurpfälzisches Museum der Stadt Heidelberg) on the Hauptstrasse, the main artery in the old town, houses the jaw of Homo heidelbergensis, a prehistoric man who lived in the area about 600,000 years ago.
Culture
The Karlstorbahnhof cultural center (www.karlstorbahnhof.de), located in the old railway station at the northern end of the Hauptstrasse, offers a lively and full program of modern music and cinema with over 1,000 events every year. Cave 54 is Germany‘s oldest student jazz club and the Schwimmbad Musik Club offers rock and indie music. The German-American Institute/DAI Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut (www.dai-heidelberg.de) adds to the culture of the city with concerts, guest speakers, readings and courses as well as the world poetry festival PoetZone.
Each summer, the “Schlossfestspiele Heidelberg“ festival brings performances of theater, opera and dance to the castle ruins. One evergreen favorite is Sigmund Romberg’s operetta The Student Prince, which of course was made even more famous by Ernst Lubitsch’s silent film of the operetta titled The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg and which is performed every summer as part of the festival.
Restaurants
Popular restaurants liked by the critics apart fom Schwarz in the Print Academy are: Ritter, Simplicissimus, Weisser Bock and Romer, all in the old town. Hugo’s in Rohrbacher Strasse offers simple but quite good food and a selection of wines in a pleasant and cozy atmosphere. The Moghul Tandoori Indian restaurant at Brückenkopfstr. 1, the building at the northern bank of the Theodor-Heuss-Brücke, the bridge linking Bismarckplatz with Neuenheim, is rather good for a German Indian restaurant and has a pretty terrace with beautiful views over the Neckar river and up to the castle. Kulturbrauerei and Brauhaus Vetter offer a range of home-brewed specialty beers and the kind of rustic German food that goes well with beer. The Untere Strasse, parallel to the Haupstrasse and one street closer to the river, has many bars for those feeling inclined to go bar-hopping (or pub crawling if they are British).
Hotels
There are many hotels in Heidelberg. Some recommended by the city of Heidelberg are: Europäischer Hof Hotel Europa (one of the “Leading Hotels of the World”), the ancient Zum Ritter St. Georg on Marktplatz, chain hotels such as Crowne Plaza, Marriott or NH. For the more hip traveller, there’s the Art Hotel (www.arthotel.de) with its modern glass architecture, or the Hip Hotel in the Hauptstrasse (www.hip-hotel.de). The Holländer Hof and Zur Alten Brücke near the famous Old Bridge both look pleasantly inviting and there is also the relatively new Villa Marstall (www.villamarstall.com).
The Heidelberg Convention and Visitors Bureau (www.heidelberg-marketing.de) helps tourists with planning a trip and hotel reservations. It can help with guided tours, such a panorama bus tour or a boat trip on the Neckar.
Catch a falling star and
put it in your pocket
Bright stars shoot down from a dark summer sky during Heidelberg´s famous castle illuminations and fireworks. The open air events take place on several Saturdays during the summer months.
Dates 2011
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Starts 10:15 PM
In the preceding hours visitors can enjoy festive concerts in the Holy Ghost Church, on Market Square. During the day, a stroll through a special Artisan's Handcrafts Market on the Corn Market is a welcome addition to the lively Old Town scene - a perfect program for a romantic Heidelberg weekend.
Mark Twain visited the castle illumination in the year 1878.
" As reminders of big events in Heidelberg history, the fireworks and castle illuminations have a most interesting background: They originated in 1613 when newly-wed Prince Elector Frederic V welcomed his young wife to Heidelberg. The English princess Elizabeth Stuart was received with due respect and a splendid event. The castle was illuminated by bright colors, and star balls were to be seen high above the Neckar River. Today, the star balls highlight the Heidelberg summer. "
If the French General Melac and his troops had not destroyed and burned down Heidelberg Castle over 300 years ago, perhaps it would never have achieved the fame it enjoys today as the most beautiful and romantic castle in the world. In memory of this fateful event, the castle illuminations are now held several times each year. The castle walls turns blood red in the glow of torches and a huge, brilliant fireworks display is launched from the Old Bridge, bathing the entrance to the Neckar valley in a stunning panoply of light and colour.
Best watched from the shores of the Neckar river, in the vicinity of the Old Bridge, on Philosophenweg, or on one of the Rhein-Neckar passenger boats. it's a spectacular event that attracts thousands of visitors each year from far and wide.
Those whose schedules might not permit them to visit the Castle Illuminations can nevertheless enjoy the new lighting on the Old Bridge. As the grand finale to eight years of continuous renovations and an investment of over four million Euro, a new system of lights has been installed, presenting the venerable structure of the bridge in new magnificence. The arches of the Old Bridge are vividly accentuated by the lights. The simultaneous illumination of the sculpted figures of Pallas Athena and Prince Elector Karl Theodor, as well as of the bridge balustrades and the bridge towers, complete this impressive play of lights.