Mainz (; see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants,
Mainz is located at the northern end of the Upper Rhine Plain, on the left bank of the Rhine. It is the largest city of Rhenish Hesse, a region of Rhineland-Palatinate that was historically part of Hesse, and is one of Germany's most important wine regions because of its mild climate. Mainz is connected to Frankfurt am Main by the Rhine-Main S-Bahn rapid transit system. Before 1945, Mainz had six boroughs on the other side of the Rhine (see: Rechtsrheinische Stadtteile von Mainz). Three have been incorporated into Wiesbaden (see: AKK-Konflikt), and three are now independent.
Mainz was founded as Castrum Mogontiacum by Roman people general Nero Claudius Drusus in the 1st century BC on the northern frontier of the Roman Empire, and became the capital of the Roman province of Germania Superior. The city was settled by the Franks from 459 on, and in the 8th century it became an important city within the Holy Roman Empire, as capital of the Electorate of Mainz and seat of the Archbishop-Elector of Mainz, the primate of Germany. Mainz Cathedral is one of the three Rhenish Imperial Cathedrals along with Speyer Cathedral and Worms Cathedral. Since the 12th century, Mainz was one of the —a league formed by the cities of Speyer, Worms and Mainz—which are referred to as the cradle of Ashkenazi Jewish life and as the center of Jewish life during medieval times. The Jewish heritage of these cities is one of a kind, and has been declared the UNESCO World Heritage Site of .
Like most cities in the Rhineland, Mainz holds Mainz carnival, that are known as the second-most important in Germany, after the Cologne Carnival. The borough of Lerchenberg is the seat of ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, "Second German Television"), the second-most important German public service television broadcaster, as well as of 3sat, another television broadcaster, that is jointly operated by public broadcasters from Germany (ARD and ZDF), Austria (ORF), and Switzerland (SRG SSR).
Names and etymology
Although the city is situated opposite the mouth of the Main, the name of Mainz is not from
Main, the similarity being perhaps reinforced by
Folk etymology reanalysis.
Main is from Latin
Moenis (also
Moenus or
Menus), the name the Romans used for the river.
Linguistics analysis of the many forms that the name "Mainz" has taken on make it clear that it is a simplification of
Mogontiacum.
The name appears to be
Celtic languages,
however, it had also become Roman and was selected by them with a special significance.
The Roman soldiers defending
Gallia had adopted the Gallic god
Mogons (Mogounus, Moguns, Mogonino), for the meaning of which etymology offers two basic options: "the great one", similar to Latin magnus, which was used in aggrandizing names such as
Alexander magnus, "Alexander the Great" and
Pompeius magnus, "Pompey the Great", or the god of "might" personified as it appears in young servitors of any type whether of noble or ignoble birth.
Mainz has a number of different names in other languages and dialects. In Latin it is known as Mogontiacum () or Moguntiacum and, in the local Hessian dialects dialect, it is Määnz or Meenz . It is known as Mayence in French, Magonza
Before the 20th century, Mainz was commonly known in the Anglosphere either as Mentz, its English version, or by its French version Mayence. It is the namesake of two American cities named Mentz.
Geography
Topography
Mainz is on the 50th latitude north, on the
Rhineland.
The east of the city is opposite where the Main falls into it.
, the population was 217,272.
The city is part of the FrankfurtRheinMain area of 5.9 million people.
Mainz can easily be reached from Frankfurt International Airport in 30 minutes by commuter railway or regional trains .
The
river port of Mainz is located on the
Rhine and thus on one of the most important waterways in Germany.
The container port hub is north of the town centre.
After the last ice age, sand dunes were deposited in the Rhine valley at what was to become the western edge of the city. The Mainz Sand Dunes area is now a nature reserve with a unique landscape and rare steppe vegetation for this area.
While the Mainz legion camp was founded in 13/12 BC on the Kästrich hill, the associated vicus and canabae (civilian settlements) were erected towards the Rhine. Historical sources and archaeological findings both prove the importance of the military and civilian Mogontiacum as a port city on the Rhine.[Olaf Höckmann: Mainz als römische Hafenstadt. p. 87–106. in: Michael J. Klein (editor): Die Römer und ihr Erbe. Fortschritt durch Innovation und Integration. Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 2003, .]
Climate
Mainz experiences a
oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification:
Cfb). The city is one of the warmest of
Germany in
winter.
History
Roman Mogontiacum
The Roman stronghold or
castrum Mogontiacum, the precursor to Mainz, was founded by the Roman general Drusus perhaps as early as 13/12 BC. As related by
Suetonius the existence of
Mogontiacum is well established by four years later (the account of the death and funeral of Nero Claudius Drusus). (surrounded by the 17th-century citadel) raised by the troops of Nero Claudius Drusus to commemorate him]]
Mogontiacum was an important military town throughout Roman times, probably due to its strategic position at the confluence of the Main and the Rhine.
Alemanni forces under Rando sacked the city in 368. From the last day of 405[Michael Kulikowski, "Barbarians in Gaul, Usurpers in Britain" Britannia 31 (2000:325–345).] or 406, the Siling and Asding Vandals, the Suebi, the Alans, and other Germanic tribes crossed the Rhine, possibly at Mainz. Christian chronicles relate that the bishop, Aureus, was put to death by the Alemannian Crocus.
Throughout the changes of time, the Roman castrum never seems to have been permanently abandoned as a military installation, which is a testimony to Roman military judgement. Different structures were built there at different times. The current citadel originated in 1660, but it replaced previous forts. It was used in World War II. One of the sights at the citadel is still the cenotaph raised by legionaries to commemorate their general, Drusus.
Frankish Mainz
In the 4th century, Alemans repeatedly invaded the neighborhood of Mogontiacum.
In 357, the city was liberated by the Emperor Julian.
The last emperor to station troops serving the western empire at Mainz was
Valentinian III (reigned 425–455), who relied heavily on his
Magister militum per Gallias, Flavius Aëtius. In 451,
Attila's
Huns sacked the city.
The
Franks from the middle and upper Rhine area took Mainz shortly before 460.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, the
Franks under the rule of
Clovis I gained control over western Europe by the year 496.
Clovis, son of
Childeric I, became king of the Salians in 481, ruling from
Tournai.
He converted from paganism to
Catholic Church.
( 500–547 or 548) had installed
as bishop of Mainz.
(605/603–639) reinforced the walls of Mainz.
Charlemagne (768–814), through a succession of wars against other tribes, built a vast Frankish empire in Europe. Mainz from its central location became important to the empire and to Christianity.
Christian Mainz
In the early
Middle Ages, Mainz played a significant role in the
Christianisation of the German and
Slavic peoples. The first archbishop in Mainz,
Boniface, was killed in 754 while attempting to convert the
Frisians to Christianity and is buried in
Fulda.
The
archbishopric of Mainz was established in 781 when Boniface's successor
Lullus was granted the pallium by Pope Adrian I.
Throughout history, the Archbishops of Mainz held high positions, including serving as archchancellors of the Holy Roman Empire. Notably, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Mainz is unique as it is the only diocese in the world with an episcopal see called a
Holy See (sancta sedes).
Ibrahim ibn Yaqub, a 10th-century Hispano-Arabic, Sephardic Jews traveler, writes the following about the city:
In 1244, Archbishop Siegfried III granted Mainz a city charter, allowing the citizens to establish and elect a city council.
Early Jewish community
The Jewish community of Mainz dates back to the 10th century CE. It is noted for its religious education. Rabbi Gershom ben Judah (960–1040) taught there, among others.
He concentrated on the study of the
Talmud, creating a German Jewish tradition. Mainz is also the legendary home of the martyred Rabbi Amnon of Mainz, that the composition of the
Unetanneh Tokef prayer is attributed to him.
From the late 12th century rabbis met in synods.
The city of Mainz responded to the Jewish population in a variety of ways, behaving in a capricious manner towards them. Sometimes they were allowed freedom and were protected; at other times, they were persecuted. Jews were attacked in the Rhineland massacres of 1096 and by mobs in 1283.
Outside of the medieval city centre, there is a Jewish cemetery, with over 1500 headstones dating from the 11th through the 19th centuries.
Republic of Mainz
During the French Revolution, the French Revolutionary army occupied Mainz in 1792; the Archbishop-elector of Mainz, Friedrich Karl Josef von Erthal, had already fled to
Aschaffenburg by the time the French marched in. On 18 March 1793, the
Jacobin Club of Mainz, with other German democrats from about 130 towns in the Rhenish Palatinate, proclaimed the 'Republic of Mainz'. Led by
Georg Forster, representatives of the Mainz Republic in Paris requested political affiliation of the Mainz Republic with France, but too late:
Prussia was not entirely happy with the idea of a democratic free state on German soil (although the French dominated Mainz was neither free nor democratic). Prussian troops had already occupied the area and besieged Mainz by the end of March 1793. After a siege of 18 weeks, the French troops in Mainz surrendered on 23 July 1793; Prussians occupied the city and ended the Republic of Mainz. It came to the Battle of Mainz in 1795 between Austria and France. Members of the Mainz Jacobin Club were mistreated or imprisoned and punished for treason.
In 1797, the French returned. The army of Napoleon Bonaparte occupied the German territory to the west of the
Rhine, and the Treaty of Campo Formio awarded France this entire area, initially as the Cisrhenian Republic. On 17 February 1800, the French
Mont-Tonnerre was founded here, with Mainz as its capital, the Rhine being the new eastern frontier of la Grande Nation. Austria and Prussia could not but approve this new border with France in 1801. However, after several defeats in Europe during the War of the Sixth Coalition, the weakened Napoleon and his troops had to leave Mainz in May 1814.
Rhenish Hesse
In 1816, the part of the former French Département which is known today as
Rhenish Hesse () was awarded to the Hesse-Darmstadt, Mainz being the capital of the new
Hesse province of Rhenish Hesse. From 1816 to 1866, a part of the German Confederation, Mainz was the most important fortress in the defence against France, and had a strong garrison of
Austrian Empire, Prussian and Bavarian troops.
On the afternoon of 18 November 1857, a huge explosion rocked Mainz when the city's powder magazine, the Pulverturm, exploded. Approximately 150 people were killed and at least 500 injured; 57 buildings were destroyed and a similar number severely damaged in what was to be known as the Powder Tower Explosion or Powder Explosion.
During the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, Mainz was declared a neutral zone.
Industrial expansion
For centuries the inhabitants of the
Fortress Mainz had suffered from a severe shortage of space which led to disease and other inconveniences. In 1872 Mayor
Carl Wallau and the council of Mainz persuaded the military government to sign a contract to expand the city. Beginning in 1874, the city of Mainz assimilated the
Gartenfeld, an idyllic area of meadows and fields along the banks of the
Rhine to the north of the rampart.
The city expansion more than doubled the urban area which allowed Mainz to participate in the Industrial Revolution which had previously avoided the city for decades.
was the man who made this happen.
Kreyßig constructed a number of state-of-the-art public buildings, including the Mainz town hall – which was the largest of its kind in Germany at that time – as well a synagogue,
20th century
During the German Revolution of 1918 the Mainz Workers' and Soldiers' Council was formed which ran the city from 9 November until the arrival of French troops under the terms of the occupation of the Rhineland agreed in the
Armistice. The French occupation was confirmed by the Treaty of Versailles which went into effect 28 June 1919. The
Rhineland (in which Mainz is located) was to be a demilitarized zone until 1935 and the French garrison, representing the
Triple Entente, was to stay until reparations were paid.
In 1923 Mainz participated in the Rhineland separatist movement that proclaimed a Rhenish Republic.
In March 1933, a detachment from the National Socialist Party in Worms brought the party to Mainz. They hoisted the swastika on all public buildings and began to denounce the Jewish population in the newspapers. In 1936, the Nazis remilitarized the Rhineland with great fanfare, the first move of Nazi Germany's meteoric expansion. The former Triple Entente took no action.
During World War II the citadel at Mainz hosted the Oflag XII-B prisoner of war camp.
During World War II, several air raids destroyed about 80 per cent of the city's centre, including most of the historic buildings.[Stanton, Shelby, World War II Order of Battle: An Encyclopedic Reference to U.S. Army Ground Forces from Battalion through Division, 1939–1946, Stackpole Books (Revised Edition 2006), p. 164]
From 1945 to 1949, the city was part of the French zone of occupation. When the state of Rhineland-Palatinate was founded on 30 August 1946 by the commander of the French army on the French occupation zone Marie Pierre Kœnig, Mainz became the capital of the new state.[ original text of Kœnig's order No. 57 ; as can be found on Landeshauptarchiv Rheinland-Pfalz (main-archive of Rhineland-Palatinate) ] In 1962, the diarist, Friedrich Kellner, returned to spend his last years in Mainz. His life in Mainz, and the impact of his My Opposition, is the subject of the Canadian documentary .
Following the withdrawal of French forces from Mainz, the United States Army Europe occupied the military bases in Mainz.
Recent history
Nowadays the Jewish community is growing rapidly, and a new synagogue by the architect
Manuel Herz was constructed in 2010 on the site of the one destroyed by the Nazis on
Kristallnacht in 1938.
, the Jewish community Mainz has 985 members.
Today the United States Army Europe and Africa only occupies McCulley Barracks in Wackernheim and the Mainz Sand Dunes as training areas. Mainz is home to the headquarters of the Bundeswehrs and other units.
Cityscape
Architecture
The destruction caused by the Bombing of Mainz in World War II led to the most intense phase of building in the history of the town. During the last war in Germany, more than 30 air raids destroyed about 80 per cent of the city's centre, including most of the historic buildings.
The attack on the afternoon of 27 February 1945 remains the most destructive of all 33 bombings that Mainz has suffered in World War II in the collective memory of most of the population living then. This air raid made an already hard-hit city even more levelled.
[For an aerial view of the total destruction from the repeated US & RAF bombing raids on the city by photographer Margaret Bourke-White, see ][For an aerial view of bomb-damaged theater, St. Quintins church, St. Johannis church and old university after an Allied air attack, see ][ Aerial view of Mainz-Neustadt and the port of Mainz for Life magazine]
Nevertheless, the post-war reconstruction took place very slowly. While cities such as Frankfurt had been rebuilt fast by a central authority, only individual efforts were initially successful in rebuilding Mainz. The reason for this was that the French wanted Mainz to expand and become a model city. Mainz lay within the French-controlled sector of Germany and it was a French architect and town-planner,
Marcel Lods, who produced a Le Corbusier-style plan of an ideal architecture.
[Eric Paul Mumford: CIAM Discourse on Urbanism 1928–1960 p. 159][Jeffry M. Diefendorf: In the Wake of War: The Reconstruction of German Cities After World War 2 p. 357][See the plan for the reconstruction of the German city of Mainz by Marcel Lods, 1947, in ] But the first interest of the inhabitants was the restoration of housing areas. Even after the failure of the model city plans it was the initiative of the French (founding of the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, elevation of Mainz to the state capital of Rhineland-Palatinate, the early resumption of the
Mainz carnival) driving the city in a positive development after the war. The City Plan of 1958 by
Ernst May allowed a regulated reconstruction for the first time. In 1950, the seat of the government of Rhineland-Palatinate had been transferred to the new Mainz and in 1963 the seat of the new ZDF, notable architects were Adolf Bayer, Richard Jörg and Egon Hartmann. At the time of the two-thousand-years-anniversary in 1962 the city was largely reconstructed. During the 1950s and 1960s, the Oberstadt had been extended, Münchfeld and Lerchenberg added as suburbs, the Altstadttangente (intersection of the old town), new neighbourhoods as Westring and Südring contributed to the extension. By 1970 there remained only a few ruins. The new town hall of Mainz had been designed by
Arne Jacobsen and finished by Dissing+Weitling.
The town used Jacobsens activity for the Danish
Novo Nordisk company
erecting a new office and warehouse building to contact him. The
urban renewal of the old town changed the inner city. In the framework of the preparation of the cathedrals millennium,
were developed around the cathedral, in northern direction to the Neubrunnenplatz and in a southern direction across the Leichhof to the Augustinerstraße and Kirschgarten. The 1980s brought the renewal of the façades on the Markt and a new inner-city neighbourhood on the Kästrich. During the 1990s the Kisselberg
and the "Fort Malakoff Center" at the site of the old police barracks
were built.
Main sights
-
Romano-Germanic Central Museum ( Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum). It is home to Roman, Medieval, and earlier artifacts.
-
Museum of Ancient Seafaring ( Museum für Antike Schifffahrt). It houses the remains of five Roman boats from the late 4th century, discovered in the 1980s.
-
Roman remains, including Jupiter's column, Drusus' mausoleum, the ruins of the theatre and the aqueduct.
-
Mainz Cathedral ( Mainzer Dom), over 1,000 years old.
-
St. John's Church, 7th-century church building
-
Staatstheater Mainz
-
The Iron Tower ( Eisenturm, tower at the former iron market), a 13th-century gate-tower.
-
The Wood Tower ( Holzturm, tower at the former wood market), a 15th-century gate tower.
-
The Gutenberg Museum – exhibits an original Gutenberg Bible amongst many other printed books from the 15th century and later.
-
The Mainz Old Town – the half south of the cathedral survived World War II.
-
The old arsenal, the central arsenal of the fortress Mainz during the 17th and 18th century
-
The Electoral Palace ( Kurfürstliches Schloss), residence of the prince-elector.
-
The Marktbrunnen, one of the largest Renaissance fountains in Germany.
-
Domus Universitatis (1615), for centuries the tallest edifice in Mainz.
-
Christ Church ( Christuskirche), built 1898–1903, bombed in 1945 and rebuilt in 1948–1954.
-
The Church of St. Stephan, with post-war windows by Marc Chagall.
-
Zitadelle Mainz.
-
The ruins of the church St. Christoph, a World War II memorial
-
Schönborner Hof (1668).
-
Rococo churches of St. Augustin (the Augustinerkirche, Mainz) and St. Peter (the Peterskirche, Mainz).
-
Churches of St. Ignatius (1763) and St. Quintin.
-
Erthaler Hof (1743)
-
The Baroque Bassenheimer Hof (1750)
-
The Botanischer Garten der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, a botanical garden maintained by the university
-
Landesmuseum Mainz, state museum with archaeology and art.
-
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF) – one of the largest public German TV-Broadcaster.
-
New synagogue in Mainz
-
Hauptfriedhof Mainz
-
Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz ( Judensand) – ShUM-cities of Mainz, UNESCO World Heritage Site
-
Kunsthalle Mainz – museum for contemporary art
-
Humbrechthof, later called Schöfferhof, the building in which Johannes Gutenberg developed his technique of printing
Administration
The city of Mainz is divided into 15 local districts according to the main statute of the city of Mainz. Each local district has a district administration of 13 members and a directly elected mayor, who is the chairman of the district administration. This local council decides on important issues affecting the local area, however, the final decision on new policies is made by Mainz's municipal council.
In accordance with section 29 paragraph 2 Local Government Act of Rhineland-Palatinate, which refers to municipalities of more than 150,000 inhabitants, the city council has 60 members.
Districts of the town are:
Until 1945, the districts of Bischofsheim (now an independent town), Ginsheim-Gustavsburg (which together are an independent town) belonged to Mainz. The former districts Amöneburg, Mainz-Kastel, and Mainz-Kostheim – (in short, AKK) are now administered by the city of Wiesbaden (on the north bank of the river). The AKK was separated from Mainz when the Rhine was designated the boundary between the French occupation zone (the later state of Rhineland-Palatinate) and the U.S. occupation zone (Hesse) in 1945.
Coat of arms
The coat of arms of Mainz is derived from the coat of arms of the Archbishops of Mainz and features two six-spoked silver wheels connected by a silver cross on a red background.
Population
Mainz has a population of about 220,000 and is the largest city in Rhineland-Palatinate. Mainz passed 100,000 in 1908. In 1945, After WWII, right side of the
Rhine river, which were a part of Mainz, became a part of
Wiesbaden and other part of
Hesse due to its occupation zone where Mainz and Rhineland-Palatinate were French occupation zone and Wiesbaden and Hesse were American occupation zone where both cities became its state capital in 1946. Mainz lost 21.1% of population at this time. Mainz and Wiesbaden has rivalries who the better city on the Rhine river are even today. Mainz became an attractive city, especially for young people due to its radio and television broadcasters, Universities and good workplaces. Mainz's population grow normally and Mainz passed 200,000 in 2011.
Foreign populations
The following list shows the largest foreign populations in Mainz :
|
|
| 5,424 |
| 3,875 |
| 3,300 |
| 2,739 |
| 2,587 |
| 2,126 |
| 1,920 |
| 1,790 |
| 1,612 |
| 1,325 |
| 1,106 |
| 942 |
Politics
Mayor
The mayor of Mainz was Michael Ebling of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) until he was promoted State Minister of the Interior in the government of Rhineland-Palatinate in October 2022. The new mayoral election was held on 12 February 2023, with a runoff after
Mainz carnival. The final election took place 5 March 2023. The new elected mayor is Nino Haase, independent.
Election 2019 of the council:
! rowspan=2 colspan=2| Candidate
! rowspan=2| Party
! colspan=2| First round
! colspan=2| Second round
|-
! Votes
! %
! Votes
! %
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| Michael Ebling
| align=left| Social Democratic Party
| 30,278
| 41.0
| 35,752
| 55.2
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| Nino Haase
| align=left| Independent (CDU, ÖDP, Free Voters)
| 23,968
| 32.4
| 29,029
| 44.8
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| Tabea Rößner
| align=left| Alliance 90/The Greens
| 16,621
| 22.5
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| Martin Malcherek
| align=left| The Left
| 2,063
| 2.8
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| Martin Ehrhardt
| align=left| Die PARTEI
| 999
| 1.4
|-
! colspan=3| Valid votes
! 73,929
! 99.6
! 64,781
! 99.4
|-
! colspan=3| Invalid votes
! 289
! 0.4
! 372
! 0.6
|-
! colspan=3| Total
! 74,218
! 100.0
! 65,153
! 100.0
|-
! colspan=3| Electorate/voter turnout
! 161,967
! 45.8
! 162,030
! 40.2
|-
| colspan=7| Source: City of Mainz ( 1st round, 2nd round)
|}
City council
The Mainz city council governs the city alongside the Mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 26 May 2019, and the results were as follows:
! colspan=2| Party
! Votes
! %
! +/-
! Seats
! +/-
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)
| 1,582,459
| 27.7
| 7.5
| 17
| 5
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
| 1,339,561
| 23.5
| 6.9
| 14
| 4
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| Social Democratic Party (SPD)
| 1,151,572
| 20.2
| 7.2
| 12
| 5
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| Free Democratic Party (FDP)
| 340,501
| 6.0
| 0.9
| 4
| 1
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| The Left (Die Linke)
| 335,459
| 5.9
| 1.3
| 4
| 1
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| Alternative for Germany (AfD)
| 302,604
| 5.3
| 2.3
| 3
| 1
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP)
| 238,727
| 4.2
| 0.2
| 2
| ±0
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| Die PARTEI
| 127,581
| 2.2
| New
| 1
| New
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| Free Voters (FW)
| 108,701
| 1.9
| 0.9
| 1
| ±0
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| Pirate Party (Piraten)
| 78,595
| 1.4
| 0.4
| 1
| ±0
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| Volt Germany (Volt)
| 67,376
| 1.2
| New
| 1
| New
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| Alliance for Innovation and Justice (BIG)
| 31,419
| 0.6
| 0.1
| 0
| ±0
|-
! colspan=2| Total votes
! 5,704,555
! 100.0
!
!
!
|-
! colspan=2| Total ballots
! 100,522
! 100.0
!
! 60
! ±0
|-
! colspan=2| Electorate/voter turnout
! 162,321
! 61.9
! 11.0
!
!
|-
| colspan=7| Source: City of Mainz
|}
Culture
Mainz is home to a
Carnival, the
Mainzer Fassenacht or
Fastnacht, which has developed since the early 19th century. Carnival in Mainz has its roots in the criticism of social and political injustices under the shelter of cap and bells. Today, the uniforms of many traditional Carnival clubs still imitate and caricature the uniforms of the French and Prussian troops of the past. The height of the carnival season is on
Rosenmontag ("rose Monday"), when there is a large parade in Mainz, with more than 500,000 people celebrating in the streets.
The first-ever Katholikentag, a festival-like gathering of German Catholics, was held in Mainz in 1848.
Johannes Gutenberg, credited with the invention of the printing press, was born here and died here.
Mainz was one of three important centres of Jewish theology and learning in Central Europe during the Middle Ages. Known collectively as Shum, the cities of Speyer, Worms and Mainz played a key role in the preservation and propagation of Talmudic scholarship.
The city is the seat of Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (literally, "Second German Television", ZDF), one of two federal nationwide TV broadcasters. There are also a couple of radio stations based in Mainz. The Mainzer Stadtschreiber (City clerk in Mainz) is an annual German literature award.
Other cultural aspects of the city include:
-
As city in the Greater Region, Mainz participated in the program of the year of European Capital of Culture 2007.
-
The Walk of Fame of Cabaret may be found nearby the Schillerplatz.
-
The music publisher Schott Music is located in Mainz.
-
One of the oldest brass instrument manufacturers in the world, Gebr. Alexander is located in Mainz.
-
Fans of Gospel music enjoy the yearly performances of Colours of Gospel.
-
Every one or two years a festival for improvised music between jazz, avant-garde and rock with a line-up of international renowned musicians takes place, the Akut-Festival.
-
Mainz is sometimes considered to be the birthplace of Spundekäs, a type of cheese that has remained popular in the region
Education
-
University of Mainz
-
University of Applied Sciences Mainz
-
Catholic University of Applied Sciences Mainz
Sports
The local football club 1. FSV Mainz 05 has a long history in the German football leagues. Since 2004 it has competed in the
Bundesliga (First German soccer league) except a break in second level in 2007–08 season. Mainz is closely associated with renowned coach Jürgen Klopp, who spent the vast majority of his playing career at the club and was also the manager for seven years, leading the club to Bundesliga football for the first time. After leaving Mainz Klopp went on to win two Bundesliga titles and reaching a Champions League final with Borussia Dortmund. In the summer of 2011, the club opened its new stadium called
Coface Arena, which was later renamed Opel Arena. Further relevant football clubs are TSV Schott Mainz,
,
Fontana Finthen,
FC Fortuna Mombach
and FVgg Mombach 03.
The local wrestling club ASV Mainz 1888 is currently in the top division of team wrestling in Germany, the Bundesliga. In 1973, 1977, 2012 and 2023 the ASV Mainz 1888 won the German championship.
In 2007 the Mainz Athletics won the German Men's Championship in baseball.
As a result of the 2008 invasion of Georgia by Russian troops, Mainz acted as a neutral venue for the Georgian Vs Republic of Ireland football game.
The biggest basketball club in the city is the ASC Theresianum Mainz. Its men's team is playing in the Regionalliga and its women's team is playing in the 2.DBBL.
USC Mainz
Universitäts-Sportclub Mainz (University Sports Club Mainz) is a German sports club based in Mainz (Germany). It was founded on 9 September 1959
by Berno Wischmann primarily for students of the University of Mainz. It is considered one of the most powerful Athletics Sports clubs in Germany. 50 athletes of USC have distinguished themselves in a half-century in club history at Olympic Games, World and European Championships. In particular in the decathlon dominated USC athletes for decades: Already at the European Championships in Budapest in 1966, Mainz won three (Werner von Moltke, Jörg Mattheis and Horst Beyer) all decathlon medals. In the all-time list of the USC, there are nine athletes who have achieved more than 8,000 points – at the head of Siegfried Wentz (8762 points in 1983) and Guido Kratschmer (1980 world record with 8667 points). The most successful athlete of the association is more fighter, sprinter and long jumper Ingrid Becker (Olympic champion in 1968 in the pentathlon and Olympic champion in 1972 in the 4 × 100 Metres Relay and European champion in 1971 in the long jump). The most famous athletes of the present are the sprinter Marion Wagner (world champion in 2001 in the 4 × 100 Metres Relay) and the pole vaulters Carolin Hingst (Eighth of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing) and Anna Battke.
Three world titles adorn the balance of USC Mainz. For the discus thrower, Lars Riedel attended (1991 and 1993) and the already mentioned sprinter Marion Wagner (2001). Added to 5 titles at the European Championships, a total of 65 international medals and 260 victories at the German Athletics Championships.[Peter H. Eisenhuth in der Mainzer Rhein-Zeitung 9 September 2009.]
The players of USC's basketball section played from the season 1968/69 to the season 1974/75 in the National Basketball League (BBL) of the German Basketball Federation (DBB). As a finalist to winning the DBB Cup in 1971 USC Mainz played in the 1971–72 FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup against the Italian Cup winners of Fides Napoli.
Mainz Athletics
The
Baseball and Softball Club Mainz Athletics is a German baseball and softball club located in the city of Mainz in Rhineland-Palatinate. The Athletics is one of the largest clubs in the Baseball-Bundesliga Süd in terms of membership, claiming to have hundreds of active players. The club has played in the Baseball-Bundesliga for more than two decades and has won the German Championship in 2007 and 2016.
Economy
Mainz is one of the top three 'European Rising Innovative Cities 2022' and was awarded second place in the 'European Rising Innovative City 2022' category. In the Future Map 2025, published by
Handelsblatt, the city of Mainz was ranked seventh out of 400 German districts and independent cities, making it one of the places with 'high future opportunities'.
Wine centre
Mainz is documented to be a wine-growing region since
Saint Boniface acquired a vineyard bordering the city wall and further vine plantations in Bretzenheim in 752
[Michael Matheus: 'The Wine City of Mainz' In: Hedwig Brüchert, Ute Engelen (editor Mainz 2019, p. 13–20.): Mainz and Wine. History of a Close Relationship] and is one of the centres of the
German wine industry.
Since 2008, the city is a member of the Great Wine Capitals Global Network (GWC), an association of well-known wineculture-cities of the world.
Many wine traders work in the city. The
sparkling wine producer Kupferberg produced in Mainz-Hechtsheim and
Henkell – now located on the other side of the river Rhine – were once founded in Mainz. The famous
Blue Nun, one of the first branded wines, was marketed by the Sichel family. The
Haus des Deutschen Weines (House of German Wine), is located in the city. The Mainzer Weinmarkt (wine market) is one of the great wine fairs in Germany.
Other industries
The
Schott AG, one of the world's largest glass manufacturers,
as well as the Werner & Mertz, a large chemical factory,
are based in Mainz. Other companies such as
IBM, QUINN Plastics, or
Novo Nordisk have their German administration in Mainz as well.
BioNTech, a
biotechnology company developing
Immunotherapy including a vaccine against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was founded in 2008 in Mainz by scientists Uğur Şahin, and Özlem Türeci, with the Austrian oncologist Christoph Huber.
, founder of France's famous Champagne Krug champagne house in 1843, was born in Mainz in 1800.
Transport
Mainz is a major transport hub in southern Germany. It is an important component in European distribution, as it has the fifth largest inter-modal port in Germany. The Port of Mainz, now handling mainly containers, is a sizable industrial area to the north of the city, along the banks of the Rhine. In order to open up space along the city's riverfront for residential development, it was shifted further northwards in 2010.
Rail
Mainz Central Station or
Mainz Hauptbahnhof, is frequented by 80,000 travelers and visitors each day and is therefore one of the busiest 21 stations in Germany. It is a stop for the S-Bahn line S8 of the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund. Additionally, the
Mainbahn line to Frankfurt Hbf starts at the station. It is served by 440 daily local and regional trains (
StadtExpress,
RegionalExpress and
Regionalbahn) and 78 long-distance trains (
InterCity,
EuroCity and
InterCityExpress). Intercity-Express lines connect Mainz with Frankfurt (Main),
Karlsruhe Hbf, Worms Hauptbahnhof and Koblenz Hauptbahnhof. It is a terminus of the West Rhine Railway and the Mainz–Ludwigshafen railway, as well as the Alzey–Mainz Railway erected by the Hessische Ludwigsbahn in 1871. Access to the East Rhine Railway is provided by the Kaiserbrücke, a railway bridge across the Rhine at the north end of Mainz.
Public transportation
The Mainz Central Station is an interchange point for the Mainz tramway network, and an important bus junction for the city and region (RNN, ORN and MVG).
Cycling
Mainz offers a wide array of bicycle transportation facilities and events, including several miles of on-street bike lanes. The Rheinradweg (Rhine Cycle Route) is an international cycle route, running from the source to the mouth of the Rhine, traversing four countries at a distance of . Another cycling tour runs towards Bingen and further to the
Middle Rhine, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (2002).
Air transportation
Mainz is served by Frankfurt Airport, the busiest airport by passenger traffic in Germany by far, the third busiest in Europe and the ninth busiest worldwide in 2009. Located about east of Mainz, it is connected to the city by an S-Bahn line.
The small Mainz Finthen Airport, located just southwest of Mainz, is used by general aviation only. Another airport, Frankfurt-Hahn Airport located about west of Mainz, is served by a few .
Notable people
-
List of people from Mainz
-
Archbishops of Mainz
-
List of mayors of Mainz
Twin towns – sister cities
Mainz is
Sister city with:
-
Watford, United Kingdom (1956)
-
Dijon, France (1957)
-
Zagreb, Croatia (1967)
-
Valencia, Spain (1978)
-
Haifa, Israel (1981)
-
Erfurt, Germany (1988)
-
Louisville, United States (1994)
-
Longchamp, France (1966, with Mainz-Laubenheim)
-
Rodeneck, Italy (1977, with Mainz-Finthen)
Mainz has friendly relations with:
See also
-
Johann Fust
-
Johannes Gutenberg
-
Peter Schöffer, apprentice of Gutenberg and early printer
Notes
Sources
Further reading
-
Hope, Valerie. Constructing Identity: The Roman Funerary Monuments of Aquelia, Mainz and Nîmes; British Archaeological Reports (16 July 2001)
-
Imhof, Michael and Simone Kestin: Mainz City and Cathedral Guide. Petersberg: Michael Imhof Verlag, 2004.
-
Mainz ("Vierteljahreshefte für Kultur, Politik, Wirtschaft, Geschichte"), since 1981
-
Saddington, Denis. The stationing of auxiliary regiments in Germania Superior in the Julio-Claudian period
-
Stanton, Shelby, World War II Order of Battle: An Encyclopedic Reference to U.S. Army Ground Forces from Battalion through Division, 1939–1946 (Revised Edition, 2006), Stackpole Books
External links
