Mainz, Germany

Mainz is a city founded by the Romans over 2000 years old. It is the capital and with over 200,000 inhabitants the largest city in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. In her walls she houses the Johannes Gutenberg University and the Roman Catholic diocese of Mainz. It is one of the three strongholds of the Rheinische Carnival. Large festivals are also celebrated in summer. In contrast to the neighboring Wiesbadeners, the city and its residents also seem a bit provincial, here is enjoyed life here. The Rheinhessian wine and the mild climate ensure the relaxed atmosphere. With the State Theater, many museums and private stages, Mainz is rich in culture and sights.

Opposite the mouth of the Main on the Rhine, Mainz together with the neighboring Wiesbaden forms a double center with around 480,000 inhabitants. The large cities of Frankfurt am Main, Darmstadt, Ludwigshafen am Rhein and Mannheim are in the nearby area. The city is embedded in the vineyards of Rheinhessen and Rheingau, the narrow Middle Rhine Valley with its many castles begins at Bingen.

The Legion camp Mogontiacum was 13 BC BC from the Roman general Drusus on a hill, today's kit, built above the old town. The opposite main in the meandering Rhine was dulled and was only drained by the Romans.

Mainz experienced a lot in its history. In the Middle Ages one of the seven electors and the Chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, later fortress of the German Confederation, occupied by the French for a long time and under Napoleon as the capital of a French department, part of France, from the German troops to liberate Napoleon Destroyed in Mainz in 1945, 80% of the city area were placed in ruins by British bombers, while the neighboring town of Wiesbaden was largely spared by the bombs.

Mainz has been the state capital of Rhineland-Palatinate since 1950. With the incorporations of the 1970s, numerous still largely rural villagers were added to the Mainz city area.

The separated districts
Historically, Mainz had six further districts on the right bank of the Rhine. The districts of Amöneburg, Kastel and Kostheim, which have been part of the city of Mainz since 1908, are particularly well known. On July 25, 1945, they were followed by the borders of the occupation zones after the Second World War (Kastel was in the American, Mainz in the French occupation zone), under the order of the American occupying powers of the “faithful administration” by the city of Wiesbaden. Since then, the three “AKK” suburbs have been part of the Hessian capital. So it happens that there is a town sign in the middle of the Rhine bridge: "Mainz Kastel - Stadt Wiesbaden".

From the Kasteler bank of the former Mainz district, you can look directly at the Mainz town hall and the Mainz Cathedral. Mainz and Rhineland-Palatinate also feel more cultural, in which companies were not the Hessian, but the Rhineland-Palatinate holiday regulation.

The other Mainz districts of Ginsheim, Gustavsburg and Bischofsheim, which were only incorporated in 1930, today form independent communities in the state of Hesse (Ginsheim-Gustavsburg and Bischofsheim). The train stations are still called "Mainz-Bischofsheim" and "Mainz-Gustavsburg" today.

 

Getting here

By plane
Frankfurt am Main Airport
IC/ICE: Between Mainz Hbf and Airport long-distance station hour, travel time 20 minutes
Regional express: between Mainz Hbf and Airport regional train station hourly, travel time 24 minutes.
Train:
With the S8 between Mainz Hbf and Mainz train station, Roman theater and airport regional train station half -hour, travel time 27 minutes.
With the S9 between Mainz-Kastel station and airport regional train station, 25 minutes travel time, travel time 25 minutes
Auto, Taxi: Via the Autobahn (A66 and A3 or A60, A67 and A3) 30km

Frankfurt-Hahn Airport
Bus connection: several times a day between Bahnhofsplatz Mainz and "Frankfurt"-Hahn airport, travel time 70 minutes.
ORN bus schedule Mainz-Hahn. Fixed price: € 16.
Car, taxi: 85 km via the motorway (A60, A61 and B50).

By train
The main station is located on the IC long-distance route Cologne-Koblenz-Frankfurt Airport-Frankfurt Hbf and Mannheim. He is also served every 2 hours by the ICE route Wiesbaden-Frankfurt-Leipzig-Dresden. From Monday to Friday, a faster ICE drives to Cologne in the morning and in the afternoon via Limburg.
Regional express trains from Saarbrücken, Koblenz, Frankfurt and Karlsruhe also stop at Roman Theater Wikipediacommons (old town) at the Roman Theater station. Regional trains come from Idar-Oberstein, Koblenz, Wiesbaden, Darmstadt and Mannheim. The S8 S-Bahn line comes from Wiesbaden every half hour and drives to Offenbach via Frankfurt. Mainz is also connected to the Rhein-Neckar-S-Bahn.
At the end of the Rhine bridge, the Mainz-Kastel train station is located on which the S-Bahn lines S1, S9 and the RB10 regional train stop from Wiesbaden to Frankfurt. From here you can make a promising walk via the Theodor Heuss Bridge to the city center of Mainz; It is best to pass the Reduit on the Rhine on the Reduit and up the stairs to the bridge.

In the street
In Mainz, environmental zones were set up within the meaning of the fine dust regulation. Without the corresponding badge, you risk a fine of € 100 when entering an environmental zone. This also applies to foreign road users. Date of measure: 01.02.2013
Entry ban for vehicles of pollutant groups 1+2+3 (Info Federal Environment Agency)

Mainz is surrounded by a closed motorway ring with two motorway bridges over the Rhine, a motorway bridge over the Main and a motorway tunnel near Mainz-Hechtsheim. This Mainz ring is made up of the following sections:

A60 from Mainspitzdreieck to the Mainz triangle
A643 from Dreieck Mainz to Wiesbaden Äppelallee.
A66 from Wiesbaden Äppelallee to Wiesbaden Mainzer Strasse
A671 from Wiesbaden Mainzer Straße to the Mainspitzdreieck.
Motorways from the northwest:
A61 (left bank of the Rhine from Cologne and Koblenz), from Bingen A60
A3 (right bank of the Rhine from Cologne and Limburg), from Wiesbadener Kreuz A66, from exit Wiesbaden-Erbenheim B455 and on the 2nd roundabout over the Rheinbrücke.

from the north:
A5 (from the direction of Kassel), from Northwest Cross Frankfurt/M A66

from the east:
A66 (from Fulda), switch to B43a and A3 in front of Hanau.
A3 (from Nuremberg), from Mönchhofdreieck A67 and A60

from the south:
A5 (from the direction of Basel), from Darmstädter Kreuz A67 and A60
A67 (from Mannheim), from Rüsselsheimer Dreieck A60
A61 (from the direction of Speyer), from Alzeyer Kreuz A63

from the southwest
A6 (from Saarbrücken), from Kaiserslautern A63. The A63 leads from Kaiserslautern to downtown Mainz.

In addition, Mainz is connected to the federal roads 9 and 40, as well as in Mainz-Kastel and Mainz-Kostheim to the federal roads 42, 43 and 455.

By bus
Mainz has a good bus connection to Luxembourg and other cities in Rhineland-Palatinate, e.g. B. Luxembourg (from € 16.10), Trier (from € 9.00), Kaiserslautern (from € 6.00) (Flixbus).

By boat
Mainz is a laying station of the large excursion and cabin ships on the Rhine. The timetable of the Cologne-Düsseldorf Rhine shipping is possible here (InfoTefon +49 (0) 221 2088318).

The Primus line offers further excursions, also on the Main towards Frankfurt (info telephone +49 (0) 69 1338370).

Anyone who has never done a steamer through the Middle Rhine Valley has not seen Germany.

By bicycle
Cycling routes lead through Mainz:
Rhine cycle path left Rhine. While the bike path leads along Worms on the Rhine, you can see it in the direction of Bingen. It is advisable to translate in Bingen by ferry to Rüdesheim and drive over the Theodor-Heuss Bridge in Mainz.
Hiwwel route over Central Station Cross and across Rheinhessen.

Cycling routes pass by Hesse past Mainz:
Rhein-Radweg right Rhine, approach from Mainz-Gustavsburg via the railway bridge or from Mainz-Kastel via the Theodor-Heuss-Bridge. Leads on on the banks of the Rhine to Eltville on the Rhine. Detour at Biebricher Castle to the Wiesbaden city center.
Hessischer Rad-Nernweg R6 past the eastern edge of Wiesbaden to the Main Bridge in Mainz-Kostheim and Mainz-Gustavsburg
Hessischer Rad-Nonsense R3 is identical to the Main cycle path in the Rheingau and the Rhine cycle path on the right bank of the Rhine. It runs largely along both rivers.
Main cycle path, from Frankfurt past the main mouth to Mainz-Kastel.

 

Transport

Bicycle
The traffic routing of the city of Mainz brings good chances of survival for cyclists everywhere, but from the city center it is connected to the upper town and some suburbs with medium gradients.

Two bike rental systems are active in Mainz. On the one hand, Deutsche Bahn with a station of her Call a bike system at the main train station. On the other hand, the municipal utility company with Meinrad, which maintains a dense network of approx. 200 rental stations and 1,200 bicycles. There are also stations in Mainz-Kastel and Mainz-Kostheim. Half an hour costs € 1.50.

The bicycle in the lanes and buses is free of charge, but only from 9 a.m. to Rheinhessen (RNN area).

Public transport
The backbone of local public transport is four tram and 25 bus lines of the Mainz transport company. At the weekend there are also some lines of the night, as well as the MVG Disco Express from the Euro Palace in Mainz-Kastel to the main train station. The S-Bahn line S8 between Frankfurt via Airport regional train station and Wiesbaden runs half-hour and every night every night.
The S-Bahn line S8 from Wiesbaden to Frankfurt and Hanau stops in Mainz-Nord, Central Station, Roman Theater and Mainz-Gustavsburg. The Mainz-Kastel train station is also conveniently located on the Reduit. From the Wiesbaden district of Mainz-Kastel (S1, S9, RB10) you walk over the Rheinbrücke and shortly afterwards is at the Electoral Castle and on the Rheingoldhalle, which is located near the city center.

Line network plan Mainz

The city of Mainz is connected to the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) and forms a tariff zone (price level 13, single trip: € 2.90, children (6-14 years): 1.70 €. The day ticket costs 5, 80 €, the group day card for up to 5 people: € 11.00. For trips south and west of Mainz, the RNN transition tariff can be selected at the machine. (Stand Sep. 2021 [1])

The Rhineland-Palatinate ticket at the machine also applies to all Wiesbaden buses and trains, the Saarland and both Rhine routes to Koblenz. The HessenTicket for up to 5 people (Mon-Fri from 9 a.m., Sat, so all day) applies to all bus and train lines in local transport, also for Mainz.

The district of Mainz-Bingen, which is located around Mainz, is part of the local local transport network (RNN). Between the two allies there are transitional tariffs that apply in all buses and trams as well as all local trains (RE, RB, S-Bahn). For trips beyond Bacharach into the Middle Rhine Valley, rail tickets must then be solved.

Automobile
The public parking space is fully managed in the entire inner city area. After 7 p.m., parking is only allowed for residents almost everywhere. If you want to visit the city center and especially the old town with your own car, you should adapt to the use of one of the numerous and well -signposted parking garages from the outset.

Attention: There are no signs in the parking decks of the Malakoff parking garage on the southern banks of the Rhine that refer to the exit. Instead, the signs with the inscription lead passage into the outside.
Attention: During the Fastnacht celebrations and the Johannis festival, mobility inside the city is severely restricted. Buses and trams are partly interrupted and redirected. On Rosenmontag, all of traffic is resting in the inner and old town. There is also no way through in many places for pedestrians, since the train runs can be crossed.

 

Sights

Guides

The golden Mainz and its sights: a tour of the city history from the beginning to the present day: Roman period, cathedral, old town and the modern city center. · Every Saturday, from May - October, Mo, Wed, Fri and so at 2 p.m. at the Touristik Centrale Mainz in the Brückenturm, at the pedestrian bridge between the shopping center "Am Brand" and the town hall. Adults: € 10, reduced € 8 (June 2022).

City walks with the Mainz Greeters: Under the motto "Come on as a guest, go as a friend", the Mainz Greeter offer free city tours. The guests get to know the city away from the usual paths from the perspective of locals. The Greeter are happy to authentically show the guests with all corners and edges. Personal stories and experiences or outdoor and leisure tips are also discussed. In the concrete consultation between the guest and Greeter, theme requests are taken into account, which thus make these walks into a personal and individual encounter with the city. In order to maintain individuality, the greets are only carried out in small groups of up to max. 6 people. The Mainz Greeter are a member of the International Greeter Association.

 

Church

Mainz cathedral. The buildings of St. Martin and St. Stephan began in 975 and completed in 1239. In the west wing of the cloister, which was completed around 1410, the episcopal cathedral and diocesan museum with a collection of sacred art from 15-18. Center. In addition to sculptural work, it contains parts of the cathedral treasure, ornaments and measuring sets, as well as books with valuable miniatures, manuscripts, copper engravings and paintings.
St. Stephan, Kleine Weißgasse 12. The oldest Gothic indoor church on the upper and Middle Rhine with a late Gothic cloister. The chagall windows in the choir and transverse house count on the conditions of the Bible on shining blue tones. The only stained glass in a German church.
St. Ignaz. (1763-74)
St. Quintin
Johanniskirche
Augustinian church, Augustinerstr. in the old City. . With baroque facade - also called seminar church.
Ruin of St. Christoph - war of war. War memorial for the victims and the destruction of the city in World War II.
Carmelite church. Around 1350-1400, Gothic basilica built on Rheinstrasse.
St. Peter. Parish church. Probably the most beautiful baroque church in Mainz, built in 1752-76, in the big bleach.
Christuskirche. Historizing style 1896-1903. Only Napoléon granted the 600 Protestants in Catholic Mainz to the full civil rights with the free practice of religion. The community, who has grown to 30,000 believers, built its new Protestant main church in the style of the Italian high Renaissance in the middle of double -run Kaiserstrasse. The dome is reminiscent of St. Peter in Rome. The church, which was completely burned down in World War II, was inaugurated again in 1954. The Bach Choir and the Mainz Bachorchestra are located in the Christ Church.
Church of the Resurrection
St. Franziskus, Mainz-Lerchenberg

 

Development of the city name

In the course of history, the name of the city has changed several times, and it has only been possible to speak of a binding spelling since the 18th century. The Roman name "Mogontiacum" can be derived from the Celtic deity Mogon (Mogont-i-acum = "Land of Mogon"). Mogontiacum was first mentioned in the historiography by the Roman historian Tacitus in his early 2nd century work Histories in connection with the Batavian revolt. Different spellings and abbreviations were already common at the time of Roman rule: "Moguntiacum" or shortened as "Moguntiaco" in the Tabula Peutingeriana.

In Middle Latin, the name was shortened from the 6th century and from then on "Moguntia" or "Magantia" was written and pronounced. In the 7th century the city name changed to "Mogancia", "Magancia urbis" or "Maguntia", in the 8th century to "Magontia". In the 11th century the name came back to "Moguntiacum" or "Moguntie". In general, the city name was often not influenced by actual language development, but by the prevailing "fashion" of pronunciation. The 12th century referred to the city as "Magonta", "Maguntia", "Magontie", and "Maguntiam". An Arabic world map from the same period calls it "maiansa". From 13./14. by the 15th century, the name changed from "Meginze" to "Menze", which is the name development in Latin sources. German-language sources speak of “Meynce” in 1315, “Meintz” in 1320, “Maentze” in 1322, “Meintze” in 1342, “Meintz” in 1357 and “Mayntz” in 1365. The surname “Mayntz”, which originated at that time, is still in use today in this spelling. Later they were also called Mainzer. The term Magenza also appears in Jewish literature of the Middle Ages.

In the 15th century the spelling “Maintz” appears for the first time. The spelling “Menze”, “Mentz (e)”, “Meintz” or “Meyntz” were more common at this time. The name forms with ai or ay prevailed since the 16th century and finally in the Baroque period. Since the 18th century there have hardly been any changes to the city name. An exception is the French form of the name Mayence during the French occupation in 1792/93 and when it belonged to France from 1798 to 1814.

There are two variants of the city name in the Mainz dialect, Meenz and Määnz, and the population has different opinions about their correctness. Studies have found that the spelling and pronunciation form Meenz (pronounced with a closed e-sound) is preferred in the old town, the other variant Määnz (with an open e-sound) is more used in the Neustadt, the suburbs and the surrounding area of ​​the Rhine-Hesse region. 

 

History

Territorial affiliation from Mainz
until 1244: Archbishop's city
1244 - 1462: Free city
1462 - 1792: Electorate Mainz
from October 1792 under French occupation
March - July 1793: Mainz Republic
July 1793 - December 1797: Electorate Mainz
December 1797 - 1804: First French Republic (from 1798 Donnersberg)
1804 - May 1814: French Empire (Donnersberg department)
May - June 1814: General Government Middle Rhine
June 1814-1816: Provisional Austrian-Prussian administration
1816 - 1918: Grand Duchy of Hesse
1919 - 1945: Volksstaat Hessen
Since 1946: Rhineland-Palatinate

History and Roman period
The urban area of today's Mainz was already a rest area for hunters at the last ice age 20,000 to 25,000 years ago, of which relics discovered in 1921 excavations.

However, the first permanent settings in the Mainz urban area are of Celtic origin. The Celts were in the second half of the first millennium BC. The dominant force on the Rhine. The Roman for their new legion camp away. For a long time it was assumed that this camp was around 38 BC. Was founded. However, recent research has shown that the establishment of the camp (and ultimately the city of Mainz) only later, namely around 13/12 BC. Chr. By Drusus, took place.

After the Mogontiacum double region was founded, the warehouse, which is located in the area of today's kit, was surrounded very quickly by individual settings (lat. Cannabae). The two legions needed craftsmen and traders to maintain their operational capacity. These settlements are the starting point of the urban development of Mainz. The city then belonged to the Empire Romanum for about 500 years and was the capital of the province of Germania Superior from around 89 AD and, from the 4th century, Germania great. In contrast to Cologne, the capital of the second Germanic province, Mogontiacum does not seem to have been raised to Colonia. The large Rhine bridge in particular made the place economically and strategically significant. The first city wall was created in the second half of the 3rd century. From the middle of the 4th century at the latest there was a Christian community under the direction of a bishop in the city. No Legion seems to have been stationed in Mainz for around 350.

Medieval bishop's city
Around 406 Mainz was conquered and looted by Vandalen, Alanen and Sueben. After the time of the so -called migration of peoples, in which Westrom fell, the city's rise gradually began, which finally reached Franconian rule by 480 at the latest. The function as a transshipment point for all kinds of commercial goods (later especially trade fair goods that were intended for Frankfurt) accelerated urban development. The space between the old Roman camp and the Rhine was particularly populated.

At the end of this development, it was an outstanding importance on cultural, religious and political level. From the middle of the 8th century, Archbishop Bonifatius actively did the Christianization of the East, especially the Saxons. 782 Mainz has been raised to the archbishopric. The church province subsequently developed into the largest beyond the Alps. In the 9th and 10th centuries, Mainz acquired the title Aurea Moguntia. The influence of the Archbishops of Mainz let them rise to Reichserzkanzlern, sovereigns of the Kurmainz territory and royal voters (Elector). Archbishop Willigis (975-1011) had the Mainz cathedral built as a sign of his power and was temporarily the determining man in the empire as the Reichsman. In the course of this rise of spiritual power in secular affairs, the city of Mainz had fallen under the control of its archbishop.

For the first time, the high Middle Ages brought special privileges for the citizens, which were awarded to them by Archbishop Adalbert I of Saarbrücken (1110–1137). Above all, they contained tax exemptions and the right to only have to answer to court within the city. After the murder of the Archbishop Arnold von Selenhofen in 1160, however, these privileges were reversed. In addition, the city walls were dragged on the command of Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa. Although drawn in this way, Mainz was soon again the center of Reich policy. Friedrich Barbarossa invited the elite of the empire to a court day on the occasion of the swords of his sons to Mainz, which is the greatest festival of the Middle Ages on the occasion of the swords of his sons. Already in 1188 he came to Mainz again to break up for the third crusade on the "Hoft Day of Jesus Christ". In addition to Speyer and Worms, Mainz was considered one of the Schum cities and the birthplace of Ashkenasian culture.

In 1212 Siegfried II of Eppstein crowned the Staufer committee Frederick II in the Mainz Cathedral to the king. Frederick II returned to Mainz in 1235 to hold a Reichstag there. On August 15, the “Mainzer Landfriede” was issued on this.

 

Free town

In the clashes between the Staufer and their opponents in the 1240s, the citizens of Mainz were reversed from both sides. The consequence of this policy was that the citizens as a prize for their support in 1244 by Archbishop Siegfried III. from Eppstein received a comprehensive city privilege. Afterwards, the archbishop was only formally head of the city, the self-government, jurisdiction and the decision-making power over new taxes passed to the citizens or the 24-member city council. In addition, the privilege founded the citizens of their follow -up in all warlike conflicts that did not concern city defense. From this point on, Mainz was a "free city".

The time as a free city (until 1462) is the highlight of city history. During this time, the political influence of the citizens achieved the highest municipal and national importance, of which the founding of the Rheinische Tädtbund 1254 made a clear certificate. During this time, trade and trade were able to flourish, not least under the protection of the city association and the guarantee of the Mainz Stand Peace of 1235. Mainz rose to an important business location.

From 1328 the decline of free bourgeoisie and its privileges began through conflicts with the archbishop. In the Mainz Abbey Fehde, the citizens hit the side of the Archbishop Diether von Isenburg, who had made both Emperor and Pope a opponent. The city was taken in 1462 by Adolf II, the competitors Diether's Archbishopric. Adolf II then had the Mainz citizens hand over all privileges and ended the time of the free city. Mainz became a electoral residence and subsequently developed into a noble metropolis without its own political importance.

 

Electoral residence city

As his successor, Adolf II recommended the increasingly powerful Mainz cathedral chapter again Diether von Isenburg. In 1477 he founded the university planned by Adolf II.

The Reformation, which started in 1517, initially had good prospects in Mainz. The book pressure with movable letters invented by Johannes Gutenberg around 1450 enabled the reformation writings and the Archbishop of Mainz and Cardinal Albrecht von Brandenburg were initially open to their ideas. Ultimately, however, she could not prevail in Mainz. The cathedral chapter chose Catholic archbishops twice with a narrow majority. With the exception of garrison communities, no Protestant community was allowed to form in the city until 1802.

The medieval city fortification had given way to a more modern fortress from the middle of the 16th century, which finally included the whole city. Outside of this fortress, no stone buildings were allowed to be able to offer advancing troops. Therefore, the city could only develop in the open spaces remaining within the walls, which limited the growth of the city to the 20th century.

Despite this fortress, Mainz was taken without a fight by the Swedish army in the Thirty Years' War. Johann Philipp von Schönborn, who became Archbishop of Mainz in 1647, contributed significantly to the end of the war and under whose pontificate the city was quickly recovered from the devastation of the war. After this war, jurisdiction in the Electorate of Mainz was reorganized and from 1682 the general compulsory schooling was introduced, which had otherwise existed since 1649.

In the baroque period now emerging, brilliant buildings were created in the city, which still belong to the cityscape today. With the term of the Elector Emmerich Joseph von Breidbach zu Bürresheim (1763–1774), the Enlightenment also received its way into the "city of the nobility" at the political level.

 

End of the old order

The ideas of the Enlightenment finally led to the revolution in France. In 1790 the so -called Mainz knot uprising had occurred. After France had conquered the left bank of the Rhine including Mainz in the coalition wars in 1792, Prince -Bishop Friedrich Karl Joseph von Erthal had to flee from the city. In March 1793, the occupying powers initiated the establishment of the "Mainz Republic" and had the first free elections hold, but this ended in July of the same year after the Prussian siege and bombardment of the city and the withdrawal of the French. A French siege in 1795 was unsuccessful, but the withdrawal of the Austrian fortress crew after the peace of Campo Formio led to the next French occupation of the city at the end of 1797. The nobility disappeared from Mainz and made the city bourgeois. Like all areas of the left bank of the Rhine, Mainz was annexed by France and as a Mayence capital of the French department du Mont-Tonnerre (named after the Donnersberg) under the administration of the French prefect Jeanbon St. André.

 

In the Grand Duchy of Hesse

Due to the loss of its residence function, the city, which has belonged to the Grand Duchy of Hesse since 1816, was very strong in the 19th century. Significant national events can therefore hardly be found in city history at this time. However, Mainz was the seat of the Mainz central investigation commission at this time as part of the demagogen persecution as a result of the Karlsbader. The Mainz Fastnacht, which develops from 1837, is of importing importance.

The fortress function (now the federal fortress of the German Confederation) also hindered the expansion of the city and the development of the population. Until the end of the fortress, the city almost never had more than 30,000 inhabitants. At Mainz, seventeen Rheinmühlen were chained together around 1856 and anchored on the pillars of a Roman bridge. When the last free spaces within the fortress, such as the kästra, built, and the banks of the Rhine was moved to the northeast in the 1880s from the 1850s, the population within the old town could increase significantly. However, due to the fortress function, the city could not grow as much as Wiesbaden.

However, the most important development of the city was due to the incorporation of the "garden field" or the new town. From 1872, this newly built city wall expansion triggered a construction boom and population growth in the Wilhelminian era, which, however, was braked by the stock market crash in 1873. This expansion was made possible not least by the loss of meaning of the fortress (from then on the Metz fortress served as a bulwark of the German Empire towards France) after the Franco-German War of 1870/71. From 1886, the construction activity in the Neustadt (and with the laying of the main train station away from the banks of the Rhine also continued in the Lauterenviertel).

Only shortly before the First World War, the old fortress structures were finally demolished, so that the city could now expand outside of the previous walls. The expansion of the city, which was triggered by this and through the extensive incorporations, led to further population growth.

In 1852, a 1.7 kilogram stone meteorite of type L6 was found on a field near Mainz. The site is built on today and is located near Pariser Strasse.

After Mainz hosted the 4th German Fire Brigade Day in 1860, the 16th German Fire Brigade Day took place in Mainz from September 3 to 6, 1904. He was the first after the turn of the century.

 

Modern Mainz

The First World War ended the short upswing that started after grinding the city walls. After the war, the golden twenties went again almost completely by the French until June 1930. After the end of the occupation, there were again extensive incorporations (see table above) that doubled the city area. On November 1, 1938, Mainz as well as Offenbach am Main, Gießen, Darmstadt and Worms became independent.

National Socialism initially could not gain a foothold in Mainz. To seize power on January 30, 1933, more people demonstrated against the new system than for it. Nevertheless, the 3000 members of Jewish community of Mainz was almost completely deported. The city was spared from the Second World War to 1942. The first heavier bombing increased to the worst attack on February 27, 1945, when Mainz was almost completely destroyed by British bombers and around 1200 people were killed. A fire storm had been sparked by fire bombs. At the end of the war, the city was destroyed 80 %. On March 21, 1945, Mainz was finally occupied by US troops as part of the Under Operation. The war continued elsewhere in Germany ended on May 8 with the unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht.

After the war, Mainz was occupied by the French again. The border between French and American occupation zone was the Rhine at the level of Mainz, which is why the right Rhine districts were separated. Following a proposal from the Wiesbaden regional council, the districts north of the main mouth, Amöneburg, Kastel and Kostheim, were incorporated into Wiesbaden, which is a reason for today's rivalry between the two cities. The right bank of the Rhine south of the Main, Bischofsheim, Ginsheim and Gustavsburg, became independent communities in the Groß-Gerau district. The new formation of the states of Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate cemented this division. As early as 1946, the university, which was abolished in 1798, was rebuilt. Mainz was determined in 1946 by Ordinance No. 57 of the French occupation administration as the capital of the newly formed state of Rhineland-Palatinate and took up this function in 1950 instead of the previous provisional seat of Koblenz. Mainz was able to end the almost 150-year process of provincialization. After the Second World War, the population had fallen to around 76,000. It was not until the mid-1960s that she reached the pre-war value again.

In 1962 the city celebrated its 2000th anniversary, which was based on the (unoccupied) view at the time that the Romans under Agrippa already 38 BC. BC had founded a military camp on the confluence of the Rhine and Main. The emergence of Mainz-Lerchenberg as a new district after 1962 and large-scale incorporations around Mainz in 1969 ended the stagnation in urban development and offered extensive expansion and development opportunities. With the settlement of the ZDF on the Lerchenberg, the expansion to the media city began from 1976, later the settlement of a studio of the SWR followed and temporarily of the Sat.1 broadcast center. This development was reinforced by the Gutenberg year 2000 celebrated with numerous activities. In addition to other urban planning programs, such as the old town renovation, Mainz has also been involved in the federal-state program "Social City" since the aforementioned year. From 1969 to the end of 1995 the independent Mainz was also the seat of the Mainz-Bingen district administration before it was moved to Ingelheim.

On March 25, 2010, the Stifterverband for the German Science of the City of Mainz awarded the title "City of Science" of 2011. The city therefore carried out numerous events, exhibitions and lectures in cooperation with the Mainz universities, the associations and educational institutions.

On December 23, 2010, an earthquake of the thickness of 3.5 occurred at the Richter scale around 2:36 a.m. The epicenter was in the Lerchenberg district. The earthquake did not cause major damage. A flag (2.8 on the Richter scale) followed at 6:52 a.m. In neighboring Wiesbaden, a value of 3.2 was reached on the Richter scale.

In September 2010, the new synagogue was opened in the Neustadt Mainz and under the presence of the Federal President. In mid-2011, after two years of construction, the Coface-Arena in the fields near Bretzenheim opened as the new venue for 1. FSV Mainz 05 (today Mewa Arena). In December 2016, the "Mainzelbahn" was put into operation as part of the largest tram project in the nationwide largest tram project after 2.5 years of construction. Since then, lines 51 and 53 have connected the main train station via Bretzenheim and Marienborn with the Lerchenberg. On April 15, 2018, a citizens' decision took place in Mainz for the first time. A little more than 40 % of the approximately 161,000 residents who were entitled to vote took part and, with 77 %, voted against a construction project, the "Bible Tower", which was largely decided by the city council, as a new part of the Gutenberg Museum.

 

Population

In the first half of the 19th century, Mainz had between 20,000 and 30,000 inhabitants. Due to the industrialization and expansion of the urban area into today's Neustadt, this number grew in the following decades and had more than doubled between 1850 and 1900. In 1908 the city reached the limit of 100,000 inhabitants for the first time, making it a big city. Mainz has had more than 100,000 inhabitants since 1952, and this number rose through several incorporations in the following decades. In 2011 the limit of 200,000 inhabitants was also exceeded. At the end of 2017, 215,058 inhabitants had their main residence in Mainz. [35] In summer 2019, the population (main and secondary residence) exceeded the threshold of 220,000 inhabitants, according to the city.

 

Geography

Оverview

Mainz is located at an altitude of 82 on the Rhine up to 245 m above sea level. NHN in the district of Ebersheim. The city is located on the western (left) banks of the Rhine, which forms the eastern city border, with a rhine kilometer 500 halfway between Lake Constance and the North Sea. In the south and west, the city in the Mainz basin is limited by the edge of the Rheinhessian plateau and in the north extends a shelter back from the Rhine. The 50th latitude of northern width runs through Mainz.

 

Position

The city of Mainz is located opposite the mouth of the Main on the Rhine. In addition to the directly neighboring Wiesbaden, the large cities of Frankfurt am Main, Darmstadt, Ludwigshafen am Rhein and Mannheim are - apart from the directly neighboring Wiesbaden.

A political peculiarity are the six former right bank of the Rhine Mainz-Amöneburg, Mainz-Kastel and Mainz-Kostheim ("AKK") as well as Mainz-Bischofsheim, Mainz-Ginsheim and Mainz-Gustavsburg ("BGG"). After the Second World War, due to the boundaries between the American and the French occupation zone, the battery city districts of the trusted administration of the city of Wiesbaden were handed over or, as Bischofsheim and Ginsheim-Gustavsburg, independent municipalities in the Hessian district of Groß-Gerau were handed over. To this day, the AKK city parts still belong to Mainz according to the attitude to the lifestyle of many residents, which is expressed, among other things, in Mainz's infrastructure. The city of Mainz describes it as "de facto in Mainz". Due to the legally never completed area transfer to Wiesbaden, you still have the prefix "Mainz-" in your official name (see also AKK conflict and right bank of the Rhine of Mainz).

Neighboring communities
The following cities and municipalities border the city of Mainz. You are mentioned in the north in the north:
right bank of the Rhine (Hessen):
State capital Wiesbaden (independent city, including Mainz-Amöneburg, Mainz-Kastel and Mainz-Kostheim)
as well as Ginsheim-Gustavsburg (district of Groß-Gerau).
On the left bank of the Rhine the communities belonging to the district of Mainz-Bingen:
Bodenheim, Gau-Bischofsheim and Harxheim (all association community Bodenheim),
Zornheim, Nieder-Olm, Ober-Olm, Klein-Winterheim and Essenheim (all community of Nieder-Olm),
Ingelheim am Rhein with the districts of Wackernheim and Heidesheim am Rhein
as well as Budenheim (association -free municipality).

 

City structure

Principles
The urban area of Mainz is divided into 15 local districts. Each district has a local advisory board consisting of 13 directly elected members and a directly elected local mayor, the chairman of the local advisory board.

The local advisory board can be heard on all important questions that affect the town district. However, the final decision on a measure is then the responsibility of the municipal council of the city of Mainz. In addition, there are seven planning areas, 65 districts and 183 statistical districts, which at the same time correspond to the voting districts.

The local districts of Altstadt, Hartenberg-Münchfeld, Neustadt and Oberstadt correspond to (without the Münchfeld, which had previously belonged to Gonsenheim) to the former district of Mainz-inner city, which was dissolved in 1989.

 

Climate

overview
The annual ratio is 613 mm and is therefore in the lower quarter of the values recorded in Germany. The driest month is February, the most rain falls in June. This month, the rainfall is an average of 1.7 times higher than in February. The rainfall hardly vary and are evenly distributed over the year.

The average annual average temperature in the period from 1961 to 1990 was 10.1 ° C and thus well above the German average.

Climate emergency
At its meeting on September 25, 2019, the Mainz city council declared the climate emergency. A joint supplementary application from city council members of several parties approved the corresponding application with a large majority and only with votes against the AfD. According to the application, all future decisions, projects and processes of the administration should be placed under a climate protection reservation in order to achieve the goals of the Paris climate agreement of 2015.