Mannheim

Mannheim, the capital formerly of the Rhenish Palatinate, and now the chief trading-town in Baden, lies low in a fertile plain on the right bank of the Rhine, here 400 yards wide and joined by the Neckar, 53 miles S. of Frankfort and 38 N. of Carlsruhe. The fortifications have been converted into gardens, and the town is remarkable for its cleanliness and regularity, the whole of it being laid out in quadrangular blocks. The palace, built in 1720-29 by the Elector-Palatine Charles Philip, is one of the largest in Germany, covering 15 acres, with a façade 580 yards long, and 1500 windows. The Schillerplatz is adorned with colossal statues of Schiller, Dalberg, and the actor and dramatist Iffland (1759-1814). A great and increasing river-trade is carried on, the harbour having been opened in 1875. The manufactures also are important, of iron, cigars, carpets, india-rubber, &c. Pop. (1875) 46,453; (1885) 61,273, of whom 26,904 were Catholics, and 4249 Jews. Mannheim is heard of as early as 705, but remained a mere village till 1606, when a castle was built by the elector-palatine, around which a town grew up, peopled chiefly by Protestant refugees from the Low Countries. It was several times taken and retaken during the wars of the 17th century, totally destroyed by the French in 1689, rebuilt and strongly fortified, and in 1795 severely bombarded by the Austrians. See works by Fecht (1864) and Feder (1875-77).