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Rüsselsheim am Main

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Rüsselsheim am Main is the largest city in the Groß-Gerau district in the Rhein-Main region of Germany . It is one of seven special status cities (implementing several functions that counties normally provide) in Hessen and is located on the Main , between Frankfurt and Mainz, only a few kilometres from its mouth in Mainz . The suburbs of Bauschheim and Königstädten are included in Rüsselsheim. Rüsselsheim has attained international recognition through the presence of the German car company Opel .

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80-457: Rüsselsheim's foundation goes back to a Frankish colony in the first half of the 5th century. The first written mention of "Rucilesheim", or "the house of Rucile", is in an inventory of royal hunting rights around the year 840. Rüsselsheim emerged from a settlement of the Count of Katzenelnbogen . Over time, the name of the city evolved from Rucilesheim to the current Rüsselsheim: In the year 1435

160-531: 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. But the first interest of the inhabitants

240-411: A city charter, allowing the citizens to establish and elect a city council. In 1461, a feud between two archbishops, Diether von Isenburg and Adolf II von Nassau , caused unrest in the city. Following Archbishop Adolf's raid on Mainz in 1462, those who opposed him, including Johannes Gutenberg , were either expelled or imprisoned. Ultimately, after the death of Archbishop Adolf II, Diether von Isenburg

320-596: A field including bleachers and an artificial field for hockey Boathouses : Bootshaus des Rudervereins Rüsselsheim am Main Rüsselsheim features a large number of clubs. Some of them are members of national and international leagues. In 2004, the Volunteer Fire Brigade of the city of Rüsselsheim was 125 years old. Rüsselsheim am Main is twinned with: Katzenelnbogen Katzenelnbogen ( German: [kat͡sn̩ˈʔɛlnˌboːɡn̩] )

400-524: A mountain range farther east: the Harz , the Thuringian Forest or both. Melibokon , in a Latinised form, would then be Melibocus or Melibokus . The fact that the name, in any recognisable form, first appears in medieval documents also suggests that it has no older Roman origin. In the history of wine , Katzenelnbogen is famous for the first documentation of Riesling grapes in the world: this

480-1001: A number of different names in other languages and dialects. In Latin it is known as Mogontiacum ( pronounced [mɔɡɔnˈti.akũː] ) or Moguntiacum and, in the local Hessian dialect, it is Määnz [mɛːnt͡s] or Meenz [meːnt͡s] . It is known as Mayence [majɑ̃s] in French, Magonza [maˈɡontsa] in Italian, Maguncia [maˈɣunθja] in Spanish, Mogúncia [muˈɣũsjɐ] in Portuguese, Moguncja [mɔˈɡunt͡sja] in Polish, Magentza ( מגנצא ) in Yiddish, and Mohuč in Czech and Slovak ( Czech pronunciation: [ˈmoɦutʃ] ). Before

560-703: A silver cross on a red background. 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

640-497: Is a simplification of Mogontiacum . The name appears to be Celtic , 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

720-606: 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 . It collapsed in 1924. The French withdrew on 30 June 1930. Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany in January 1933 and his political opponents, especially those of

800-740: Is one of a kind, and has been declared the UNESCO World Heritage Site of " ShUM Sites of Speyer, Worms and Mainz "  [ de ] , which includes the Judensand  [ de ] (Jews' Sand), the second-oldest Jewish cemetery in Europe after the Heiliger Sand in Worms. Mainz is the birthplace of Johannes Gutenberg , who introduced letterpress printing to Europe with his movable type printing press , starting

880-514: Is the name of a castle and small town in the district of Rhein-Lahn-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate , Germany . Katzenelnbogen is the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde ("collective municipality") Aar-Einrich . Katzenelnbogen originated as a castle built on a promontory over the river Lahn around 1095. The lords of the castle became important local magnates, acquiring during the centuries some key and highly lucrative customs rights on

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960-607: 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 ShUM-cities  [ de ] —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

1040-711: 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

1120-615: The Korean car manufacturer Hyundai was inaugurated in 2003. The German centre of the outsourcing division of Hewlett-Packard (formerly EDS ) was located in Rüsselsheim. San Jose, CA, USA-based lidar technology company Velodyne Lidar has its European office in Rüsselsheim. The Rüsselsheim Theatre provides 865 seats in stalls and tiers. The theatre's programming consists of plays , concerts , operas , operettas , musicals , ballet , and dancing . The Rüsselsheim Museum, which

1200-705: The Mainz Sand Dunes for the training areas. Mainz is home to the headquarters of the Bundeswehr ' s Landeskommando Rhineland-Palatinate  [ de ] and other units. 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

1280-458: The Museum of Ancient Seafaring . A temple dedicated to Isis Panthea and Magna Mater was discovered in 2000 and is open to the public. The city was the provincial capital of Germania Superior , and had an important funeral monument dedicated to Drusus, to which people made pilgrimages for an annual festival from as far away as Lyon . Among the famous buildings were the largest theatre north of

1360-633: 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

1440-519: The Neustadt . He also planned the first sewer system for the old part of town since Roman times and persuaded the city government to relocate the railway line from the Rhine side to the west end of the town. The main station was built from 1882 to 1884 according to the plans of Philipp Johann Berdellé  [ de ] . Kreyßig constructed a number of state-of-the-art public buildings, including

1520-598: The Oflag XII-B prisoner of war camp. The city was also the location of four subcamps of the Hinzert concentration camp , mostly for Luxembourgish, Polish, Dutch and Soviet prisoners, but also Belgian, French and Italian. During World War II, several air raids destroyed about 80 per cent of the city's centre, including most of the historic buildings. Mainz was captured on 22 March 1945 against uneven German resistance (staunch in some sectors and weak in other parts of

1600-577: The Rheingau recultivated their vineyards with vines from the Rüsselsheim and Flörsheim Area (Allendorf, Rheingauer Weinbauverband EV 1980). After the First World War viticulture disappeared in Rüsselsheim. In 1980 the mayor of Rüsselsheim Dr. Karl-Heinz Storsberg set up a museum-vineyard near the castle which celebrates 550 Years of Riesling . The town's population reached 1,422 by 1829, then doubled between 1875 and 1914 from 3,500 to 8,000. At

1680-764: The Rheingauwall was taken in hand, according to the imperial order of Wilhelm II . 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

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1760-610: The Rhine . The Counts of Katzenelnbogen also built Burg Neukatzenelnbogen and Burg Rheinfels on the Rhine . The male line of the German family died out in 1479, while the Austrian lineage continued, and the county became disputed between Hesse and Nassau . In 1557, the former finally won, but when Hesse was split due to the testament of Philipp the Magnanimous , Katzenelnbogen was split as well, between Hesse-Darmstadt and

1840-666: The Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region —Germany's second-largest metropolitan region after Rhine-Ruhr —which also encompasses the cities of Frankfurt am Main , Wiesbaden , Darmstadt , Offenbach am Main , and Hanau . Mainz is located at the northern end of the Upper Rhine Plain , on the left bank of the Rhine , opposite the Hessian capital of Wiesbaden and the mouth of the River Main into

1920-674: The Rhineland massacres of 1096 and by mobs in 1283. Outbreaks of the Black Death were usually blamed on the Jews, at which times they were massacred, such as the murder of 6000 Jews in 1349. Outside of the medieval city centre, there is a Jewish cemetery, with over 1500 headstones dating from the 11th through the 19th centuries. The earliest known gravestone is date to 1062 or 1063, and these early gravestones resemble those found in Italy in

2000-524: The Social Democratic Party , were either incarcerated or murdered. Some were able to move away from Mainz in time. One was the political organizer for the SPD, Friedrich Kellner , who went to Laubach, where, as the chief justice inspector of the district court, he continued his opposition against the Nazis by recording their misdeeds in a 900-page diary . In March 1933, a detachment from

2080-477: The Unetanneh Tokef prayer. 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. The Jews were expelled in 1438, 1462 (after which they were invited to return), and in 1470. Jews were attacked in

2160-521: The War of 1866 , with all Nassau, it became part of Prussia . In 1945, Hesse-Darmstadt was united with most of the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau , which included the former Hesse-Kassel along with Nassau and the formerly Free City of Frankfurt , to form the federal state of Hesse . Thus, Hesse now includes the larger part of former county of Katzenelnbogen . A smaller part of Nassau, including

2240-648: The War of the Sixth Coalition , the weakened Napoleon and his troops had to leave Mainz in May 1814. In 1816, the part of the former French Département which is known today as Rhenish Hesse (German: Rheinhessen ) was awarded to the Hesse-Darmstadt , Mainz being the capital of the new Hessian province of Rhenish Hesse. From 1816 to 1866, a part of the German Confederation , Mainz was

2320-599: The Wolfsangel are exempt from the ban. The two stars indicate that Rüsselsheim used to belong to Katzenelnbogen County , which also bore these stars on its coat of arms. During World War II, Rüsselsheim was bombed several times by the British RAF. The RAF followed a policy of " area bombing " of cities. The day after one such bombing, August 26, 1944, an American B-24 Liberator was shot down after bombing Hanover (American policy did not allow for area bombing as did

2400-502: The cenotaph raised by legionaries to commemorate their general, Drusus . 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

2480-568: The 1950s. A later trial was held for two more citizens, one of whom was hanged. In all, eleven citizens were tried for war crimes and murder stemming from this incident, six of whom were executed. (see Wolfsangel: A German City on Trial 1945–48, by August Nigro (Brassey's Inc, London, August 2000; 186pp) ( ISBN   1574882457 )) The car manufacturer Opel and the ideal transportation location with many motorway connections and direct train connections from Rüsselsheim station to Mainz , Frankfurt am Main , Wiesbaden and Darmstadt have resulted in

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2560-477: The 1990s the Kisselberg and the "Fort Malakoff Center" at the site of the old police barracks were built. 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

2640-508: 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 . Mainz is on the 50th latitude north, on the left bank of the Rhine . The east of the city is opposite where the Main falls into it. As of 2021 , the population was 217,272. The city is part of

2720-692: The 8th–9th centuries. 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. As of 2021 , the Jewish community Mainz has 985 members. 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

2800-521: 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

2880-624: The Alps and a bridge across the Rhine. The city was also the site of the assassination of emperor Severus Alexander in 235. Alemanni forces under Rando sacked the city in 368. From the last day of 405 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

2960-544: 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 company erecting a new office and warehouse building to contact him. The urban renewal of

3040-524: The British; the American crew had been bombing an airport). The nine member American crew was captured and under guard was placed on a train to a POW camp routed thorough Rüsselsheim. Due to damage done to the railyards, the captured crew and their guards were forced to alight and walk to another location to catch another train. During this walk, residents of Rüsselsheim saw the crew and vented their anger on

3120-506: The FrankfurtRheinMain area of 5.9 million people. Mainz can easily be reached from Frankfurt International Airport in 30 minutes by commuter railway [REDACTED] or regional trains RE 2 RE 3 RB 31 . 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

3200-699: 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,

3280-655: 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 Département du 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

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3360-400: 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. Mogontiacum was an important military town throughout Roman times, probably due to its strategic position at the confluence of the Main and the Rhine. The town of Mogontiacum grew up between the fort and the river. The castrum

3440-417: The Mainz town hall – which was the largest of its kind in Germany at that time – as well a synagogue, the Rhine harbour and a number of public baths and school buildings. Kreyßig's last work was Christ Church ( Christuskirche ), the largest Protestant church in the city and the first building constructed solely for the use of a Protestant congregation. In 1905 the demolition of the entire circumvallation and

3520-415: 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 vici and canabae (civilian settlements) were erected towards the Rhine. Historical sources and archaeological findings both prove

3600-530: 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: de:Rechtsrheinische Stadtteile von Mainz ). Three have been incorporated into Wiesbaden (see: de:AKK-Konflikt ), and three are now independent. Mainz

3680-413: 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. Eduard Kreyßig  [ de ] was the man who made this happen. Having been the master-builder of the city of Mainz since 1865, Kreyßig had the vision for the new part of town,

3760-408: The beginning of the Second World War, 16,000 people lived in Rüsselsheim; only 9,500 remained at the conflict's end. The population reached a new record of 63,000 inhabitants in 1978, with rapid post-war reconstruction fed first by refugees from the former German territories in Eastern Europe ( Heimatvertriebene ), then by immigrants attracted by the Opel factories. The proportion of people born overseas

3840-403: The border of their territories, whereby the three important episcopal cities of Mainz, Worms and Speyer with their counties to the left of the Rhine were assigned to East Francia . 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

3920-488: The capital of the new state. In 1962, the diarist, Friedrich Kellner , returned to spend his last years in Mainz. His life in Mainz, and the impact of his writings , is the subject of the Canadian documentary My Opposition: The Diaries of Friedrich Kellner . Following the withdrawal of French forces from Mainz, the United States Army Europe occupied the military bases in Mainz. Today United States Army Europe and Africa only occupies McCulley Barracks in Wackernheim and

4000-410: 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. 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

4080-475: 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. The air raid caused most of the dead and made an already hard-hit city largely levelled. Nevertheless, the post-war reconstruction took place very slowly. While cities such as Frankfurt had been rebuilt fast by

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4160-407: The city) by the 90th Infantry Division under William A. McNulty , a formation of the XII Corps under Third Army commanded by General George S. Patton Jr. 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

4240-533: 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 , became king of the Salians in 481, ruling from Tournai . He converted from paganism to Catholic Christianity . Theudebert I ( c. 500–547 or 548) had installed Sidonius  [ de ] as bishop of Mainz. Dagobert I (605/603–639) reinforced

4320-507: The crew were killed. A local Nazi official administered a final shot to four of the men. The bodies of the dead crew were hidden at the rear of the city cemetery. After the War (1946) when Rüsselsheim was under occupation by the American Army, the killings came to light and the bodies located. In the first war trials of Germans prior to the Nuremberg trials, five of the residents were tried as war criminals, found guilty and hanged. Three others received sentences to hard labour and were released in

4400-453: The crew, shouting insults and spitting. Assuming the crew were "Canadians" and that they had taken part in the bombing of their city the night before, this group grew larger. One woman shouted out "There are the terror flyers. Tear them to pieces! Beat them to death! They have destroyed our houses!" She threw a brick at the crew and that precipitated a riot during which the residents attacked the crew with rocks, hammers, lumber and shovels. Six of

4480-421: The death and funeral of Nero Claudius Drusus ). 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-etymological reanalysis. Main is from Latin Moenis (also Moenus or Menus ), the name the Romans used for the river. Linguistic analysis of the many forms that the name "Mainz" has taken on make it clear that it

4560-405: The establishment of many businesses and the attraction of many commuters in Rüsselsheim. Above all, Rüsselsheim is known for its car manufacturer Opel . The founder, Adam Opel , began as a trainee mechanic and founded a sewing machine factory. The first cars were built in 1899, after Opel's death, when the company was owned and operated by Opel's widow and their five sons. The European Centre of

4640-418: 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,

4720-470: The global spread of the printing press , and in the early 1450s manufactured his first books in the city, including the Gutenberg Bibles , two of which are kept at the city's Gutenberg Museum . Mainz was heavily damaged in World War II ; more than 30 air raids destroyed around half of the old town in the city centre, but many buildings were rebuilt post-war. Like most cities in the Rhineland , Mainz holds extensive carnival celebrations , that are known as

4800-410: The high noble Count John IV of Katzenelnbogen was the first to cultivate Riesling in Rüsselsheim. Annual reports record that his administrator bought new vines for 22 Schilling. In the following years riesling grapes were planted down the river Rhine and up the river Mosel . In the 18th and 19th centuries, Rüsselsheim made a new contribution to the history of wine when famous wine-growing estates in

4880-430: The importance of the military and civilian Mogontiacum as a port city on the Rhine. Mainz experiences an oceanic climate ( Köppen climate classification : Cfb ). 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

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4960-578: 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 , Kastel , and Kostheim – (in short, AKK ) are now administered by

5040-400: The most important fortress in the defence against France, and had a strong garrison of Austrian , 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

5120-405: The name Katzenelnbogen literally translates as 'cat's elbow', which is arguably a later mondegreen . Historians have speculated that the name derives from Cattimelibocus , a combination of two words: the ancient Germanic tribal name of the Chatti and Melibokus , a generic Roman name for 'mountains' . The theory is based on the name Μηλίβοκον ( Mēlíbokon ), used by Ptolemy specifically for

5200-430: The new border between the two countries. For centuries the inhabitants of the fortress of 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

5280-406: The old castle and village bearing the name of Katzenelnbogen, ended up as part of Rhineland-Palatinate (part of the Rhein-Lahn and Westerwaldkreis districts). William III of England a Prince of Orange had the title Katzenelnbogen in his reign from 1689-1702 and today one of the titles of the King of the Netherlands (the House of Orange-Nassau) is that of Count of Katzenelnbogen. In German,

5360-410: The old town changed the inner city. In the framework of the preparation of the cathedrals millennium, pedestrian zones 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

5440-454: The second-most important in Germany, after the celebrations in Cologne . The borough of Lerchenberg is the seat of ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, lit. "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 ). Mainz has

5520-399: The small new secondary principality of Hesse-Rheinfels . When the latter line expired in 1583, its property went to Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel), which added the inherited part of Katzenelnbogen to its side-line principality of Hesse-Rotenburg . After the Congress of Vienna , this part of Katzenelnbogen was given to Nassau in exchange for property that had been taken away from it; after

5600-441: The time the French marched in. On 18 March 1793, the Jacobins 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

5680-412: 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. Meanwhile, language change was gradually working to divide the Franks. After the death of Charlemagne, distinctions between France and Germany began to be made. The Rhine roughly formed

5760-509: The world with an episcopal see called a Holy See (sancta sedes). Ibrahim ibn Yaqub , a 10th-century Hispano-Arabic, Sephardi Jewish traveler, writes the following about the city: "Mainz [Maghānja] is a very large city, partly inhabited and partly cultivated fields. It is in the land of the Franks, on a river called the Rhine [Rīn]. Wheat, barley, rye, grapevines and fruit are plentiful." In 1244, Archbishop Siegfried III granted Mainz

5840-468: Was 23% on 31 June 2014. The city's coat of arms features a silver "Doppelhaken" (double hook) and two silver stars on a blue background. The "Doppelhaken" is also called a " Wolfsangel " (wolf hook), once possibly used to kill wolves, or as a grappling hook. It is now forbidden in Germany to use this symbol on the grounds that it has been used in the past as a symbol of some right-wing extremist groups, now banned. Civic coats of arms which traditionally used

5920-671: Was designated in 1980 with the Council of Europe 's museum award as a "Model Museum", focuses in particular on the development of labor procedures and labor conditions from prehistory to the present. The Hochschule RheinMain is an advanced technical college which has a branch in the city of Rüsselsheim. The technical departments are primarily located here. These include: Event spaces : Großsporthalle (formerly known as Walter-Köbel-Halle ) (2,500 spectators) Swimming pools : Freizeitbad an der Lache , Waldschwimmbad , Opelbad (no longer in use) Stadiums : Stadion am Sommerdamm , with

6000-695: Was founded as Castrum Mogontiacum by Roman 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

6080-472: Was in 1435, when the storage inventory of Count John IV of Katzenelnbogen, a member of the Holy Roman high nobility, lists the purchase of vines of "Rieslingen". Mainz Mainz ( German: [maɪnts] ; see below ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate , and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is Germany's 35th-largest city . It lies in

6160-596: Was reinstated as the Archbishop of Mainz, duly elected by the chapter and appointed by the Pope. The Jewish community of Mainz dates 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 , composer of

6240-485: Was the base of Legio XIV Gemina and XVI Gallica (AD 9–43), XXII Primigenia , IV Macedonica (43–70), I Adiutrix (70–88), XXI Rapax (70–89), and XIV Gemina (70–92), among others. Mainz was also a base of a Roman river fleet, the Classis Germanica . Remains of Roman troop ships ( navis lusoria ) and a patrol boat from the late 4th century were discovered in 1982/86 and may now be viewed in

6320-559: 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

6400-711: 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. After the founding of the German Empire in 1871, Mainz no longer was as important a stronghold, because in the Franco-Prussian War France had lost the territory of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany (which France had occupied bit by bit from 1630 to 1795), and this defined

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