Mainz

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Mainz

 

modern Frankfort is passed on the Main River
on the way to Mainz

 

Reingold Hall along the Rhine river

Mainz, also Mayence, city in southwestern Germany, capital of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, on the Rhine River , opposite the mouth of the Main River. It is a major port, a leading trade center for wine, and a manufacturing city; products include chemicals, machinery, metal goods, precision instruments, and printed materials. 

 

the cathedral

 

another view of the cathedral

 

from a courtyard

Among the city's points of interest are its famous Romanesque cathedral (early 11th century) with sculpture by the medieval Master of Naumberg;

 

St. Stephens

 

Chagall window

Saint Stephen's Church, with stained glass windows by Marc Chagall, executed between 1976 and 1979; a museum of Roman and Germanic history; and a museum of the Rhineland. The city includes 445 hectares (1100 acres) of vineyards.

 

Gutenberg

Also in Mainz is the Gutenberg Museum (1900), commemorating the life and work of Johannes Gutenberg, who in the 1400s was the first European to print with hand-set type cast in molds. His press made Mainz the first printing center of Europe. The museum contains one of the few remaining copies of the original Bible printed between 1452 and 1455. A university is in Mainz, and several festivals are held in the city throughout the year.

 

old buildings

 

with murals

In the 1st century BC, Roman soldiers built the fort of Maguntiacum (Mogontiacum) on the site of the present-day city. The archbishopric of Mainz was founded about AD745, with the English missionary Saint Boniface as the first archbishop. 

 

fountain

 

detail

The archbishopric acquired much land and power before being secularized in 1803, while the city was under French control. 

 

old building styles

 

Bishop's soldier

Much of Mainz was destroyed by bombing in World War II (1939-1945). The city was damaged by the severe floods that occurred throughout northwestern Europe in early 1995. Population (1992 estimate) 183,300.

 

modern sculpture

Mainz hotels, Germany

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Aachen Bamberg Bayreuth Berlin Black Forest Christmas Markets Cologne Cows Dresden DDR Freiburg Goettingen Hamburg Heidelberg Koblenz Konstanz Leipzig Lübeck Mainz Main-Danube Canal Mecklenburg Danube Narrows Meissen Munich Munster North Sea Islands Nurnberg Passau Potsdam Regensburg Rhine river Rothenburg the Alps Trier Wertheim Wittenberg Wurzburg

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