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 Mannheim Castle by christine.j
The building of the castle began in the reign of Charles Philip, who decided to leave Heidelberg after a lot of problems he had there. His successor, Charles Theodore, finished it.
Today the castle houses the university of Mannheim, except for a few rooms in the middle part. There is a small museum , but because of the construction it has been closed for some time now. it is supposed to open again next year, for the anniversary of being a town for 400 years.
Update May 2007:
The outside of the castle is still a mess, construction is going on, visitors have to walk a long way around the yard, partly over dirt and gravel. But at least inside they're finished, they're selling tickets now (unlike in April, even after the official grand opening) and I managed to go and see the new museum.
It's been worth the hassle! While before there were just three rooms with very few items on display, there is now a lot to see. You get audiophones and can walk through the rooms
in your own pace.
Furniture, silverware, paintings, tapestry, everything is explained and gives a great introduction to what life was like at the court. One of my favourites was the blue saloon, in which all the walls are covered by blue damask, another one the music room.
Entrance fee is 5 Euro for adults and 2.50 Euro for children
Open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm. Leave a Comment
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Masses of tourists leave the Jesuit church, aahing and oohing about the beautiful interior and when they step out, they pass another memorial, without seeing it. The tourists are really not to be blamed for overlooking this memorial, as it seems to be one where the city council couldn't make up their mind - should we have one or shouldn't we? The result is a memorial which looks like one of the huts you see in zoos for guinea pigs and pet rabbits.
As it stands on grass, I suppose that's what most people think it is.
However, when you step closer and look at it, you realize, that it shows sculptured women who are cleaning away rubble and bricks on the streets, using them to rebuild bombed houses.
After WWII, many women did just that, cleaning the streets of rubble, trying to rebuild some houses, while at the same time caring for their children, with their husbands being either dead, or missing or prisoners-of-war. These women are called Trümmerfrauen - which I would translate to rubble women.
They certainly deserve a memorial site, but not one that looks like a rabbit hut. Leave a Comment Address: Just outside of Jesuit Church
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 can you see the monument? Have
a look at picture 2 by christine.j, 1 more photos
It's a see-through cube with the names of Jewish citizens of Mannheim in the 1930s. The cube is standing on the busiest shopping street in Mannheim and I've never seen anybody standing there, reading the names or realizing what this is about. There is no plate nearby which could give some information and the cube as such is not self-explanatory. If you were to ask people, many would probably say it's an ad for a telephone book.
Correction: There actually is a plate , only it's lying on the sidewalk and I had not seen it before. There is a busy tram stop right there and people are always coming and going or standing there while waiting, so the plate is very difficult to see.
I'm not saying a Holocaust memorial shouldn't be on a busy street, but as a memorial for people who were murdered it should have some dignity, like for examply the memorial in Frankfurt.
Update October 2007:
The acceptance of the memorial and the awareness of it are growing. I've seen more and more people stop there and read the names. This week there was also a short service held there and some flowers and candles were put there. Maybe it just takes more time. Leave a Comment Address: ParadeplatzDirections: The very center of downtown Mannheim
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In the chapel at the castle there is a crypt in which one of the princes - Charles Philip- and his last wife are buried. He is the prince who had started building the castle and who had lived there with his grand-daughters. He fell in love with their governess, but since she didn't have enough blue-blooded ancestors, he couldn't get married to her in a real ceremony. So they had a "left hand marriage", a morganatic marriage. It gave her a better status than being a mistress, but any children she might have had wouldn't have been able to reign.
As it turned out, she died shortly after the marriage and was buried in the crypt. When the prince died, he also was buried in the crypt. They were given some jewels in their coffins and to prevent a theft, a diadem was nailed onto the skull. - What a nasty job to do! -
Shortly after World War II someone broke into the crypt and took some jewels, but was disturbed. So he/she/they? couldn't pry the diadem loose from the skull. Did they just leave it there?
No, they took the whole skull!
Some of the jewels were found later, but to this day nothing is known about the diadem or the skull.
The crypt can only be visited in a guided tour, last Sundays of the month, after the service. Leave a Comment Address: The Chapel at the castle
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 by christine.j
I was told it's showing the various ranks in former society, but found out that this particular building is in Karlsruhe.
Then I was told it's the courtroom - by the tourist information, who really should know better - well, it isn't, the courtroom is somewhere else and looks different.
City archives and the local newspaper never answered my questions.
So I started reading my way through the libraries and checked out old, dusty books. But it was my daughter, who had looked into another aspect of Mannheim's history, who gave me the answer:
This is simply the house by a rich banker who had it built in 1907, to celebrate the 300th birthday of Mannheim. That's something else than a simple birthday cake, isn't it?
It used to be a bank and the scenes on the facade show events in Mannheim's history .
And this is where I'm still searching: I would like to know exactly which scene shows which event.
I found out who the architect was, Georg Anton Karch, so now I'm trying to find out more about him.
Update: I got lucky! I finally found a book which explains all the scenes shown on the facade.
In this book,
the house is called "one of the most interesting, but hardly known buildings in Mannheim".
From my search about the history of this building I can only say that's absolutely true!
I'm going to show you the scenes in extra tips, so that picture and text can be seen together. Leave a Comment Address: B2,1
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 Scaring other bad spirits away by christine.j
it here, but a picture of one of the gargoyles.Instead of looking at the watertower as such, have a look at the details, many gargoyles, figures from Greek mythology, the sphinx in front of it.
Around the watertower there are several parties going on throughout the year. It is also the place where the Christmas Market is held from end of November to shortly before Christmas.
Opposite of the watertower the main shopping area of Mannheim starts. So when you're sitting in the streetcar and see the watertower, you know it's time to get off if you want to do some shopping. Leave a Comment
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A part of the castle is the chapel, which was used by the people living and working in the castle. When you look up to ceiling there, you can see a huge dragon, very Harry Potter like.It's the symbol of darkness and evil and of course the light is winning. That's probably why the dragon in my picture came out darker than I hoped it would. The whole painting in the ceiling is very interesting, but the dragon is my favourite part.
The chapel is now used by the Old-Catholic community of Mannheim. It's open during the day, from 10 am on. Leave a Comment Address: One wing of the castle
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If you've read your Dan Brown, you've read about the eye in the triangle and its many theories. In the church attached to the castle the eye is above the altar and in the Jesuit church it's in the center of the dome. This is the very highest point in the Jesuit church, thus symbolizing that God is high above us , seeing everything.The triangle symbolizes trinity.
Leaving all theories about possible conspiracies apart, it never ceizes to amaze me how the builders back in the 18th century were able to build churches as tall as this one and put the eye up there.
However, what you see today is an exact reconstruction, as the church was destroyed in WW II. Leave a Comment Address: Jesuit Church/ SchlosskapelleDirections: Close to the Mannheim Castle
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 oops, careful! by christine.j
It's called HHole by the artist Nathalie Braun-Barends. This hole reaches from the cellar to the
top of the building. The problem is that the fire brigade says, in case of fire smoke can quickly spread through all floors and so this hole has to be guarded all the time. They don't do this for free, of course, and the costs of this action have become the talk of the town.
Well, finding the best way to deal with modern art has always been difficult. I think the landmark of the Kunsthalle is very fitting, a man balancing on a sort of an arrow,trying to find his footing. Leave a Comment
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 Inside Jesuit Church by christine.jLeave a Comment
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