Mannheim<\/h3>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wosonst.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/SWK_2018_Sourati_Abschied-und-Neubeginn-c-Dominik-Baum.jpg\")
<\/a>Public art on fa\u00e7ades: A work by the Mannheim-based Sourati artist duo about farewells and new beginnings. Photo: Dominik-Baum<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nMannheim is the largest city in the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region. It is home to over 300,000 people who live on a chessboard, as a glance at the city map immediately reveals. The former prince-electors\u2019 residence was constructed according to an orderly plan. The heart of the city in front of the baroque Palace spills outward in a grid pattern, bordered to the north by the Neckar and to the south by the Rhine. It is an industrial city located between two rivers and makes an important junction for ICE and goods trains as well as for cargo ships in Germany\u2019s second largest inland port. Yet, it is surrounded by several nature reserves, such as the Dossenwald forest with its sand dunes and the Rei\u00dfinsel island, one of the most important bird refuges in the Rhine Rift Valley. As a working-class city Mannheim has always been home to various cultures, which have contributed to transforming its creativity into an actual industry here. A city with many contradictions\u2014one in which there is much to discover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\nColourful Picture Book Town:<\/strong> The \u2018Stadt.Wand.Kunst\u2019 project has transformed many fa\u00e7ades in Mannheim into pieces of art<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nFlying through town: <\/strong>On an obstacle course through the urban jungle with the freerunning athlete Tim Weickenmeier:<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nWhere our past is our presence:<\/strong> In the Technoseum everyday objects tell stories from the past:<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nLudwigshafen<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wosonst.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Header_104_Hallenbad-Nord-Ludwigshafen-Kopie-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/a>Even art can learn to swim in Ludwigshafen. The Hallenbad Nord indoor swimming pool has become an exhibition area. Photo: Sebastian Weindel<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nPhilosopher Ernst Bloch<\/a> (1885\u20131977) once described his birthplace as a \u2018seaside town inside the country,\u2019 in which, in his view, things were more \u2018honest\u2019 than in Mannheim. In fact, the two cities are separated by more than just by the Rhine, which also marks the border between Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. Ludwigshafen actually belonged to Bavaria when it was founded in 1859 (hence the name in reference to King Ludwig I of Bavaria). It has always been the region\u2019s industrial hub, not least because of the Badische Anilin- und Sodafabrik (BASF), one of the largest chemical companies in the world now. It goes without saying that the city\u2019s venerated son has been given a place of honour in a former industrialist\u2019s villa, which has become an exhibition site not only for Bloch\u2019s philosophical legacy, but also for a reproduction of his T\u00fcbingen study room, behind glass and even including his reading glasses and the odour of cold pipe smoke. There is a lot to discover in Ludwigshafen, such as the Festival des Deutschen Films, one of Germany\u2019s most beautiful film festivals, taking place on the idyllic Parkinsel island; an indoor swimming pool from the 1950s, which even Helmut Kohl appreciated and where, today, art meets water and learns to swim; or a town park where gardening is considered a chess game with the perennials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nWhere art learns to swim<\/strong>: One of the most unusual exhibition areas in the region used to be an indoor swimming pool<\/p>\n\n\n\nA chess game with perennials:<\/strong> Harald Sauer experiments with perennials and weeds in the Ebertpark<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nCapturing it as it is:<\/strong> Jo\u00eblle Oechsle and her camera are in search of what lasts and discover Ludwigshafen\u2019s old-established businesses<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nHeidelberg<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n![\"Alter](\"https:\/\/wosonst.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/078_apothekenmuseum_heidelberg_print-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/a>No, it\u2019s not Hogwarts, but rather the German Pharmacy Museum in Heidelberg Castle. Photo: Sebastian Weindel<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe world-famous castle towers over Heidelberg\u2019s old town, where Germany\u2019s oldest university and many other internationally renowned research institutions are located. But you certainly already knew all that. But did you also know that Germany\u2019s heaviest flat-sharers live here? The flat-share for young bull elephants in the Heidelberg Zoo is unique and provides a home for these young rowdies. Adult humans are only too happy to delve into their own childhood in the Heidelberg sweet shop. And if you don\u2019t know what the \u2018knight\u2019s jump\u2019 is all about, then maybe you should make your way back up to Heidelberg Castle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\nThe young bulls from Heidelberg:<\/strong> Animal keepers Tobias Kremer and Stefan Geretschl\u00e4ger run a flat-sharing community for young elephant bulls that is unique in Germany<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Castle calls:<\/strong> Special guided tours make the history of the famous castle ruins tangible <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>Mannheim is the largest city in the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region. It is home to over 300,000 people who live on a chessboard, as a glance at the city map immediately reveals. The former prince-electors\u2019 residence was constructed according to an orderly plan. The heart of the city in front of the baroque Palace spills outward in a grid pattern, bordered to the north by the Neckar and to the south by the Rhine. It is an industrial city located between two rivers and makes an important junction for ICE and goods trains as well as for cargo ships in Germany\u2019s second largest inland port. Yet, it is surrounded by several nature reserves, such as the Dossenwald forest with its sand dunes and the Rei\u00dfinsel island, one of the most important bird refuges in the Rhine Rift Valley. As a working-class city Mannheim has always been home to various cultures, which have contributed to transforming its creativity into an actual industry here. A city with many contradictions\u2014one in which there is much to discover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Colourful Picture Book Town:<\/strong> The \u2018Stadt.Wand.Kunst\u2019 project has transformed many fa\u00e7ades in Mannheim into pieces of art<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Flying through town: <\/strong>On an obstacle course through the urban jungle with the freerunning athlete Tim Weickenmeier:<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Where our past is our presence:<\/strong> In the Technoseum everyday objects tell stories from the past:<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Philosopher Ernst Bloch<\/a> (1885\u20131977) once described his birthplace as a \u2018seaside town inside the country,\u2019 in which, in his view, things were more \u2018honest\u2019 than in Mannheim. In fact, the two cities are separated by more than just by the Rhine, which also marks the border between Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. Ludwigshafen actually belonged to Bavaria when it was founded in 1859 (hence the name in reference to King Ludwig I of Bavaria). It has always been the region\u2019s industrial hub, not least because of the Badische Anilin- und Sodafabrik (BASF), one of the largest chemical companies in the world now. It goes without saying that the city\u2019s venerated son has been given a place of honour in a former industrialist\u2019s villa, which has become an exhibition site not only for Bloch\u2019s philosophical legacy, but also for a reproduction of his T\u00fcbingen study room, behind glass and even including his reading glasses and the odour of cold pipe smoke. There is a lot to discover in Ludwigshafen, such as the Festival des Deutschen Films, one of Germany\u2019s most beautiful film festivals, taking place on the idyllic Parkinsel island; an indoor swimming pool from the 1950s, which even Helmut Kohl appreciated and where, today, art meets water and learns to swim; or a town park where gardening is considered a chess game with the perennials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where art learns to swim<\/strong>: One of the most unusual exhibition areas in the region used to be an indoor swimming pool<\/p>\n\n\n\n A chess game with perennials:<\/strong> Harald Sauer experiments with perennials and weeds in the Ebertpark<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Capturing it as it is:<\/strong> Jo\u00eblle Oechsle and her camera are in search of what lasts and discover Ludwigshafen\u2019s old-established businesses<\/p>\n\n\n\n The world-famous castle towers over Heidelberg\u2019s old town, where Germany\u2019s oldest university and many other internationally renowned research institutions are located. But you certainly already knew all that. But did you also know that Germany\u2019s heaviest flat-sharers live here? The flat-share for young bull elephants in the Heidelberg Zoo is unique and provides a home for these young rowdies. Adult humans are only too happy to delve into their own childhood in the Heidelberg sweet shop. And if you don\u2019t know what the \u2018knight\u2019s jump\u2019 is all about, then maybe you should make your way back up to Heidelberg Castle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The young bulls from Heidelberg:<\/strong> Animal keepers Tobias Kremer and Stefan Geretschl\u00e4ger run a flat-sharing community for young elephant bulls that is unique in Germany<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Castle calls:<\/strong> Special guided tours make the history of the famous castle ruins tangible <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nLudwigshafen<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>Heidelberg<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>