Mainz

The city of red-buildings

Mainz - pronounced as "Mind-z". It was the third consecutive day I was out sightseeing, and I must say that all this walking climbing left me tired at the end of Sunday. I climbed out of bed early Sunday morning and took the train to Mainz from Mannheim together with 4 other Singaporeans.

The trip took about 1 hour and when I got into the inner city, the thing that struck me was that most of the buildings, especially those which have aged, were built using red brick. The Museum, Schloß, St Peters Church, Mainz Cathedral and even part of the Theodor Heuss Bridge were red.

Along the River Rhine

We began our trail at the St Peters Church but could not go in and take pictures since there was a mass going on. And then we walked along the River Rhine. Its not the most beautiful of all places actually. I thought that the banks of the River Rhine along Köln was much more beautiful when I was in Köln two years ago. At the bank of Mainz, you could see people jogging or walking their dogs on the Sunday morning. The Hilton hotel and casino stands along the river bank, followed by the Rathaus. (the ugly grey building in the second picture)

I have to admit that this is by far the ugliest Rathaus (city hall) I have ever seen. A check online revealed that the Rathaus was acutally built between 1970 and 1974 by Danish architects using Swedish marble, which probably was like the Esplanade of the day, but thought by many as being not pleasant looking.

The Mainzer Dom (Mainz Cathedral)

The thousand year old Cathedral was built around the year 975. It was predominantly Romanesque in style. In front of the Cathedral stands a beautiful monument. Together with the cathedrals in Worms and Speyer (all of which I have been to), these are today the oldest in Germany.

At the Cathedral is also the Marktplatz, here stands a row of tastefully decorated houses which resembled the Chinese version of shophouses.

One of the alters inside the Cathedral
There is a small garden which is enclosed by the Cathedral. Like most other churches, this garden is actually a burial ground for bishops of this Cathedral.
I found this statue to be really interesting. It shows a decapitated man holding his own head.

Outside the cathedral. Notice that the flowers are starting to sprout in the spring season.

View of the cathedral from the other wing. The small white patches give a snowy effect.

Schillerplatz

Along the way we stopped by at Schillerplatz. Schiller was a German poet and philosopher and together with Goethe, were the most famous of such people in Germany (before Karl Marx). The German question - What and where is Germany, came from the 2 of them in the year 1797. At the time when they wrote, there was no Germany in existence, but rather a collection of many many small states collectively referred to as the Holy Roman Empire, which Voltaire criticised it to be neither holy, not even Roman, nor an empire. This so-called German question continued to exist throughout the course of German history, 1871, 1914, the interwar periods, 1949 as well as even up to 1989 with the fall of the Berlin wall.

The Statue of Schiller.

Walk up to the Zitadelle (citadel)

A Citadel is like a fortress on elevated grounds used for the purpose of protecting the city. From the Schillerplatz, we walked up towards the Citadel in the hope of getting a panoramic view of the city. Along the way up we passed by this interesting windmill, which was in the past a windmill but today converted to a slide.

The not-so-panoramic view of the city

Most Germans that I spoke to regard Mainz to be a beautiful city. I would think that it is perhaps the presence of the Cathedal that gave the Innenstadt its touch. However if I would to compare to places like Heidelberg then perhaps Mainz does not stand out. One thing for sure, the bank along the river Rhine could have been better looking.

http://picasaweb.google.com/mannheim08/2MarMainz