Heidelberg

Sister cities

• Palo Alto
• Simferopol
• Bautzen
• Montpellier
• Hangzhou
• Odesa
• Cambridge
• Rehovot
• Kumamoto
• Jelenia Góra
• Mostar
• Calamba

History

Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907. Scientific dating determined his remains as the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of worship were built on the , or "Holy Mountain". Both places can still be identified. In 40 AD, a fort was built and occupied by the 24th Roman cohort and the 2nd Cyrenaican cohort (CCG XXIIII and CCH II CYR). The late Roman Emperor Valentinian I, in 369 AD, built new and maintained older castra (permanent camps) and a signal tower on the bank of the Neckar. They built a wooden bridge based on stone pillars across it. The camp protected the first civilian settlements and was eventually captured by Germanic tribes. The local administrative centre in Roman times was the nearby city of Lopodunum, today known as Ladenburg. Modern Heidelberg can trace its beginnings to the fifth century. The village is first mentioned for that period in documents dated to 769 AD. now lies in the middle of modern Heidelberg. The people gradually converted to Christianity. In 870 AD, the monastery of St. Michael was founded on the Heiligenberg inside the double rampart of the Celtic fortress. Around 1130, the Neuburg Monastery was founded in the Neckar valley. At the same time, the bishopric of Worms extended its influence into the valley, founding Schönau Abbey in 1142. Modern Heidelberg can trace its roots to this 12th-century monastery. The first reference to Heidelberg can be found in a document in Schönau Abbey dated to 1196. This is considered to be the town's founding date. In 1156, Heidelberg castle and its neighboring settlement were taken over by the house of Hohenstaufen. Conrad of Hohenstaufen became Count…

Geography

Heidelberg is located on the eastern edge of the Upper Rhine Plain (), at the place where the river Neckar leaves its narrow valley through the Odenwald mountains and begins the last leg of its journey across the plain towards Mannheim, where it merges into the Rhine about 20 kilometers downstream. A part of Heidelberg, including the historical old town and the famous Heidelberg Castle, is located in the narrow Neckar valley. Other parts (mostly quarters from around the 19th century or newer, or originally independent, later incorporated villages) sprawl out into the Rhine Plain and along the Bergstraße (), the narrow strip of characteristic landscape along the sharp border between the plain and the Odenwald mountains. The town is bordered by the Königstuhl (568 m), the Gaisberg (375 m), and the Heiligenberg (445 m) mountains. Heidelberg is on European walking route E1 (Sweden-Umbria). Heidelberg is among the warmest regions of Germany, and plants atypical of the central-European climate flourish there, including almond and fig trees, and many kinds of palm trees and olive trees. Alongside the on the opposite side of the Old Town, winegrowing was restarted in 2000. There is a wild population of African rose-ringed parakeets, and a wild population of Siberian swan geese, which can be seen mainly on the islands in the Neckar near the district of Bergheim. Heidelberg is a unitary authority within the Regierungsbezirk Karlsruhe. The Rhein-Neckar-Kreis rural district surrounds it and has its seat in the town, although the town is not a part of the district. Heidelberg is a part of the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region, often referred to as the Rhein-Neckar Triangle. This region consists of the southern part of the State of Hessen, the southern part of the State of…

Most-observed species

• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  9,054
• Carrion Crow

  Corvus corone Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  8,458
• Great Tit

  Parus major Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  8,317
• Common Wood-Pigeon

  Columba palumbus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  8,109
• Eurasian Blue Tit

  Cyanistes caeruleus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  6,632
• Zoropsid spider

  Zoropsis spinimana (Dufour, 1820) · Arachnida
  5,522
• European Robin

  Erithacus rubecula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,272
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,115

Most recent

• M 3.6 — 2014-05-17
  2 km ESE of Pfungstadt, Germany
• M 3.4 — 2010-12-23
  4 km WNW of Mainz, Germany
• M 3.4 — 2010-06-29
  3 km NW of Hochheim am Main, Germany
• M 2.8 — 2008-11-25
  1 km S of Steinmauern, Germany
• M 2.5 — 2008-03-07
  1 km N of Simmersfeld, Germany
• M 3.2 — 2008-02-16
  0 km ESE of Rheinau, Germany