Mannheim is a city in Germany. With 307,640 inhabitants it is the second largest city in the state of Baden-Württemberg after the capital Stuttgart.
Mannheim is situated at the confluence of the rivers Rhine and Neckar, in the northwestern corner of the state of Baden-Württemberg. The Rhine separates Mannheim from the adjacent Rhineland-Palatinate city of Ludwigshafen. The Hessian border is north of the city. Mannheim is the largest city of the Rhine Neckar Area, a metropolitan area with 2.4 million inhabitants.
Mannheim is unique among German cities in that its central area is laid out in a grid pattern (called Quadrate, squares), much like many North American cities. The main route through the squares leads to an enormous 18th century palace. This former seat of the Electors of the Palatinate now houses the University of Mannheim.
Mannheim's city symbol is the Wasserturm (water tower), located in the east of the city centre.
Main sightsThe successor to the Karl Benz automobile manufacturing companies begun in Mannheim, DaimlerChrysler has had a large presence in Mannheim. Today, trucks and buses are assembled there. The Swiss Roche Diagnostic group (formerly known as Boehringer Mannheim) has its division headquarters in Mannheim. Additionally, the city also hosts large factories/offices of ABB, Alstom, BASF (Ludwigshafen), Bilfinger Berger, Bombardier, Fuchs Petrolub AG, John Deere, Siemens, SCA, Südzucker and other companies.
United States military installationsA number of United States military installations are present in Mannheim, including the headquarters of the 5th Signal Command, the Army's telecommunications command in the European area. The following installations make up the U.S. Army Garrison Mannheim:
The long-term future of the Mannheim military community is in doubt, since it was not included in U.S. Army Europe's 2004 announcement of those military communities that would remain after a long-term restructuring and downsizing of U.S. forces in Germany. However, specific plans concerning the future of the American military community in Mannheim have yet to be announced.
TransportationThe Mannheim/Ludwigshafen area is surrounded by a ring of motorways connecting it to Frankfurt in the north, Karlsruhe in the south, Saarbrücken in the west and Nürnberg in the east.
Mannheim's main train station is the most important railway junction in the southwest of Germany and part of the ICE high-speed train system with connections to Frankfurt am Main / Berlin, Karlsruhe / Basel and Stuttgart / Munich. The city is also home to the second largest river port in Germany.
Although Frankfurt International Airport is only 65 km north, since 2004 there have been daily passenger flights from Mannheim City Airport (IATA code MHG) to Berlin, Hamburg and Saarbrücken.
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