A romantic symbol – Heidelberg and its castle

Heidelberg and its castle

The powerful Renaissance residence of the Count Palatinates has always been the object of reflection and wistful longing in works such as poems and operettas: “Ich hab mein Herz in Heidelberg verloren – in einer lauen Sommernacht“ (“I lost my heart in Heidelberg for all time – on a balmy summer night“) is one example from a musical theatre piece written by Friedrich Raimund Veselys, alias Fred Raymond, in 1925.

Hosts of poets headed to the city on the Neckar – from Goethe to Hölderlin, from Joseph von Eichendorff to Clemens Brentano. Intellectuals and researchers, such as Wilhelm Wundt, Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, Max Weber, Alfred Weber, Georg Friedrich Hegel, Karl Jaspers, Heinrich von Treitschke and Hans-Georg Gadamer have contributed to the reputation of this city of scholars, which is very proud to be home to Germany’s oldest university (founded in 1386). Today, hundreds of thousands of tourists wander through the narrow streets of the city centre, enjoy the Bengali fireworks at the castle or the world’s largest wine cask (222,000 litres). They can also experience the atmosphere of fraternity brotherhood from years past and today at the Roter Ochse at the foot of the Heiligenberg.

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Links

• Home of castles and palaces

• UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Baden-Württemberg

• Hohenzollern Castle – Prussia's ancestral seat in Swabia

• "A great lookout with full view of the world cup stadium" – Interview with Jürgen Schad, Head of the State Department for Castles and Gardens in Baden-Württemberg

• Interesting castle and palace rarities

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