Mannheim, further west along the Neckar River, is the second largest inland port in Europe. The 17th century town center is laid out like a chessboard: the streets are numbered and the blocks are lettered. The Elector’s Palace is a large baroque building with a lovely library. The Fine Arts Museum has a good collection of 19 – 20th century European paintings.
The first bicycle and the first automobile (Benz) were built in Mannheim. Karlsruhe, about 40 miles south, is an elegant city with a Ducal Palace and an excellent collection of German Primitive Paintings in its Art Museum. About 80 miles east of Frankfurt lies Würzburg. The baroque Residenz Palace has a splendidly decorated Great Hall. In the Imperial Fortress (Marienberg Festung) is a superb collection of the religious woodcarvings of Riemenschneider.
Heilderberg, 50 miles south of Frankfurt, is a romantic university town at the head of the Neckar Valley. The old quarter is clustered around a Gothic church. The famous castle (reached by cable railway) and old bridge are illuminated in summer. In the town musuem, partly housed in a baroque palace, is the Twelve Apostles altarpiece by the 16th century woodcarver Riemenschneider.
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