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Rhineland-Palatinate
In the middle of Europe. The state of Rhineland-Palatinate
was formed after World War II, on 30 August 1946, by the French
military government. Traditional structures were not taken into
account; instead parts of Germany were merged that had never before
belonged together: parts of the Prussian Rhine provinces, the
territory of Hesse on the left bank of the Rhine, and the strongly
Bavarian-influenced Palatinate. Over time, however, these regions
have become closely knit, and Rhineland-Platinate has acquired
its own identity.
Rhineland-Palatinate has profited greatly from its geographical
location. The extensive modernized network of autobahns and federal
highways, the convenient rail connections between the cities of
Mainz, Kaiserslautern, Trier, Ludwigshafen and Koblenz, the major
waterways Rhine and Mosel, as well as the state's proximity to
three economically powerful centers - the Rhine-Main, Rhine-Neckar
and Rhine-Ruhr regions - have created optimal framework conditions
for the development of Rhineland-Palatinate into one of Germany's
most dynamic regions. Relations between its people and the three
neighboring countries of France, Luxembourg and Belgium have traditionally
been good.
An old European cultural heartland. The Rhineland was settled
by Celts, Romans, Burgundians and Franks. In Speyer, Worms and
Mainz, all on the Rhine, stand the great imperial cathedrals of
the Middle Ages. The Elector of Mainz was arch chancellor of the
"Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation”. Construction
of the oldest synagogue in Germany (built in the Romanesque style)
began in Worms in 1034. It was in Worms, too, at the Imperial
Diet of 1521, that the reformer Martin Luther refused to recant
his theses. Three hundred years later, in Koblenz, the liberal
paper "Rheinischer Merkur” inveighed against Napoleonic
rule and censorship of the press. In 1832 Hambach Castle was the
scene of the first democratic-republican assembly in Germany.
The world-famous Gutenberg Museum, a museum devoted to the art
of printing, displays its treasures in Mainz, the birthplace of
Johannes Gutenberg (1400-1468), who invented the art of printing
books with movable type. The philosopher and father of scientific
socialism, Karl Marx (1818-1883), was born in Trier.
Viticulture and industry. Products from Rhineland-Palatinate
are in high demand on both domestic and international markets.
With an export rate of roughly 40 percent, it ranks first in this
category among Germany's federal states. Its economy is extraordinarily
diversified: On the one hand, Rhineland-Palatinate is a wine-growing
center (two thirds of the country's wine comes from here) and
an important wood producer; on the other hand, it is a major center
of the chemical industry and a leading supplier of automobile
components. Distinctive regional industries include the gemstone
industry in Idar-Oberstein, ceramic and glass products from the
Westerwald, and the leather industry of the Hunsrück and
the Palatinate. Small and medium-sized businesses form the backbone
of the Rhineland-Palatinate economy. The state's principal industrial
employer is the chemical and plastics processing industry: BASF
in Ludwigshafen is Europe's largest chemical factory complex and
at the same time Rhineland-Palatinate's largest manufacturing
firm. Also situated on the Rhine are the state's four next-largest
companies: Boehringer (pharmaceuticals) in Ingelheim, Joh. A. Benckiser
(chemicals, cosmetics) in Ludwigshafen, SGE Deutsche Holding (construction)
in Ludwigshafen and the Schott Glassworks in Mainz. Europe's largest
television network, ZDF (Channel Two), has its headquarters in
Mainz, the capital of Rhineland-Palatinate, as does the broadcasting
company SAT.1.
Picturesque landscapes. Rhineland-Palatinate lies in the
center of the Rhenish Schist Massif. One of the most beautiful
landscapes in Germany - and the world - is the stretch of the
Rhine Valley between Bingen and Bonn. With its many castles it
is steeped in legend, and its praises have been sung by countless
poets, painters and musicians. Here and in the valley of the Mosel
River grow wines which are prized by connoisseurs all over the
world. The tributaries of the Rhine - the Nahe, Lahn and Ahr rivers
- are likewise very scenic wine-growing regions with a distinctive
charm. At the foot of the Palatinate Forest runs the "German
Wine Route”.
The Rhine has been the region's economic artery since time immemorial.
On it lie the cities of Ludwigshafen (168,000 inhabitants), Mainz
(185,000 inhabitants) and Koblenz (110,000 inhabitants). Emperor
Frederick I Barbarossa built a castle in Kaiserslautern (102,000
inhabitants) in the 12th century. The old Roman city of Trier
(100,000 inhabitants) is 2,000 years old; its buildings dating
from Roman times appear on the UNESCO World Heritage List, as
do the cathedrals of Speyer, Worms and Mainz, the abbey church
Maria Laach in the Eifel, Eltz Castle, the town of Oberwesel on
the Rhine, St. Catherine's Church in Oppenheim, the Church of
St. Paulinus in Trier and the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress in Koblenz.
Artists of yesterday and today. The unusual light above the lovely hilly countryside of the Palatinate was captured by the Impressionist painter Max Slevogt (1868-1932). Some of his pictures - together with works by the Palatine artist Hans Purrmann (1880-1966), who was ostracized by the National Socialists - can be found in the Federal Chancellery in Bonn. Prominent contemporary artists from Rhineland-Palatinate include the painters Heijo Hangen and Karl-Otto Götz as well as the sculptors Franz Bernhard, Erwin Wortelkamp and Michael Croissant. Every year, between 1 May and 3 October, the "Rhineland-Palatinate Summer of Culture” offers a wide variety of cultural events which are held all over the state. This attraction has come to be a forum for the entire art scene in Rhineland-Palatinate.