Darmstadt () is a city in the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...

in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the fourth largest city in the state of Hesse after

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

, and

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

. Darmstadt holds the official title "City of Science" (german: link=no, Wissenschaftsstadt) as it is a major centre of scientific institutions, universities, and high-technology companies. The

European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites The European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) is an intergovernmental organisation created through an international convention agreed by a current total of 30 European Member States. EUMETSAT's primary ...

(EUMETSAT) and the

European Space Operations Centre The European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) serves as the main mission control centre for the European Space Agency (ESA) and is located in Darmstadt, Germany. ESOC's primary function is the operation of unmanned spacecraft on behalf of ESA and ...

(ESOC) are located in Darmstadt, as well as GSI Centre for Heavy Ion Research, where several chemical elements such as

bohrium Bohrium is a synthetic chemical element with the symbol Bh and atomic number 107. It is named after Danish physicist Niels Bohr. As a synthetic element, it can be created in a laboratory but is not found in nature. All known isotopes of bohriu ...

(1981),

meitnerium Meitnerium is a Synthetic element, synthetic chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mt and atomic number 109. It is an extremely radioactive synthetic element (an element not found in nature, but can be created in a laboratory). The ...

(1982),

hassium Hassium is a chemical element with the symbol Hs and the atomic number 108. Hassium is highly radioactive; its most stable known isotopes have half-lives of approximately ten seconds. One of its isotopes, 270Hs, has magic numbers of both protons ...

(1984),

darmstadtium Darmstadtium is a chemical element with the symbol Ds and atomic number 110. It is an extremely radioactive synthetic element. The most stable known isotope, darmstadtium-281, has a half-life of approximately 12.7 seconds. Darmstadtium was first ...

(1994),

roentgenium Roentgenium is a chemical element with the symbol Rg and atomic number 111. It is an extremely radioactive synthetic element that can be created in a laboratory but is not found in nature. The most stable known isotope, roentgenium-282, has a h ...

(1994), and

copernicium Copernicium is a synthetic chemical element with the symbol Cn and atomic number 112. Its known isotopes are extremely radioactive, and have only been created in a laboratory. The most stable known isotope, copernicium-285, has a half-life of ap ...

(1996) were discovered. The existence of the following elements were also confirmed at GSI Centre for Heavy Ion Research:

nihonium Nihonium is a synthetic chemical element with the symbol Nh and atomic number 113. It is extremely radioactive; its most stable known isotope, nihonium-286, has a half-life of about 10 seconds. In the periodic table, nihonium is a transactinid ...

(2012),

flerovium Flerovium is a superheavy chemical element with symbol Fl and atomic number 114. It is an extremely radioactive synthetic element. It is named after the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubn ...

(2009),

moscovium Moscovium is a synthetic element with the symbol Mc and atomic number 115. It was first synthesized in 2003 by a joint team of Russian and American scientists at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, Russia. In December 2015, ...

(2012),

livermorium Livermorium is a synthetic chemical element with the symbol Lv and has an atomic number of 116. It is an extremely radioactive element that has only been created in a laboratory setting and has not been observed in nature. The element is named aft ...

(2010), and

tennessine Tennessine is a synthetic chemical element with the symbol Ts and atomic number 117. It is the second-heaviest known element and the penultimate element of the 7th period of the periodic table. The discovery of tennessine was officially ann ...

(2012). The

Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research The Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) is an international accelerator facility under construction which will use antiprotons and ions to perform research in the fields of: nuclear, hadron and particle physics, atomic and anti-matte ...

(FAIR) is an international accelerator facility under construction. Darmstadt is also the seat of the world's oldest pharmaceutical company,

Merck Merck refers primarily to the German Merck family and three companies founded by the family, including: * the Merck Group, a German chemical, pharmaceutical and life sciences company founded in 1668 ** Merck Serono (known as EMD Serono in the Unite ...

, which is the city's largest employer. P2250381 Darmstadt in Frankfurt-Rhein-Main

The Mathildenhöhe, including the

Darmstadt artists' colony The Darmstadt Artists’ Colony refers both to a group of Jugendstil artists as well as to the buildings in Mathildenhöhe in Darmstadt in which these artists lived and worked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The artists were largely fi ...

, a major centre of the

Jugendstil ''Jugendstil'' ("Youth Style") was an artistic movement, particularly in the decorative arts, that was influential primarily in Germany and elsewhere in Europe to a lesser extent from about 1895 until about 1910. It was the German counterpart of ...

artistic movement, referring both to the group of artists active in the city in the late 19th and early 20th century, as well as the buildings which they designed, together with the

Russian Chapel in Darmstadt The Russian Chapel in Darmstadt, formally, the St. Mary Magdalene Chapel, is a historic Russian Orthodox church at Mathildenhöhe in Darmstadt, Germany. The Russian revival style church with gold Onion domes was built between 1897–1899 by the ar ...

, was recognized as a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

by UNESCO in 2021. Darmstadt was formerly the capital of a sovereign country, the

Grand Duchy of Hesse The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine (german: link=no, Großherzogtum Hessen und bei Rhein) was a grand duchy in western Germany that existed from 1806 to 1918. The Grand Duchy originally formed from the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1806 ...

and its successor, the

People's State of Hesse The People's State of Hesse (german: Volksstaat Hessen) was one of the constituent states of Weimar Republic, Germany from 1918 to 1945, as the successor to the Grand Duchy of Hesse (german: Großherzogtum Hessen) after the defeat of the German ...

, a federal state of Germany. As the capital of an increasingly prosperous

duchy A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a Middle Ages, medieval country, territory, fiefdom, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a ruler hierarchically second to the king or Queen regnant, queen in Western European tradition. There once exis ...

, the city gained some international prominence and remains one of the wealthiest cities in Europe. In the 20th century, industry (especially chemicals), as well as large science and electronics (and later, information technology) sectors became increasingly important, and are still a major part of the city's economy. It is also home to the football club

SV Darmstadt 98 Sportverein Darmstadt 1898 e.V., commonly known as Darmstadt 98 (), is a German football club based in Darmstadt, Hesse. The club was founded on 22 May 1898 as FC Olympia Darmstadt. Early in 1919, the association was briefly known as ''Rasen-Spo ...

Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse) german: Alix Viktoria Helene Luise Beatrixrussian: Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova , house = Hesse-Darmstadt , father = Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine , mother = Princess Alice of the United Kingdom , birth_name ...

, the wife of

Nicholas II of Russia Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Pola ...

, as well as

Maria Alexandrovna (Marie of Hesse) Maria Alexandrovna ( rus, Мария Александровна), born Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine (8 August 1824 – 3 June 1880), was Empress of Russia as the first wife and political adviser of Emperor Alexander II. She was one of th ...

, the wife of

Alexander II of Russia Alexander II ( rus, Алекса́ндр II Никола́евич, Aleksándr II Nikoláyevich, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ftɐˈroj nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ; 29 April 181813 March 1881) was Emperor of Russia, Congress Poland, King of Poland and Gra ...

, who were related, were born in this city.

History

Darmstadt in 1626 Thesaurus Philopoliticus

Origins

The name Darmstadt first appears towards the end of the 11th century, then as ''Darmundestat''. Darmstadt was chartered as a city by the

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...

Ludwig the Bavarian Louis IV (german: Ludwig; 1 April 1282 – 11 October 1347), called the Bavarian, of the house of Wittelsbach, was King of the Romans from 1314, King of Italy from 1327, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1328. Louis' election as king of Germany in ...

in 1330, at which time it belonged to the counts of

Katzenelnbogen Katzenelnbogen () is the name of a castle and small town in the district of Rhein-Lahn-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Katzenelnbogen is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Aar-Einrich. History Katzenelnboge ...

. The city, then called ''Darmstait'', became a secondary residence for the counts, with a small castle established at the site of the current, much larger edifice.Nebenresidenz Darmstadt (darmstait)
(from the 'Graf v. Katzenelnbogen' website, in German. Retrieved 5 January 2008.) When the house of Katzenelnbogen became extinct in 1479, the city was passed to the

Landgraviate of Hesse The Landgraviate of Hesse (german: Landgrafschaft Hessen) was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire. It existed as a single entity from 1264 to 1567, when it was divided among the sons of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse. History In the early Mid ...

, and was seat of the ruling

landgrave Landgrave (german: Landgraf, nl, landgraaf, sv, lantgreve, french: landgrave; la, comes magnus, ', ', ', ', ') was a noble title used in the Holy Roman Empire, and later on in its former territories. The German titles of ', ' ("margrave"), a ...

s (1567–1806) and thereafter (to 1918) of the grand dukes of

.Die Geschichte des Grafenhauses
(from the 'Graf v. Katzenelnbogen' website, in German. Retrieved 5 January 2008.)

Industrial age

The city grew in population during the 19th century from little over 10,000 to 72,000 inhabitants. A polytechnical school, which later became a Technical University now known as TU Darmstadt, was established in 1877. In the beginning of the 20th century, Darmstadt was an important centre for the art movement of

, the German variant of

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

. Annual architectural competitions led to the building of many architectural treasures of this period. Also during this period, in 1912 the chemist Anton Kollisch, working for the pharmaceutical company

, first synthesised the chemical

MDMA 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), commonly seen in Tablet (pharmacy), tablet form (ecstasy) and crystal form (molly or mandy), is a potent empathogen–entactogen with stimulant properties primarily used for Recreational dru ...

(ecstasy) in Darmstadt. Darmstadt's municipal area was extended in 1937 to include the neighbouring localities of Arheilgen and Eberstadt, and in 1938 the city was separated administratively from the surrounding district (''Kreis'').

Nazi Germany

Darmstadt was the first city in Germany to force Jewish shops to close in early 1933, shortly after the Nazis took power in Germany. The shops were only closed for one day, for "endangering communal order and tranquility". In 1942, over 3,000 Jews from Darmstadt were first forced into a collection camp located in the Liebigschule, and later deported to

concentration camps Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...

Darmstädter Stadtgeschichte 20. Jahrhundert
(from the official city website, in German, less detailed also in English) where most eventually died. Several prominent members of the German resistance movement against the Nazis were citizens of Darmstadt, including

Wilhelm Leuschner Wilhelm Leuschner (15 June 1890, in Bayreuth, Bavaria – 29 September 1944, in Berlin-Plötzensee) was a trade unionist and Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic politician. An early opponent of Nazism, he organized underground ...

and

Theodor Haubach Theodor Haubach (15 September 1896 in Frankfurt am Main – 23 January 1945 in Berlin) was a German journalist, SPD politician, and resistance fighter against the Nazi régime. Theodor Haubach spent his childhood and youth in Darmstadt. In 1914, ...

, both executed for their opposition to Hitler's regime. Darmstadt was first bombed on 30 July 1940, and 34 other air raids would follow before the war's end. The old city centre was largely destroyed in a British bombing raid on 11 September 1944. This attack was an example of "area bombing" using high explosive and incendiary bombs, which combined in that attack to create a firestorm, a self-sustaining combustion process in which winds generated by the fire ensure it continues to burn until everything possible has been consumed. During this attack an estimated 11,000 to 12,500 of the inhabitants were killed, and 66,000 to 70,000 were left homeless. Over three-quarters of Darmstadt's inner city was destroyed. Post-war rebuilding was done in a relatively plain architectural style, although a number of the historic buildings were rebuilt to their original appearance following the city's capture on 20 March 1945 by the American 4th Armored Division.

Post–World War II

Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, Darmstadt became home to many technology companies and research institutes, and has been promoting itself as a "city of science" since 1997. It is well known as a high-tech centre in the vicinity of

Frankfurt Airport Frankfurt Airport (; german: link=no, Flughafen Frankfurt Main , also known as ''Rhein-Main-Flughafen'') is a major international airport located in Frankfurt, the fifth-largest city of Germany and one of the world's leading financial centres ...

, with important activities in spacecraft operations (the

), chemistry, pharmacy, information technology, biotechnology, telecommunications (substantial

Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (; short form often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a German telecommunications company that is headquartered in Bonn and is the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. Deutsche Telekom was ...

presence) and mechatronics. In 2000, its region also scored Rank 3 amongst 97 German regions in the ''

WirtschaftsWoche ''Wirtschaftswoche'' is a German weekly business news magazine published in Germany. “Wirtschaft” means economy (including business) and “Woche” is week. History and profile For many years, ''Wirtschaftswoche'' was published weekly on ...

'' test ranking Germany's high-tech regions. The roots of

Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences The Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences (german: Hochschule Darmstadt), also known as h_da, is a University of Applied Sciences located in Darmstadt, Germany. h_da is part of the IT cluster Rhine-Main-Neckar, the "Silicon Valley of Germany ...

goes back to 1876 along with

Technische Universität Darmstadt The Technische Universität Darmstadt (official English name Technical University of Darmstadt, sometimes also referred to as Darmstadt University of Technology), commonly known as TU Darmstadt, is a research university in the city of Darmstadt ...

(''the first electrical engineering chair and inventions fame''), when both these Universities were an integrated entities, a need for a separate industry based research educational institution was felt in the early 1930s, finally University of Applied sciences emerged as a separate industry based research educational institution in 1971 and is the largest

University of Applied Sciences A university of applied sciences (UAS), nowadays much less commonly called a polytechnic university or vocational university, is an institution of higher education and sometimes research that provides vocational education and grants academic de ...

in Hesse (German:

Hessen Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Darm ...

) with about 11,000 students. The TU Darmstadt is one of the important technical institutes in Germany and is well known for its research and teaching in the Electrical, Mechanical and Civil Engineering disciplines. Together with other tertiary institutions, the TU is responsible for the large student population of the city, which stood at 33,547 in 2004.

Boroughs

Darmstadt has nine official 'Stadtteile' (

boroughs A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

). These are: *

Darmstadt-Arheilgen Arheilgen is a district in the north of the city of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany, incorporated in 1937. Arheilgen borders the Darmstadt district of Wixhausen to the North, to the West is the city Weiterstadt, to the East is the Darmstadt district K ...

Darmstadt-Bessungen Bessungen is a district in the South of the city of Darmstadt in Hesse. History Until 1888, Bessungen was an independent municipality. The reputation as the oldest part of Darmstadt goes back to Bessungen being first mentioned in 1002. In fact ...

Darmstadt-Eberstadt Eberstadt is the southernmost borough of Darmstadt in Hessen, Germany with a population of 23,728 (as of 2019). Geography In the north Eberstadt borders to the boroughs of Bessungen and Darmstadt-West, in the east and south to the municipalities ...

Darmstadt-Kranichstein Kranichstein is a district in the city of Darmstadt. The town started with housing construction in the 1960s and now also has a number of residential high-rises. Often referred to as Darmstadt-Kranichstein. Geographical location Kranichstein is ...

* Darmstadt-Mitte ("Central Darmstadt") * Darmstadt-Nord ("North") * Darmstadt-Ost ("East") * Darmstadt-West * Darmstadt-

Wixhausen Wixhausen is northernmost borough of the City of Darmstadt in southern Hesse, Germany. Covering an area of 23.247 km2, in 2006 it had 5,772 inhabitants and 1,310 houses. Its main claim to fame is the GSI heavy-ion research laboratory located ...

Population development

Politics

Mayor

The current mayor of Darmstadt is Jochen Partsch of

Alliance 90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a Green politics, green List of political parties in Germany, political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens ...

, who was elected in 2011 and re-elected in 2017. The most recent mayoral election was held on 19 March 2017, and the results were as follows: ! colspan=2, Candidate ! Party ! Votes ! % , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Jochen Partsch , align=left,

, 25,291 , 50.4 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Michael Siebel , align=left,

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

, 8,364 , 16.7 , - , bgcolor=#448581, , align=left, Kerstin Lau , align=left, UFFBASSE , 6,235 , 12.4 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Christoph Hentzen , align=left, Free Democratic Party , 2,801 , 5.6 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Uli Franke , align=left, The Left , 2,145 , 4.3 , - , bgcolor=#A037A0, , align=left, Helmut Klett , align=left, UWiGA , 2,094 , 4.2 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Hans Mohrmann , align=left,

Alternative for Germany Alternative for Germany (german: link=no, Alternative für Deutschland, AfD; ) is a right-wing populist * * * * * * * political party in Germany. AfD is known for its opposition to the European Union, as well as immigration to Germany. I ...

, 2,031 , 4.0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Achim Pfeffer , align=left,

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

, 973 , 1.9 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Thorsten Przygoda , align=left,

, 293 , 0.6 , - ! colspan=3, Valid votes ! 50,227 ! 99.2 , - ! colspan=3, Invalid votes ! 388 ! 0.8 , - ! colspan=3, Total ! 50,615 ! 100.0 , - ! colspan=3, Electorate/voter turnout ! 115,316 ! 43.9 , - , colspan=5, Source
City of Darmstadt
The following is a list of mayors since 1945:

City council

The Darmstadt city council (''Stadtverordnetenversammlung'') governs the city alongside the Mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 14 March 2021, and the results were as follows: ! colspan=2, Party ! Lead candidate ! Votes ! % ! +/- ! Seats ! +/- , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(Grüne) , align=left, Hildegard Förster-Heldmann , 1,151,498 , 27.4 , 2.3 , 20 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(SPD) , align=left, Tim Huß , 703,686 , 16.7 , 0.5 , 12 , ±0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) , align=left, Paul Georg Wandrey , 654,797 , 15.6 , 2.6 , 11 , 2 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, The Left (Die Linke) , align=left, Karl-Heinz Böck , 310,074 , 7.4 , 0.6 , 5 , ±0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

Volt Germany Volt Germany (, mostly known by the abbreviated name Volt) is a social-liberal pro-European, eurofederalist political party in Germany. It is the German branch of Volt Europa, a political movement that operates on a European level. Italian And ...

(Volt) , align=left, Nicolas Kämmerer , 289,023 , 6.9 , New , 5 , New , - , bgcolor=#448581, , align=left, UFFBASSE , align=left, Kerstin Lau , 269,301 , 6.4 , 1.3 , 5 , ±0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Free Democratic Party (FDP) , align=left, Leif Blum , 234,121 , 5.6 , 0.3 , 4 , ±0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(AfD) , align=left, Günter Zabel , 191,982 , 4.6 , 4.6 , 3 , 4 , - , bgcolor=#A037A0, , align=left, UWiGA , align=left, Erich Bauer , 130,867 , 3.1 , 0.6 , 2 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

Die PARTEI (''Party for Labour, Rule of Law, Animal Protection, Promotion of Elites and Grassroots Democratic Initiative''), or Die PARTEI (''The PARTY''), is a German political party. It was founded in 2004 by the editors of the German satirical magazin ...

(PARTEI) , align=left, Holger Eisenblätter , 90,254 , 2.1 , 1.8 , 2 , 2 , - , bgcolor=#556B2F, , align=left, Voters' Association of Darmstadt (WGD) , align=left, Falk Neumann , 85,320 , 2.0 , New , 1 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

Free Voters Free Voters (german: Freie Wähler, FW or FWG) in Germany may belong to an association of people which participates in an election without having the status of a registered political party. Usually it involves a locally organized group of voters ...

(FW) , align=left, Harald Uhl , 79,293 , 1.9 , New , 1 , New , - , , align=left, Take Part in Darmstadt , align=left, Dorothea Mondry , 13,680 , 0.3 , New , 0 , New , - ! colspan=3, Valid votes ! 60,815 ! 96.6 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=3, Invalid votes ! 2,141 ! 3.4 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=3, Total ! 62,956 ! 100.0 ! ! 71 ! ±0 , - ! colspan=3, Electorate/voter turnout ! 115,119 ! 54.7 ! 6.9 ! ! , - , colspan=8, Source
Statistics Hesse

Transport

Darmstadt is highly connected to all means of transportation, including the Autobahn Network, the Intercity-Express Network and a major international airport. File:HEAG 0777 am Schloss 101 2987.jpg, A tram near Schloss station. File:TU Darmstadt HaltepunktTULichtwieseMitRB65.jpg, Regional train at Darmstadt Lichtwiese station. File:Darmstadt Hbf (5946442195).jpg,

Darmstadt Hauptbahnhof Darmstadt Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station in the German city Darmstadt. After Frankfurt Hbf and Wiesbaden Hbf, it is the third largest station in the state of Hesse with 35,000 passengers and 220 trains per day. Built in a late art no ...

– Train hub for southern Hesse File:Hauptbahnhof Darmstadt 260-62-ftmh.jpg, Hauptbahnhof Railway Station

Roads

Darmstadt is connected to a number of major roads, including two

Autobahn The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. ...

en (

Bundesautobahn 5 is a 445 km (277 mi) long Autobahn in Germany. Its northern end is the Hattenbach triangle intersection (with the A 7. The southern end is at the Swiss border near Basel. It runs through the German states of Hessen and Baden-Wü ...

and

Bundesautobahn 67 is an autobahn in Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Uni ...

). The main road passing west–east is the Bundesstraße 26, the

Bundesstraße 3 The Bundesstraße 3 (abbr. B3) is one of the longest federal highways in Germany. It begins in Buxtehude and continues through Bergen, Celle, Hanover, Alfeld, Einbeck, Göttingen, Kassel, Marburg, Frankfurt am Main, Darmstadt, Heidelberg, ...

runs north–south. The rural areas east of the city in the

Odenwald The Odenwald () is a low mountain range in the German states of Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. Location The Odenwald is located between the Upper Rhine Plain with the Bergstraße and the ''Hessisches Ried'' (the northeastern section ...

are accessed by several secondary roads.

Public transport in Darmstadt

The extensive public transport system of Darmstadt is integrated in the RMV (the transportation authority of the Frankfurt Metropolitan Area). The backbone of public transport in Darmstadt is its modern

tram system A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

with 9 lines and a local bus service serving all parts of the city. Darmstadt is furthermore connected to the Frankfurt S-Bahn system and being served by regional bus lines. Furthermore, regional rail lines (R64, R65, R66) connect six secondary railway stations within the city.

Regional rail links

Darmstadt is connected to the Frankfurt rapid transit network by

S-Bahn The S-Bahn is the name of hybrid urban- suburban rail systems serving a metropolitan region in German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit systems, while smaller ones often resemble co ...

line S3. Besides that, a number of regional trains connect secondary railway stations within Darmstadt and the region with

(main station), offering a net of inner city and regional train links.

National rail links

By its main railway station "

", which is located in the western part of the central city, Darmstadt is connected to the rest of Germany and Europe by the

Intercity-Express The Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE ()) is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany. It also serves some destinations in Austria, Denmark (ceased in 2017 but planned to resume in 2022), France, Belgium, Switzerla ...

network and other long-distance trains. Darmstadt Hauptbahnhof is a busy station with 12 platforms which serves as a

transportation hub A transport hub is a place where passengers and cargo are exchanged between vehicles and/or between transport modes. Public transport hubs include railway stations, rapid transit stations, bus stops, tram stops, airports and ferry slips. F ...

for the southern Hesse/

region.

Airports

The historically important local airfield is closed to aviation at large, being reserved for the use of the

. *

Frankfurt International Airport Frankfurt Airport (; german: link=no, Flughafen Frankfurt Main , also known as ''Rhein-Main-Flughafen'') is a major international airport located in Frankfurt, the fifth-largest city of Germany and one of the world's leading financial centres. ...

Darmstadt can be easily accessed from around the world via Frankfurt Airport (''Flughafen Frankfurt am Main'') which is located north of central Darmstadt and connected to it via

, several bus lines and a direct express bus-link ("''Airliner''"). The airport ranks among the

world's busiest airports by passenger traffic The world's busiest airports by passenger traffic are measured by total passengers (data from Airports Council International), defined as passengers enplaned plus passengers deplaned plus direct-transit passengers. Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta In ...

and is the second-busiest airport by cargo traffic in Europe. The airport also serves as the main hub for German

flag carrier A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by the government for international operations. Hist ...

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding m ...

. *

Frankfurt Egelsbach Airport Frankfurt Egelsbach Airport (german: Flugplatz Frankfurt-Egelsbach) is a general aviation airport located near Egelsbach, a town in the German state of Hesse. It is located southeast of Frankfurt Airport. History The airport was opened in 1 ...

Frankfurt Egelsbach Airport (''Flugplatz Frankfurt-Egelsbach'') is a busy

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

airport located 5 km north of Darmstadt, near the town of

Egelsbach Egelsbach is a municipality of 11,000 in the Offenbach district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location Egelsbach is one of 13 communities in the Offenbach district. The community lies in the Frankfurt ...

. *

Frankfurt Hahn Airport Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its ...

Despite the name, Frankfurt Hahn Airport (''Flughafen Frankfurt-Hahn'') is located far outside the Frankfurt Metro Area, approximately to the west in

Lautzenhausen Lautzenhausen is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (district) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of ...

(

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

). Hahn Airport is a major base for

low-cost carrier A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline (occasionally referred to as '' no-frills'', ''budget'' or '' discount carrier'' or ''airline'', and abbreviated as ''LCC'') is an airline that is operated with an especially high emphasis on minimizing op ...

Ryanair Ryanair is an Irish ultra low-cost carrier founded in 1984. It is headquartered in Swords, Dublin, Ireland and has its primary operational bases at Dublin and London Stansted airports. It forms the largest part of the Ryanair Holdings family ...

. This airport can only be reached by car or bus.

National coach services

Darmstadt is served by several national and European bus links which connect Darmstadt with other German and European cities.

Parks, architecture, and attractions

Castles and historical buildings

Darmstadt was the capital of an independent country (the

) until 1871 and the capital of the German state of

until 1945. It is due to its past as a capital city that it has many architectural testimonies of this period. Many of its major architectural landmarks were created by

Georg Moller Georg Moller (21 January 1784 – 13 March 1852) was an architect and a town planner who worked in the South of Germany, mostly in the region today known as Hessen. Life and family background Moller was born in Diepholz, a descendant of an old ...

who was appointed the court master builder of the Grand Duchy of Hesse. Due to the fact that the last ruling Grand Duke of Hesse,

Ernst Ludwig , spouses = , issue = , house = Hesse-Darmstadt , father = Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine , mother =Princess Alice of the United Kingdom , birth_date = , birth_place = New Palace, Darmstadt, Gran ...

was a grandson of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

and brother to Empress Alexandra of

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, the architecture of Darmstadt has been influenced by British and Russian imperial architecture with many examples still existing, such as the Luisenplatz with its grand-ducal column, the old Hessian State Theatre (at Karolinenplatz) and the Russian Chapel by

Leon Benois Leon Benois (russian: Леонтий Николаевич Бенуа; 1856 in Peterhof – 1928 in Leningrad) was a Russian architect from the Benois family. Biography He was the son of architect Nicholas Benois, the brother of artists Alexandr ...

. The Russian church, St. Mary Magdalene Chapel, is named in honor of the patron saint of Tsar Nicholas' mother and was built of Russian stone on Russian soil brought to Darmstadt by train. It was used by the Russian imperial family and court during regular visits to the Tsarina's brother and family in Darmstadt. The grand-ducal palace of Darmstadt is located in the city centre. It was the residence of the counts of

Hesse-Darmstadt The Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt (german: Landgrafschaft Hessen-Darmstadt) was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled by a younger branch of the House of Hesse. It was formed in 1567 following the division of the Landgraviate of Hesse betwee ...

, later as Grand Dukes of Hesse by the grace of Napoleon. The rulers of Hesse also owned

Jagdschloss Kranichstein Jagdschloss Kranichstein is a palace in Kranichstein, now part of Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany. It was built north of Darmstadt from 1578 as a Jagdschloss, a hunting lodge for George I, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt. It served also as a summer reside ...

, a hunting lodge in

Kranichstein Kranichstein is a district in the city of Darmstadt. The town started with housing construction in the 1960s and now also has a number of residential high-rises. Often referred to as Darmstadt-Kranichstein. Geographical location Kranichstein is ...

which is a nowadays used as a five star hotel. The most famous castle in the Darmstadt region is

Frankenstein Castle Frankenstein Castle (german: Burg Frankenstein) is a hilltop castle in the Odenwald overlooking the city of Darmstadt in Germany. This castle may have been an inspiration for Mary Shelley when she wrote her 1818 Gothic novel ''Frankenstein; o ...

due to claims that the real castle may have had an influence on Mary Shelley's decision to choose the name

Frankenstein ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific ex ...

for her monster-creating scientist. This castle dates back to the 13th century, but it was acquired by the counts of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1662. File:Residenzschloss Darmstadt 539-Gdh.JPG, Ducal Palace and Market Square File:InnerCastle.jpg,

Modern architecture

Darmstadt has a rich tradition in modern architecture. After 1945 several ''"Meisterbauten"'' (''Masterful Architectonic Creations'') were built that set standards for modern architecture. These buildings still exist and are used for various public and private purposes. In the late 1990s the

Waldspirale The Waldspirale is a residential building complex in Darmstadt, Germany, built in the 1990s. The name translates into English as forest spiral, reflecting both the general plan of the building and the fact that it has a green roof. It was desi ...

('Forest Spiral') was built, a residential complex by Austrian

Friedensreich Hundertwasser Friedrich Stowasser (15 December 1928 – 19 February 2000), better known by his pseudonym Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser (), was an Austrian visual artist and architect who also worked in the field of environmental protection ...

. As an almost

surreal Surreal may refer to: *Anything related to or characteristic of Surrealism, a movement in philosophy and art * "Surreal" (song), a 2000 song by Ayumi Hamasaki * ''Surreal'' (album), an album by Man Raze *Surreal humour, a common aspect of humor ...

building, it is internationally famous for its almost absolute rejection of rectangular forms, down to every window having a different shape, the style being a trademark of Hundertwasser's work. Hundertwasser died before the Waldspirale was finished.

Art Nouveau

Darmstadt was a centre of the Art Nouveau movement. Surviving examples of the

period include the Rosenhöhe, a landscaped English-style

rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

garden from the 19th century, recently renovated and replanted, the UNESCO World Heritage Site

Mathildenhöhe The Darmstadt Artists’ Colony refers both to a group of Jugendstil artists as well as to the buildings in Mathildenhöhe in Darmstadt in which these artists lived and worked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The artists were largely fi ...

, with the ''Hochzeitsturm'' ('Wedding tower', also commonly known as the 'Five-Finger-Tower') by

Joseph Maria Olbrich Joseph Maria Olbrich (22 December 1867 – 8 August 1908) was an Austrian architect and one of the Vienna Secession founders. Early life Olbrich was born in Opava, Austrian Silesia (now Czech Republic), the third child of Edmund and Aloisia O ...

, the

and large exhibition halls as well as many private villas built by Jugendstil architects who had settled in Darmstadt. German Art Nouveau is commonly known by its German name, Jugendstil. The name is taken from the artistic journal, Die Jugend, which was published in Munich and which espoused the new artistic movement. It was founded in 1896 by Georg Hirth (Hirth remained editor until his death in 1916, and the magazine continued to be published until 1940). The magazine was instrumental in promoting the style in Germany. As a result, its name was adopted as the most common German-language term for the style: Jugendstil ("young style"). Although, during the early 20th century, the word was applied to only two-dimensional examples of the graphic arts, especially the forms of organic typography and graphic design found in and influenced by German magazines like Jugend, Pan, and

Simplicissimus :''Simplicissimus is also a name for the 1668 novel Der abenteuerliche Simplicissimus, Simplicius Simplicissimus and its protagonist.'' ''Simplicissimus'' () was a satire, satirical German language, German weekly magazine, headquartered in Munich ...

, it is now applied to more general manifestations of Art Nouveau visual arts in Germany, the Netherlands, the Baltic states, and Nordic countries. The two main centres for Jugendstil art in Germany were Munich and Darmstadt.

Squares

The ''Luisenplatz'', the central square of the city, forms the centre of the city and is the main public transport hub. In 1844 the ''Ludwigsäule'' (called ''Langer Lui'', meaning ''Long Ludwig''), a 33-metre (108 ft) column commemorating

Ludwig I en, Louis Charles Augustus , image = Joseph Karl Stieler - King Ludwig I in his Coronation Robes - WGA21796.jpg , caption = Portrait by Joseph Stieler, 1825 , succession=King of Bavaria , reign = , coronation ...

, first Grand Duke of

, was placed in the middle of the square. While the column still stands, the square is today surrounded by mostly modern buildings. Other important squares are the ''Marktplatz'' (see image) near the old city hall and the ''Sabaisplatz'' at the ''Mathildenhöhe''.

Parks

The city has a high density of parks. Among the most important parks are the English style ''Herrngarten'' in central Darmstadt. In former times it was part of the Royal Gardens used exclusively by the dukes of Darmstadt. Today it is a public park, heavily used in every season of the year. Other important parks are the French style parks ''Prinz-Georgs-Garten'' and

Orangerie An orangery or orangerie was a room or a dedicated building on the grounds of fashionable residences of Northern Europe from the 17th to the 19th centuries where orange and other fruit trees were protected during the winter, as a very large ...

, the modern style ''Bürgerpark'' ("People's Park") in northern Darmstadt and the mystical ''Park Rosenhöhe'', ("Rose Heights") which also serves as the cemetery for the dukes and their immediate family, with two impressive mausoleum buildings (Altes Mausoleum and Neues Mausoleum) in its remote parts. The Botanischer Garten in eastern Darmstadt is a botanical garden maintained by the

with a fine collection of rare plants and trees.

Churches

The

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

Stadtkirche Darmstadt The Stadtkirche Darmstadt (german: link=no, Stadtkirche Darmstadt) is the main Protestant church of the city of Darmstadt and one of its parish churches, but no longer the bishopric seat of the local Evangelische Kirche in Hessen und Nassau, wh ...

built in 1369, is in the pedestrian zone of the downtown city center, next to the historic Hotel Bockshaut. The church has

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

elements along with

renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

and

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

, it houses the

royal Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

crypt. Hotel Bockshaut was built in 1580 for a church presbytery. The most important Catholic Church is ''St. Ludwig'' in central Darmstadt. The

is a Russian orthodox church which is still in use. It was built and used as a private chapel by the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II of Russia, Nicholas II, whose wife Alexandra Fyodorovna of Hesse, Alexandra was born in Darmstadt. Although Russian orthodox churches also exist in other cities outside Russia, the Russian Chapel in Darmstadt was the only official Russian church used by the Tsar outside the Russian Empire. It is said that the chapel was built on Russian soil that was brought to Darmstadt exclusively for the purpose of building the Tsar's private chapel on it.

Festivals

Every year on the first weekend of July the Heinerfest festival is held in the streets surrounding the old ducal palace. It is a traditional German festival with music acts, beer halls, amusement rides and booths selling trinkets and food. The similar 'Schloßgrabenfest', which is more live music-oriented, is held in the same location every year in May. These two festivals attract 700,000 and 400,000 visitors respectively.

Culture

Darmstadt Staatstheater Zuschauerraum vom Rang

Darmstadt has a rich cultural heritage. The Staatstheater Darmstadt (''State Theatre Darmstadt'') dates back to the year 1711. The present building has been in use since 1972 and has three halls which can be used independently. The "Grand Hall" (''Großes Haus'') provides seats for 956 people and serves as Darmstadt's opera house. The "Small Hall" (''Kleines Haus'') is mostly used for plays and dance and has 482 seats. A separate small hall (''Kammerspiele'') with 120 seats is used for chamber plays. Among the museums in Darmstadt the most important are the ''Hessisches Landesmuseum'' (Hessian State Museum), the ''Porcelain Museum'' (exhibition of the ducal porcelain), the ''Schlossmuseum'' (exhibition of the ducal residence and possessions), the ''Kunsthalle Darmstadt'' (exhibitions of modern art), the exhibition centre ''Mathildenhöhe'' and the ''Museum Künstlerkolonie'' (

museum). The Jazz-Institut Darmstadt is Germany's largest publicly accessible jazz archive. The Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt, harboring one of the world's largest collections of post-war sheet music, also hosts the biennial ''Darmstadt New Music Summer School, Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik'', a summer school in contemporary classical music founded by Wolfgang Steinecke. A large number of avant-garde composers have attended and given lectures there, including Olivier Messiaen, Luciano Berio, Milton Babbitt, Pierre Boulez, Luigi Nono (composer), Luigi Nono, John Cage, György Ligeti, Iannis Xenakis, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Mauricio Kagel, and Helmut Lachenmann. The Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung provides writers and scholars with a place to research the German language. The academy's annual Georg Büchner Prize, named in memory of Georg Büchner, is considered the most prestigious literary award for writers of German language.

Geography

Bergstrasse westblick bei heppenheim ds wv 11 2007

Darmstadt is located in the Upper Rhine Plain (German: Oberrheinische Tiefebene), a major rift, about 350 km (217 mi) long and on average 50 km (31 mi) wide, between the cities of Frankfurt in the north and Basel in the south. Darmstadt's southeastern boroughs are located in the spurs of the

, a low mountain range in Southern Hesse between the Main and Neckar rivers.

Climate

Southern Hesse is well known for its mild climate which allows winegrowing on a large scale in the region south of Darmstadt. The weather is often volatile with the summers being warm and humid with frequent thunderstorms, the winters mostly relatively mild with frequent periods of high fog. Snowfall is most likely in January and February, but mild winters without considerable snowfall can occur.

Education

Schools

The City of Darmstadt offers students a broad variety of public primary, secondary and tertiary schools. Besides them private schools exist, e.g. the catholic secondary school ''Edith-Stein-Schule'', the Adventists' ''Schulzentrum Marienhöhe'', an anthroposophic Waldorf school, ''Waldorf School'', a ''Comenius'' ''School'' and other faith based private schools.

Universities

TU Darmstadt

The Technical University of Darmstadt (German: ''Technische Universität Darmstadt''), commonly referred to as TU Darmstadt, is a prestigious research university in Germany. It was founded in 1877 and received the right to award doctorates in 1899. In 1882 it was the first university in the world to set up a chair in electrical engineering, in 1883 the first faculty for electrical engineering was founded there. The university is organized in 13 departments and 5 fields of study, which all together offer about 100 courses of studies. The fields of study offer interdisciplinary degree courses in which students take lectures in multiple departments. The university, as its title suggests, offers degree courses in the fields of electrical, mechanical and civil engineering, architecture, computer science, mathematics and the natural sciences. It also offers courses in economics, law, history, politics, sociology, psychology, sport science and linguistics. It also offers degree courses for teaching positions at German vocational schools and Gymnasiums.

Hochschule Darmstadt

The

(German: ''Hochschule Darmstadt'') has the highest number of industrial linkage programs, compared to the rest of the universities of applied sciences. The roots of University of Applied Sciences Darmstadt dates back to 1876. However, it has not emerged as a separate institution before 1971. Today (2017) it is the largest University of Applied Sciences in the State of Hesse with about 16,000 students offering courses in architecture, chemical engineering, materials science, civil engineering, computer science, design, economics, electrical engineering and information technology, mathematics and science, mechanical engineering, media (including information science and engineering), plastics engineering, social and cultural studies, and several social sciences.

EHD Darmstadt

The Protestant University of Applied Sciences Darmstadt (EHD) is an officially recognised and Church-sponsored University. The sponsors are the Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau, the Protestant Church of Kurhesse-Waldeck and the social welfare organisation of both Hessian Protestant Churches, the Diakonie Hesse. The EHD has approximately 1,700 students, 40 professors and 10 scientific employees and about 100 visiting lecturers every semester.

Sport

The city's main professional club is the association football, football club

, who play at the Merck-Stadion am Böllenfalltor. Other, amateur football clubs are 1. FCA Darmstadt and Rot-Weiß Darmstadt. Darmstadt Diamonds is the city's american football team.

Institutions

Technology

Views in the Main Control Room (12052189474)

Darmstadt is home to many research institutions such as the Fraunhofer Society (Fraunhofer IGD, Fraunhofer LBF, Fraunhofer SIT) and the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI, "Society for heavy ion Research"), which operates a particle accelerator in northern Darmstadt. The GSI, amongst other elements, discovered the chemical element

(atomic number: 110), named after the city in 2003. This makes Darmstadt one of List_of_chemical_elements_named_after_places, several cities with elements named after them. Various other elements, including

(atomic number: 109) (1982),

(atomic number: 108) (1984),

(atomic number: 111) (1994) and

(atomic number: 112) (1996) were also synthesized in the Darmstadt facility. The

(ESOC) of the European Space Agency is located in Darmstadt. From here, various deep-space exploration spacecraft and Earth-orbiting satellites are operated for the purposes of scientific research, and technology development and demonstration. EUMETSAT, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, operates the principal European meteorological satellites from its headquarters, including the first and second generations of Meteosat geostationary satellites, and the polar-orbiting Metop series. Darmstadt is a centre for the pharmaceutical and chemical industry, with Merck, Röhm and Carl Schenck, Schenck RoTec (part of The Dürr Group) having their main plants and centres here. Darmstadt is also a centre for the IT and telecommunications industry, with companies like Software AG, T-Systems (laboratories in Darmstadt) and

(laboratories in Darmstadt). Athene (research center), ATHENE, formerly Center for Research in Security and Privacy (CRISP), is the national research center for Computer security, IT security and privacy in Germany and the largest research center for Computer security, IT security in Europe. The research center is located in Darmstadt and deals with key issues of IT security in the digitization of government, business and society. The German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence has a laboratory in Darmstadt. The Hessian Centre for Artificial Intelligence (hessian.AI) has its headquarters in Darmstadt.

United States military presence

U.S. forces entered the city of Darmstadt on 25 March 1945. At the end of World War II, Darmstadt was among the 112 communities where U.S. forces were stationed. Early units stationed here included elements of the U.S. Constabulary, Air Force units and a Quartermaster School. Over the years, the U.S. military community Darmstadt – under a variety of designations – served as home for thousands of American soldiers and their families. It included six principal installations in Darmstadt and nearby Babenhausen, Hesse, Babenhausen, Griesheim, Hesse, Griesheim and Münster, Hesse, Münster, plus several housing areas, an airfield and a large number of smaller facilities as far away as Bensheim and Aschaffenburg. The military newspaper European ''Stars and Stripes (newspaper), Stars and Stripes'' also had its headquarters there. As of 1993, the Darmstadt military community also assumed responsibility for the remaining U.S. Army facilities in the Frankfurt-am-Main, Frankfurt area. As part of the U.S. Army's ongoing transformation in Germany, the Darmstadt military community, by then designated U.S. Army Garrison Darmstadt, inactivated on 30 September 2008. Even after the garrison inactivation, however, there is still one unit active in Darmstadt: The 66th Military Intelligence Brigade (United States), 66th Military Intelligence Group at the Dagger Complex on Eberstädter Weg. It draws its support from the nearby U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden. The website of the 66th Military Intelligence Brigade claims they moved out in 2008, but Google Maps and Bing satellite imagery still show a respectively full and quarter-full parking lot, and the U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden's website mentions the unit still being active in Darmstadt, and a Marine Corps company being stationed there as well. With the exception of Dagger Complex, all remaining US installations are now empty and closed to the public, pending property disposal by the German authorities.

Tourist sights in Darmstadt

Limmeuble Waldspirale (Darmstadt) (7954668126)

City

* Darmstadt Artists' Colony, Mathildenhöhe with the

Museum ** Wedding Tower (''Hochzeitsturm'') at Sabaisplatz ** Russian Chapel in Darmstadt, The former private chapel of the last Tsar of Russia * Staatstheater Darmstadt, State Theatre and Opera House *

Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Hundertwasser Building * City Center with Luisenplatz, the Castle and the Market Square * Darmstadt Hauptbahnhof, Hauptbahnhof – Central Train Station (Art Nouveau style) * Parks ** Herrngarten Park ** Botanischer Garten Darmstadt, Botanical Garden (''Botanischer Garten'') ** Vortex Garten, Vortex Garden ** Park Rosenhöhe (''Rose Heights Park'') with the Dukal Cemetery * Porcelain Museum at Schlossgartenplatz * St. Ludwig Church * State Museum (''Landesmuseum'') * State Archive/Old Theatre * Darmstadt-Kranichstein Railway Museum, Train Museum Kranichstein

Region

* Bergstraße Route, Bergstrasse * Vineyards at Zwingenberg, Hesse, Zwingenberg *

* Messel Pit Fossil Site * Melibokus

Notable people

* Christoph Graupner (1683–1760), composer and Hofkapellmeister (chapel master) at the court of Hesse-Darmstadt from 1711 to 1754 * Johann Jacob Dillenius (1684–1747), botanist * Justus von Liebig, Justus Freiherr von Liebig (1803–1873), chemist who made major contributions to agricultural and biological chemistry, and was considered the founder of organic chemistry * Friedrich von Flotow (1812–1883), opera composer, died in Darmstadt. * Georg Büchner (1813–1837), dramatist, poet and revolutionist * Carl Amand Mangold (1813–1889), composer and conductor * Friedrich August Kekulé (1829–1896), prominent organic chemistry, organic chemist and the principal founder of the theory of chemical structure * Eugen Bracht (1842–1921), landscape painter * Georg von Hertling (1843–1919), politician * Benjamin Altheimer (1850–1938), American banker and philanthropist * Karl Muck (1859–1940), conductor * Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse (1868–1937), last Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, * Karl Wolfskehl (1869–1948), poet, editor and translator * Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse), Alexandra Feodorovna (1872–1918), Russian Empress, born as Alix of Hesse, married Nicholas II of Russia, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia * Christian Stock (1884–1967), politician * Anton Köllisch (1888–1916), chemist who first synthesized

(known as "ecstasy") * Beno Gutenberg (1889–1960), German-American seismologist * Karl Plagge (1897–1957), Wehrmacht officer, saved Lithuanian Jews from extermination during The Holocaust, Righteous among the Nations * Karl-Otto Koch (1897–1945), commandant of the Nazi concentration camps at Buchenwald concentration camp, Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen concentration camp, Sachsenhausen * Josef Ganz (1898–1967), automotive engineer and pioneer, studied at the Technical University of Darmstadt * Heinrich von Brentano (1904–1964), Minister for Foreign Affairs (Germany), Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1955 to 1961 * Hans Möser (1906–1948), Nazi SS concentration camp officer executed for war crimes * Walter Schmiele (1909–1998), author and translator * Arno Schmidt (1914–1979), author and translator * Hans Stark (1921–1991), head of the admissions detail at Auschwitz-II Birkenau of Auschwitz concentration camp * Georg Stern (1921–1980), operatic singer * Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928–2007), leading 20th-century electronic composer * Günter Strack (1929–1999), actor * Maciej Łukaszczyk (1934–2014), Polish pianist at the Staatstheater Darmstadt, founder and president of the Chopin organisation, porter of the Polish and German order * Helmut Markwort (born 1936), journalist * Annegret Soltau (born 1946), artist * Cord Meijering (born 1955), Dutch composer * Christoph Lanz (born 1959), journalist * Volker Weidermann (born 1969), writer and journalist *Florika Fink-Hooijer (born 1962), prominent European civil servant * Markus Rühl (born 1972), bodybuilder * Karola Obermüller (born 1977), composer * Björn Bürger (born 1985), operatic baritone * Andrea Petkovic (born 1987), tennis player * Nina Gerhard (born 1974), singer *Zinaida Petrovna Ziberova (born 1909), composer Justus von Liebig NIH.jpg, Justus von Liebig around 1866 Friedrich von Flotow 1866.jpg, Friedrich von Flotow 1866 Heinrich von Angeli - Friedrich August Kekulé von Stradonitz.jpg, Friedrich August Kekulé in 1890

Twin towns – sister cities

Darmstadt is Sister city, twinned with: * Alkmaar, Netherlands (1958) * Brescia, Italy (1991) * Bursa, Turkey (1971) * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, Chesterfield, England, UK (1959) * Freiberg, Germany (1990) * Graz, Austria (1968) * Saanen, Gstaad (Saanen), Switzerland (1991) * Gyönk, Hungary (1990) * Liepāja, Latvia (1993) * Logroño, Spain (2002) * Płock, Poland (1988) * San Antonio, United States (2017) * Szeged, Hungary (1990) * Trondheim, Norway (1968) * Troyes, France (1958) * Uzhhorod, Ukraine (1992)

References

External links

* *
Discover Darmstadt – City Tourist Website

* {{Authority control Darmstadt, Capitals of former nations Grand Duchy of Hesse Merck Group Odenwald Holocaust locations in Germany