Darmstadt () is a city in the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

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 am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...

, and

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

. Darmstadt holds the official title "City of Science" () 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 Organisation 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 Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...

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 uncrewed spacecraft on behalf of ESA and ...

(ESA 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; it has symbol Bh and atomic number 107. It is named after Danish physicist Niels Bohr. As a synthetic element, it can be created in particle accelerators but is not found in nature. All known isotopes of ...

(1981),

meitnerium Meitnerium is a synthetic chemical element; it has 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 most stable known isotope, meitnerium ...

(1982),

hassium Hassium is a synthetic element, synthetic chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Hs and atomic number 108. It is highly radioactive: its most stable known isotopes have half-life, half-lives of about ten seconds. One of its isotopes, Hs ...

(1984),

darmstadtium Darmstadtium is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Ds and atomic number 110. It is extremely radioactive: the most stable known isotope, darmstadtium-281, has a half-life of approximately 14 seconds. Darmstadtium was first created in No ...

(1994),

roentgenium Roentgenium () is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Rg and atomic number 111. It is extremely radioactive and can only be created in a laboratory. The most stable known isotope, roentgenium-282, has a half-life of 130 seconds, althoug ...

(1994), and

copernicium Copernicium is a synthetic chemical element; it has 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 was also confirmed at GSI Centre for Heavy Ion Research:

nihonium Nihonium is a synthetic chemical element; it has 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 transactini ...

(2012),

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

(2009),

moscovium Moscovium is a synthetic element, synthetic chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, 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 Resea ...

(2012),

livermorium Livermorium is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Lv and atomic number 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 after the La ...

(2010), and

tennessine Tennessine is a synthetic element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Ts and atomic number 117. It has the second-highest atomic number and joint-highest atomic mass of all known elements and is the penultimate element of the Period 7 element, 7th ...

(2012). The

Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research A facility is a place for doing something, or a place that facilitates an activity. Types of facility include: * A commercial or institutional building, such as a hotel, resort, school, office complex, sports arena, or convention center * Medi ...

(FAIR) is an international accelerator facility under construction. Darmstadt is also the seat of the world's oldest pharmaceutical company, Merck, which is the city's largest employer. P2250381 Darmstadt in Frankfurt-Rhein-Main

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, near to the Rosenhöhe Park. ...

, a major centre of the

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

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 and 1899 by the ...

, were recognized as a

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

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

Grand Duchy of Hesse The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine () 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 as the Grand Duchy of Hesse (). It assumed the name ...

and its successor, the

People's State of Hesse The People's State of Hesse () was one of the constituent states of Weimar Republic, Germany from 1918 to 1945, as the successor to the Grand Duchy of Hesse () after the defeat of the German Empire in World War I, on the territory of the curren ...

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

duchy A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a 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 existed an important differe ...

, 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 professional association football club based in Darmstadt, Hesse. The club was founded on 22 May 1898 as FC Olympia Darmstadt. Early in 1919, the association was bri ...

Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse) Alexandra Feodorovna (, born Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine; 6 June 1872 – 17 July 1918) was the last Empress of Russia as the consort of Tsar Nicholas II from their marriage on until his forced abdication on . A granddaughter of Quee ...

, the wife of

Nicholas II of Russia Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 186817 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, Congress Poland, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until Abdication of Nicholas II, hi ...

, as well as

Maria Alexandrovna (Marie of Hesse) Maria Alexandrovna (), born Princess Maximiliane Wilhelmine Auguste Sophie Marie of Hesse and by Rhine (8 August 1824 – 3 June 1880), was Empress of Russia as the first wife of Emperor Alexander II. The daughter of Ludwig II, Grand Duke of ...

, 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 Grand Du ...

, 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 (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...

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

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 Katzenelnbog ...

. 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 () 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 Middle Ages, the territory of He ...

, and was seat of the ruling

landgrave Landgrave (, , , ; , ', ', ', ', ') was a rank of nobility used in the Holy Roman Empire, and its former territories. The German titles of ', ' ("margrave"), and ' ("count palatine") are of roughly equal rank, subordinate to ' ("duke"), and su ...

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

Industrial age

The city's population grew during the 19th century, from a little over 10,000, to 72,000 inhabitants. A polytechnical school, which later became a Technical University now known as

TU Darmstadt Tu or TU may refer to: Language * Tu language * Tu (cuneiform), a cuneiform sign * ''tu'' or ''tú'' the 2nd-person singular subject pronoun in many languages; see personal pronoun * T–V distinction (from the Latin pronouns ''tu'' and ''vos'') ...

, was established in 1877. In the early 20th century, Darmstadt was an important centre for the art movement of

, the German variant of

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

. Also during this period, in 1912 the chemist Anton Kollisch, working for the pharmaceutical company Merck, first synthesised the chemical

MDMA 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), commonly known as ecstasy (tablet form), and molly (crystal form), is an empathogen–entactogenic drug with stimulant and minor Psychedelic drug, psychedelic properties. In studies, it has been used ...

(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 A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploit ...

Darmstädter Stadtgeschichte 20. Jahrhundert
(from the official city website, in German, less detailed also in English) where most eventually died. In 1944, the city was also the location of a subcamp of the

Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp Natzweiler-Struthof was a Nazi concentration camp located in the Vosges Mountains close to the villages of Natzwiller, Natzweiler and Struthof in the Gau Baden-Alsace of Nazi Germany, Germany, on territory Annexation, annexed from France on a b ...

. 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 politician. An early opponent of Nazism, he organized underground resistance in the labour movement. ...

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 11/12 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 25 March 1945 by the American 4th Armored Division. Today around 30% of Darmstadt consists of buildings from before World War II.

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 ( ) , is Germany's busiest international airport by passenger numbers, located in Frankfurt, Germany's fifth-largest city. Its official name according to the German Aeronautical Information Publication is Frankfurt Main Airpor ...

, with important activities in spacecraft operations (the

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

Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (, ; often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a partially state-owned German telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn and the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. It was formed in 199 ...

presence) and

mechatronics Mechatronics engineering, also called mechatronics, is the synergistic integration of mechanical, electrical, and computer systems employing mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, electronic engineering and computer engineering, and also ...

. 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 ...

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

Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences The Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences (), 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" and ATHENE, the largest r ...

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 Darmsta ...

(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 vocational university or university of applied sciences (UAS), less commonly called a polytechnic university is an institution of higher education and increasingly research that provides applied professional education and grants academic de ...

in Hesse (German:

Hessen Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major historic cities are Da ...

) with about 16,500 students. The

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 language, 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 ...

). 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 town of Weiterstadt, to the East is the Darmstadt distr ...

Darmstadt-Bessungen Bessungen is a district in the South of the city of Darmstadt in Hesse. History Until 1888, Bessungen was an independent municipality. Its 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 (). Geography In the north Eberstadt borders the boroughs of Bessungen and Darmstadt-West, in the east and south the municipalities of Mühltal ...

Darmstadt-Kranichstein Kranichstein is a district in the German city of Darmstadt. Housing construction in the area started in the 1960s and it now also has a number of residential high-rises. The district is often referred to as Darmstadt-Kranichstein. Geographical l ...

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

Population development

Politics

Mayor

The current mayor of Darmstadt is Hanno Benz of

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together wi ...

, who was elected in 2023. 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,

Alliance 90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (, ), often simply referred to as Greens (, ), is a Green (politics), green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of the Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (formed in East Ger ...

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

(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 () , 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 A ...

(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,

Alternative for Germany Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a Far-right politics in Germany (1945–present), far-right,Far-right: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative p ...

(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 magazine ...

(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 (, FW) is a political party in Germany. It originates as an umbrella organisation of several Free Voters Associations (), associations of people which participate in an election without having the status of a registered party. These a ...

(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

Roads

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

Autobahn The (; German , ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. Much of t ...

en (

Bundesautobahn 5 is a 445 km (277 mi) long Autobahn in Germany. Its northern end is the Hattenbach triangle intersection (with the Bundesautobahn 7, A 7). The southern end is at the Switzerland, Swiss border near Basel. It runs through the Germa ...

and Bundesautobahn 67). The main road passing west–east is the

Bundesstraße 26 The Bundesstraße 26 or Federal Highway 26, (abbreviation: B 26) runs between the city of Riedstadt at the B44, to the city of Hallstadt, at the Bundesautobahn 70, A70 in Germany. The highway run East to West. It crosses the River Main an ...

, 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, Darmstadt, Heidelberg, Karlsruhe an ...

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

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

are accessed by several secondary roads.

National rail links

Darmstadt is connected to the rest of Germany and Europe through its main railway station,

Darmstadt Hauptbahnhof Darmstadt Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station in the Germany, German city Darmstadt. After Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof, Frankfurt Hbf and Wiesbaden Hauptbahnhof, Wiesbaden Hbf, it is the third largest station in the state of Hesse with 35, ...

, which is located in the western part of the city centre. The station is part of the

Intercity-Express Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE () and running under this Train categories in Europe, category) is a high-speed rail in Germany, high-speed rail system in Germany. It also serves destinations in Austria, France, Belgium, Switzerland an ...

network and also served by other long-distance trains. It is a busy station with 12 platforms and 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. ...

for the southern Hesse/

region.

Regional rail links

is the terminus of S6 of the

Rhine-Main S-Bahn The Rhine-Main S-Bahn system is an integrated rapid transit and commuter rail, commuter train system for the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main region, which includes the cities Frankfurt am Main, Wiesbaden, Mainz, Offenbach am Main, Hanau and Darmstadt. The ...

, which connects the city to

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

. Within Darmstadt the S6 also stops at stations in

and Darmstadt-Wixhausen. Regional trains also connect six secondary railway stations within Darmstadt, and stations in the surrounding region, with

Public transport in Darmstadt

The extensive public transport system of Darmstadt is integrated in the RMV (the transportation authority of the Rhein-Main Metropolitan Area). The backbone of public transport in Darmstadt is the

tram system A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include seg ...

with 10 lines. Local bus lines also serve all parts of the city and the city is served by regional bus lines.

Airports

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

. *

Frankfurt International Airport Frankfurt Airport ( ) , is Germany's busiest international airport by passenger numbers, located in Frankfurt, Germany's fifth-largest city. Its official name according to the German Aeronautical Information Publication is Frankfurt Main Airpor ...

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

S-Bahn The S-Bahn ( , ), , is a hybrid urban rail, urban–suburban rail system serving a metropolitan region predominantly in German language, German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit syst ...

, 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 provided by the Airports Council International, defined as passengers enplaned plus passengers deplaned plus direct-transit passengers. The world's busiest airp ...

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 that government for international operations. Histo ...

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), trading as the Lufthansa Group, is a German aviation group. Its major and founding subsidiary airline Lufthansa German Airlines, branded as Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. It ranks List of largest airlin ...

. *

Frankfurt Egelsbach Airport Frankfurt Egelsbach Airport () 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 1955 with a single grass runway. It pro ...

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 except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

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

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) 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 sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

). Hahn Airport is a major base for

low-cost carrier A low-cost carrier (LCC) or low-cost airline, also called a budget, or discount carrier or airline, is an airline that is operated with an emphasis on minimizing operating costs. It sacrifices certain traditional airline luxuries for cheaper fa ...

Ryanair Ryanair is an Irish Low-cost carrier#Ultra low-cost carrier, ultra low-cost airline group headquartered in Swords, County Dublin, Ireland. The parent company, Ryanair Holdings plc, includes subsidiaries Ryanair , Malta Air, Buzz (Ryanair), Buzz ...

. 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. The

Residential Palace Darmstadt The Residential Palace Darmstadt (German: Residenzschloss Darmstadt, often also called Stadtschloss) is the former residence and administrative seat of the landgraves of Hesse-Darmstadt and from 1806 to 1919 of the List of rulers of Hesse, Grand D ...

() is located in the city centre. It was the residence of the counts of

Hesse-Darmstadt The Landgraviate of Hesse-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 among the four sons of Landgrave Philip I. ...

, 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 residen ...

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

Frankenstein Castle Frankenstein Castle () 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; or, The Modern Prometheus'' ...

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 Gothic novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a Sapience, sapient Frankenstein's monster, crea ...

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.

Russian Chapel

The last ruling Grand Duke of Hesse,

Ernst Ludwig Ernest Louis (; 25 November 1868 – 9 October 1937) was the last Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, reigning from 1892 until 1918. Early life Ernest Louis was the elder son of Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and Princess Alice of th ...

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 January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

and brother to Empress Alexandra of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. 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 and the

. The Russian Chapel is a

Russian orthodox church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

which is still in use. It was built and used as a private chapel by the last

Tsar Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...

of Russia,

Nicholas II Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 186817 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on 15 March 1917. He married ...

, whose wife

Alexandra Alexandra () is a female given name of Greek origin. It is the first attested form of its variants, including Alexander (, ). Etymology, Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; genitive, GEN , ; ...

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 The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. 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. by

Leon Benois Leon or Leonty Nikolayevich Benois (; – 8 February 1928) was a Russian architect from the Benois family. Biography He was the son of architect Nicholas Benois, the brother of artists Alexandre Benois and Albert Benois. He built the Roman ...

. 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.

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 ('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 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 Art is a diverse range of culture, cultural activity centered around works of art, ''works'' utilizing Creativity, creative or imagination, imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an express ...

. Surviving examples of the

period include the Rosenhöhe, a landscaped English-style

rose A rose is either a woody perennial plant, perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred Rose species, species and Garden roses, tens of thousands of cultivar ...

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, near to the Rosenhöhe Park. ...

, 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 Troppau, Austrian Silesia (modern day Opava, Czech Republic), the third child of Edm ...

, 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 German language, German weekly satire, satirical magazine, founded by Albert ...

, 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 Ludwig I or Louis I (; 25 August 1786 – 29 February 1868) was King of Bavaria from 1825 until the 1848 revolutions in the German states. When he was crown prince, he was involved in the Napoleonic Wars. As king, he encouraged Bavaria's ind ...

, 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 is a room or dedicated building, historically where orange and other fruit trees are protected during the winter, as a large form of greenhouse or conservatory. In the modern day an orangery could refer to either ...

, the modern style ''Bürgerpark'' ("People's Park") in northern Darmstadt and the mystical

Rosenhöhe Park Rosenhöhe Park is a park in eastern Darmstadt, standing on a hill. It contains a rose garden, with a rose dome at its highest point, the remains of the Rosenhöhe Palace, the mausoleums of the Hessian grand-ducal family, meadows, orchards, and m ...

("Rose Heights"), which also serves as the cemetery for the grand dukes and their immediate family, with two impressive mausoleum buildings (the Old Mausoleum and New Mausoleum) standing within it. The ''Botanischer Garten'' in eastern Darmstadt is a

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...

maintained by the

with a fine collection of rare plants and trees.

Churches

The

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

Stadtkirche Darmstadt built in 1369, is in the pedestrian zone of the downtown city center, next to the historic Hotel Bockshaut. The church has gothic elements along with

renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

and

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

, 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 or Royalty (disambiguation), royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Ill ...

crypt A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religiou ...

. Hotel Bockshaut was built in 1580 for a church presbytery. The most important

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Church is ''St. Ludwig'' in central Darmstadt.

Festivals

Every year on the first weekend of July the

Heinerfest Heinerfest is an annual festival in Darmstadt, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixte ...

festival is held in the streets surrounding the old ducal palace. It is a traditional German festival with music acts,

beer hall A beer hall or beer palace () refers to a type of establishment that gained significant popularity in the 19th century, particularly across Central Europe. These venues were pivotal to the social and cultural life of cities renowned for their bre ...

amusement ride Amusement rides, sometimes called carnival rides, are mechanical devices or structures that move people to create fun and enjoyment. Rides are often perceived by many as being scary or more dangerous than they actually are. This could be due to ...

s and booths selling trinkets and food. The Schlossgrabenfest, better known as the Stage Groove Festival, is

live music A concert, often known informally as a gig or show, is a live performance of music in front of an audience. The performance may be carried by a single musician, in which case it is sometimes called a recital, or by a musical ensemble such as an ...

-oriented and is held every year in May. These two festivals attract 700,000 and 400,000 visitors respectively.

Culture

Darmstadt has a rich cultural heritage. The

Staatstheater Darmstadt The Staatstheater Darmstadt (Darmstadt State Theatre) is a theatre company and building in Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany, presenting opera, ballet, plays and concerts. It is funded by the German states, state of Hesse and the city of Darmstadt. Its hi ...

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 play A chamber play is a play of usually three acts which can be performed with a small cast and practically no sets or costumes in a small space. The form became popular in the early 20th century, with leading exponents being Max Reinhardt and August S ...

Darmstadt Friedensplatz 1 Hessisches Landesmuseum 001

Among the museums in Darmstadt the most important are the

Hessisches Landesmuseum Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt (HLMD) is a large multidisciplinary museum in Darmstadt, Germany. The museum exhibits Rembrandt, Beuys, a primeval horse and a mastodon under the slogan "The whole world under one roof". As one of the oldest publ ...

(Hessian State Museum), the Porcelain Museum (exhibition of the ducal porcelain), the Schlossmuseum (Palace Museum exhibiting the ducal residence and possessions), the Kunsthalle Darmstadt (exhibitions of modern art), the exhibition centre Mathildenhöhe, and the Museum Künstlerkolonie (

museum). The Darmstadt Palace Museum collection showcases regional and royal history from the 16th until the early 20th Century. The Palace Museum consists of 16 showrooms. 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 Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chords of a song or instrumental musical piece. Like its analogs – printed Book, books or Pamphlet, pamphlets ...

, also hosts the biennial Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik, a summer school in

contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is Western art music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st-century classical music, 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 Modernism (music), post-tonal music after the death of ...

founded by Wolfgang Steinecke. A large number of avant-garde composers have attended and given lectures there, including

Olivier Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithology, ornithologist. One of the major composers of the 20th-century classical music, 20th century, he was also an ou ...

Luciano Berio Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental music, experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia (Berio), Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled ''Seque ...

Milton Babbitt Milton Byron Babbitt (May 10, 1916 – January 29, 2011) was an American composer, music theorist, mathematician, and teacher. He was a Pulitzer Prize and MacArthur Fellowship recipient, recognized for his serial and electronic music. Biography ...

Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 19255 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war contemporary classical music. Born in Montb ...

Luigi Nono Luigi Nono (; 29 January 1924 – 8 May 1990) was an Italian avant-garde composer of classical music. Biography Early years Nono, born in Venice, was a member of a wealthy artistic family; his grandfather was a notable painter. Nono bega ...

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and Extended technique, non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one ...

György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde music, avant-garde composers in the latter half of the ...

Iannis Xenakis Giannis Klearchou Xenakis (also spelled for professional purposes as Yannis or Iannis Xenakis; , ; 29 May 1922 – 4 February 2001) was a Romanian-born Greek-French avant-garde composer, music theorist, architect, performance director and enginee ...

Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...

Mauricio Kagel Mauricio Raúl Kagel (; 24 December 1931 – 18 September 2008) was an Argentine-German composer and academic teacher. Life and career Early life and education Mauricio Raúl Kagel was born on 24 December 1931 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, into an ...

, and

Helmut Lachenmann Helmut Friedrich Lachenmann (; born 27 November 1935) is a German composer of contemporary classical music and pianist. Associated with the "instrumental musique concrète" style, Lachenmann is alongside Wolfgang Rihm as among the leading Germa ...

. The

Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung The Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung (in English German Academy for Language and Literature) was founded on 28 August 1949, on the 200th birthday of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, in the Paulskirche, Frankfurt, Paulskirche in Frankfurt. I ...

provides writers and scholars with a place to research the German language. The academy's annual

Georg Büchner Prize The Georg Büchner Prize () is the most important literary prize for German language literature. The award is named after dramatist and writer Georg Büchner, author of '' Woyzeck'' and '' Leonce and Lena''. The Georg Büchner Prize is awarded an ...

, named in memory of

Georg Büchner Karl Georg Büchner (17 October 1813 – 19 February 1837) was a German dramatist and writer of poetry and prose, considered part of the Young Germany movement. He was also a revolutionary and the brother of physician and philosopher Ludwig Büchn ...

, 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 The Upper Rhine Plain, Rhine Rift Valley or Upper Rhine Graben ( German: ''Oberrheinische Tiefebene'', ''Oberrheinisches Tiefland'' or ''Oberrheingraben'', French: ''Vallée du Rhin'') is a major rift, about and on average , between Basel in the ...

(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 Mannheim 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 Viticulture (, "vine-growing"), viniculture (, "wine-growing"), or winegrowing is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ...

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. The Darmstadt weather station has recorded the following extreme values: * Highest Temperature on 7 August 2015. * Warmest Minimum on 5 July 1957. * Coldest Maximum on 1 February 1956. * Lowest Temperature on 19 January 1940. * Highest Daily Precipitation on 1 June 1961. * Wettest Month in August 1968. * Wettest Year in 1965. * Driest Year in 1959. * Earliest Snowfall: 27 October 1950. * Latest Snowfall: 19 April 1969.

Note

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 Adventism is a branch of Protestant Christianity that believes in the imminent Second Coming (or the "Second Advent") of Jesus Christ. It originated in the 1830s in the United States during the Second Great Awakening when Baptist preacher Willi ...

' ''Schulzentrum Marienhöhe'', an

anthroposophic Anthroposophy is a Spiritualism (movement), spiritual new religious movementSources for 'new religious movement': which was founded in the early 20th century by the Western esotericism, esotericist Rudolf Steiner that postulates the existence of ...

''Waldorf School'', a ''

Comenius John Amos Comenius (; ; ; ; Latinization (literature), Latinized: ''Ioannes Amos Comenius''; 28 March 1592 – 15 November 1670) was a Czech Philosophy, philosopher, Pedagogy, pedagogue and Theology, theologian who is considered the father of ...

'' ''School'' and other faith based private schools.

Universities

TU Darmstadt

The

Technical University of Darmstadt Technical may refer to: * Technical (vehicle), an improvised fighting vehicle * Technical area, an area which a manager, other coaching personnel, and substitutes are allowed to occupy during a football match * Technical advisor, a person who ad ...

(), 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

() 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. As of 2017 it was the largest University of Applied Sciences in the State of Hesse, with about 16,000 students. It offers 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

Football

The city's main professional club is the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club

, who play at the Merck-Stadion am Böllenfalltor. Other, amateur football clubs are 1. FCA Darmstadt and Rot-Weiß Darmstadt.

Ice hockey

The

Darmstadt Dukes Darmstadt () is a city in the state of Hesse 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 aft ...

(Eissportclub Darmstadt Dukes) is an

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

club. Their mens`s team is playing in the Hessenliga.

American football

The city is home to the Darmstadt Diamonds an

american football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

team.

Institutions

Technology

Darmstadt is home to many research institutions such as the

Fraunhofer Society The Fraunhofer Society () is a German publicly-owned research organization with 76institutes spread throughout Germany, each focusing on different fields of applied science (as opposed to the Max Planck Society, which works primarily on Basic re ...

(Fraunhofer IGD, Fraunhofer LBF, ) and the

Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung The GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research () is a federally and state co-funded heavy ion () research center in Darmstadt, Germany. It was founded in 1969 as the Society for Heavy Ion Research (), abbreviated GSI, to conduct research on ...

(GSI, "Society for

heavy ion High-energy nuclear physics studies the behavior of nuclear matter in energy regimes typical of high-energy physics. The primary focus of this field is the study of heavy-ion collisions, as compared to lighter atoms in other particle accelerator ...

Research"), which operates a

particle accelerator A particle accelerator is a machine that uses electromagnetic fields to propel electric charge, charged particles to very high speeds and energies to contain them in well-defined particle beam, beams. Small accelerators are used for fundamental ...

in northern Darmstadt. The GSI, amongst other elements, discovered the

chemical element A chemical element is a chemical substance whose atoms all have the same number of protons. The number of protons is called the atomic number of that element. For example, oxygen has an atomic number of 8: each oxygen atom has 8 protons in its ...

(

atomic number The atomic number or nuclear charge number (symbol ''Z'') of a chemical element is the charge number of its atomic nucleus. For ordinary nuclei composed of protons and neutrons, this is equal to the proton number (''n''p) or the number of pro ...

: 110), named after the city in 2003. This makes Darmstadt one of 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

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 (EUMETSAT) is an intergovernmental organisation created through an international convention agreed by a current total of 30 European Member States. EUMETSAT's primary ...

, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, operates the principal European

meteorological Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agriculture ...

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

s from its headquarters, including the first and second generations of

Meteosat The Meteosat series of satellites are geostationary meteorological satellites operated by EUMETSAT under the Meteosat Transition Programme (MTP) and the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) program. The MTP program was established to ensure the oper ...

geostationary satellites, and the polar-orbiting

Metop MetOp (Meteorological Operational satellite) is a series of three polar-orbiting meteorological satellites developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and operated by the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites ...

series. Darmstadt is a centre for the pharmaceutical and chemical industry, with Merck, Röhm and 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 Software GmbH, trading as Software AG, is a German multinational software corporation that develops enterprise software for business process management, integration, and big data analytics. Founded in 1969, the company is headquartered in Darmstad ...

T-Systems T-Systems International GmbH, trading as T-Systems, is an internationally operating service provider for information technologies and digital transformation. The company is part of Deutsche Telekom and is headquartered in Frankfurt am Main. As ...

(laboratories in Darmstadt) and

(laboratories in Darmstadt).

ATHENE Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress o ...

, formerly Center for Research in Security and Privacy (CRISP), is the national research center for

IT security Computer security (also cybersecurity, digital security, or information technology (IT) security) is a subdiscipline within the field of information security. It consists of the protection of computer software, systems and networks from thr ...

and

privacy Privacy (, ) is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively. The domain of privacy partially overlaps with security, which can include the concepts of a ...

in Germany and the largest research center for

in Europe. The research center is located in Darmstadt and deals with key issues of IT security in the

digitization Digitization is the process of converting information into a digital (i.e. computer-readable) format.Collins Dictionary. (n.d.). Definition of 'digitize'. Retrieved December 15, 2021, from https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/ ...

of government, business and society. The German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence has a laboratory in Darmstadt. The (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 such as the 440th Signal Battalion, served as home for thousands of American soldiers and their families. It included six principal installations in Darmstadt and nearby Babenhausen, Griesheim and

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...

, plus several housing areas, an airfield and a large number of smaller facilities as far away as

Bensheim Bensheim () is a town in the Kreis Bergstraße, Bergstraße district in southern Hessen, Germany. Bensheim lies on the Bergstraße Route, Bergstraße and at the edge of the Odenwald mountains while at the same time having an open view over the Rhi ...

and

Aschaffenburg Aschaffenburg (; Hessian: ''Aschebersch'', ) is a town in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg, despite being its administrative seat, is not part of the district of Aschaffenburg. Aschaffenburg belonged to the Archbishopric ...

. The military newspaper European '' 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

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 Group at the Dagger Complex on Eberstädter Weg. It draws its support from the nearby U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden. 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

City

with the

Museum ** Wedding Tower (''Hochzeitsturm'') at Sabaisplatz ** The former private chapel of the last Tsar of Russia * State Theatre and Opera House * Waldspirale

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 ...

Building * City Center with Luisenplatz, the Residential Palace and the Market Square *

Hauptbahnhof Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

(Central Train Station) in Art Nouveau style * Parks ** Herrngarten Park **

Botanical Garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...

(''Botanischer Garten'') ** Vortex Garden ** Park Rosenhöhe (Rose Heights Park) with the Dukal Cemetery * Porcelain Museum at Schlossgartenplatz * St. Ludwig Church *

* Haus der Geschichte (House of History, former ) * Train Museum Kranichstein *

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

old town

Region

* Bergstrasse *

Vineyards A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...

at Zwingenberg *

Messel Pit Fossil Site The Messel Formation is a geologic formation in Hesse, central Germany, dating back to the Eocene epoch (about 47 Ma). Its geographic range is restricted to the Messel pit. There it unconformably overlies crystalline Variscan basement and i ...

Melibokus The Melibokus (also ''Melibocus'', ''Malchen'' or ''Malschen'') is at 517 metres (1696 feet), the highest hill in the Bergstraße region of southern Hesse, central Germany. It was also the name of a hill in Germania described by classical ...

Notable people

Christoph Graupner Christoph Graupner (10 May 1760) was a German composer and harpsichordist of late Baroque music who was a contemporary of Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Philipp Telemann and George Frideric Handel. Life Born in Hartmannsdorf near Kirchberg i ...

(1683–1760), composer and

Hofkapellmeister ( , , ), from German (chapel) and (master), literally "master of the chapel choir", designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term has evolved considerably in i ...

(chapel master) at the court of Hesse-Darmstadt from 1711 to 1754 *

Johann Jacob Dillenius Johann Jacob Dillen Dillenius (1684 – 2 April 1747) was a German botanist. He is known for his ''Hortus Elthamensis'' ("Eltham Garden") on the rare plants around Eltham, London, and for his ''Historia muscorum'' ("History of Mosses"), a natu ...

(1684–1747), botanist *

Johann Heinrich Merck Johann Heinrich Merck (11 April 1741 – 27 June 1791), German author and critic, was born at Darmstadt, a few days after the death of his father, a chemist. Biography Johann Heinrich Merck's parents were pharmacist (1687–1741) and his se ...

(1741–1791), author and critic * Johann Christian Felix Baehr (1798–1872), philologist *

Johann Jakob Kaup Johann Jakob von Kaup (10 April 1803 – 4 July 1873) was a German naturalist. A proponent of natural philosophy, he believed in an innate mathematical order in nature and he attempted biological classifications based on the Quinarian system. Kaup ...

(1803–1873), naturalist and proponent of

natural philosophy Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics, that is, nature and the physical universe, while ignoring any supernatural influence. It was dominant before the develop ...

* Justus Freiherr von Liebig (1803–1873), chemist, contributed to

agricultural Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...

and biological chemistry, founder of

organic chemistry Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the science, scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic matter, organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain ...

* Georg Gottfried Gervinus (1805–1871), literary and political historian * Friedrich von Flotow (1812–1883), opera composer, died in Darmstadt *

(1813–1837), dramatist, poet and revolutionist * Carl Amand Mangold (1813–1889), composer and conductor *

Ludwig Freiherr von und zu der Tann-Rathsamhausen Ludwig Samson Heinrich Arthur Freiherr von und zu der Tann-Rathsamhausen (18 June 181526 April 1881) was a Bavarian general. Early life Born in Darmstadt, on the day of Waterloo, Ludwig was a descendant from the old family of von der Tann, whic ...

(1815–1881), Bavarian general * Ludwig Büchner (1824–1899), philosopher, physiologist and physician; exponent of

scientific materialism Metaphysical naturalism (also called ontological naturalism, philosophical naturalism and antisupernaturalism) is a philosophical worldview which holds that there is nothing but natural elements, principles, and relations of the kind studied by ...

* Friedrich August Kekulé (1829–1896),

organic chemist Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the science, scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic matter, organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain ...

; founded the theory of

chemical structure A chemical structure of a molecule is a spatial arrangement of its atoms and their chemical bonds. Its determination includes a chemist's specifying the molecular geometry and, when feasible and necessary, the electronic structure of the target m ...

Eugen Bracht Eugen Felix Prosper Bracht (3 June 1842 – 5 November 1921) was a German landscape painter. Biography Bracht was born in Morges, Waadt (near Lake Geneva in Switzerland) of German parents. His family later moved to Darmstadt, Germany, where ...

(1842–1921), landscape painter *

Georg von Hertling Georg Friedrich Karl Freiherr von Hertling, from 1914 Count von Hertling, (31 August 1843 – 4 January 1919) was a German politician of the Catholic Centre Party. He was foreign minister and minister president of Bavaria, then imperial chance ...

(1843–1919), politician * Benjamin Altheimer (1850–1938), American banker and philanthropist * Friedrich Dingeldey (1859–1939), German mathematician *

Karl Muck Karl Muck (October 22, 1859 – March 3, 1940) was a Hessian-born conductor of classical music. He based his activities principally in Europe and mostly in opera. His American career comprised two stints at the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO). ...

(1859–1940), conductor *

Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse Ernest Louis (; 25 November 1868 – 9 October 1937) was the last Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, reigning from 1892 until 1918. Early life Ernest Louis was the elder son of Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and Princess Alice of ...

(1868–1937), last Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine *

Karl Wolfskehl Karl Wolfskehl (17 September 1869 – 30 June 1948) was a German Jewish author and translator. He wrote poetry, prose and drama in German, and translated from French, English, Italian, Hebrew, Latin and Old/Middle High German into German. Bi ...

(1869–1948), poet, editor and translator * Alexandra Feodorovna (1872–1918), Russian Empress, born as Alix of Hesse, married

Tsar Nicholas II of Russia Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 186817 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on 15 March 1917. He marrie ...

Christian Stock Christian Stock (28 August 1884, Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse13 April 1967 in Seeheim-Jugenheim) was a German Social Democrat politician and the first Minister-President of the provisional state of Greater Hesse (later Hesse), which had been ...

(1884–1967), politician * Anton Köllisch (1888–1916), chemist who first synthesized

(known as "ecstasy") *

Beno Gutenberg Beno Gutenberg (; June 4, 1889 – January 25, 1960) was a German-American seismologist who made several important contributions to the science. He was a colleague and mentor of Charles Francis Richter at the California Institute of Technolo ...

(1889–1960), German-American seismologist * Karl Plagge (1897–1957), Wehrmacht officer, saved Lithuanian Jews from extermination during

The Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

, Righteous among the Nations * Karl-Otto Koch (1897–1945), commandant of the Nazi concentration camps at

Buchenwald Buchenwald (; 'beech forest') was a German Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within the Altreich (Old Reich) territori ...

and Sachsenhausen *

Josef Ganz Josef Ganz (1 July 1898 – 26 July 1967) was a Jewish-German car designer born in Budapest, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Hungary). Early years Josef Ganz was born on 1 July 1898 into a Jewish family living in Budapest, then the second-larges ...

(1898–1967), automotive engineer and pioneer, studied at the Technical University of Darmstadt *

Heinrich von Brentano Heinrich Joseph Maximilian Johann Maria von Brentano di Tremezzo (20 June 1904 – 14 November 1964), known professionally as Heinrich von Brentano, was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He served as Federal Ministe ...

(1904–1964), 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 *

Zinaida Petrovna Ziberova Zinaida Petrovna Ziberova (born 1909) was a pianist, conductor, and composer who was born in Darmstadt, Germany, and lived most of her life in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. Ziberova moved to Rostov-on-Don in 1925, where she attended music school and stud ...

(born 1909), composer *

Arno Schmidt Arno Schmidt (; 18 January 1914 – 3 June 1979) was a German author and translator. He is little known outside of German-speaking areas, in part because his works present a formidable challenge to translators. Although not among Germany's mo ...

(1914–1979), author and translator *

Hans Stark Hans Stark (14 June 1921 – 29 March 1991) was an SS-'' Untersturmführer'' and head of the admissions detail at Auschwitz-II Birkenau of Auschwitz concentration camp. Life and SS career Stark attended the Volksschule in Darmstadt from 1927 u ...

(1921–1991), head of the admissions detail at Auschwitz-II Birkenau of Auschwitz concentration camp * Georg Stern (1921–1980), operatic singer *

(1928–2007), leading 20th-century electronic composer *

Günter Strack Günter Strack (4 June 1929 – 18 January 1999) was a German film and television actor. Career In English language films, he played Professor Karl Manfred in the Hitchcock thriller '' Torn Curtain'' (1966) and appeared as Kunik in '' The O ...

(1929–1999), actor *

Maciej Łukaszczyk Maciej Łukaszczyk (11 March 1934, Warsaw – 4 June 2014, Poznań) was a Polish pianist. Life Łukaszczyk was born in the capital city of Poland, Warsaw, in March 1934. During the Occupation of Poland (1939–45), German occupation of Poland du ...

(1934–2014), Polish pianist at the

, 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 Christoph Lanz (born 1959) is a journalist, media specialist and strategic adviser in media development for both national and international clients. Life Lanz was born in Darmstadt. He serves as Trustee for the Thomson Foundation, UK and is Hea ...

(born 1959), journalist *

Volker Weidermann Volker Weidermann (born 1969) is a German writer and literary critic. He currently works for ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'' as the literary director and editor of the newspaper's Sunday edition. In 2015, he changed to Der Spiegel. Life ...

(born 1969), writer and journalist * Florika Fink-Hooijer (born 1962), prominent European civil servant *

Nina Gerhard Nina Gerhard (born 10 December 1974), also known as Nina, is a German singer best known as the voice of Captain Hollywood Project and for her 1994 hit "The Reason Is You". Career Nina performed vocals on the Captain Hollywood Project single "Mor ...

(born 1974), singer * Karola Obermüller (born 1977), composer * Björn Bürger (born 1985), operatic baritone

Sport

Richard von Frankenberg Richard von Frankenberg (4 March 1922 in Darmstadt – 11 November 1973 in Beilstein) was a German journalist and race car driver. In 1952 he created and published the (later) official Porsche magazine Christophorus (magazine). The visuals of th ...

(1922–1973), journalist and racing driver * Bruno Labbadia (born 1966), football manager and former professional player *

Markus Rühl Markus Rühl (born 22 February 1972, in Roßdorf, Darmstadt, West Germany) is a retired IFBB professional bodybuilder, who is widely regarded as one of the biggest "mass monster" bodybuilders of all time. Early life Rühl began training at the ...

(born 1972), bodybuilder *

Sascha Bert Sascha Bert (born 5 March 1975 in Darmstadt, West Germany) is a German racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North Am ...

(born 1975), racing driver *

Andrea Petkovic Andrea Petkovic (, ; born 9 September 1987) is a German former professional tennis player. Born in Tuzla, SFR Yugoslavia, to Serbian father Zoran and Bosniak mother Amira, she moved to Germany at six months old and turned professional in 2006 ...

(born 1987), tennis player

Twin towns – sister cities

Darmstadt is twinned with: *

Alkmaar Alkmaar () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland. Alkmaar is well known fo ...

, Netherlands (1958) *

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

, Italy (1991) *

Bursa Bursa () is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the Marmara Region, Bursa is one of the industrial centers of the country. Most of ...

, Turkey (1971) * Chesterfield, England, UK (1959) *

Freiberg Freiberg () is a university and former mining town in Saxony, Germany, with around 41,000 inhabitants. The city lies in the foreland of the Ore Mountains, in the Saxon urbanization axis, which runs along the northern edge of the Elster and ...

, Germany (1990) *

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

, Austria (1968) * Gstaad (Saanen), Switzerland (1991) *

Gyönk Gyönk () is a village in Tolna County, Hungary. History Gyönk was mentioned for the first time in 1280, but the neighborhood (and Gyönk) was already a populated area by then. The village was inhabited by Turks for some time, and by the time of ...

, Hungary (1990) *

Liepāja Liepāja () (formerly: Libau) is a Administrative divisions of Latvia, state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest city in the Courland region and the third-largest in the country after Riga and Daugavpils. It is an ...

, Latvia (1993) *

Logroño Logroño ( , , ) is the capital of the autonomous community of La Rioja (Spain), La Rioja, Spain. Located in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, primarily in the right (South) bank of the Ebro River, Logroño has historically been a place of pa ...

, Spain (2002) *

Nahariya Nahariya () is the northernmost coastal city in Israel. As of , the city had a population of . The city was founded in 1935 by Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany. Etymology Nahariya takes its name from the stream of Ga'aton River, Ga'aton (riv ...

, Israel (2023) *

Płock Płock (pronounced ), officially the Ducal Capital City of Płock, is a city in central Poland, on the Vistula river, in the Masovian Voivodeship. According to the data provided by Central Statistical Office (Poland), GUS on 31 December 2021, the ...

, Poland (1988) *

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

, United States (2017) *

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...

, Hungary (1990) *

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...

, Norway (1968) *

Troyes Troyes () is a Communes of France, commune and the capital of the Departments of France, department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within ...

, France (1958) *

Uzhhorod Uzhhorod (, ; , ; , ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality on the Uzh, Uzh River in western Ukraine, at the border with Slovakia and near the border with Hungary. The city is approximately equidistan ...

, Ukraine (1992)

References

External links

* *
Discover Darmstadt – City Tourist Website

* {{Authority control Capitals of former nations Merck Group Odenwald Holocaust locations in Germany Urban districts of Hesse Darmstadt (region)

History

Origins

Industrial age

Nazi Germany

Post–World War II

Boroughs

Population development

Politics

Mayor

City council

Transport

Roads

National rail links

Regional rail links

Public transport in Darmstadt

Airports

National coach services

Parks, architecture, and attractions

Castles and historical buildings

Russian Chapel

Modern architecture

Art Nouveau

Squares

Parks

Churches

Festivals

Culture

Geography

Climate

Note

Education

Schools

Universities

TU Darmstadt

Hochschule Darmstadt

EHD Darmstadt

Sport

Football

Ice hockey

American football

Institutions

Technology

United States military presence

Tourist sights in Darmstadt

City

Region

Notable people

Sport

Twin towns – sister cities

See also

References

External links