Mainz (;
see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of
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 ...
, and with around 223,000 inhabitants,
it is
Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in the
Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region—Germany's second-largest metropolitan region after
Rhine-Ruhr—which also encompasses the cities of
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 ...
,
Darmstadt
Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...
,
Offenbach am Main, and
Hanau
Hanau () is a city in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is 25 km east of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main and part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Its railway Hanau Hauptbahnhof, station is a ma ...
.
Mainz is located at the northern end of the
Upper Rhine Plain, on the left bank of the
Rhine
The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
. It is the largest city of
Rhenish Hesse, a region of
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 ...
that was historically part of
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 ...
, and is
one of Germany's most important wine regions because of its mild climate. Mainz is connected to
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 ...
by the
Rhine-Main S-Bahn rapid transit system. Before 1945, Mainz had six boroughs on the other side of the Rhine (see:
:de:Rechtsrheinische Stadtteile von Mainz). Three have been incorporated into
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 ...
(see:
:de:AKK-Konflikt), and three are now independent.
Mainz was founded as
Castrum ''Mogontiacum'' by
Roman general
Nero Claudius Drusus in the 1st century BC on the northern frontier of the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...
, and became the capital of the
Roman province
The Roman provinces (, pl. ) were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled by a Roman appointed as Roman g ...
of
Germania Superior
Germania Superior ("Upper Germania") was an imperial province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of today's western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany. Important cities were Besançon ('' Vesont ...
. The city was settled by the
Franks
file:Frankish arms.JPG, Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty
The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine river, Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which wa ...
from 459 on, and in the 8th century it became an important city within the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...
, as capital of the
Electorate of Mainz and seat of the
Archbishop-Elector of Mainz, the
primate
Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...
of Germany.
Mainz Cathedral is one of the three Rhenish
Imperial Cathedrals along with
Speyer Cathedral and
Worms Cathedral. Since the 12th century, Mainz was one of the —a league formed by the cities of
Speyer
Speyer (, older spelling ; ; ), historically known in English as Spires, is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in the western part of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the r ...
,
Worms
The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive catalogue and list of names of marine organisms.
Content
The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scien ...
and Mainz—which are referred to as the cradle of
Ashkenazi Jewish life and as the center of Jewish life during medieval times. The Jewish heritage of these cities is one of a kind, and has been declared the
UNESCO 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 ...
of .
Mainz is the birthplace of
Johannes Gutenberg
Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg ( – 3 February 1468) was a German inventor and Artisan, craftsman who invented the movable type, movable-type printing press. Though movable type was already in use in East Asia, Gutenberg's inven ...
, who invented the
printing press
A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in whi ...
and introduced letterpress
printing
Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ...
to Europe,
starting the global spread of the printing press. Mainz was heavily damaged in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
; more than
30 air raids destroyed around half of the old town in the city centre, but many buildings were rebuilt post-war.
Like most cities in the
Rhineland
The Rhineland ( ; ; ; ) is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly Middle Rhine, its middle section. It is the main industrial heartland of Germany because of its many factories, and it has historic ties to the Holy ...
, Mainz holds
extensive carnival celebrations, that are known as the second-most important in Germany, after the
celebrations in Cologne. The borough of Lerchenberg is the seat of
ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, "Second German Television"), the second-most important German public service television broadcaster, as well as of
3sat
3sat (, ''Dreisat'') is a free-to-air German-language public service television channel. It is a generalist channel with a cultural focus and is jointly operated by public broadcasters from Germany ( ZDF, ARD), Austria ( ORF) and Switzerlan ...
, another television broadcaster, that is jointly operated by public broadcasters from Germany (
ARD and
ZDF), Austria (
ORF), and Switzerland (
SRG SSR).
Names and etymology
Although the city is situated opposite the mouth of the
Main, the name of Mainz is not from ''Main'', the similarity being perhaps reinforced by
folk-etymological reanalysis. ''Main'' is from Latin ''Moenis'' (also ''Moenus'' or ''Menus''), the name the Romans used for the river.
Linguistic
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
analysis of the many forms that the name "Mainz" has taken on make it clear that it is a simplification of ''Mogontiacum''. The name appears to be
Celtic,
however, it had also become Roman and was selected by them with a special significance.
The Roman soldiers defending
Gallia had adopted the Gallic god
Mogons (Mogounus, Moguns, Mogonino), for the meaning of which etymology offers two basic options: "the great one", similar to Latin magnus, which was used in aggrandizing names such as ''Alexander magnus'', "Alexander the Great" and ''Pompeius magnus'', "Pompey the Great", or the god of "might" personified as it appears in young servitors of any type whether of noble or ignoble birth.
Mainz has a number of
different names in other languages and dialects. In
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
it is known as () or and, in the local
Hessian dialect, it is ''Määnz'' or ''Meenz'' . It is known as in French, in Italian, in Spanish, in Portuguese, in Polish, () in Yiddish, and in Czech and Slovak ().
Before the 20th century, Mainz was commonly known in the
Anglosphere
The Anglosphere, also known as the Anglo-American world, is a Western-led sphere of influence among the Anglophone countries. The core group of this sphere of influence comprises five developed countries that maintain close social, cultura ...
either as ''Mentz'', its English version, or by its French version ''Mayence''. It is the namesake of two American cities named
Mentz.
Geography
Topography
Mainz is on the 50th latitude north, on the
left bank of the Rhine.
The east of the city is opposite where the
Main falls into it.
, the population was 217,272.
The city is part of the FrankfurtRheinMain area of 5.9 million people.
Mainz can easily be reached from
Frankfurt International Airport in 30 minutes by commuter railway or regional trains .
The
river port of Mainz is located on the
Rhine
The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
and thus on one of the most important waterways in Germany.
The
container port hub is north of the town centre.
After the
last ice age, sand dunes were deposited in the Rhine valley at what was to become the western edge of the city. The
Mainz Sand Dunes area is now a nature reserve with a unique landscape and rare ''steppe'' vegetation for this area.
While the Mainz legion camp was founded in 13/12 BC on the Kästrich hill, the associated
vici and
canabae (civilian settlements) were erected towards the Rhine. Historical sources and archaeological findings both prove the importance of the military and civilian Mogontiacum as a port city on the Rhine.
Climate
Mainz experiences a
temperate oceanic climate (
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
: ''Cfb''). The city is one of the warmest of
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 sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
in
winter
Winter is the coldest and darkest season of the year in temperate and polar climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Dif ...
.
History
Roman Mogontiacum

The Roman stronghold or ''
castrum Mogontiacum'', the precursor to Mainz, was founded by the Roman general
Drusus perhaps as early as 13/12 BC. As related by
Suetonius
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is ''De vita Caesarum'', common ...
the existence of ''Mogontiacum'' is well established by four years later (the account of the death and funeral of
Nero Claudius Drusus).
Mogontiacum was an important military town throughout Roman times, probably due to its strategic position at the confluence of the Main and the Rhine. The town of ''Mogontiacum'' grew up between the fort and the river. The castrum was the base of
Legio XIV ''Gemina'' and
XVI ''Gallica'' (AD 9–43),
XXII ''Primigenia'',
IV ''Macedonica'' (43–70),
I ''Adiutrix'' (70–88),
XXI ''Rapax'' (70–89), and
XIV ''Gemina'' (70–92), among others. Mainz was also a base of a Roman river fleet, the
Classis Germanica. Remains of Roman troop ships (
navis lusoria) and a patrol boat from the late 4th century were discovered in 1982/86 and may now be viewed in the
Museum of Ancient Seafaring. A temple dedicated to
Isis Panthea and
Magna Mater was discovered in 2000 and is open to the public. The city was the provincial capital of
Germania Superior
Germania Superior ("Upper Germania") was an imperial province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of today's western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany. Important cities were Besançon ('' Vesont ...
, and had an important funeral monument dedicated to Drusus, to which people made pilgrimages for an annual festival from as far away as
Lyon
Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
. Among the famous buildings were the largest
theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...
north of the Alps and a bridge across the Rhine. The city was also the site of the assassination of emperor
Severus Alexander in 235.
Alemanni
The Alemanni or Alamanni were a confederation of Germanic peoples, Germanic tribes
*
*
*
on the Upper Rhine River during the first millennium. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Roman emperor Caracalla of 213 CE ...
forces under
Rando sacked the city in 368. From the last day of 405 or 406, the Siling and Asding
Vandals
The Vandals were a Germanic people who were first reported in the written records as inhabitants of what is now Poland, during the period of the Roman Empire. Much later, in the fifth century, a group of Vandals led by kings established Vand ...
, the
Suebi
file:1st century Germani.png, 300px, The approximate positions of some Germanic peoples reported by Graeco-Roman authors in the 1st century. Suebian peoples in red, and other Irminones in purple.
The Suebi (also spelled Suavi, Suevi or Suebians ...
, the
Alans
The Alans () were an ancient and medieval Iranian peoples, Iranic Eurasian nomads, nomadic pastoral people who migrated to what is today North Caucasus – while some continued on to Europe and later North Africa. They are generally regarded ...
, and other Germanic tribes
crossed the Rhine, possibly at Mainz. Christian chronicles relate that the bishop,
Aureus, was put to death by the Alemannian Crocus.
Throughout the changes of time, the Roman castrum never seems to have been permanently abandoned as a military installation, which is a testimony to Roman military judgement. Different structures were built there at different times. The current citadel originated in 1660, but it replaced previous forts. It was used in World War II. One of the sights at the citadel is still the
cenotaph raised by legionaries to commemorate their general,
Drusus.
Frankish Mainz
In the 4th century, Alemans repeatedly invaded the neighborhood of Mogontiacum.
In 357, the city was liberated by the Emperor
Julian.
The last emperor to station troops serving the western empire at Mainz was
Valentinian III
Valentinian III (; 2 July 41916 March 455) was Roman emperor in the Western Roman Empire, West from 425 to 455. Starting in childhood, his reign over the Roman Empire was one of the longest, but was dominated by civil wars among powerful general ...
(reigned 425–455), who relied heavily on his ''Magister militum per Gallias'',
Flavius Aëtius. In 451,
Attila
Attila ( or ; ), frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in early 453. He was also the leader of an empire consisting of Huns, Ostrogoths, Alans, and Gepids, among others, in Central Europe, C ...
's
Huns
The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th centuries AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was par ...
sacked the city.
The
Franks
file:Frankish arms.JPG, Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty
The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine river, Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which wa ...
from the middle and upper Rhine area took Mainz shortly before 460.
After the
fall of the Western Roman Empire
The fall of the Western Roman Empire, also called the fall of the Roman Empire or the fall of Rome, was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vast ...
in 476, the
Franks
file:Frankish arms.JPG, Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty
The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine river, Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which wa ...
under the rule of
Clovis I
Clovis (; reconstructed Old Frankish, Frankish: ; – 27 November 511) was the first List of Frankish kings, king of the Franks to unite all of the Franks under one ruler, changing the form of leadership from a group of petty kings to rule by a ...
gained control over western Europe by the year 496.
Clovis, son of
Childeric, became king of the Salians in 481, ruling from
Tournai
Tournai ( , ; ; ; , sometimes Anglicisation (linguistics), anglicised in older sources as "Tournay") is a city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, Province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies by ...
.
He converted from
paganism
Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...
to
Catholic Christianity.
Theudebert I ( 500–547 or 548) had installed
as bishop of Mainz.
Dagobert I (605/603–639) reinforced the walls of Mainz.
Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...
(768–814), through a succession of wars against other tribes, built a vast Frankish empire in Europe. Mainz from its central location became important to the empire and to Christianity.
Meanwhile, language change was gradually working to divide the Franks.
After the death of Charlemagne, distinctions between France and Germany began to be made.
The Rhine roughly formed the border of their territories, whereby the three important episcopal cities of Mainz,
Worms
The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive catalogue and list of names of marine organisms.
Content
The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scien ...
and
Speyer
Speyer (, older spelling ; ; ), historically known in English as Spires, is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in the western part of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the r ...
with their counties to the left of the Rhine were assigned to
East Francia.
Christian Mainz
In the early
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
, Mainz played a significant role in the
Christianisation of the
German and
Slavic peoples
The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, Southeast ...
. The first archbishop in Mainz,
Boniface, was killed in 754 while attempting to convert the
Frisians
The Frisians () are an ethnic group indigenous to the German Bight, coastal regions of the Netherlands, north-western Germany and southern Denmark. They inhabit an area known as Frisia and are concentrated in the Dutch provinces of Friesland an ...
to Christianity and is buried in
Fulda
Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the city hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival.
Histor ...
.
The
archbishopric of Mainz was established in 781 when Boniface's successor
Lullus was granted the pallium by
Pope Adrian I.
Throughout history, the Archbishops of Mainz held high positions, including serving as archchancellors of the Holy Roman Empire. Notably, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Mainz is unique as it is the only diocese in the world with an episcopal see called a
Holy See
The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...
(sancta sedes).
Ibrahim ibn Yaqub, a 10th-century Hispano-Arabic,
Sephardi Jewish traveler, writes the following about the city:
In 1244, Archbishop
Siegfried III granted Mainz a city charter, allowing the citizens to establish and elect a city council.
In 1461, a feud between two archbishops,
Diether von Isenburg and
Adolf II von Nassau, caused unrest in the city. Following Archbishop Adolf's raid on Mainz in 1462, those who opposed him, including
Johannes Gutenberg
Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg ( – 3 February 1468) was a German inventor and Artisan, craftsman who invented the movable type, movable-type printing press. Though movable type was already in use in East Asia, Gutenberg's inven ...
, were either expelled or imprisoned. Ultimately, after the death of Archbishop Adolf II, Diether von Isenburg was reinstated as the Archbishop of Mainz, duly elected by the chapter and appointed by the Pope.
Early Jewish community

The Jewish community of Mainz dates back to the 10th century CE. It is noted for its religious education. Rabbi
Gershom ben Judah (960–1040) taught there, among others.
He concentrated on the study of the
Talmud
The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...
, creating a German Jewish tradition. Mainz is also the legendary home of the martyred Rabbi
Amnon of Mainz, that the composition of the
Unetanneh Tokef prayer is attributed to him.
From the late 12th century rabbis met in synods.
The city of Mainz responded to the Jewish population in a variety of ways, behaving in a capricious manner towards them. Sometimes they were allowed freedom and were protected; at other times, they were persecuted. Jews were attacked in the
Rhineland massacres of 1096 and by mobs in 1283.
The Jews were expelled in 1438, 1462 (after which they were invited to return), and in 1470.
Outbreaks of the
Black Death
The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the list of epidemics, most fatal pandemics in human history; as many as people perished, perhaps 50% of Europe's 14th century population. ...
were usually blamed on the Jews, at which times they were massacred, such as the murder of 6000 Jews in 1349.
Outside of the medieval city centre, there is a Jewish cemetery, with over 1500 headstones dating from the 11th through the 19th centuries.
The earliest known gravestone is date to 1062 or 1063, and these early gravestones resemble those found in Italy in the 8th–9th centuries.
Republic of Mainz
During the
French Revolution, the French Revolutionary army occupied Mainz in 1792; the Archbishop-elector of Mainz,
Friedrich Karl Josef von Erthal, had already fled to
Aschaffenburg by the time the French marched in. On 18 March 1793, the
Jacobins of Mainz, with other German democrats from about 130 towns in the
Rhenish Palatinate, proclaimed the '
Republic of Mainz'. Led by
Georg Forster, representatives of the Mainz Republic in Paris requested political affiliation of the Mainz Republic with France, but too late:
Prussia
Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
was not entirely happy with the idea of a democratic free state on German soil (although the French dominated Mainz was neither free nor democratic). Prussian troops had already occupied the area and besieged Mainz by the end of March 1793. After a
siege
A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...
of 18 weeks, the French troops in Mainz surrendered on 23 July 1793; Prussians occupied the city and ended the Republic of Mainz. It came to the
Battle of Mainz in 1795 between
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
and France. Members of the Mainz Jacobin Club were mistreated or imprisoned and punished for treason.

In 1797, the French returned. The army of
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
occupied the German territory to the west of the
Rhine
The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
, and the
Treaty of Campo Formio
The Treaty of Campo Formio (today Campoformido) was signed on 17 October 1797 (26 Vendémiaire VI) by Napoleon Bonaparte and Count Philipp von Cobenzl as representatives of the French Republic and the Austrian monarchy, respectively. The trea ...
awarded France this entire area, initially as the
Cisrhenian Republic. On 17 February 1800, the French ''
Département du Mont-Tonnerre'' was founded here, with Mainz as its capital, the Rhine being the new eastern frontier of la Grande Nation. Austria and Prussia could not but approve this new border with France in 1801. However, after several defeats in Europe during the
War of the Sixth Coalition, the weakened Napoleon and his troops had to leave Mainz in May 1814.
Rhenish Hesse
In 1816, the part of the former French Département which is known today as
Rhenish Hesse () was awarded to the
Hesse-Darmstadt, Mainz being the capital of the new
Hessian province of Rhenish Hesse. From 1816 to 1866, a part of the
German Confederation, Mainz was the most important fortress in the defence against France, and had a strong garrison of
Austrian, Prussian and
Bavaria
Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...
n troops.
On the afternoon of 18 November 1857, a huge explosion rocked Mainz when the city's powder magazine, the ''Pulverturm'', exploded. Approximately 150 people were killed and at least 500 injured; 57 buildings were destroyed and a similar number severely damaged in what was to be known as the ''Powder Tower Explosion'' or ''Powder Explosion''.
During the
Austro-Prussian War in 1866, Mainz was declared a neutral zone.
After the founding of the
German Empire
The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...
in 1871, Mainz no longer was as important a stronghold, because in the
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...
France had lost the territory of
Alsace-Lorraine to Germany (which France had occupied bit by bit from 1630 to 1795), and this defined the new border between the two countries.
Industrial expansion

For centuries the inhabitants of the
fortress of Mainz had suffered from a severe shortage of space which led to disease and other inconveniences. In 1872 Mayor
Carl Wallau and the council of Mainz persuaded the military government to sign a contract to expand the city. Beginning in 1874, the city of Mainz assimilated the ''Gartenfeld'', an idyllic area of meadows and fields along the banks of the
Rhine
The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
to the north of the rampart.
The city expansion more than doubled the urban area which allowed Mainz to participate in the
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...
which had previously avoided the city for decades.
was the man who made this happen.
Having been the master-builder of the city of Mainz since 1865, Kreyßig had the vision for the new part of town, the ''Neustadt''.
He also planned the first sewer system for the old part of town since Roman times and persuaded the city government to relocate the railway line from the Rhine side to the west end of the town.
The main station was built from 1882 to 1884 according to the plans of .

Kreyßig constructed a number of state-of-the-art public buildings, including the Mainz town hall – which was the largest of its kind in Germany at that time – as well a synagogue,
the Rhine harbour and a number of public baths and school buildings.
Kreyßig's last work was
Christ Church (''Christuskirche''), the largest Protestant church in the city and the first building constructed solely for the use of a Protestant congregation.
In 1905 the demolition of the entire circumvallation and the
Rheingauwall was taken in hand, according to the imperial order of
Wilhelm II
Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia from 1888 until Abdication of Wilhelm II, his abdication in 1918, which marked the end of the German Empire as well as th ...
.
20th century
During the
German Revolution of 1918 the
Mainz Workers' and Soldiers' Council was formed which ran the city from 9 November until the arrival of French troops under the terms of the
occupation of the Rhineland agreed in the
Armistice
An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from t ...
. The French occupation was confirmed by the
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...
which went into effect 28 June 1919. The
Rhineland
The Rhineland ( ; ; ; ) is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly Middle Rhine, its middle section. It is the main industrial heartland of Germany because of its many factories, and it has historic ties to the Holy ...
(in which Mainz is located) was to be a demilitarized zone until 1935 and the French garrison, representing the ''
Triple Entente'', was to stay until reparations were paid.
In 1923 Mainz participated in the Rhineland separatist movement that proclaimed a
Rhenish Republic.
It collapsed in 1924.
The French withdrew on 30 June 1930.
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
became chancellor of Germany in January 1933 and his political opponents, especially those of the
Social Democratic Party, were either incarcerated or murdered.
Some were able to move away from Mainz in time.
One was the political organizer for the SPD,
Friedrich Kellner, who went to
Laubach, where, as the chief justice inspector of the district court, he continued his opposition against the Nazis by recording their misdeeds in a 900-page
diary
A diary is a written or audiovisual memorable record, with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digita ...
.
In March 1933, a detachment from the
National Socialist Party in
Worms
The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive catalogue and list of names of marine organisms.
Content
The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scien ...
brought the party to Mainz. They hoisted the
swastika
The swastika (卐 or 卍, ) is a symbol used in various Eurasian religions and cultures, as well as a few Indigenous peoples of Africa, African and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, American cultures. In the Western world, it is widely rec ...
on all public buildings and began to denounce the Jewish population in the newspapers. In 1936, the Nazis
remilitarized the Rhineland with great fanfare, the first move of
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
's meteoric expansion. The former Triple Entente took no action.
During World War II the citadel at Mainz hosted the
Oflag XII-B prisoner of war camp.
The city was also the location of four subcamps of the
Hinzert concentration camp, mostly for Luxembourgish, Polish, Dutch and Soviet prisoners, but also Belgian, French and Italian.
During World War II, several
air raids destroyed about 80 per cent of the city's centre, including most of the historic buildings.
Mainz was captured on 22 March 1945
against uneven German resistance (staunch in some sectors and weak in other parts of the city) by the
90th Infantry Division under
William A. McNulty, a formation of the XII Corps under Third Army commanded by General
George S. Patton Jr.
From 1945 to 1949, the city was part of the
French zone of occupation. When the state of
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 ...
was founded on 30 August 1946 by the commander of the French army on the French occupation zone
Marie Pierre Kœnig, Mainz became the capital of the new state. In 1962, the diarist,
Friedrich Kellner, returned to spend his last years in Mainz. His life in Mainz, and the impact of his
writings, is the subject of the Canadian documentary ''
My Opposition: The Diaries of Friedrich Kellner''.
Following the withdrawal of French forces from Mainz, the
United States Army Europe occupied the military bases in Mainz.
Recent history
Nowadays the Jewish community is growing rapidly, and a
new synagogue by the architect
Manuel Herz was constructed in 2010 on the site of the one destroyed by the Nazis on ''
Kristallnacht'' in 1938.
, the Jewish community Mainz has 985 members.
Today the
United States Army Europe and Africa only occupies McCulley Barracks in Wackernheim and the
Mainz Sand Dunes as training areas. Mainz is home to the headquarters of the ''Bundeswehr''s ' and other units.
Cityscape
Architecture
The destruction caused by the
Bombing of Mainz in World War II led to the most intense phase of building in the history of the town. During the last war in Germany, more than 30 air raids destroyed about 80 per cent of the city's centre, including most of the historic buildings. The attack on the afternoon of 27 February 1945 remains the most destructive of all 33 bombings that Mainz has suffered in World War II in the collective memory of most of the population living then. This air raid made an already hard-hit city even more levelled.
Nevertheless, the post-war reconstruction took place very slowly. While cities such as Frankfurt had been rebuilt fast by a central authority, only individual efforts were initially successful in rebuilding Mainz. The reason for this was that the French wanted Mainz to expand and become a model city. Mainz lay within the
French-controlled sector of Germany and it was a French architect and town-planner,
Marcel Lods, who produced a Le Corbusier-style plan of an ideal architecture. But the first interest of the inhabitants was the restoration of housing areas. Even after the failure of the model city plans it was the initiative of the French (founding of the Johannes Gutenberg
University of Mainz, elevation of Mainz to the state capital of Rhineland-Palatinate, the early resumption of the
Mainz carnival) driving the city in a positive development after the war. The City Plan of 1958 by
Ernst May allowed a regulated reconstruction for the first time. In 1950, the seat of the government of Rhineland-Palatinate had been transferred to the new Mainz and in 1963 the seat of the new ZDF, notable architects were Adolf Bayer, Richard Jörg and Egon Hartmann. At the time of the two-thousand-years-anniversary in 1962 the city was largely reconstructed. During the 1950s and 1960s, the Oberstadt had been extended, Münchfeld and Lerchenberg added as suburbs, the Altstadttangente (
intersection of the old town), new neighbourhoods as Westring and Südring contributed to the extension. By 1970 there remained only a few ruins. The new town hall of Mainz had been designed by
Arne Jacobsen
Arne Emil Jacobsen, Honorary Fellowship of the American Institute of Architects, Hon. FAIA (; 11 February 1902 – 24 March 1971) was a Danish architect and furniture designer. He is remembered for his contribution to functionalism (architec ...
and finished by
Dissing+Weitling.
The town used Jacobsens activity for the Danish
Novo company
erecting a new office and warehouse building to contact him. The
urban renewal
Urban renewal (sometimes called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address real or perceived urban decay. Urban renewal involves the clearing ...
of the old town changed the inner city. In the framework of the preparation of the cathedrals millennium,
pedestrian zones were developed around the cathedral, in northern direction to the Neubrunnenplatz and in a southern direction across the Leichhof to the Augustinerstraße and Kirschgarten. The 1980s brought the renewal of the façades on the Markt and a new inner-city neighbourhood on the Kästrich. During the 1990s the Kisselberg
and the "Fort Malakoff Center" at the site of the old police barracks
were built.
Main sights

*
Romano-Germanic Central Museum (''Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum''). It is home to Roman, Medieval, and earlier artifacts.
*
Museum of Ancient Seafaring (''Museum für Antike Schifffahrt''). It houses the remains of five Roman boats from the late 4th century, discovered in the 1980s.
*Roman remains, including Jupiter's column, Drusus' mausoleum, the ruins of the theatre and the aqueduct.
*
Mainz Cathedral of St. Martin (''Mainzer Dom''), over 1,000 years old.
*
St. John's Church, 7th-century church building
*
Staatstheater Mainz
*The
Iron Tower (''Eisenturm'', tower at the former iron market), a 13th-century gate-tower.
*The
Wood Tower (''Holzturm'', tower at the former wood market), a 15th-century gate tower.
*The
Gutenberg Museum – exhibits an original Gutenberg Bible amongst many other printed books from the 15th century and later.
*The Mainz Old Town – the half south of the cathedral survived World War II.
*The
old arsenal, the central arsenal of the fortress Mainz during the 17th and 18th century
*The
Electoral Palace (''Kurfürstliches Schloss''), residence of the
prince-elector.
*The
Marktbrunnen, one of the largest Renaissance fountains in Germany.
*''Domus Universitatis'' (1615), for centuries the tallest edifice in Mainz.
*Christ Church (''
Christuskirche''), built 1898–1903, bombed in 1945 and rebuilt in 1948–1954.
*The
Church of St. Stephan, with post-war windows by
Marc Chagall.
*
Citadel
A citadel is the most fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of ''city'', meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core.
...
.
*The ruins of the church
St. Christoph, a World War II memorial
*''Schönborner Hof'' (1668).
*
Rococo
Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...
churches of St. Augustin (the
Augustinerkirche, Mainz) and
St. Peter (the Peterskirche, Mainz).
*Churches of St. Ignatius (1763) and
St. Quintin.
*Erthaler Hof (1743)
*The Baroque
Bassenheimer Hof (1750)
*The
Botanischer Garten der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, 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 university
*
Landesmuseum Mainz, state museum with archaeology and art.
*Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (
ZDF) – one of the largest public German TV-Broadcaster.
*
New synagogue in Mainz
*
Hauptfriedhof Mainz
*Old Jewish Cemetery Mainz (''Judensand'') –
ShUM city of Mainz, UNESCO
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 ...
*Kunsthalle Mainz – museum for contemporary art
*
Humbrechthof, later called Schöfferhof, the building in which Johannes Gutenberg developed his technique of printing
Administration

The city of Mainz is divided into 15 local districts according to the main statute of the city of Mainz. Each local district has a district administration of 13 members and a directly elected mayor, who is the chairman of the district administration. This local council decides on important issues affecting the local area, however, the final decision on new policies is made by Mainz's municipal council.
In accordance with section 29 paragraph 2 Local Government Act of
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 ...
, which refers to municipalities of more than 150,000 inhabitants, the city council has 60 members.
Districts of the town are:
*
Altstadt
*
Bretzenheim
*
Drais
*
Ebersheim
*
Finthen
*
Gonsenheim
*
Hartenberg-Münchfeld
*
Hechtsheim
*
Laubenheim
*
*
Marienborn
*
Mombach
*
Neustadt
*
Oberstadt
*
Weisenau
Until 1945, the districts of
Bischofsheim (now an independent town),
Ginsheim-Gustavsburg (which together are an independent town) belonged to Mainz. The former districts
Amöneburg,
Kastel, and
Kostheim – (in short, ''AKK'') are now administered by the city of
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 ...
(on the north bank of the river). The AKK was separated from Mainz when the
Rhine
The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
was designated the boundary between the French occupation zone (the later state of
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 ...
) and the U.S. occupation zone (
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 1945.
Coat of arms
The coat of arms of Mainz is derived from the coat of arms of the
Archbishops of Mainz and features two six-spoked silver wheels connected by a silver cross on a red background.
Population
Mainz has a population of about 220,000 and is the largest city in
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 ...
. Mainz passed 100,000 in 1908. In 1945, After WWII, right side of the
Rhine
The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
river, which were a part of Mainz, became a part of
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 other part of
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 ...
due to its occupation zone where Mainz and Rhineland-Palatinate were
French occupation zone and Wiesbaden and Hesse were
American occupation zone where both cities became its state capital in 1946. Mainz lost 21.1% of population at this time. Mainz and Wiesbaden has rivalries who the better city on the Rhine river are even today. Mainz became an attractive city, especially for young people due to its radio and television broadcasters, Universities and good workplaces. Mainz's population grow normally and Mainz passed 200,000 in 2011.
Foreign populations
The following list shows the largest foreign populations in Mainz :
Politics
Mayor
The mayor of Mainz was Michael Ebling of the
Social Democratic Party (SPD) until he was promoted State Minister of the Interior in the government of Rhineland-Palatinate in October 2022. The new mayoral election was held on 12 February 2023, with a runoff after
Mainz carnival. The final election took place 5 March 2023. The new elected mayor is Nino Haase, independent.
Election 2019 of the council:
! rowspan=2 colspan=2, Candidate
! rowspan=2, Party
! colspan=2, First round
! colspan=2, Second round
, -
! Votes
! %
! Votes
! %
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Michael Ebling
, align=left,
Social Democratic Party
, 30,278
, 41.0
, 35,752
, 55.2
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Nino Haase
, align=left,
Independent (
CDU,
ÖDP,
FW)
, 23,968
, 32.4
, 29,029
, 44.8
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left,
Tabea Rößner
, align=left,
Alliance 90/The Greens
, 16,621
, 22.5
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Martin Malcherek
, align=left,
The Left
, 2,063
, 2.8
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left, Martin Ehrhardt
, 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 ...
, 999
, 1.4
, -
! colspan=3, Valid votes
! 73,929
! 99.6
! 64,781
! 99.4
, -
! colspan=3, Invalid votes
! 289
! 0.4
! 372
! 0.6
, -
! colspan=3, Total
! 74,218
! 100.0
! 65,153
! 100.0
, -
! colspan=3, Electorate/voter turnout
! 161,967
! 45.8
! 162,030
! 40.2
, -
, colspan=7, Source: City of Mainz
1st round
City council

The Mainz city council governs the city alongside the Mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 26 May 2019, and the results were as follows:
! colspan=2, Party
! Votes
! %
! +/-
! Seats
! +/-
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left,
Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)
, 1,582,459
, 27.7
, 7.5
, 17
, 5
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left,
Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
, 1,339,561
, 23.5
, 6.9
, 14
, 4
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left,
Social Democratic Party (SPD)
, 1,151,572
, 20.2
, 7.2
, 12
, 5
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left,
Free Democratic Party (FDP)
, 340,501
, 6.0
, 0.9
, 4
, 1
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left,
The Left (Die Linke)
, 335,459
, 5.9
, 1.3
, 4
, 1
, -
, 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)
, 302,604
, 5.3
, 2.3
, 3
, 1
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left,
Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP)
, 238,727
, 4.2
, 0.2
, 2
, ±0
, -
, 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 ...
, 127,581
, 2.2
, 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)
, 108,701
, 1.9
, 0.9
, 1
, ±0
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left,
Pirate Party (Piraten)
, 78,595
, 1.4
, 0.4
, 1
, ±0
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left,
Volt Germany (Volt)
, 67,376
, 1.2
, New
, 1
, New
, -
, bgcolor=,
, align=left,
Alliance for Innovation and Justice (BIG)
, 31,419
, 0.6
, 0.1
, 0
, ±0
, -
! colspan=2, Total votes
! 5,704,555
! 100.0
!
!
!
, -
! colspan=2, Total ballots
! 100,522
! 100.0
!
! 60
! ±0
, -
! colspan=2, Electorate/voter turnout
! 162,321
! 61.9
! 11.0
!
!
, -
, colspan=7, Source
City of Mainz
Culture
Mainz is home to a
Carnival
Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras.
Carnival typi ...
, the ''Mainzer Fassenacht'' or ''Fastnacht'', which has developed since the early 19th century. Carnival in Mainz has its roots in the criticism of social and political injustices under the shelter of cap and bells. Today, the uniforms of many traditional Carnival clubs still imitate and caricature the uniforms of the French and Prussian troops of the past. The height of the carnival season is on
Rosenmontag ("rose Monday"), when there is a large parade in Mainz, with more than 500,000 people celebrating in the streets.
The first-ever
Katholikentag, a festival-like gathering of German Catholics, was held in Mainz in 1848.
Johannes Gutenberg
Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg ( – 3 February 1468) was a German inventor and Artisan, craftsman who invented the movable type, movable-type printing press. Though movable type was already in use in East Asia, Gutenberg's inven ...
, credited with the invention of the
printing press
A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in whi ...
, was born here and died here. Since 1968 the
Mainzer Johannisnacht commemorates the person Johannes Gutenberg in his native city. The
Mainz University, which was refounded in 1946, is named after
Gutenberg; the earlier University of Mainz that dated back to 1477 had been closed down by Napoleon's troops in 1798.
Mainz was one of three important centres of Jewish theology and learning in Central Europe during the Middle Ages. Known collectively as ''Shum'', the cities of
Speyer
Speyer (, older spelling ; ; ), historically known in English as Spires, is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in the western part of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the r ...
,
Worms
The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive catalogue and list of names of marine organisms.
Content
The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scien ...
and Mainz played a key role in the preservation and propagation of Talmudic scholarship.
The city is the seat of Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (literally, "Second German Television",
ZDF), one of two federal nationwide TV broadcasters. There are also a couple of radio stations based in Mainz. The
Mainzer Stadtschreiber (City clerk in Mainz) is an annual German literature award.
Other cultural aspects of the city include:
*As city in the
Greater Region, Mainz participated in the program of the year of
European Capital of Culture 2007.
*The
Walk of Fame of Cabaret may be found nearby the Schillerplatz.
*The
music publisher
A music publisher is a type of publisher that specializes in distributing music. Music publishers originally published sheet music. When copyright became legally protected, music publishers began to play a role in the management of the intellectu ...
Schott Music is located in Mainz.
*One of the oldest brass instrument manufacturers in the world,
Gebr. Alexander is located in Mainz.
*Fans of Gospel music enjoy the yearly performances of
Colours of Gospel.
*Every one or two years a festival for improvised music between jazz, avant-garde and rock with a line-up of international renowned musicians takes place, the
Akut-Festival.
*Mainz is sometimes considered to be the birthplace of
Spundekäs, a type of cheese that has remained popular in the region
Education
*
University of Mainz
*
University of Applied Sciences Mainz
*
Catholic University of Applied Sciences Mainz
Sports
The local football club
1. FSV Mainz 05 has a long history in the German football leagues. Since 2004 it has competed in the
Bundesliga
The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...
(First German soccer league) except a break in second level in 2007–08 season. Mainz is closely associated with renowned coach
Jürgen Klopp
Jürgen Norbert Klopp (; born 16 June 1967) is a German football executive and former Manager (association football), manager and Football player, player. He is widely regarded as one of the best football managers in the world. Klopp has been ...
, who spent the vast majority of his playing career at the club and was also the manager for seven years, leading the club to Bundesliga football for the first time. After leaving Mainz Klopp went on to win two Bundesliga titles and reaching a
Champions League final with
Borussia Dortmund
Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...
. In the summer of 2011, the club opened its new stadium called
Coface Arena, which was later renamed Opel Arena. Further relevant football clubs are
TSV Schott Mainz,
SV Gonsenheim,
Fontana Finthen,
FC Fortuna Mombach
and FVgg Mombach 03.
The local wrestling club ASV Mainz 1888 is currently in the top division of team wrestling in Germany, the
Bundesliga
The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...
. In 1973, 1977, 2012 and 2023 the ASV Mainz 1888 won the German championship.
In 2007 the
Mainz Athletics won the
German Men's Championship in baseball.
As a result of the 2008 invasion of Georgia by Russian troops, Mainz acted as a neutral venue for the Georgian Vs Republic of Ireland football game.
The biggest basketball club in the city is the ASC Theresianum Mainz. Its men's team is playing in the Regionalliga and its women's team is playing in the 2.DBBL.
USC Mainz
Universitäts-Sportclub Mainz (University Sports Club Mainz) is a German sports club based in Mainz (Germany). It was founded on 9 September 1959 by Berno Wischmann primarily for students of the University of Mainz. It is considered one of the most powerful Athletics Sports clubs in Germany. 50 athletes of USC have distinguished themselves in a half-century in club history at Olympic Games, World and European Championships. In particular in the decathlon dominated USC athletes for decades: Already at the European Championships in Budapest in 1966, Mainz won three (Werner von Moltke, Jörg Mattheis and Horst Beyer) all decathlon medals. In the all-time list of the USC, there are nine athletes who have achieved more than 8,000 points – at the head of Siegfried Wentz (8762 points in 1983) and Guido Kratschmer (1980 world record with 8667 points). The most successful athlete of the association is more fighter, sprinter and long jumper Ingrid Becker (Olympic champion in 1968 in the pentathlon and Olympic champion in 1972 in the 4 × 100 Metres Relay and European champion in 1971 in the long jump). The most famous athletes of the present are the sprinter Marion Wagner (world champion in 2001 in the 4 × 100 Metres Relay) and the pole vaulters Carolin Hingst (Eighth of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing) and Anna Battke.
Three world titles adorn the balance of USC Mainz. For the discus thrower, Lars Riedel attended (1991 and 1993) and the already mentioned sprinter Marion Wagner (2001). Added to 5 titles at the European Championships, a total of 65 international medals and 260 victories at the German Athletics Championships.
The players of USC's basketball section played from the season 1968/69 to the season 1974/75 in the National Basketball League (BBL) of the German Basketball Federation (DBB). As a finalist to winning the DBB Cup in 1971 USC Mainz played in the
1971–72 FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup against the Italian Cup winners of
Fides Napoli.
Mainz Athletics
The Baseball and Softball Club Mainz Athletics is a German baseball and softball club located in the city of Mainz in
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 ...
. The Athletics is one of the largest clubs in the
Baseball-Bundesliga Süd in terms of membership, claiming to have hundreds of active players. The club has played in the Baseball-Bundesliga for more than two decades and has won the German Championship in 2007 and 2016.
Economy
Wine centre
Mainz is documented to be a wine-growing region since
bishop Boniface acquired a vineyard bordering the city wall and further vine plantations in Bretzenheim in 752 and is one of the centres of the
German wine industry. Since 2008, the city is a member of the Great Wine Capitals Global Network (GWC), an association of well-known wineculture-cities of the world. Many wine traders work in the city. The
sparkling wine producer Kupferberg produced in Mainz-Hechtsheim and
Henkell – now located on the other side of the river Rhine – were once founded in Mainz. The famous
Blue Nun, one of the first branded wines, was marketed by the Sichel family. The ''Haus des Deutschen Weines'' (House of German Wine), is located in the city. The Mainzer Weinmarkt (wine market) is one of the great wine fairs in Germany.
Other industries
The
Schott AG, one of the world's largest glass manufacturers,
as well as the
Werner & Mertz, a large chemical factory,
are based in Mainz. Other companies such as
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...
,
QUINN Plastics, or
Novo Nordisk have their German administration in Mainz as well.
BioNTech, a
biotechnology
Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists ...
company developing
immunotherapies
Immunotherapy or biological therapy is the treatment of disease by activating or suppressing the immune system. Immunotherapies designed to elicit or amplify an immune response are classified as ''activation immunotherapies,'' while immunotherap ...
including a vaccine against
coronavirus disease 2019
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include f ...
(COVID-19) was founded in 2008 in Mainz by scientists
Uğur Şahin, and
Özlem Türeci, with the Austrian oncologist Christoph Huber.
, founder of France's famous
Krug champagne house in 1843, was born in Mainz in 1800.
Transport
Mainz is a major transport hub in southern Germany. It is an important component in European distribution, as it has the fifth largest inter-modal port in Germany. The
Port of Mainz, now handling mainly containers, is a sizable industrial area to the north of the city, along the banks of the Rhine. In order to open up space along the city's riverfront for residential development, it was shifted further northwards in 2010.
Rail
Mainz Central Station or ''Mainz Hauptbahnhof'', is frequented by 80,000 travelers and visitors each day and is therefore one of the busiest 21 stations in Germany. It is a stop for the
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 ...
line
S8 of the
Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund
The Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) is a List of German transport associations, transport association that covers the Public transport, public transport network of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main area in Germany. Its head offi ...
. Additionally, the
Mainbahn line to
Frankfurt Hbf starts at the station. It is served by 440 daily local and regional trains (
StadtExpress,
RE and
RB) and 78 long-distance trains (
IC, EuroCity, EC and InterCityExpress, ICE). Intercity-Express lines connect Mainz with Frankfurt (Main), Karlsruhe Hbf, Worms Hauptbahnhof and Koblenz Hauptbahnhof. It is a terminus of the West Rhine Railway and the Mainz–Ludwigshafen railway, as well as the Alzey–Mainz Railway erected by the Hessische Ludwigsbahn in 1871. Access to the East Rhine Railway is provided by the Kaiserbrücke (Mainz), Kaiserbrücke, a railway bridge across the Rhine at the north end of Mainz.
Public transportation
The Mainz Central Station is an interchange point for the Trams in Mainz, Mainz tramway network, and an important bus junction for the city and region (Rhein-Nahe-Nahverkehrsverbund, RNN, Omnibusverkehr Rhein-Nahe, ORN and Mainzer Verkehrsgesellschaft, MVG).
Cycling
Mainz offers a wide array of bicycle transportation facilities and events, including several miles of on-street bike lanes. The EV15 The Rhine Cycle Route, Rheinradweg (Rhine Cycle Route) is an international cycle route, running from the source to the mouth of the Rhine, traversing four countries at a distance of . Another cycling tour runs towards Bingen and further to the Middle Rhine, a List of World Heritage Sites in Europe, UNESCO World Heritage Site (2002).
Air transportation
Mainz is served by Frankfurt Airport, the busiest airport by passenger traffic in Germany by far, the third busiest in Europe and the ninth busiest worldwide in 2009. Located about east of Mainz, it is connected to the city by an S8 (Rhine-Main S-Bahn), S-Bahn line.
The small Mainz Finthen Airport, located just southwest of Mainz, is used by general aviation only. Another airport, Frankfurt-Hahn Airport located about west of Mainz, is served by a few low-cost carriers.
Notable people
*List of people from Mainz
*Electorate of Mainz, Archbishops of Mainz
*List of mayors of Mainz
Twin towns – sister cities
Mainz is Sister city, twinned with:
* Watford, United Kingdom (1956)
* Dijon, France (1957)
* Zagreb, Croatia (1967)
* Valencia, Spain (1978)
* Haifa, Israel (1981)
* Erfurt, Germany (1988)
* Louisville, Kentucky, Louisville, United States (1994)
* Longchamp, Côte-d'Or, Longchamp, France (1966, with Mainz-Laubenheim)
* Rodeneck, Italy (1977, with Mainz-Finthen)
Mainz has friendly relations with:
* Kigali, Rwanda (1982)
* Baku, Azerbaijan (1984)
See also
*Johann Fust
*
Johannes Gutenberg
Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg ( – 3 February 1468) was a German inventor and Artisan, craftsman who invented the movable type, movable-type printing press. Though movable type was already in use in East Asia, Gutenberg's inven ...
*Peter Schöffer, apprentice of Gutenberg and early printer
References
Notes
Sources
Further reading
*Hope, Valerie. ''Constructing Identity: The Roman Funerary Monuments of Aquelia, Mainz and Nîmes''; British Archaeological Reports (16 July 2001)
*Imhof, Michael and Simone Kestin: ''Mainz City and Cathedral Guide.'' Petersberg: Michael Imhof Verlag, 2004.
*Mainz (journal), ''Mainz'' ("Vierteljahreshefte für Kultur, Politik, Wirtschaft, Geschichte"), since 1981
*Saddington, Denis. ''The stationing of auxiliary regiments in Germania Superior in the Julio-Claudian period''
*Stanton, Shelby, ''World War II Order of Battle: An Encyclopedic Reference to U.S. Army Ground Forces from Battalion through Division, 1939–1946'' (Revised Edition, 2006), Stackpole Books
*
External links
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{{Authority control
Mainz,
10s BC establishments in the Roman Empire
Cities in Rhineland-Palatinate
Urban districts of Rhineland-Palatinate
Divided cities
German state capitals
Free imperial cities
Port cities and towns in Germany
Roman towns and cities in Germany
Populated places on the Rhine
Populated places established in the 1st century BC
Roman legionary fortresses in Germany
Roman fortifications in Germania Superior
Rhenish Hesse
States and territories established in 1244