Heidelberg is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. As of 2002, there are 140,000 people living on the city's 109 km2.
Heidelberg lies on the river Neckar at the point where the Neckar leaves its narrow, steep valley in the Odenwald hills to flow into the Rhine valley where, 20 kilometers northwest of Heidelberg it joins the Rhine at Mannheim. The old city is long and narrow and is dominated by Heidelberg Castle which perches 200 metres above the Neckar on the steep wooded hill of the Königstuhl, surrounded by a park where the famous poet J.W. Goethe once walked.
The city is a vibrant mixture of tradition and modernity. In the past it has been a centre for both science and the arts and today this tradition is carried on with many research centres located in or around the city.
Heidelberg is undoubtedly most famous for the University of Heidelberg. Among the prominent thinkers to have been associated with the University over the centuries are Hegel, the philosopher of hermeneutics Hans-Georg Gadamer, the critical theorist Jürgen Habermas, and the discourse philosopher Karl-Otto Apel.
A few tiny towns in the United States are called Heidelberg:
History
The "Untere Straße" (lower street), A typical side street in the Old Town.
External links
Also two towns in South Africa: