Background
Heidelberg Facts and Background
The stories behind the sights: why Heidelberg has Germany's oldest university, what Homo heidelbergensis has to do with the region, who really walked the Philosophenweg (Philosophers' Walk), and what makes this city on the Neckar what it is.
Ruperto Carola, Germany's Oldest University
Founded in 1386 by Elector Ruprecht I, Heidelberg University is the oldest university on the territory of present-day Germany.
Heidelberg Romanticism
Brentano, Arnim, Eichendorff: how Heidelberg became a center of the German Romantic movement in the early 19th century.
Homo heidelbergensis
A jawbone unearthed in 1907 at Mauer near Heidelberg gave the region its own branch of the human family tree.
Student Life in Heidelberg
From the student jail to the dueling fraternities, from the Schnookeloch tavern to the Untere Straße: more than 600 years of studying in Heidelberg.
The Max Planck Institutes in Heidelberg
From astronomy to medical research, Heidelberg is one of the most important research locations in Germany and Europe.
The Philosophenweg (Philosophers' Walk)
Where Heidelberg's most famous view comes from, where the name came from, and why Mediterranean plants thrive on this hillside.