Mannheim is a city in the southwestern part of Germany, the third-largest in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart and Karlsruhe. The city is at the centre of the larger densely populated Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region and is Germany's eighth-largest metropolitan region.
Mannheim is located at the confluence of the Rhine and the Neckar in the northwestern corner of Baden-Württemberg. The Rhine separates Mannheim from the city of Ludwigshafen, just to the west of it in Rhineland-Palatinate, and the border of Baden-Württemberg with Hesse is just to the north. Mannheim is downstream along the Neckar from the city of Heidelberg.
Mannheim is unusual among German cities in that its streets and avenues are laid out in a grid pattern, leading to its nickname "die Quadratestadt" ("The City of Squares"). It is also one of the most inventive cities worldwide. Mannheim is a Smart City; the city's electrical grid is installed with a Power-line communication network.
The city's tourism slogan is "Leben. Im Quadrat." (Life. Squared.). Mannheim is the starting and finishing point of the Bertha Benz Memorial Route.
Take a look at these color snaps taken by Klaus Hiltscher to see what street scenes of Mannheim looked like from the 1970s.
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| The Planken - in front of the water tower, 1971 |
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| The Tattersall, 1972 |
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| Tattersallstrasse. On the left is the Mercedes Benz branch with workshop, 1972 |
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| The Dresdner Bank under construction, 1972 |
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| The Planken between P5+P6-Das Ascot, Cafe ASCOT of the Hoffman family, 1972 |
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| The Planken entrance at the water tower, 1972 |
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| The Planken in front of the Kaufhof, 1972 |
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| The Planken, Christmas 1972 |
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| At the Kurpfalzkreisel-the Bürgerautomat, 1973 |
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| Bismarckplatz 15 in January 1973 |
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| Mannheim street scene, December 1973 |
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| Mannheim street scene, December 1973 |
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| The extended Planke, 1973 |
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| The Planken from above, 1973 |
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| In front of Musikhaus Pfeiffer - Fressgasse, 1974 |
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| Bismarckplatz 15 -17, Mannheim, 1975 |
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| Cafe Kiemle, the Planken, 1975 |
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| Kiosk: "Last break before prison", Neckarstadt, 1975 |
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| Paul Winter's Blow Up, 1975 |
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| The Airbus - Zukunft ohne Zukunft (Future without Future), 1975 |
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| The Paradeplatz, 1975 |
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| The Planken - in the middle, 1975 |
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| The Planken at Mages with dumpling fountain, 1975 |
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| The Planken at the Engelhorn, March 1975 |
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| The Planken at the old post office, 1975 |
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| The Planken entrance, March 1975 |
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| The Planken height old post, 1975 |
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| Anwar El Sadat in the Bismarckstr, 1976 |
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| Between N5 + N6. Right furniture Böhme, today the Engelhorn sports house, 1978 |
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| The Planken in front of Planken Kino, Christmas 1978 |
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| The Planken vorm Modehaus Mages, December 1978 |
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| The station footbridge to Lindenhof, 1979 |
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| The station footbridge to the Lindenhof, 1979 |