TIME OUT
Nostalgia and high-tech
T. RAMAKRISHNAN
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Heidelberg has the right mix of the old and the new, the arts and science.
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PHOTO: T. RAMAKRISHNAN
Medieval glory: The Heidelberg castle.
IF Frankfurt is for those who love the hustle and bustle of life, Heidelberg is for those who prefer a break from the "madness of life".
Located not very far from the commercial capital of Germany, Heidelberg is a small but idyllic and historic city. It's just about an hour's drive (about 80 km) from Frankfurt. It is home to the famous six-centuries-old castle, the clean Neckar river and numerous museums. It also offers trips on a trendy solar-powered boat as well as on a heritage funicular railway car. In fact, this combination of modernity and tradition characterises Heidelberg.
One thing you notice when you talk to the people of the city or browse the literature available is that of Heidelberg being described as a "romantic city". In fact, the "heart" sign gets featured prominently in the materials wherever the city's name is mentioned. This is because the city was in the limelight during the late 18th-19th century German Romanticism movement, a literary movement that attached importance to German history and folklore.
Centre of intellectual activity
It is not surprising that Heidelberg has been a major source of intellectual life in that part of the world as it houses the oldest German university. The philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) and the economist Max Weber (1864-1920) are among the prominent figures who had ties with the Heidelberg University at one point of time or the other of their career.
Famous for printing machines, Heidelberg, which has a long history of being a cradle of higher education, can easily be called a "science city" too. The German Cancer Research Centre, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, the European Institute for Research and Strategic Studies in Telecommunication and the renowned Max Planck Institutes for Nuclear Physics, Medical Research and Astronomy are some of the institutions located in this picturesque city. Two years ago, the first German Centre for Modelling and Simulation in Life Sciences and the National Centre for Tumour Diseases were established here.
These organisations are all important features of the new city. If they are of interest to students of science, the old city is there to provide equal excitement to lovers of history. The Heidelberg Castle, though largely in ruins now, transports tourists to the medieval and Renaissance era. It was the base of the Palatinate Prince Electors for nearly 500 years. The Ruprecht building is the oldest remaining part of the castle. The eight-metre-high and nine-metre-long Heidelberg Vat, a wine vat of about 2.2 lakh litres capacity, is a popular draw for the tourists.
Fun getting there
Several buildings in the castle enclose a spacious inner courtyard. Of course the gardens, though not as big as the Mughal Gardens in the Rashtrapathi Bhavan complex in New Delhi, add charm to the castle. To reach the historic landmark, the journey through the funicular railway cars is an experience by itself. The funicular railway — a combined cable and rack railway — is yet another example of the Heidelberg character of combining the old and the new in right mix.
The 116-year-old railway system is divided into lower and upper railways. The length of the lower railway is nearly half a kilometre and that of the upper, about one kilometre. The cars of the lower railway are of trendy models and those of the upper railway are the ones used since 1907 but modernised and restored to their original external condition. This is why they say "high tech below, nostalgia above".
While the lower railway section takes you to the castle, the upper railway takes you to the top of the Konigstuhl mountain. From the base station, where tickets are issued for the journey, there are two stops before reaching the Konigstuhl. The first one is the castle stop while the second is the transfer station where tourists have to get into the heritage train to reach the top. And you get a panoramic view of the "romantic city" from there.
The trip to the Konigstuhl mountain through the funicular railway will remind Indian tourists of our versions of mountain railway systems on the Kalka-Simla sector, the Darjeeling and the Nilgiris, the last two of which have been included in the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites. Two years ago, the State Office for Historical Monuments of Baden-Wurttemberg (the province under which the funicular railways come) declared the Heidelberg railway system a "cultural monument of particular importance."
Like any German city, Heidelberg too boasts of several museums, representing different phases of its history. For those who have a greater fascination for political history, the Friedrich Ebert Memorial is a must. The memorial, named after Germany's first President of the Weimar period, is actually the house where he was born. Hailing from a modest background, Ebert went on to occupy the highest position and was the President of Germany during 1919-25. The memorial is located close to the Neckar river because that was where economically-weaker sections of society in Ebert's period had their houses.
These and many more are the different facets of Heidelberg, which attracts 3.5 million tourists every year. As tourism authorities in this city are particular that tourists should not miss essential features of the "romantic city," they have the "Heidelberg card" scheme. Priced at nominal rates, the cards, designed to suit the requirements of tourists, offer guided tours of the castle, discounted shopping, free travel on buses and trams, and for dining out. For those who want to enjoy "desi food" even in this part of Germany, the city has a restaurant run by a Gujarati.
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