History of the city of Mainz
The city of Mainz is of Roman origin and can look back on over 2000 years of history. Founded as a Roman legionary camp Mogontiacum , the city was later the capital of the province of Germania superior and from 780/82 to 1803 the seat of the archbishopric . The city experienced its heyday between 1244 and 1462 when it was a free city . Thereafter, until the end of the 18th century, its history was determined by the electors and archbishops of Mainz, who resided in the city. After the end of this era, the city of Mainz lost its time as a federal fortresslargely its importance, while its importance as a fortress increased. In 1946 Mainz became the state capital of Rhineland-Palatinate .
prehistory
Human life in the area of today's Mainz has been documented as early as 20,000 to 25,000 years ago. In 1921, a resting place for hunters was uncovered on the Mainz Linsenberg, which dates from the last Ice Age and has found its way into specialist literature as an important relic. It is the oldest trace of human life in the Mainz city area.
Due to the Rhine , which was the city's lifeline from the beginning, after the end of the Stone Age , especially around 1800 B.C. A rich cultural and national life took place in today's Mainz area, which extends over the Bronze Age through all epochs.
In the second half of the 1st millennium BC The Celts were the dominant power on the Upper Rhine. They also settled the Mainz area and named this settlement, which cannot be compared with the term city, after one of their gods named Mogon . From this name the later arriving Romans derived the city name Mogontiacum , which Tacitus first mentioned.
75 BC Finally, the Germanic tribes came under the leadership of Ariovistus near Mainz, where they crossed the Rhine in the direction of Gaul. The Celts living on the Middle Rhine until then were pushed back, although in the Mainz area, which belonged to the outermost sphere of influence of the Celtic Treveri tribe , the proportion of the Celtic population remained relatively intact until the arrival of the Romans.
After the Gallic War , which began with the Battle of Alesia in 52 BC. Ended, the Roman Empire under Julius Caesar and later Augustus oriented itself towards the Rhine and Germania. The Romans first conquered the areas on the left bank of the Rhine in order to subdue Germania ( Germania Magna ) on the right bank of the Rhine from there . One of the camps that was set up on the Rhine as part of this plan was the 13/12 BC. Later Mogontiacum created by Nero Claudius Drusus . The city is one of the oldest cities in Germany .
Roman time
Mogontiacum belonged to the Roman Empire for almost 500 years . An earlier stated date of the founding of the legionary camp was 38 BC. BC cannot be proven archaeologically and is no longer tenable today. Nevertheless, it was officially taken on the occasion of the two thousandth anniversary in 1962. The beginning of the Roman history of Mainz is definitely dated to the year 13/12 BC. Chr. Placed. In the course of the expansion policy of the Roman Empire in the direction of Germania, a legionary camp was founded at the mouth of the Main near Mainz (at the latest) and Roman rule was established all the way to the Rhine. This was responsible - until his death in 9 BC. BC - Nero Claudius Drusus .
Until 90 AD there were always only two in the camp (beginning with the 14th Legion Gemina and the 16th Legion Gallica ), later one legion ( 22nd Legion Primigenia Pia Fidelis , the Mainz "House Legion " until the middle of the 4th century AD). In preparation for various campaigns to Germania, up to four legions and auxiliary troops were temporarily stationed in Mainz. Some of these additional troops were housed in a second large military camp, which existed until the end of the 1st century AD. It was located near Weisenau on the site of today's quarry and is no longer archaeologically verifiable. As a result, the Mogontiacum military base also attracted traders, craftsmen and landlords. However, the people living around the camp had no civil rights and were dependent on the site commander. The main camp, which is still reminiscent of the current district name Kästrich ( Castrum ), was set up like the other Roman camps : Two intersecting streets ( Via praetoria , Via principalis , Via decumana ) with four gates ( Porta praetoria , Porta decumana , Porta principalis dextra , Porta principalis sinistra ).
After the disaster in the Varus Battle in 9 AD, the Rhine became the border river between Germania and the empire. 89 AD, after the suppression of the Saturninus uprising , the city became, in addition to its military function as the most important military camp on the Rhine border, also the civil administrative center and the capital of the newly formed province Germania superior (Upper Germany). The province stretched from the Upper Rhine to Koblenz , which was then called Confluentes . To the north of it was the province of Germania inferior with Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium ( Cologne ) as the provincial capital. A comprehensive construction program especially for the Flavian imperial family (expansion of the legionary camp in stone, aqueduct construction , permanent stilt bridge with massive stone pillars ) as well as the conquest of the Wetterau and the beginning of the Limes construction there marked the development of Moguntiacum in the 1st century AD.
In the period that followed, Mainz flourished, but never achieved the status of Cologne or Trier as a civilian settlement. Trader streets, for example to Divodurum ( Metz ), made the city prosperous. However, from the end of the 2nd century AD, the city and the surrounding area were increasingly threatened by invading tribes such as the Chatti , Alemanni and the Vandals , especially after the fall of the Limes in AD 258.
This led to the loss of the Limes area on the right bank of the Rhine in AD 259/260, and Mogontiacum became a border town again. In the third and at the latest in the fourth century, Christianity also found its way into the city. No later than 368 it can be assumed that a bishop will be present in the city (see also: History of the Diocese of Mainz ).
In the same century, however, the decline of the Imperium Romanum became more and more evident. Above all, the Alemanni threatened Mainz and occupied the city of 352/355. Further ideas are documented from the years 357, 368 and 370. Julian recaptured the city from the Alamanni again in AD 357 and strengthened the Rhine fleet in Mainz ( Roman ships ). The city wall , which was built in the 3rd century AD, was also rebuilt and renewed in the second half of the 4th century. On New Year's Eve 407, the vandals conquered the city and destroyed it ( see → Rhine crossing from 406 ). In 451 the Huns finally invaded , but according to the latest research they did not cause any major damage in Mainz. The time of the Roman Mainz was over. The Franks took over the rule and incorporated Mainz into their empire at the end of the 5th century .
Mainz at the time of the Merovingians, Carolingians and Ottonians
Towards the end of the 5th century, a struggle for supremacy over the former Roman territories broke out between the Franks and the Alamanni, the second great tribe in this area. In 496/97, Clovis I, King of the Franks, from the Merovingian house, was baptized after a vow. Clovis subsequently drove the Alemanni out of the area. He became king of Western Franconia and Gaul, and later also of the Cologne Franconian Empire, to which Mainz presumably also belonged. Mainz thus became part of a large Franconian empire and from a border city to an inland city . From this time on, but especially at the time of Bishop Sidonius (6th century), Christianity flourished in the city and construction activities began again for the first time. In the 7th and 8th centuries the time of the mission by Benedictine monks from the Anglo-Saxon area began. The most significant of these missionaries was composed of Wessex originating Mission Archbishop Boniface . In 744 he drove the dismissal of Gewiliobus, who was found unworthy of blood revenge, and became bishop of Mainz himself, from where he initiated the Christianization of Hesse and Friesland. Under his successor Lullus (Lul) the diocese was raised to an archdiocese around 780/782 . The church of Mainz developed into the largest church province north of the Alps ( see: Diocese of Mainz ), which also emphasized the importance of the city itself.
The great Carolingian era began with Charlemagne . Karl founded one of his imperial palaces in Ingelheim near Mainz . The discovery of a Carolingian throne fragment from the second half of the 8th century suggests that there was also an imperial palace in Mainz. Karl held several meetings in Mainz, a tradition that continued for centuries and culminated in 1184 under Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa. Mainz offered itself as a conference location, as it had a large church building (75 m long) with the St. Alban Abbey in front of Mainz , in which the meetings could take place and which thus became the spiritual center of the diocese for the next 200 years developed. Since Mainz has been actively Christianizing the Slavs and other Eastern peoples since the time of Boniface, Mainz continued to develop into an important hub of the empire. This applied not only to political and religious, but also to economic issues. Above all, merchants made Mainz wealthy. In urban development, however, the emphasis always remained on the religious significance, which was derived primarily from the respective archbishops. Among the early successors of Lullus is Rabanus Maurus , who came from Mainz and who became archbishop in 847. His pontificate was the first high point in this development into an important spiritual center.
After the defeat of the Normans in the 9th century , the era began in the 10th century to which Mainz owes its honorary name Aurea Moguntia ("Golden Mainz"). From then on, the archbishop bore the title of "Archbishop of the Holy See of Mainz", a special honorary title that today is only held by the See of Rome besides Mainz . Mainz became the seat of the Pope's deputy on the other side of the Alps.
In 975, Willigis, the most important churchman of the time, became archbishop. He became Imperial Arch Chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation and permanently linked this dignity with the Arch Chancellor of Mainz. He was a key figure in the time of the Ottonians , whose imperial church system promoted the ecclesiastical provinces and their pastors. From 991 to 994 Willigis was the guardian of the minor Otto III. Imperial administrator and united highest secular and spiritual power in Mainz; the resulting tribute payments made Mainz one of the richest dioceses of its time. Willigis also had the large Romanesque cathedral built, which was to become the state cathedral of the empire as a manifestation of his self-image. To this day it shapes the cityscape and urban planning. Mainz is referred to in historical writings of this time as Diadema regni ("crown of the empire") and aureum caput regni ("golden head of the empire").
With Archbishop Willigis, a development that had begun in the early 9th century came to an end and made the Archbishop of Mainz head of the city. He appointed a city count (later burgrave ) who administered the city for him. Mainz became an archbishop's metropolis and remained so with interruptions from 1244 to 1462 until the end of the Holy Roman Empire.
Mainz in the High Middle Ages
The arch-chancellor of the respective archbishop and his right to elect a king made Mainz one of the main places of the Holy Roman Empire and a focal point of imperial politics. This continued especially in the high Middle Ages . Archbishop Adalbert I of Saarbrücken possessed enough power to reform the royal suffrage in 1125. From this point on, not all princes were to take part in the election, but only ten from the four provinces of Franconia, Saxony, Swabia and Bavaria. In 1257 this number was reduced to seven, a regulation that, with a small change (transfer of the cure of the Count Palatine to the Duke of Bavaria, later creation of an eighth cure for the Count Palatine) was to last until the end of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation . One of them was the Archbishop of Mainz, who was therefore also allowed to call himself Elector . This can be seen as the actual beginning of the Electoral Mainz history.
Adalbert also granted the Mainz residents living within the walls special civil rights for the first time, in particular independence from foreign jurisdictions and the privilege of not having to pay taxes to foreign bailiffs . This legal declaration was later carved into the bronze gates of the cathedral, accessible to everyone. The privileges were lost again in 1160 when the citizens of Mainz killed Archbishop Arnold von Selenhofen because of a tax dispute . For this reason, Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa also had the city walls razed. But as early as 1184, when his sons were guilty of swords, and in 1188 Frederick I returned to Mainz to embark on a new crusade on the so-called Court Day of Jesus Christ . Especially under the Archbishops of Eppstein (from 1208) Mainz quickly developed into an important center of the empire again. In 1212 Siegfried II von Eppstein crowned the most important Staufer Friedrich II in Mainz Cathedral as king. During the time of the Archbishops of Eppstein, a particularly subsidized construction work on the city fortifications also coincided.
As early as 1235, the tradition of the court and Reichstag in Mainz found its continuation and its final climax: Friedrich II opened the Reichstag in the city on August 15, at which the Reichslandfriede ( Mainzer Landfrieden ) was enacted.
The persecution of the Jews
In the context of the crusades , attacks on Jews and pogroms took place in Mainz, Jewish-Hebrew name Magenza , as elsewhere . The pogrom of 1096 was particularly terrible. After the First Crusade was decided, serious unrest broke out in France . Irregular armies were formed who, before traveling to the holy land, wanted to “liberate” their own homeland from the Jews. After the citizens of Mainz had initially downplayed the danger, the appearance of the army in front of Worms and later in front of their own city forced them to act. When the radical Jew hater Emicho , Count von Leiningen, appeared with his army in front of the city, Archbishop Ruthard wanted to leave the city because he was unable to offer resistance to the Count. Jewish citizens tried to dissuade the archbishop from doing this with gifts of money. After the unexplained death of a Mainz citizen, Emicho managed to win over parts of the residents. These opened the city gates at night. The city's Jews fled to the archbishop's residence, where Ruthard wanted to guarantee their protection, a responsibility which he soon evaded by fleeing, so that the Jewish citizens were at the mercy of their captors. In order not to fall into their hands, they committed suicide . Only about 53 Jews were later rescued by 300 men of the archbishop's guard to Rüdesheim , where they were again brought by the crusaders. Archbishop Ruthard, on the other hand, was not in control of the situation. In the end, 1,014 Jews were dead, 90% of the community. Emperor Heinrich IV ordered the restoration of the community in the following year. Since the whereabouts of the Jewish assets were unknown, the archbishop's income was confiscated.
In the run-up to the Third Crusade , violent riots against the Jewish population also broke out in Mainz in February 1188. A large part of the Jewish community fled to Munzenberg Castle in Wetterau , which was then owned by the von Hagen-Munzenberg family of ministers . However, the Jewish community did not fully recover from these pogroms until the late Middle Ages.
The Whitsun festival of Emperor Barbarossa in 1184
One of the greatest court days of the entire Middle Ages was the Whitsun Festival held by Friedrich I. Barbarossa in Mainz in 1184 . The occasion was the sword line of his sons Heinrich and Friedrich. Well over 40,000 knights moved to Mainz, which could not contain this crowd, which is why the knights also occupied the Rhine meadows around Mainz. Practically all princes and spiritual elites of the empire took part in the festival, including the Dukes of Bohemia, Austria, Saxony, the Count Palatine of the Rhine and the Landgrave of Thuringia as well as the Archbishops of Trier , Bremen and Besançon and the Bishops of Regensburg , Cambrai , Liège , Metz , Toul , Verdun , Utrecht , Worms , Speyer , Strasbourg , Basel , Constance , Chur , Würzburg , Bamberg , Münster , Hildesheim and Lübeck . A chronicler wrote about the festival: Dat was de groteste hochtit en, de he em Dudischeme lande was (That was the biggest festival that was ever celebrated in Germany).
The heyday: Mainz as a free city (1244–1462)
In 1236 the emperor granted the citizens of Mainz again rights similar to those of Adalbert for the first time. Favored by the conflict between Frederick II and the Pope, the citizens allowed themselves to be wooed by the two warring parties. In 1242 they received a tariff privilege from King Conrad IV . Nevertheless, they changed sides shortly afterwards and on November 13, 1244, under circumstances that were not completely clarified, they received an extensive city privilege from Archbishop Siegfried III. from Eppstein . This contained not only the confirmation of previous privileges, but also the permission to form a 24-member elected city council. Furthermore, the obligation to obey was lifted. This meant that citizens of Mainz no longer had to do military service for the archbishop except to defend the city, nor did they have to finance any war for him. Since the powerful Mainz cathedral chapter guaranteed the continued existence of the privileges even after future bishops' elections, Mainz actually became a " free city " , although the archbishop was still the head of the city . Of course, only people from patrician houses could belong to the city council .
After the granting of city freedom, the city's heyday began in the High Middle Ages. The development of the Rheinische Städtebund from 1254 and the reputation that Mainz acquired through it made the importance of the city in the empire recognizable. Mainz became a focal point of political and ecclesiastical events, as evidenced by the founding of many monasteries in Mainz (26 monasteries were established in Mainz at weddings). After the end of the interregnum in 1273, the city continued to flourish. The security of trade routes that emerged after the restoration of a central power - albeit a weakened one - was particularly beneficial for trade.
At the political level, Archbishop Peter von Aspelt (1306-1320) made a name for himself in the empire. In addition to the coronation of Johann (1311) King of Bohemia (which also belonged to the ecclesiastical province of Mainz until 1348 ), he supported the election of Ludwig the Bavarian as German king, which also benefited the city and the citizens, who received the department store privilege in 1317. At the same time, the king enacted the Rhenish Peace in the Land, which was supposed to protect the grain imports that were vital after famine.
The Rhenish Association of Cities
After the death of Frederick II, the time of the interregnum began , that is, the period without an emperor. As a result of the lack of a powerful central authority, power struggles and minor civil wars broke out everywhere in the Reich. Since marauding gangs were also marching through the country, the citizens of Mainz and Worms decided in 1253 to end their disagreements. In February 1254 they formed a protective alliance, which Oppenheim and Bingen joined shortly afterwards . In the years that followed, many cities and regions in the Middle and Upper Rhine joined this originally regional federation. After two years, the Rhenish Federation already covered large parts of Germany. The main political weight lay with the cities of Mainz and Worms . The federation was a political, economic and military association, which above all restored the unsafe movement of goods through military protection. In 1255 he received the status of an imperial institution from King Wilhelm of Holland (a prince who was raised to the rank of anti-king by Archbishop Siegfried III). The Mainz resident Arnold Walpod ( Walpode is an abbreviation for "Messenger of violence", which means that Arnold had police violence) played a decisive role in the development of the federal government .
The success of the Rhenish Association of Cities suggested that the imperial constitution should be reformed on its basis. But King Wilhelm fell in Friesland as early as 1256. Although the establishment of the covenant initially continued, the electors could not agree on a candidate for the king's election and chose two princes at the same time. As a result of this disagreement, the covenant broke apart again. However, the idea of city federations remained alive. Soon new city leagues emerged everywhere, such as B. the Hanseatic League , which previously only existed as an association of merchants. The association of cities of Mainz, Worms and Oppenheim was also re-established as a result. With the end of the High Middle Ages, however, bad times began again.
Mainz in the late Middle Ages
Even during the lifetime of Archbishop Matthias von Buchegg , there were repeated conflicts between the archbishop, the city and the cathedral chapter. The reason for this was mostly that the noble chapter did not recognize the privileges of the citizenry and often blackmailed the archbishop to restrict them. After the archbishop's death in 1328, these conflicts broke out openly. The cathedral chapter elected the Archbishop of Trier, Baldwin of Luxembourg, as the new archbishop, while the Pope, who was well-disposed towards the Mainz citizenship, appointed Heinrich von Virneburg (the nephew of the Cologne archbishop of the same name) as his successor. The following schism grew into an open confrontation - the so-called Mainz diocese dispute - as a result of which the city initially fell victim to the interdict . Ultimately be imposed Ludwig of Bavaria the imperial ban over the city. The Mainz residents could only buy their way out of this punishment through high compensation payments, which partially impoverished the city. In addition to this development came the plague epidemic of 1348, which further accelerated the decline. The decline of the city gave rise to disputes over the occupation of the city council, which now also includes other groups such as B. the guilds crowded. These disputes dragged on well into the 15th century and paralyzed urban development.
Loss of urban freedom
In addition to the disputes about the organization of the city council, there was the so-called Mainz collegiate feud , which in 1462 finally ushered in the end of Mainz city freedom. In 1459 Diether von Isenburg was elected the new archbishop. However, this soon made both the pope (by refusing to participate in the crusade) and the emperor (by supporting the Bohemians) an enemy. The Pope declared him deposed in 1461 and raised Adolf II of Nassau to the Mainz chair. The city of Mainz and its citizens sided with Diether. Thereupon Adolf II had the city conquered and the privileges of the citizenry surrendered. Mainz became an archbishop-electoral residence city with an administrator appointed by the archbishop ("Vicedom"). The political importance of the city was lost.
After Adolf II's death in 1475, the cathedral chapter again elected Diether von Isenburg as archbishop. The Mainz residents did not get their city freedom back from the archbishop they once supported. In return for his election, Diether had to cede rule over the city to the cathedral chapter, a regulation which, however, only lasted one year due to an uprising of the citizens (1476) that was triggered by this. Archbishop Diether forced the city back under his rule and built the Martinsburg , the predecessor of the electoral palace, as a residence. In 1486, King Maximilian delivered the city to the archbishop in a document "for all time".
University city of Mainz
Diether von Isenburg established the first Mainz university in 1477, which lasted until 1823. His predecessor Adolf II had already planned such an institution. The Pope, who at the time had to approve such institutions, endowed the university with the same privileges as Cologne , Paris and Bologna . After the Second World War , the university was re-established in 1946 as Johannes Gutenberg University (there also history).
The invention of the printing press
In the time before the Reformation, the invention of printing with movable type (at least as far as the occidental region is concerned) occurred around 1450 by Johannes Gutenberg, a citizen of Mainz . The invention triggered the first media revolution and favored the Reformation, as fonts could now be printed and distributed faster and in previously unimaginable numbers.
The Reformation in Mainz
The loss of urban freedom and the increasingly extensive privileges for clergy shattered the relationship between the citizens and the church. This was reinforced by the fact that the clergy apparently only insufficiently fulfilled their pastoral duties. As the elector and chancellor of the empire , the archbishop was usually only concerned with imperial politics rather than with his duties as a priest. For example, Archbishop Christian I von Buch (1165–1183) stayed briefly in his archbishopric twice. Many other clergymen also often had their own benefices to look after. Most of their duties were done by vicars . A close contact between clergy and lay people could never develop in this way in Mainz.
In addition, there was the beginning of the Reformation , whose origins were writings against the Church's indulgence trade . Such indulgences were sold particularly intensively in the Archdiocese of Mainz. The reason for this was the appointment of Albrecht of Brandenburg as archbishop. Albrecht, under whom the renaissance in architecture and culture found its way into the city, had previously been Archbishop of Magdeburg and Administrator of Halberstadt and also retained these offices as Archbishop of Mainz. For such an accumulation of offices, the cathedral chapter and Albrecht had to transfer a huge sum to the Holy See in Rome. It was driven mainly by the indulgence preacher Johann Tetzel . Against these indulgences consisting rose Eisleben coming Martin Luther his voice. His theses were quickly heard in Mainz, and the printing press, which had just been invented there, ensured rapid dissemination. When the papal nuncio Aleander came to Mainz in 1520 to have Luther's writings burned there, he was almost lynched by the angry crowd.
Archbishop Albrecht was initially undecided about the ideas of the Reformation. His humanistic view of the world made him vote for the Reformation. He also called the preachers Wolfgang Fabricius Capito and Kaspar Hedio to the cathedral, who gave humanist and Reformation sermons and found favor with the population.
But in the end Albrecht decided against the Reformation, whose ideas would have made it impossible for him to take office. In 1523 Hedio, like Capito, had to leave Mainz. Although the ideas themselves were still present in Mainz, the city and the archbishopric remained Catholic. Thus, the selected chapter of Mainz with Sebastian of Heusenstamm a trailer of Catholic doctrine to the new archbishop.
The Markgräflerkrieg 1552
Even in Albrecht's time, rivalries among the princes, who tended towards either Catholicism or Protestantism, had created a constant threat of war. In the " Schmalkaldic War " of 1546, Duke Moritz of Saxony, who intrigued against Emperor Charles V together with Henry II of France, allied himself with Margrave Albrecht Alkibiades of Brandenburg-Kulmbach . After Heinrich II had made unacceptable demands for his support for Moritz, Albrecht Alkibiades continued to fight on his own with the support of France. To this end, he was marauding around the empire with his army. Oppenheim, Worms and Speyer and the Hochstifte Würzburg and Bamberg were looted. When it became known that Albrecht Alkibiades was moving to Mainz, the archbishop and the cathedral chapter left the city. The electoral archbishop's residence in Aschaffenburg was also looted; the archbishop's castle burned down. The defenseless city of Mainz had no choice but to capitulate to Albrecht Alkibiades. The margrave, adorned with the telling title “Scourge of Germany”, destroyed parts of the city and also pressed 15,000 guilders from it. The city shouldn't recover from that anytime soon. Since the emperor was apparently unable to protect the city from this devastation, Archbishop Sebastian von Heusenstamm now advocated the conclusion of a religious peace. This was closed on September 25, 1555 in Augsburg .
After Sebastian von Heusenstamm's death in 1555, the second "fateful election" took place, which finally had to decide on the denomination of the archdiocese. With a majority of one vote, the cathedral chapter decided in favor of the Catholic Daniel Brendel von Homburg . This initiated the re-Catholicization in Mainz and brought the Jesuits to Mainz, who had a decisive influence on the university and spiritual life from then on until the Enlightenment . Protestantism remained outlawed. It was not until 1802 that the first real (previously from time to time garrison congregations) evangelical congregation existed in Mainz.
Mainz in the Thirty Years War
The Thirty Years' War , which had raged since 1618, initially spared Mainz, so that the brisk construction activity could continue in the city, which had already started at the end of the last century and promised the city a new heyday. At this time, the great aristocratic palaces of the cathedral capitals and electors were built. But the first fortification measures were also carried out - especially on the Jakobsberg . Elector Archbishop Georg Friedrich von Greiffenklau (1626–1629) also began with the new Electoral Palace , which was also built during the Thirty Years' War.
If the citizens had initially hoped that the war would spare the city, they had to be taught better when the Swedes landed in the empire under King Gustav Adolf in 1630. At the beginning of October 1631, the Swedish king came closer and closer to the city, so that the archbishop and cathedral chapter went into exile in Cologne at the beginning of December. The Archbishop's residence, Aschaffenburg , had already been taken by Swedish troops. On December 23, 1631, Swedish troops marched into Mainz after the city was “honored” by the Mainz city commanders. The payments with which the citizens of Mainz now had to buy themselves free from looting and pillage ruined the city's finances. In addition, Gustav Adolf had cultural treasures from Mainz libraries brought to Sweden on a large scale.
Since the Swedes did not have enough administrative staff, they left the municipal organs and thus also the Mainz city council, which had actually become insignificant since the loss of city freedom. He made efforts to free himself from the rule of the archbishop's city administrators, the Vizedome , with the help of the Swedish occupation . Perhaps there was until the return of the archbishop's retinue and his administration in 1636 even again a mayor ( mayor ).
The Swedish occupation encouraged the emergence of Lutheran communities in Mainz, but Gustav Adolf guaranteed the Mainz people freedom of religion, so that the city remained largely Catholic. After Gustav Adolf's death in 1632, Mainz was increasingly exploited under the Swedish Commander-in-Chief for Germany, Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna . There were also plague epidemics.
In 1634, the battle of Nördlingen marked the end of Swedish rule in Germany. The defeated troops retreated and came to the city of Mainz, which had been expanded into a fortress and which Gustav Adolf had also given a star-shaped fort on the right bank of the Rhine as an outpost. The name of the former district (until 1945) Gustavsburg is derived from this. The decimated troops and the garrison of the fortress, worn down by plague and hunger, could not withstand the imperial army for long. On December 17, 1635, the Swedes surrendered the city. The last Swedish soldier left Mainz on January 9, 1636. What remained was a city largely depopulated, impoverished and badly damaged by the chaos of war and epidemics. To get through the cold winter, citizens had to demolish houses to get fuel.
After the Swedes withdrew, the nobility and the Elector Anselm Casimir Wambolt von Umstadt, as well as many citizens who had fled the Swedes in 1631, returned to the city. They immediately began to makeshift restoration of the city fortifications. However, that was not enough to survive another attack. When French troops approached the city in 1644, the elector fled again (this time for good). The cathedral chapter, which represented him, negotiated on September 17th with the French commander Louis II. De Bourbon, prince de Condé, a surrender without a fight. The surrender treaty guaranteed the continuation of administrative autonomy by the archbishopric.
The French acted as a protective power for Mainz and initially stationed 500 soldiers under Charles-Christophe de Mazancourt , the "Vicomte de Courval", who had to be fed by the Mainz population. The French troops only withdrew from Mainz two years after the end of the war.
The plague in Mainz
The plague threatened the city several times in its history. There were epidemics in 1348 , 1482, 1553, 1564 and 1592, although only the epidemic of 1348 had a really big impact. The worst incursion of the plague, however, is considered to be the epidemic of 1666, which fell at a time when the city was slowly recovering from the ravages of the Thirty Years' War. The gateway was the trade routes from Holland via Cologne to Frankfurt and Mainz. In June 1666, the epidemic made itself felt in the city. The exact number of victims is not known, but documents from Adolph Gottfried Volusius , then cathedral preacher , indicate that “about 2200” Mainz people died of the plague. In the city's population, which was still decimated by the war, this accounted for over 20%.
Mainz after the Thirty Years War
During the Thirty Years' War, on November 19, 1647, the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg, Johann Philipp von Schönborn , later to be praised as the "German Solomon" , was elected as the new Archbishop by the Cathedral Chapter. The Schönborn family was one of the most important aristocratic families in Germany in the 17th and 18th centuries. The accents set in the cityscape, self-image and politics during the reign of Johann Philip as Archbishop and Elector were essentially retained until the French Revolution . The prince, who ruled until 1673, was largely responsible for ensuring that the city was able to free itself quickly from the turmoil of war and plague. He ushered in a new heyday of the city, which of course did not come close to the times of Mainz city freedom. In order to solve the economic problems of the reconstruction, the stacking right was revitalized, which had always been one of the most important sources of income for the citizens. The stacking law demanded levies from traders who temporarily stored their goods on the way to the trade fair city of Frankfurt. Mainz achieved an economic boom, which also attracted people from distant areas impoverished by the chaos of war and epidemics (e.g. from Italy). Despite the plague epidemic of 1666, the city's population increased again significantly towards the end of the 17th century.
Although the city remained under the suzerainty of the archbishop, the rights of the citizenry were strengthened again. Various councils were responsible for regulations in areas that nowadays fall under civil law or administrative law (here in particular the construction industry). Police violence and more important proceedings, however, were matters of the city lord, as well as taxation ("appraisal"), which was influenced by citizens but was in fact dependent on the financial management of the court chamber.
The expansion of the city into a fortress also took place in the time of Johann Philip von Schönborn. After Mainz, with its citadel and forts in front of it, has always had a fortress-like character, Elector Johann Philipp had the city expanded into a coherent fortress. In addition, a citizens' militia was founded, which was subordinate to the fortress commander of the city. Work on the fortress dragged on well into the 18th century and cost the city a fortune. In addition to the construction of the fortress, many baroque buildings were also built in Mainz (residence of the fortress commanders, aristocratic palaces).
After the death of Johann Philip on February 12, 1673, three archbishops ruled until 1679 in just six years. They couldn't put a stamp on the city. From 1679 to 1695, Elector Archbishop Anselm Franz von Ingelheim ruled . The time of the now more and more blossoming baroque fell into his aegis. Baroque art and lifestyle found their way into the city. During his time, however, the Palatinate War of Succession of 1689 also fell.
Mainz in the Palatinate War of Succession of 1689
In 1685 the Elector of the Palatinate, Karl von Pfalz-Simmern, died. The French King Louis XIV then laid claim to parts of the Palatinate because his brother, Duke Philip of Orléans, was married to a sister of the childless elector. In order to assert his interests, Ludwig occupied the left bank of the Rhine from Alsace to Cologne in 1688 and gave his General Mélac the infamous order “Brulez le Palatinat” (Burn down the Palatinate). The general carried out this order almost literally, so that cities like Heidelberg, Worms and Speyer fell to rubble. The troops also appeared in front of Mainz in October 1688 under the leadership of Louis-François de Boufflers . Despite the new fortifications, Elector Anselm surrendered because he had only a crew of 800 men against 20,000 opponents. Mainz was occupied by the French for the second time. The fortress commander was the Marquis d'Uxelles Nicolas Chalon du Blé , who had the fortress reinforced and the Fort Mars built on the Petersaue .
It was not until June 16, 1689 that the imperial liberation army appeared in front of the city under the command of Duke Charles of Lorraine . After the siege and bombardment of the city, it was liberated on September 8, 1689. The city was spared from further turmoil of the war.
Mainz in the baroque age
Anselm Franz von Ingelheim's successor was the nephew of Elector Johann Philipp, Lothar Franz von Schönborn . He ruled for over 30 years until 1729. He was the most important baroque builder in Mainz and achieved a major urban reorganization which, in addition to the creation of representative baroque buildings, also remedied the housing shortage in the rapidly expanding city. Because of its fortress character, Mainz could not expand outside the walls. The apartments therefore had to be created within the walls, which posed major problems for the city planners.
In 1721 the Rochusspital was built , a plan by Johann Baptist Ferolski to look after the poor and the sick. Such welfare institutions were the result of the absolutist welfare state that flourished during the Baroque period, which took care of all the needs of its subjects (through a "policey") (" father state " term).
Significant baroque buildings of that time are: The “Favorite” (erected in 1720, destroyed in 1793), the “ Younger Dalberger Hof ” (1718), “ Commanders' building of the citadel ” (1696), the reconstruction of the “Königsteiner Hof” (1710) and “Eltzer Hof” “(1732).
Under the successors of Lothar Franz, the so-called " Deutschordens-Kommende " (1730, today Landtag building), the " Stadioner Hof " (1728), the " Erthaler Hof " (1735) of Philipp Christoph von Erthal, the " New Armory " were created (1738, today State Chancellery), the " Bentzelsche Hof " (1741), the " Osteiner Hof " (1749) and the " Bassenheimer Hof " (1756, today Interior Ministry). In addition, the Electoral Palace, which had already begun in the Thirty Years' War, was completed in its current form under the last electors of the electoral state . Due to the destruction of the Second World War , only the outer facade of these buildings is mostly preserved today.
There was also a lot of building activity in the area of church construction, boosted above all by the arrival of the Jesuits in Mainz. In 1729 the Jesuit novitiate , the monastery of the poor Poor Clares (1725), the Augustinian monastery (1737), the Johanniterkommende (1741), the Jesuit church according to plans by Balthasar Neumann (1745, destroyed in 1793), the Peterskirche (1750) and the Ignazkirche (1763) were built ).
The most outstanding master builder of this time in Mainz was the chief building director and fortress specialist Maximilian von Welsch .
Music and theater also played a major role in baroque Mainz. The rich aristocratic houses campaigned for the creation of theaters and orchestras; Mainz, which was rich in aristocratic houses, had a great need for artists. The musical has the classical scoring Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart visited the town to 1790 three times. The founding of the music publisher B. Schott's Sons (today: Schott Music ), which still exists today, in 1770 and the establishment of the musical instrument maker Franz Ambros Alexander, whose business (" Music Alexander ") is now in the sixth generation, was also important for the cultural development Mainz is based.
The Enlightenment
The Enlightenment after the centuries of divine grace and nobility privileges came in Mainz, which was shaped by the nobility, only under Elector Johann Friedrich Karl von Ostein . Its secret conference minister, Count Anton Heinrich Friedrich von Stadion , became the most important enlightener of the 18th century in Mainz. He modernized the old and encrusted economic and administrative structures and fought the superstition of the people that prevailed after the Thirty Years' War . Trade was strengthened by improving the infrastructure and the trade fair industry was revived.
The Enlightenment and its ideas were finally introduced under Elector Archbishop Emmerich Joseph von Breidbach-Bürresheim (1763–1774). This tried to bring about the “breakout of man from his self-inflicted immaturity” within the ruling system because he needed enlightened citizens in order to keep up with modern times. Above all, this included opening up the school system as a source of an enlightened society. In addition, on December 23, 1769, as part of the new concept of labor productivity, the elector abolished 18 festive days by decree or moved them to Sundays. Thanks to a public holiday calendar , which included 50 days of the week and the associated octave festivals as well as the high festivals, there had been over 150 (!) Days off a year up to that point.
After the election of Friedrich Karl Joseph von Erthal in 1774, it was initially feared that the progress of the Enlightenment would now be reversed. But instead, the new elector brought the influence of French Enlightenment philosophers, as well as a struggle for tolerance and denominational parity . The medieval ghetto system was abolished through the so-called “Jewish legislation” . In addition, hygiene regulations were issued and poor relief was expanded.
However, the reforms could not hide the fact that the "Ancien Régime", the old system of princes, was doomed in the new storms of the zeitgeist. Basically, every reform of the system in the spirit of the Enlightenment was doomed to failure from the outset, since the ideas of the Enlightenment ran counter to it at the core.
The effects of the French Revolution on Mainz
Finally, in 1789, there was a revolution in France . The consequences of this most profound turning point in Western history since the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 would also reach the city of Mainz in the following years. In 1790 the so-called Mainz knot uprising occurred, in which angry craftsmen attacked students and university organs. But although the insurgents called themselves "patriots", adorned themselves with cockades and hoisted tricolors , their restorative demands (restoration of the old guild freedoms) showed that it was by no means a movement inspired by the French Revolution. The uprising was quickly suppressed by the military.
Elector Erthal wanted to distinguish himself as a counter-revolutionary and so attracted many aristocrats who had fled France. However, these quickly made themselves unpopular with the citizens of the city, so that the revolution found supporters in Mainz. But first of all, Mainz became the starting point for the counter-revolution. After Emperor Franz II von Habsburg had been declared by France on April 20, 1792, the princes met in July 1792 in the Mainz Favorite for the princes' congress, where they decided to put down the French Revolution and the French, should they dare to touch the royal family, threatened an exemplary criminal court. But the French King Louis XVI. lost his nerve and tried to flee from France to the well-meaning princes in Germany. When this failed, Ludwig was deposed. Six days earlier, on August 4, 1792, Erthal joined the Prussian-Austrian alliance, much to the displeasure of the Mainz citizens. However, the invasion of the monarchical counter-revolutionaries failed on September 20 in the cannonade of Valmy , whereupon the revolutionary troops went on the counter-offensive. Their destination was also the city of Mainz.
The Republic of Mainz
On 29./30. In September 1792 a French revolutionary army under the command of General Adam Philippe Custine advanced on Speyer . The positions there could not withstand the French for long, so that they reached Worms just four days later . Panic then broke out in Mainz, the elector, cathedral chapter and aristocratic families with their servants left the city. It is estimated that a quarter or even a third of the approx. 25,000 inhabitants fled the city. The remainder agreed to serve on the city's now battered walls. About 5,000 defenders were found, which was only a third of the minimum strength that would have been necessary to defend the huge fortress.
On October 18, 1792, the French troops began to enclose and siege the city. Rumors circulated in the city that around 13,000 besiegers had surrounded the city. This panicked the council of war under Count Gymnich. He decided on October 20th to surrender the city without a fight. On October 21, the French advanced into the royal seat of the most senior imperial prince and one of the largest fortresses in the empire without any combat action. This day was to be formative for the coming relations between the Empire and France. The city was occupied by 20,000 soldiers, more than the population still counted. The occupiers immediately began trying to win the citizens over to the ideals of the revolution. But not the revolutionary ideas, but the problem of having to supply the huge army in the city, determined the everyday life of the citizens. Nevertheless, many citizens saw the French as liberators, not as occupiers. In addition, General Custine placed institutions such as the university and the archbishop's general vicariate under his protection.
Custine also moved into the archbishop's residence, the Electoral Palace , where the “Society of Friends of Freedom and Equality” - the first Jacobin Club in Germany - was founded on October 23, 1792 . This club was the first democratic movement in Germany. Twenty people from Mainz joined forces with the oath “Live free or die!”. In its statutes, the club demanded the extension of human rights through nonviolent revolution to the whole empire. As a result, 492 members joined the club, 450 of whom lived in Mainz. There were astonishingly many, measured by the fact that only 7,000 of the approx. 20,000-25,000 inhabitants could become members: only men over 18, later over 24 years.
Since Custine's occupation regiment initially strictly adhered to the principles of the French Revolution, in particular the principle of the right to self-determination, he also left the population free to want to have the "shackles" of the ancien régime back. Therefore, during the period of the Mainz Republic, there was a great exchange between supporters and opponents of the old Electoral Mainz state. There was no strict separation between the two camps. Even pro-princely citizens could make friends with “constitutional” ideas. Opponents of the new system were found among the citizens, especially in the guilds . With the increasing duration of the occupation, the Mainzers then developed a wait-and-see attitude towards the revolution. This was also due to the fact that the emperor's troops moved closer and closer to Mainz in December 1792. The citizens expected a regime change soon and wanted to keep all options open by a wait-and-see behavior.
Towards the end of 1792, Custine announced a new occupation policy that included elections, which were to take place in 1793. However, only those who had previously sworn on popular sovereignty , freedom and equality should be entitled to vote . This compulsory oath displeased the population, the emerging resentment of the citizens had to be suppressed by threatening the cannons of the citadel. What should have been a great moment for democracy , namely the first election on February 24th, 1793, turned into blackmail of the citizens, so that ultimately only 8% took part in the election. Franz Konrad Macké became the first mayor . In addition, the election determined a deputy to the Rhenish-German National Convention . The latter was supposed to be the parliament of the areas on the left bank of the Rhine occupied by France. The citizenship was divided after the election. In order to support the city government, which was mainly supported by Jacobins, the occupying power switched off the opposition by deporting the ringleaders to the right bank of the Rhine. Due to such measures, the acceptance of the Republic of Mainz was correspondingly low. The new bodies, the municipalities for the city and the Rhenish-German National Convention for the region, the first modern parliament in Germany, began their work in an atmosphere of repression. On March 17, 1793, the National Convention of Free Germans was constituted . This passed a decree on March 18, in which a Rhenish-German Republic was proclaimed. The new republic, since it was not viable on its own, applied for union with France. This request was accepted in Paris, but news of it did not reach the city because it was already surrounded by German troops. The siege had already put an end to the short existence of the Republic of Mainz, since the military and no longer the elected city council exercised power in the besieged Mainz. Despite all the legitimistic and formal problems, this short-lived Mainz republic is considered to be the first democracy on German soil.
The siege of 1793
The city was enclosed by 32,000 German (mainly Prussian ) soldiers on April 14, 1793 . They faced only 23,000 French, which was enough in view of the fortress, even when 11,000 Austrians later strengthened the German army. At first the Germans, above all the Prussians, tried to take over the fortress through negotiations in order to preserve it. When this failed, the bombardment of the city began on the night of June 17, 1793. The observer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe captured this moment in his work " The Siege of Mainz " .
The siege and bombardment within the walls led to great tensions between the citizens, the municipality and the French Council of War, which had practically ruled since April 2nd. The city administration was therefore deposed on July 13th, which made the remaining population even more stubborn. Since the relief army was still absent, the council of war was forced to start negotiations with the besiegers on July 17th. On July 23, the crew surrendered, the remaining 18,000 soldiers were given free retreat. Mainz got a Prussian city commander.
The bombardment had left devastating marks on the cityscape: a number of town houses and aristocratic palaces, the electoral pleasure palace Favorite , the Dompropstei, the Liebfrauen - and the Jesuit church were lost forever.
Even more distinctive was that with the occupation and siege, the old Electoral Mainz structures finally came to an end. The events of 1793 also mark the beginning of the downfall of Old Mainz. The city lost its status as a residence and thus its most important factor.
The fall of the Electorate of Mainz
With the liberation of the city in 1793, the revolutionary wars for Mainz were by no means over. The French Republicans wanted to bring the strategically important city back under their control. This was now also "occupied" by a 19,000-strong Prussian garrison, because citizens and garrison were increasingly in opposition to each other. The citizens therefore wanted to go back to the times of prosperity before 1792. Her hope that Mainz would become a royal seat again, however, was not fulfilled. Elector Erthal only returned a few times to Mainz and preferred to rule from Aschaffenburg .
In the following years up to 1796, the fortunes of war changed between the revolutionary and counter-revolutionary armies so often that it was often no longer clear to the citizens who held the actual power for the area on the left bank of the Rhine. The French marched on Mainz several times and even enclosed the city, but the opposing side succeeded in relieving them. The French successes in 1797, including a decisive advance by the Corsican general Napoléone Bonaparte from northern Italy to Austria, forced the latter to conclude peace and decided the war in France's favor. The imperial troops under Austrian leadership (the Prussians had already left Mainz in 1794) finally decided to give up the area on the left bank of the Rhine. The Mainz people were led to believe that their city would not be affected, which the citizens and the elector initially believed. On October 17, 1797, peace was made between Austria and the Republic in Campo Formio . The Viennese guarantee for Mainz was worthless: the Austrian troops left the city in December and on December 30, 1797 “ Mayence ” became French for the fourth time. That was the end of the old Electorate of Mainz after more than 1000 years. The areas on the left bank of the Rhine were connected to France, Mainz became the capital of the new Département du Mont Tonnerre ( Donnersberg ) with the French prefect Jean-Baptiste-Moïse Jollivet , later Jeanbon St. André at the head. St. André shaped the city and department significantly. The French wanted to keep “ Mayence ” forever and therefore introduced their culture and language to the city. The remnants of these can be found in the Mainz dialect to this day. In addition, they reintroduced their judiciary and administration (with the elements of 1793). One of the newly created courts sentenced the robber Johannes Bückler , known as "Schinderhannes" , in 1803 .
The final loss of the residence function caused practically the entire nobility to leave the city, which was now thoroughly bourgeois. The high-spending nobility had represented an important economic factor in the city, which has now been lost. Unemployment and poverty were the result. But the new system also brought with it the abolition of the medieval guild system. From then on there was economic freedom, which the citizens also made use of. Tax burdens and limited export opportunities continued to be a major problem, so that the city was unable to free itself from its economic crisis for a long time, despite the freedoms. This also contributed to the fact that the city was still unable to expand due to the maintenance of its fortress function. As a result, many Mainzers, who were never quite comfortable with the republic, continued to hope for a return to the Ancien Régime.
The relationship between the church and the republic was also extremely tense: Archbishop Erthal was no longer able to lead the parts of his diocese on the left bank of the Rhine, and the French did not tolerate higher representatives on their territory. In addition, the French revolutionaries considered the old cult of Christianity to be outdated. Only with difficulty was it possible to B. the demolition of the Mainz Cathedral can be prevented. An improvement only occurred when Napoléon Bonaparte had put himself up for the First Consul on November 9, 1799. Napoléon sought a compromise with the Pope for political reasons and concluded a concordat with him on July 15, 1801 . This made it possible for Napoléon to re-circumscribe the dioceses - also on the left bank of the Rhine. He divided the Catholic Church in France into 10 archbishoprics and 50 dioceses. The Archdiocese of Mainz went under and was rebuilt as a simple diocese from the abolished dioceses of Worms, Speyer and Metz. The diocese was now under the metropolitan seat of Mechelen in the northeast of the republic, today's Belgium .
Elector Erthal then tried to save at least the remains of his electoral state by agreeing to a change in the borders of the Rhenish diocese. However, this should not be of any benefit to him. In 1801/02, what started in the German Empire and in the areas occupied on the left bank of the Rhine began what had also started in France after the revolution: church assets were secularized , churches profaned. An extraordinary deputation, appointed by the Emperor and the Reichstag , met in Regensburg from 1802 onwards , which dealt with the compensation of the princes expropriated by the cession of the areas on the left bank of the Rhine. Erthal's successor, Karl Theodor von Dalberg , experienced the " main conclusion of the extraordinary Reichsdeputation " on February 25, 1803 , which finally brought the end of the Mainz electoral state and the archbishopric, which had existed since 782, with all its possessions and titles. Shortly afterwards, under the pressure of Napoleon, the old Holy Roman Empire also collapsed in 1806.
Mainz under Napoleon
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After his putsch in 1799, Napoleon became the decisive man in the young republic, to which Mainz also belonged, and soon also in Europe. He pushed for the expansion of the fortress (especially in Kastel on the right bank of the Rhine), but also the construction of dams along the Rhine. He inspected the city several times. However, it also changed the cityscape tremendously. So he had the Martinsburg, which was still stuck like a foreign body in the electoral palace , built under Archbishop Diether von Isenburg , torn down. He also had streets converted into grand boulevards, for example the Große Bleiche (one of the three “bleaches” that had already been built after the Thirty Years' War to remedy the housing shortage in the new fortress city). Napoleon let the road break through to the Rhine, which meant the end for the collegiate monastery St. Gangolf (choir stalls today in Mainz Cathedral). A Grande Rue Napoléon , today's Ludwigsstraße , was also built.
Napoleon wanted to convert the city not only into a fortress, but also into a kind of “showcase” for the “Empire”, because he had also been wearing the imperial crown since 1804. Mainz became a Bonne ville de l'Empire français on his orders . For this purpose, the entire city center, which was badly hit by the bombardment of the city in 1793 , was to be redesigned by its departmental building director Eustache de Saint-Far . Saint-Fars plans included, among other things, the expansion of the Deutschhaus into an imperial residence and the renovation of the east choir of the cathedral. However, Saint-Far's plans never came to fruition. In general, the city no longer had as much to offer culturally as the old electoral residence before. Only through the Chaptal decree was a small part of the looted art transferred back to the city. The loss of importance led to a provincialization that lasted throughout the 19th century. The loss of the university could never be compensated in this way, the previously flourishing press landscape and the music and acting life were also on the floor. In addition to other reforms z. B. in the legal area, the entire school system was reorganized.
The crew
The occupation itself brought about a strong militarization of the city with it. 10,000–12,000 soldiers were constantly in the city and had to be quartered with the 20,000 inhabitants. All other aspects were strongly subordinated to the needs of the military.
The Wars of Liberation 1813/14
It was not until the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig in October 1813 that the beginning of the end of Napoleonic rule in Germany was initiated. After the battle, the defeated French troops streamed across the Rhine to Mainz, where they could be reasonably safe from pursuit. For the population, however, this turned out to be a disaster because the soldiers brought typhus to the city. Around 17,000 soldiers and 2,400 inhabitants (more than a tenth of the total population) fell victim to the disease by the spring of 1814, including the French prefect Jeanbon St. André . Mainz was surrounded and besieged by Russian and again by German troops . Although food was scarce, the French stayed in the city for almost half a year. But on May 4, 1814, they withdrew due to the First Peace of Paris . 16 years of French rule in Mainz came to an end. The traces in cemeteries, in the language and culture can still be seen today. But above all, the old aristocratic metropolis had become a bourgeois town. The provincialization of the city was only stopped after the Second World War by the French, whose occupation zone Mainz belonged to.
Mainz as a federal fortress
With the end of Napoleonic and French rule in Germany as well, however, the German nation-state did not begin. Initially, the German Confederation was just a loose confederation of states. Mainz was occupied again - this time by German troops. The occupation was no less serious than the previous one, mainly because the citizens of the city were suspected of collaboration. From 1814 to 1816 Mainz remained under the provisional administration of the Central Rhine General Government, which was formed from the former Donnersberg, Saar and Rhine-Moselle departments . Since the powers Prussia and Austria could not agree on the territorial affiliation of the areas on the left bank of the Rhine, they divided the country among themselves and jointly took over the administration of the fortress city of Mainz. The exact nationality remained unclear at first.
Mainz becomes Hessian
On June 30, 1816, Prussia, Austria and the Grand Duchy of Hesse signed a state treaty that was to determine the territory of the Grand Duchy. Mainz with its districts of Kastel and Kostheim on the right bank of the Rhine was also added to this area. In preparation for these events, a Hessian general commission had already started work in Mainz. The first president of this government was Ludwig von Lichtenberg , who was a nephew of the aphorist Georg Christoph Lichtenberg .
For another century, the fortress dominated life in the city. Civil authorities were subordinate to the fortress government in "fortress matters", which meant that large parts of the police were controlled by the fortress garrison. This in turn continued to be provided by Prussians and Austrians. However, they cultivated their rivalries in such a way that a demarcation line ran through the city that separated the two camps.
In 1820 parliamentary life finally returned to Mainz: the Grand Duke issued a constitution that provided for a parliament with two chambers and a census suffrage . These chambers passed a constitution in 1820, which (with numerous amendments) lasted until 1918.
During the Hessian period, the cityscape again took on a different shape, old buildings that had become unpopular or damaged disappeared, the Prussian main guard was built in place of the cloister of the Liebfrauenkirche, which was destroyed in 1793, and the government master builder Georg Moller built the characteristic iron dome for the cathedral (later removed) and commissioned the city's new city theater on Gutenbergplatz . From 1840 onwards, with the rise of romanticism on the Rhine , aided by the emergence of steam shipping , the splendid hotels were built on Rheinstrasse, which considerably changed the city's silhouette. The old Gothic fish gate was demolished in 1847 in order to maintain a clear view of the cathedral from the Rhine .
City view from the new facility
Cathedral with Mollerscher dome
From the 1830s onwards, the social question gradually mingled in the development of the city , which increasingly influenced the people. Because of this and some bad harvests and famines, tensions arose between the authorities and the population, but this never broke out into an open conflict (after all, there were 8,000 soldiers in the city).
The revolution of 1848
The revolution of 1848 also affected the city of Mainz. In the spirit of democracy, the citizens demanded corresponding regulations from their Hessian sovereign, such as a free press, swearing-in of the army on the constitution, freedom of religion and a German parliament. In addition, the citizens demanded the withdrawal of police laws that had recently been passed. Heinrich von Gagern , who was appointed Minister of State, approved such requests by the Mainzers, which concerned the Hessian government, on March 6, 1848.
After the revolution
The suppression of the revolution by Prussian troops intensified the anti- Prussian resentment of the people of Mainz. In addition, the revolution had brought the social question further into focus. After the end of the revolution, a “political calm” and an economic depression followed. This only improved in 1853 when a new upswing followed through the settlement of industry and connection to the railway network . In 1860 there were 164 factories in the city. With the economy, clubs and parties also revived in the city. On the other hand, the devastating powder tower explosion in 1857 was a setback in urban development .
Finally, in 1866, the federal fortress of Mainz came to an end . After years of tension, the Prussian-Austrian dualism finally led to war. Bavaria demanded that territories occupied by both powers be declared neutral, which also affected Mainz. The previous crew was withdrawn, instead Kurhessen and Württemberger came . But now the city had also become a worthwhile destination for the Prussians. On July 20, 1866, the state of siege was imposed on the fortress. Austria soon had to capitulate in the war against Prussia: on July 26, 1866, an armistice was signed, and on August 23, 1866, the peace treaty followed. This also regulated the future status of the fortress and was only concluded with Austria. Still existing French claims to the fortress were thus ignored by Prussia. As governor of the fortress , the Prussians appointed Prince Woldemar of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg , who was released from his oath to the German Confederation on August 4, 1866 . The time of the federal fortress was history.
The "Meenzer Fassenacht"
From 1837 the first forms of today's Mainz Carnival appeared in Mainz with the establishment of the Mainz Ranzengarde . In 1838 the first carnival club, the Mainzer Carneval-Verein (MCV) was founded, which to this day is the largest and most important of the numerous Mainz carnival clubs . In particular, he is the organizer of the Mainz Rose Monday procession.
The development towards a big city
The property as a fortress city had the area-related expansion of the city and thus an adequate increase in the number of inhabitants compared to neighboring cities such. B. Frankfurt or Wiesbaden prevented. Wiesbaden, for example, grew by 1208% from 1816 to 1864, while Mainz only grew by 67%. The fortifications encompassed an area that had been gradually built up after centuries of the fortress period, such as B. the area of "bleaching". No permanent buildings were allowed to stand outside the walls in order not to be able to offer protection to attacking armies. Up until the 1870s, the city was only able to develop in a very confined space.
The Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 brought with it the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine . The city and fortress of Metz became the new stronghold against France, so the Mainz fortress was neglected in its function and more and more disarmed towards the end of the century. The fortifications immediately adjacent to the city lost their importance, as the fourth and outermost belt of fortifications around Mainz, the Selzstellung was built in various Rhine-Hessian communities from 1904; it consisted of around 318 bunkers.
Only after the fortress ring surrounding the city had been expanded on the " Gartenfeld " north of the old town and the Rheingau Wall had been built , a building boom set in in the early days of the company . Nevertheless, the city was still a fortress city, according to which city planning had to continue to orient itself. The city architect Eduard Kreyssig was particularly important for the urban development at that time . A new gas works , a new Rhine bridge , the customs port , the first electricity works , the large town hall - at that time Germany’s largest hall construction (seen at the top in the photo) - and the Protestant Christ Church , which Kreyssig designed as an urban counterpoint to the cathedral. In addition, the number of residential buildings has increased dramatically, such as B. in the garden field that is now more and more cultivable. To this end, the banks of the Rhine were also expanded. The fortress function also prevented Mainz from becoming a heavy industrial city, as there was not enough space for large factories. The job market in Mainz therefore mainly consisted of leather and textile companies, wood processing, the food and construction industry and iron processing. The Rhine port was of great importance.
Mainz in the 20th century
In addition to the status of a large city, the 20th century brought further upswing in the city. The year 1900 was celebrated as Gutenberg's jubilee, on the occasion of his 500th birthday (arbitrarily set to the year 1400). The sewer system laid out in the previous century was further expanded. From 1900, by order of Emperor Wilhelm II , the gradual dismantling of the fortifications began. Due to the incorporation of Mombach , Kastel and Kostheim, the population rose sharply. The incorporation of Kastel in 1908 made Mainz a major city.
The outbreak of the First World War also ended the heyday in Mainz that had continued since 1871. Price increases and supply problems increased the longer the war lasted. In 1918 there were extensive hunger demonstrations. On March 9, 1918, around noon, bombs fell on Mainz for the first time. Among the victims of the air raid carried out by British planes was the young Meta Cahn, to whom Anna Seghers later erected a literary memorial. However, a French air raid on the city on September 16, 1918 is unconfirmed.
When the armistice was announced on November 10, 1918, riots, looting and the liberation of prisoners and the formation of workers 'and soldiers ' councils broke out in Mainz . However, these elected moderate leaders at their head, who approached the coming changes cautiously. On the evening of November 10th, the republic was proclaimed in front of the town hall . In Darmstadt , the Hessian Grand Duke had already been declared deposed the day before.
The occupation after the First World War
The terms of the armistice stipulated that the German Army had to demilitarize the area on the left bank of the Rhine and set up a 10 km wide neutral zone on the right bank of the Rhine. On the morning of December 8, 1918, the last German soldier left the city. At noon, the French under Victor Goybet moved into Mainz for the fifth time in the city's history . The old laws and ordinances remained in force after a decree by the French Marshal Ferdinand Foch . However, new laws had to be submitted to the military administration for approval. Charles Mangin was appointed commander in chief of the French occupation army on the Rhine, based in Mainz; his adjutant was Félix de Vial .
The French stationed 12,000 men in Mainz alone, and over 5,400 in the surrounding barracks of Amöneburg, Kastel , Kostheim , Gonsenheim and Weisenau. This led to a housing shortage as the occupying forces requisitioned practically all of the larger buildings. After all, there was hardly a house that did not accommodate one or more soldiers. Some new housing estates were built, including Am Klostergarten , for the higher ranks of the military. As with the occupation of 1799, the French introduced their culture and their press to Mainz in order to bring the societies closer together. French lessons were also introduced in schools in order to break down the language barrier.
"Rhenish separatism"
The Allied occupation of the Rhineland led to the idea of creating an independent state within the German Empire from the areas on the left bank of the Rhine. Since the Reich government expressed its negative opinion, the establishment of a "Rhine State" was finally considered. Corresponding plans were also explored in discussions with the French occupation forces. On June 1, 1919, posters in Mainz proclaimed an " independent Rhenish Republic " in the Association of the German Empire. A general strike that followed immediately ended this short episode of Rhenish and Mainz history. But the idea had by no means disappeared: in 1923 there was a similar proclamation in Aachen , which again encroached on Mainz. There the separatists formed a provincial government, initially sponsored by the French, which, however, was not recognized by the Reich, the residents or the Allies, which ultimately doomed the idea of a "Rhenish Republic" to failure.
Mainz according to the Versailles Treaty
The Treaty of Versailles determined that the occupied territories would be placed under a civil administration, which sat in Koblenz as the "Interallied High Committee for the Rhineland" . The regulations also provided for the final demolition of the fortifications, which was carried out during the entire period of occupation. Remains of the fortifications such as the citadel can of course still be found in the city. The land that was freed up was quickly reused, and extensive renovation work began in the city from the mid-1920s. On January 11, 1923, French and Belgian troops occupied the Ruhr area in order to collect reparations there (→ occupation of the Ruhr ). The industrialist Fritz Thyssen also responded to the imperial government's call for passive resistance , who had to answer to a military tribunal in Mainz, which led to a small uprising in the city.
Overall, inflation and economic hardship were the most influential factors in post-war Mainz. Only with the introduction of the Rentenmark at the end of 1923 and the Allies' insight into the reparations question did the general emergency improve.
The "Roaring Twenties" passed occupied Mainz almost completely. Culturally, the only experienced public library under Aloys Ruppel heyday. Even one of the Gutenberg Bibles scattered all over the world could be acquired for the city archive. Today the city owns two of the precious original editions, of which only 48 remain. The city theater was in operation again, but the modern pieces of expressionism were not on the program. In addition, the movie theaters in Mainz were introduced. In 1928 the major cathedral renovation, which had already begun before the war, was completed. It was made necessary by the lower water table.
The year 1930 finally brought the end of the occupation, but before that also some other extensive incorporations: On January 1, 1930, Ginsheim-Gustavsburg and Bischofsheim were incorporated on the right bank of the Rhine, Bretzenheim and Weisenau on the left bank of the Rhine. Above all, the places offered favorable trading conditions such as the main port of Gustavsburg, a lot of industry and, above all, settlement space for the steadily growing city. The urban area doubled through the incorporations.
End of the occupation and National Socialism
The occupation of the Rhineland ended on June 30, 1930, which was also thanks to the Reich Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann , for whom a memorial was set in the city.
The emerging global economic crisis quickly ended the short phase of economic recovery that had existed since 1923 and let the NSDAP succeed in the Rhineland as well. In 1932 the unemployment rate in Mainz was 12.8%, the necessary welfare benefits and old war burdens drove the household to ruin in a short time. This need fueled the radicalism that blamed the misery on the “bigwigs” and “international financial Jewry”. The rise of these tendencies could already be observed in the years of need up to 1923, when there was a right-wing extremist association in Mainz, which, however, was soon banned. A local group of the NSDAP was founded in 1925, which according to some sources had 50 members in 1926. Between 1927 and 1928 it was dissolved for unknown reasons. The first event was also held in 1928, but the group in Mainz was so insignificant that the NSDAP did not even run its own list for the 1929 city council election. Until the seizure of power, the party was not represented on the city council, despite two visits by Hitler . However, the NSDAP received votes in state and Reichstag elections, in the state elections of 1932 it was 26,186. In the same year, Dr. Werner Best , lawyer and later above all high SS functionary, became district leader of the NSDAP in Mainz.
January 30, 1933, the day the National Socialists came to power, saw two marches of people marching through the city: 3,000 people, organized by the Communist Party, demonstrated against the seizure of power, a little later 700 torchbearers marched through the city to celebrate it. After the Reichstag election in 1933 , the phase of conformity began , which was also fully implemented in Mainz. At the instigation of the party, the renaming of numerous streets, e.g. B. the Halleplatz in Adolf-Hitler-Platz, the Bebelring in Kaiser-Wilhelm-Ring and the Forsterstraße in Horst-Wessel-Straße were decreed. Benno Elkan's liberation monument on Schillerplatz was torn down and destroyed. In April, the boiling point began against the city's Jewish population, which at that time was approx. 3000 strong. The Jewish community experienced a new heyday in the second half of the 19th century. Two large synagogues were built, one of which, as an expression of new self-confidence, was not located in the Jewish quarter in the Emmerans district, but in the middle of Mainz Neustadt on Hindenburgstrasse. These synagogues were set on fire during the Night of the Reichspogrom , the remains were soon blown up at the expense of the Jewish population. Initially, however, the library was saved. A Torah scroll was hidden in the Mainz seminary , where it was only rediscovered in 2003 and returned to the Jewish community in Weisenau.
After the political parties, the trade unions and the free press were banned, the “Gleichschaltung” in Mainz was complete. However, the Nazis in Mainz did not succeed in taking over the two large churches: although supporters of the Nazi religious community of German Christians occupied several parishes in Mainz, the Protestant pastors of the Christ Church were among the founding members of the Pastors' Emergency Association . The Catholic bishops who officiated in Mainz during National Socialism, Ludwig Maria Hugo († 1935) and his successor Albert Stohr , rejected any cooperation with the regime.
On November 1, 1938, Mainz, like Offenbach am Main , Gießen , Darmstadt and Worms, became an independent city . Gonsenheim was incorporated.
Mainz in the Second World War
The Second World War , which Hitler started on September 1, 1939, initially only changed life in the city marginally. The population only felt the state of war through rationing and blackout requirements. Theater, concerts, cinema and sports continued as usual, also to distract the population. In 1940 bombs fell on Mainz for the first time during World War II, followed by further bombings in 1941, which hit the districts in particular, but also the main train station .
The first major attack occurred on August 12, 1942, when British bombers dropped 134 t incendiary bombs and 203 t high explosive bombs on the city center. The Quintinsviertel was largely destroyed, and the old collegiate church of St. Stephan burned down . 781 houses, 23 public buildings, 5 churches, 4 schools and a hospital were destroyed in this attack and the one that followed the next day, 161 people died.
The terror of the National Socialist apparatus of violence against many residents continued during the war. House searches, interrogations and wiretapping were intended to intimidate citizens. However, as elsewhere, the terror encouraged the emergence of smaller resistance groups, the members of which were arrested and executed after the Hitler attack on July 20, 1944 . During the war, almost the entire remaining Jewish population was deported. In 1945 preparations were also made for the deportation of the clergy, which the Nazi regime euphemistically referred to as "evacuation".
At the beginning of 1945 the population began to suspect that the war would soon be over. Anti-tank trenches were dug around the city and there were heavy bombing raids in January and early February.
February 27, 1945
But these attacks shouldn't have been the worst. The heaviest occurred on February 27, 1945, when the British Air Force dropped a total of 514,000 stick incendiary bombs , 42 flare bombs , 235 high-explosive bombs and 484 air mines over the city in three waves . The entire attack lasted a quarter of an hour - from 4:30 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. - and turned the whole city into a sea of flames. About 1200 people died, including the entire convent of the Capuchin convent. February 27 is the city's central day of remembrance for the victims of the bombing war. In March 1945 American troops approached the city. An initially planned evacuation of the areas on the left bank of the Rhine was refrained from. The Gestapo wanted to settle accounts with political opponents ; She also planned the arrest of Bishop Albert Stohr and his immediate surroundings, but this was thwarted by a warning.
On March 15, two US armies and parts of the French 1st Army began Operation Undertone . On March 17, 1945, all remaining Mainz Rhine bridges were blown up by the Wehrmacht , which was retreating to the right bank of the Rhine . On March 21st, US troops of the 90th Infantry Division reached Hechtsheim, and on March 22nd the war for Mainz was over. Of the 154,000 inhabitants in 1939, 76,000 remained. 61% of the building structure was destroyed, in the inner city even 80%. A total of 2,800 people fell victim to bomb attacks. Many people from Mainz fell or did not return to Mainz until years later (e.g. those returning from war after being prisoners of war ). The flourishing Jewish community was wiped out: of the 3,000 members before the Nazi era , only 59 lived in Mainz in 1945.
Mainz in the post-war period
The future of post-war Mainz was determined, among other things, by the resolutions of the Yalta Conference. There the allies Stalin , Churchill and Roosevelt announced on February 10, 1945 that France should also receive an occupation zone in Germany. This zone was not precisely defined at the time, but the planning assumed that Mainz would also belong to it.
But first, after taking it by the III. American Army, every effort was made to supply the population who remained in the city.
On July 9th, the French occupying forces came to the city - for the sixth time since 1644. Over the Kaisertor they wrote: “ Ici Mayence ”. In the same month, on July 25th, the Rhine (only as far as Kaub ) was very controversially defined as the border between the American and French occupation zones. As the largest city within the French occupation zone, Mainz became an important center, which subsequently also had an impact on urban development. However, by drawing the border, the districts on the right bank of the Rhine were separated from Mainz and the districts north of the mouth of the Main were assigned to the city of Wiesbaden . The districts south of the Main regained their independence, which they had before 1930. Mainz lost more than half of its district. All initiatives to reclaim the suburbs have so far failed.
In the course of 1945, the citizens began to liberate the city from the 1.5 million cubic meters of rubble, for which initially far too few workers were available. Economic hardship and hunger were the biggest problem at the time. In addition, there were difficult negotiations with the occupying power to reduce dismantling and repression.
Mainz becomes a university city again
Despite the post-war problems, Mayor Emil Kraus (1893–1972) announced the founding of a university on New Year's Eve 1945. This announcement had its starting point in the deliberations of the French in August 1945 to found their own university in their zone. " Mayence ", popular with the French and equipped with considerable locational advantages, was finally awarded the contract ahead of Speyer and Trier . The anti-aircraft barracks near the main cemetery, built in 1938 and barely damaged during the war, served as the building. On February 27, 1946, exactly one year after the devastating bomb attack on Mainz, the university was “authorized to resume its work” at the instigation of Raymond Schmittlein . The authorization was given by the occupying power that had repealed that of the old University of Diether von Isenburg in 1798. The new university was named after Johannes Gutenberg.
The founding of the university has received critical scrutiny because it swallowed up significant financial resources while the city was still hungry and the economy was tumbling. Despite all sorts of attempts to remedy the situation, these needs persisted until the end of the 1940s. But from 1947 life slowly but steadily began to normalize. After the Mainz Carneval Club resumed its work in the summer of 1946 , further carnival clubs were founded in 1947. In 1948 the Jubilee Catholic Day took place in Mainz, to which 180,000 people turned up.
In August 1948, the border controls between the French zone and the Bizone were lifted, and free traffic was again possible between Mainz and the foreland on the right bank of the Rhine.
State capital
In the new state, Mainz was to play a special role again, which was clearly a result of the French initiative. By ordinance no. 57 on August 30, 1946, they founded the "Rhineland-Palatinate" state with Mainz as its capital. This was the occasion for military celebrations by the occupying forces. The "Mixed Commission", which was decreed when the state was founded, as the highest state body responsible for securing the administration and preparation of the advisory assembly, met for the first time on September 12, 1946 in the state capital Mainz during the festivities for the state's founding that were taking place there at the same time The intention of the chiefs of the French occupation forces, Marie-Pierre Kœnig, in Mainz "as the capital of the new state" to underline the "importance attached to the creation of the new Rhineland-Palatinate state". The citizens of Mainz celebrated the rise of the city to the state capital with a torchlight procession. Kœnig had Waldthausen Castle at the gates of the capital expanded into a residence.
The award of the capital city role was also associated with freeing up further building capacities, which were not yet available in Mainz, which was completely destroyed. The state government of the new state therefore also officiated initially in Koblenz , the former capital of the Prussian Rhine province . On December 7, 1948, the Mayor of Mainz at the time, Emil Kraus , reaffirmed his role in the capital and declared that there should be no difficulties preventing the state government from moving to Mainz in the near future; However, the occupying power and the state government contradicted this after a review in the spring of 1949 because of the still inadequate structural conditions in Mainz. Koblenz, however, hoped that parliament and government would remain and tried to become the capital of the country itself. These efforts of the two cities are referred to as the “capital city dispute”, which was fought out in the newspapers between 1949 and 1950 and also during Carnival. On the part of the state government under Prime Minister Peter Altmeier , however, there were no efforts to make the provisional seat of government Koblenz the capital - also against the background that the south of the country, especially the Palatinate, would not accept Koblenz as a state metropolis. The majority of MPs then finally voted on May 16, 1950 for the state government and state parliament to move to Mainz, also to encourage the individual parts of the state to grow together.
In the summer of 1950, the state government moved from its alternative quarters in Koblenz to the city of Mainz, which, as the designated state capital, had been rebuilt to such an extent that the ministries and the state parliament could move into their buildings. Until May 1951, all ministries and the state parliament were housed in Mainz, so that on the state's constitutional day, on May 18, 1951, the first session of the state parliament could take place in the Deutschhaus.
Mainz in the Federal Republic
Only after the constitution of the western zones of occupation to form the Federal Republic of Germany could one speak of a cautious upswing in Mainz. The settlement of industrial companies such as the Schott glass factory , which "fled" from Jena , created jobs and money in the city coffers. By the end of the 1950s, 70 companies came to Mainz, creating a total of 12,000 jobs. However, it cannot be said that Mainz has now been pulled up by the pull of the economic miracle . Eternal makeshift arrangements and the debate about the reorganization of the federal states in 1955 and the continuation of the university paralyzed the city. The reconstruction of the city center was also slow.
These and other adversities, especially in relation to the question of reconstruction and future urban design, meant that Mainz was still showing visible war damage at the end of the 1950s, in some cases until the 1970s. Nevertheless, around 19,000 apartments and numerous municipal buildings and infrastructure had been rebuilt to a considerable extent in Mainz by the beginning of the 1960s. 1958 the city planner Ernst May was appointed by the city administration as planning officer for the general planning of the city of Mainz; In 1961, together with Felix Boesler and Kurt Leibbrand, he presented an explanatory report on the general planning of the city.
The year 1962 was celebrated as the jubilee year of Mainz, which was now two thousand years old after the then assumed founding date, with large festivals and a renewed city backdrop. Even then, there was a controversy about the date and the underlying dating, because the city was mentioned in 38 BC. Was not historically secured. The anniversary celebration had another noteworthy side aspect: On June 21, 1962, the state donated 62 hectares of land to the city on the edge of the Ober-Olm Forest. This gave rise to the Lerchenberg district , where the Second German Television (ZDF) soon moved. Until then, the ZDF had resided in Wiesbaden and Frankfurt provisional arrangements despite the location approval from 1961. The Lerchenberg, which now belongs to the city, was further away from the city than the still independent Marienborn . The direct neighboring communities of Finthen and Drais were also independent at the time. Among other things, this fact promoted the call for further incorporations, which took place in 1969, when the described districts as well as Hechtsheim, Ebersheim and Laubenheim were incorporated. 1962 became the year from which Mainz could clearly catch up with the other West German cities in terms of economic growth. On April 1, 1963, the ZDF went on air, just a year later the city bought 100 hectares in the immediate vicinity and thus created the conditions for today's “television city”.
Jockel Fuchs , elected mayor on April 8, 1965, continued the advanced course of his predecessor Franz Stein : He created the conditions for the establishment of the Hilton Hotel on the Rhine and brought the IBM computer company to Mainz in 1965/66 . This alone brought the city 3,000 jobs. In addition, immigration and trade tax revenue increased by leaps and bounds. The rapid immigration led to the expansion of the city beyond its previous borders. The buildings of the settlements from the 1960s can still be seen in the outskirts. On June 8, 1969, the aforementioned incorporation of the six suburbs took place with the help of the territorial reform decided by the CDU state government under Helmut Kohl . The incorporations doubled the urban area to 9564 hectares and opened up perspectives from which the city still draws today.
The new self-confidence of the city since 1962 was also expressed in new buildings for the administration. Two years before the incorporation, the majority of the city council decided to build a town hall on the banks of the Rhine. The town hall and its location had been controversial for years, some of which went back to the 19th century. There was no actual town hall in Mainz, which had been ruled by the representatives of the archbishop and elector since 1462. Over the centuries, the city council resided in various buildings, most of which were known as the “town house”. After the debate flared up again at the end of the 1950s, the enlarged Powder Tower , the Electoral Palace and the “Am Brand” site were proposed. After a decision by the city council on May 31, 1967, the location was decided on Halleplatz (in the immediate vicinity of the "Am Brand" site), where the town hall was finally built according to the design by the Danish architect Arne Jacobsen . It was integrated into an overall complex consisting of the “Am Brand” shopping center and the new Rheingoldhalle , the successor to the destroyed town hall from the early days of the company. The town hall was inaugurated in a festival week from December 31, 1973.
In preparation for the 1000th anniversary of the beginning of the cathedral construction, the cathedral squares Liebfrauenplatz , Markt , Höfchen and Leichhof were rededicated as pedestrian zones according to plans by the Mainz architects E. Baier, Wolfram Becker and W. Marx. The historical space was thus restored. The main traffic axis of the local public transport, which until then flowed through the squares, was routed around the “Am Brand” shopping center on Quintinsstrasse.
The city was also visited more frequently by heads of state from all over the world from the late 1970s. Queen Elizabeth II came in 1978, Pope John Paul II in 1980 , US President George HW Bush on May 30, 1989 , French President Jacques Chirac in 2000 and Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg in 2001 . The last time US President George W. Bush visited the city was on February 23, 2005 .
Mainz in the 21st century
The city celebrated the year 2000 as Gutenberg's year, the city's greatest son had been named the “ Man of the Millennium ” by TIME magazine . In the same year the Gutenberg Marathon took place for the first time . Under Jürgen Klopp , 1. FSV Mainz 05 was promoted to the first Bundesliga for the first time in its club history in 2004, and in 2009 the club moved into the new soccer stadium . Artistic cyclists Katrin Schultheis and Sandra Sprinkmeier were successful between 2007 and 2014 and won the rainbow-colored world champion jersey in two-man artificial cycling six times during this period.
In 2010 the New Synagogue was inaugurated. In 2011, Mainz was named the City of Science by the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft (Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft) and the Mainz customs and inland port moved from Neustadt down the Rhine to Ingelheimer Aue, where container handling has been taking place since then, and a new residential area has been built on the former port area Service district. In 2012 Michael Ebling became mayor, the transport company introduced a rental bike system in the city with MVGmeinRad , and the motorway tunnel near Hechtsheim was completed. A joint environmental zone will be set up in 2013 with the neighboring city of Wiesbaden, making it the first in Rhineland-Palatinate and at the same time the first transnational environmental zone.
In December 2016, a new tram route from the main train station to the Lerchenberg district, the so-called Mainzelbahn , was opened. The central ceremony for the Day of German Unity took place in the city center in 2017 under the motto “Together we are Germany”. In the first referendum in the history of the city of Mainz in 2018, over 77 percent decided against a "Bible Tower" as an extension to the Gutenberg Museum , but the turnout was only around 40 percent.
The whole world will be haunted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 , one of the vaccines ( BNT162b2 ) was developed by BioNTech in Mainz. The injection vials are also manufactured by Schott AG in Mainz . The pandemic and the shop closings have also reduced particulate matter pollution in the city center. A possible diesel driving ban has been put on hold for the time being. In order to reduce emissions, the city center has mainly been running at 30 km / h since summer 2020. Also on the busy Rhine (Rheinallee and Rheinstraße) and Bundesstraße 40 from Pariser Tor via Kaiserstraße to Theodor-Heuss-Brücke . On November 1, 2020, the Wiesbadeners will vote against the Citybahn , which would have led from Mainz via Wiesbaden to Bad Schwalbach.
On 27 July 2021 the appointed UNESCO - World Heritage Committee , the Jewish Heritage in Speyer, Worms and Mainz (the three Shum-cities ) for World Heritage .
literature
- German city book. Urban History Handbook. On behalf of the Working Group of the Historical Commissions and with the support of the German Association of Cities, the Association of German Cities and the German Association of Municipalities, ed. by Erich Keyser. Vol. 4.3. City book of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1964.
- Dobras, Wolfgang (Red.): National Socialism in Mainz 1933–45. Terror and everyday life . Edited by the city of Mainz. Mainz 2008, ISBN 978-3-924708-27-6 . (Contributions to the history of the city of Mainz, vol. 36).
- Franz Dumont, Ferdinand Scherf, Friedrich Schütz (Hrsg.): Mainz - The history of the city. von Zabern, Mainz 1999 (2nd edition), ISBN 3-8053-2000-0 .
- Friedhelm Jürgensmeier: The diocese of Mainz. Knecht, Frankfurt M. 1988, ISBN 3-7820-0570-8 .
- Ernst Stephan: The community center in Mainz. The German community center. Vol. 18. Wasmuth, Tübingen 1974, ISBN 3-8030-0020-3 .
- Peter Lautzas: The historic Mainz - city walks. b | d edition, Wochenschau Verlag, Schwalbach, ISBN 978-3-941264-11-3 .
- Michael Matheus, Walter G. Rödel (ed.): Building blocks for the history of the city of Mainz. Mainz Colloquium 2000 (Geschichtliche Landeskunde 55), Mainz 2002, ISBN 978-3-515-08176-4 .
- Günther Gillessen (Ed.): If stones could talk - Mainz buildings and their stories. Verlag Philipp von Zabern , Mainz 1991, ISBN 3-8053-1206-7 .
- Wolfgang Balzer: Mainz - personalities of the city's history. Kügler, Ingelheim 1985-1993, ISBN 3-924124-01-9 .
- Vol. 1. Honorary Citizen of Mainz, Prince of the Church of Mainz, military figures, Mayor of Mainz.
- Vol. 2. Persons of religious life, persons of political life, persons of general cultural life, scientists, writers, artists, musicians.
- Vol. 3. Business people, epochal pioneers, builders, fast nights, eccentrics, originals.
- Claus Wolf: The districts of Mainz. Emons, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-89705-361-6 .
- Hedwig Brüchert: The Neustadt yesterday and today. 125 years of Mainz city expansion (Festschrift). Special issue. in: Mainz history sheets. Publications of the Society for Social History, Mainz 1997, ISSN 0178-5761
- Quarterly issues for culture, politics, economics, history. Published by the city of Mainz. Krach, Mainz 1981, ISSN 0720-5945
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ordinance No. 57 of the French High Command in Germany regarding the creation of a Rhineland-Palatinate state - of August 30, 1946
- ↑ Ismar Elbogen et al. (Ed.): Germania Judaica 1: From the oldest times to 1238 . Mohr (Paul Siebeck), Tübingen 1963, p. 453.
- ^ Regionalgeschichte.net - The Selzstellung in Rheinhessen.
- ↑ The seizure of power in Mainz .
- ↑ mainz.de ; jgmainz.de/geschichte
- ↑ Destruction and construction in Mainz 1945–1948 by Helmut Mathy on Regionalgeschichte.net.
- ↑ Landesarchivverwaltung: Ordinance No. 57. The establishment of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate ( Memento of May 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (with illustration of the original document).
- ↑ Bernd Funke: “Decision with foresight” in the Mainzer Allgemeine Zeitung of August 30, 2006; According to archive link ( Memento from September 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Ulrich Springorum: Development and structure of the administration in Rhineland-Palatinate after the Second World War . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1982, ISBN 3-428-05128-9 , pp. 185 .
- ↑ Michael Jakobs: “A rocky road to Mainz” in the Mainzer Allgemeine Zeitung of July 25, 1997; According to archive link ( Memento from September 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ The Waldthausen Castle in Budenheim - regionalgeschichte.net
- ↑ Norbert Michel: Waldthausen Castle and the Lenneberg Forest - rheingau-genealogie.de (Walluf)
- ↑ November 29, 1949. Koblenz or Mainz. Discussions about the seat of the state government. ( Memento from December 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ 50 years ago - May 16, 1950. Mainz becomes the seat of government of Rhineland-Palatinate. ( Memento from May 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) in: Landeshauptarchiv Koblenz .
- ↑ Initiative application No. 1474 ( Memento of September 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) - Landtag Rhineland-Palatinate, 1st electoral period; Issued May 16, 1950.
- ^ A new country: Rhineland-Palatinate. in: Landeshauptarchiv Koblenz .
- ↑ 50 years ago - May 16, 1950. Mainz becomes the seat of government of Rhineland-Palatinate ( Memento of May 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) in: Landeshauptarchiv Koblenz .
- ↑ Ludwig Falck: "Mainz - formerly, yesterday and today; A city in the course of the last 60 years"; Stuttgart, 1984; P. 47.
- ^ E. May, F. Boesler, K. Leibbrand: "Das Neue Mainz"; City administration of Mainz, 1961.
- ↑ Bruno Funk, Wilhelm Jung : The Mainz Town Hall, self-published by the Mainz municipal administration, the Mainz publishing house and Will & Rothe printing company 1974; Pp. 58-60.
- ^ B. Funk, W. Jung: "Das Mainzer Rathaus", Mainz, 1974.
- ^ Wilhelm Jung (ed.): 1000 years of Mainz Cathedral (975–1975), becoming and change. Exhibition catalog and manual. Mainz 1975.
- ^ Domplätze, Mainz . In: Architecture Competitions 95: Pedestrian Areas, Open Spaces. Stuttgart 1978. pp. 18f.
- ^ Franz Dumont : State capital and university town (1945 / 45–1997). In: Franz Dumont (ed.), Ferdinand Scherf, Friedrich Schütz: Mainz - The history of the city. 1st edition. Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1998, p. 550.
Web links
- mainz.de - city history
- regionalgeschichte.net - Mainz - a city with an eventful past
- archaeologie-mainz.de - Website of the Archaeological Monument Preservation - Mainz Office
