Heilbronn.
Heilbronn: the city full of energy Back in the day, Heilbronn enchanted and inspired Goethe, Kleist and Mark Twain. Today, dynamic Heilbronn isn’t only known for the national garden show, which attracts millions and runs until 7 October, but it also stands for powerful companies, innovative educational programmes, fantastic wine, energy and a lot of vitality.
This liveliness and enthusiasm for the city’s historical roots is everywhere in Heilbronn and best explored in an environmentally friendly Velo-taxi, on a canoe on the Neckar or with the red double-decker buses.
TEXT: MARILENA STRACKE I PHOTOS: HEILBRONN MARKETING
Located on the Neckar, Heilbronn has always been an important industrial hub in South Germany. For a long time, it was known as ‘Swabian Liverpool’, where inventors changed the world with their innovative ideas. Today, people still come from all over the world to do research, work and enjoy life here. The housing market is growing rapidly, and in addition to the botanical variety, the national garden show also portrays what urban life and work looks like. Right in the city, eight institutions of the Technical University of Munich and Heilbronn University have found a home on the new educational campus. Next door, at the ‘Neckarmeile’, you can feel the new spirit of young and 76 | Issue 75 | June 2019
international Heilbronn. With 700 metres of charming cafes, bars, shops, hotels and restaurants, it’s considered the largest food mile near a river in South Germany. Heilbronn is the state’s oldest wine town and the centre of Germany’s biggest red wine region. Of course, you have to try a cheeky glass (called ‘Viertele’ here). Either you can visit one of the many traditional taverns or go to the Wine Village Festival Heilbronn, taking place from 12 to 22 September 2019. The six-kilometre ‘panoramic trail of wine’ around the Wartberg is both idyllic and informative. The open-air museum displays many historical exhibits of the local viticulture. The past really comes back to life here.
Heilbronn invests in science. The newly opened science and adventure world Experimenta, and its unique architecture, are already an international success. Here in Germany’s biggest science centre, scientific knowledge can be experienced with all senses. As during Goethe’s times, today’s Heilbronn is a source of inspiration and a place of art. The renowned sculptor Thomas Schütte just opened his brightred ‘One-Man-House’ at the ‘Inselspitze’, and next to it you can find Richard Deacon’s stainless-steel sculpture ‘Reef’. Bursting with energy, full of history and with a relaxed atmosphere – Heilbronn presents itself as a future-orientated city of the 21st century. www.heilbronn.de