HEIDELBERG, an ancient and interesting city of Southern Germany, in the grand-duchy of Baden, and circle of the Lower Rhine. It stands in one of the most beautiful spots in the whole of Germany, on the left bank of the Neckar (here spanned by a covered bridge of nine arches, and more than 700 feet in length), about 12 miles above its confluence with the Rhine at Mannheim; N. Lat. 49. 25, E. Long. 8. 42. The town is picturesque situated at the foot of the finely wooded hills which slope towards the river, while the rising grounds on the opposite bank are covered with the richest vineyards. To the S. is the Königstuhl, or king's seat, which, since it was ascended in 1802 by the Emperor Francis, has been called the Kaiserstuhl. On the top of this hill, which is 2000 feet high, a tower has been erected, from which charming glimpses of the distant Rhine are to be had. In fine weather the spire of Strasburg Cathedral, 90 miles distant, is plainly visible. The streets of the town, which diverge nearly all from one central street, the Haupt-strasse, are narrow and gloomy; and the interest attaching to the great public buildings is more historical than artistic. All the splendid monuments of architecture in which it once abounded have long since perished in the many bloody wars, sieges, and conflagrations, from which the town has suffered so terribly. Of the extant buildings may be mentioned the church of the Holy Ghost in the market-place, which is divided by a partition wall, so that the Catholic and Protestant services are conducted simultaneously in the different compartments; and the church of St Peter, the oldest in the town, and memorable as the scene of the daring exploit of Jerome of Prague, who hung up on its gate his celebrated thesis, in which he attacked the doctrines and practice of the Church of Rome. In the adjoining churchyard is the tomb of the learned Olympia Morata, whose history in many respects resembles that of the celebrated Hypatia. There are two other churches of inferior interest, and a Jewish synagogue. The university, of which the buildings stand in a small square near the centre of the town, is, with the exception of that of Prague, the oldest
Heilbronn, in Germany, having been founded in 1386. The number of students that flocked to it at one time was very great; but their annual average is now not more than about 700. In the departments of law and medicine it still maintains its ancient renown. Mittermeyer the jurist, and Tiedemann the anatomist, are acknowledged to rank among the first of modern authorities on their respective subjects. Near the university is the library, which contains 150,000 volumes, besides numerous and valuable MSS. The famous Palatine library, sacked and pillaged in the Thirty Years' War, was partly restored in 1815 by Pope Pius VII., to whose predecessors a portion of it had been sent as a present by the Bavarians. There is a tradition that Tilly the imperialist general, being in want of straw for his cavalry after the storming of the town, used the invaluable MSS. of the elector's library to litter his horses. In a suburban building, formerly a Dominican convent, are good museums of anatomy and zoology. By far the most interesting relic of the past in Heidelberg is the castle, once the residence of the electors palatine, and a magnificent combination of the palace and the fortress. It is now in ruins, but is sufficiently well preserved to show the tastes of the different occupants, who added to it the architectural styles of the successive centuries, and the horrors of war in the three conflagrations and ten sieges which it had to undergo. In the beginning of last century it was rebuilt and restored to its old magnificence; but in 1764 it was set on fire by lightning, and burnt to the ground, and since that time it has continued to crumble away an untenanted ruin. In one of the cellars is the famous Heidelberg tun, constructed in 1751, and able to contain 800 hogsheads of wine. It has never been filled, however, since 1769. The view to be obtained from the castle-rock is in its way one of the finest in Europe, and has afforded the material for many a poet's song.
The causes of the decay of Heidelberg are not difficult to trace. In 1622, the era of the Thirty Years' War, it was taken by Tilly after a month's siege, and delivered over to plunder for three days. Eleven years later it was recovered by the Swedes, who did the town nearly as much damage as the Austrians had done. But the cruelties and brutalities of this period were far surpassed by those which devastated the town at the close of the seventeenth century, when the French under Turenne turned the whole palatine into a desert. In 1688 the town was again stormed and plundered by the French under Melac, in comparison with whom the brutal Tilly was a humane commander and a generous foe. Five years later Melac was in his turn outstripped and left behind by Chamilly, whose fiendish excesses have made the French name a byword of horror and execration in Germany to this day. It is matter of wonder that after such a history Heidelberg should exist at all. It is a place of no commercial activity, and is increasing very slowly. Were it not for the students and the visitors, whom the beauty and cheapness of the place attract in considerable numbers, the general stagnation would be complete. Pop. about 15,000.