Mainz

Mainz, or Mayence (Moguntia), a strong fortress, formerly a free city, now the largest town of the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt, is on the left bank of the Rhine, nearly opposite the entrance of the Main. A stone bridge in place of the former bridge of boats and a railway-bridge connect it with Kastel on the opposite bank. Some of the streets are narrow and irregular, but much of the old town was destroyed by an explosion in 1857, and was rebuilt in a better style. There is a good street near the river, and a fine embankment 4 miles long, and 300 feet wide, and to the S. is a park. The commerce, which had decayed, has now revived. New harbour works have been executed, and Mainz is now, besides being a great railway centre, one of the chief seats of the Rhine trade. The chief articles of trade are wine, grain, timber, flour, and oil, and among the industries are the manufacture of leather, furniture, carriages, chemicals, and carpets. The old cathedral of the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries, restored by Napoleon in 1814, and further restored 1870, has six towers, one of which is nearly 300 feet high. It contains the tomb of Archbishop Boniface. There are other churches of note, a palace of the Grand Dukes, the old Electoral Palace (now a museum, etc.), a theatre, the arsenal, statues of Gutenberg (who here invented printing) and Schiller, and two fountains. Among the Roman remains is the Igelstein, supposed to have been erected to the son-in-law of Augustus (Drusus), who had here a castrum, and a castellum (Kastel). In the 3rd century the Bishop of Mainz became Archbishop and Primate of Germany. In later times he was head of the electors who appointed the emperors. It became a German fortress in 1871.