Mainz

River port and capital of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the left bank of the Rhine, 37 km/23 mi southwest of Frankfurt-am-Main; population (2005 est) 194,400. It is a major centre of the wine trade. Industries include computers (IBM), metal goods, precision instruments, chemicals, machinery, telecommunications, television broadcasting, and printed fabrics. In Roman times it was a fortified camp and became the capital of Germania Superior. Printing was possibly invented here in about 1448 by Johann Gutenberg.

Features Its university (1477–1816) was re-established in 1946. The splendid cathedral of St Martin and St Stephen was begun in 975; originally Romanesque, it has also Gothic, Renaissance, and baroque features. There are other notable churches, fine old houses, and the Electoral Palace (17th–18th century). Also here are the German Wine Museum, the Gutenberg Museum, the Romano-German Museum, and the Museum of the Middle Rhineland.

History Mainz was originally a Celtic settlement, on the site of which Drusus established a Roman camp (Moguntiacum) in 13 BC. Conrad II was crowned king in the cathedral in 1021, and subsequent emperors held diets in the city. In the 13th century it was the head of a confederacy of Rhenish cities. Printing may have been invented here; the small size of the type of the Mainz Indulgence is the first evidence of the use of metal matrices and hand moulds for casting type.