Sunset in Mannheim

Our travels today have taken us south to Mannheim, which is perfectly located for our exploration of the region. The city will be our base for the next five nights and whilst we will not spend much time here, it does have some delightful sights in its own right.

Mannheimer Wasserturm

The Mannheimer Wasserturm is perhaps the most recognisable building associated with the city today. The water tower was the work of Gustav Halmhuber, a twenty three year old architect from Stuttgart, whose striking design stood out from around seventy entries into the competition and satisfied the jury’s requirement to deliver a design worthy of its prime location. The tower was completed in 1889.

Sphinx at sunset

We turned up at the water tower in the lead up to sunset, with the evening sun giving the sandstone structure and its sphinx sculptures a quite remarkable golden glow against the black skies. It is hard to believe that proposals to demolish this structure, in the mid twentieth century, were ever taken seriously.

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