MAINZ, mints (Fr. 1/),yeace). The largest town in the Grand Duchy of Hesse, and one of the most ancient cities of Germany, and a great fortress of the Empire (Map: Germany, C' 4). It is situated on the left hapk of the Rhine at its confluenee with the about eighteen miles northwest of Darmstadt. The southern and older part of the city. with its narrow and irregular streets and Gothic buildings. presents. a striking contrast to the modern quarters in the north. built up since the reeonstruction of the fortifica tions. A modern bridge connects :Mainz with ]pastel on the opposite side, and a fine esplanade along the river.
In the centre of the old town stands the cathe dral. imposing in appearance and showing in its numerous additions and alterations traces of an eventful existence. It was constructed in 978 1008, but the present building dates principally from the thirteenth century, the original strue ture having been destroyed by several conflagra ti(ms, It is Gothic and is surmounted by six towers. of which the highest rises to 270 feet. Noteworthy features are the tenth-century brazen doors of the main entrance and the numerous tombs of the archiepiscopal electors. The cathe dral was restored in 1856-79. The Church of saint Stephen (1257-1328) merits mention, with its sightly situation above the Rhine and inter esting cloisters. On the Gutcnberg-Platz, near the cathedral. stands a Thorwaldsen monument to Gutenberg. a native of Mainz.
Facing the Sehloss-Platz is the former elec toral palace, now used as a museum. it is a red sandstone building of large proportions, be gun in the seventeenth century. it contains one of the most extensive collections of Roman and Germanic antiquities in Germany, the municipal library of about 180,000 volumes, and numerous manuscripts, a rather unimportant picture gal lery, and the Gutenberg Museum, founded in 1901. The former lodge of the Teutonic Order (1731-39) is now used as a grand-ducal residence. Mainz has also a number of fine modern build ings, notably the city hall, the theatre, and the central railway station.
The fortifications, enlarged since MI, con sist of several lines of bastioned forts, the cita del in the southeastern part of the town, and a number of detached forts. Baste], on the oppo site side of the Rhine, forms the tile de pool. T here are numerous Roman remains in the town and the vicinity, including parts of an aqueduct and what is supposed to he a monument to Dru sus. The chief educational institutions comprise
two gymnasia, a seminary for priests, a school (if commerce, and a number of other special schools. The university founded in 1477 was abolished in 1798.
Mainz is well known for its leather goods and furniture. and it manufactures also musieal instruments, carriages, carpets, and chemicals. Book and art publishing is also carried on ex tensively. Mainz is well adapted for commerce by its position at the confluence of two impor tant waterways; but the competition of other Rhine ports has detracted smnewhat from its prominence in trade. The city is still. however, an important factor in the Rhine traffic with the Netherlands and Belgium. Population, in 1890, 72,059; in 1900, 84,251, including abort 50,000 Catholics, 31,000 Protestants, and 3000 Jews.
The site of Mainz was occupied in ancient times by a Celtic settlement, which was later converted into a Roman camp. Drusus erel•ted here in B.C. 13 a castle called Maguntiacum, and the settlement was connected by a bridge with the ( a stellmn Illattincornm (modern Kastel) on the opposite shore. With the dissolution of the Ro man Empire Mainz was repeatedly pillaged by the Allemanni, the Vandals. and the Huns, but it gradually recovered, and by the tenth century was regarded as an important city. It obtained privileges from Charlemagne and headed the leagne of Rhenish towns in the thirteenth cen tury. In the fifteenth century Mainz acquired great celebrity on account of Gutenberg, and be came the centre of early book printing.
The decline of the city began in the second half of the fifteenth when it was de prived of its Imperial privileges for its support of the Archbishop Diether von Iscnburg and be came an archiepiscopal city. In 17 97 the city, deserted by the Prince-Electo• and the Court, capitulated to the French under General Custine, was retaken in the following year, and formally ceded to France by the Peace of in 1801. It was returned to Germany by the Peace of Paris in 1814. and was annexed to the Grand Duchy of llesse in 1816, remaining, however, a fortress of the German Confederation.
The archbishopric of Mainz was founded in 747 with Saint Bonifaee as its first archbishop. The archbishops of Mainz were preeminent among the spiritual electors of the Empire. The arch bishopric was degraded to a bishopric in 1801, and the see was secularized in 1803.