Car Hire Ludwigshafen - Mini guide to Ludwigshafen

The year 1843 was the official birth of Ludwigshafen, a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is located on the Rhine opposite Mannheim. Together with Mannheim, Heidelberg and the surrounding region, it forms the Rhine Neckar Area. The Bavarian king, Ludwig I named the settlement after himself and started construction of an urban area as a Bavarian rival to Mannheim on the opposite bank.

Ludwigshafen is renowned for its chemical industry (BASF). Also famous is the Wilhelm-Hack-Museum with its ceramic wall, which was arranged by the Catalan artist Joan Miró. Ludwigshafen is also well-known because it is the birthplace of the former German chancellor Helmut Kohl, the philosopher Ernst Bloch and the German rock-climber Wolfgang Güllich.

Because of its ideal transportation facilities, rapid industrialization took place in the city. The Rhine harbour and the railway line connecting Ludwigshafen with the Saar coalfields provided more reasons for industrialization to flourish in the region.

With the BASF factories setting its base in Ludwigshafen the city experienced rapid growth rate in economy and employment. With more jobs the population also soared high. Thus Ludwigshafen soon came to be known as a “worker's town” and developed various housing and residential facilities.

In 1914 in the World War I Ludwigshafen's industry plants played a key role in Germany's war economy. Many chemical ingredients of explosives and gunpowder for the forces, as well as much of the gas used on the Western Front, were fabricated in Ludwigshafen.

Ludwigshafen was one of the most thoroughly bombed cities in Germany during World War II. Because of its two giant I.G. Farben plants, covering 1200 acres and employing 40,000 workers, the city was a prime target for bombing. It produced lot of Germany's ammonia, synthetic rubber, synthetic oil and other vital chemicals. More than half of the city was destroyed in the war.

However even after this mass destruction the city soon regained its glory and wealth. It was occupied by the French after the war. The BASF soon made enormous profits again and the city administration was wealthy enough to rebuild Ludwigshafen according to the architectural taste of the 1950s and 1960s. Today Ludwigshafen is working hard to enhance its image in the media. The city administration has cut down its deficit and pollution has been restricted.

There are several museums in Ludwigshafen that bring out the city’s rich heritage. There is the Stadtmuseum in the Rathaus Center, the Schillerhaus Oggersheim, K.O. Braun-Museum in Oppau or the Frankenthaler Kanal Museum in the North.

There is also a Fachhochschule Ludwigshafen (technical college) specialised in economics and affiliated to Ostasieninstitut (East Asia Institute).

There are also various parks in Ludwigshafen. The Ebertpark in the North quarter and Friesenheim was created for the South German Horticulture Exhibition in 1925 with the Friedrich-Ebert-Halle, a multi-purpose hall. The Maudacher Bruch in the West between Maudach, Gartenstadt and Oggersheim, is a very extensive, horse-shoe shaped area, including the Michaelsberg (126m), three lakes and many acres of forest.

It is very easy to get to Ludwigshafen. Although Ludwigshafen itself has no airfield, it is well connected with several airports in the region. There are small airfields near Speyer, Bad Dürkheim and Worms, a medium-sized regional airport in Mannheim and the great Frankfurt International Airport in about an hour distance.

Ludwigshafen is the most important German harbour left of the Rhine. The local industry depends on shipping their raw materials and products on the river.

Ludwigshafen have excellent Autobahn (motorway/highway) connections to all directions. Most important are the A 650 in West-East direction, the A 61 in North-South direction. But there are also A 6, A 65 and B 9 to be mentioned.

Ludwigshafen's railway connections are good, too, but most trains go through and stop in nearby Mannheim.

Apart from having BASF, the world's leading chemical company, there are lots of other firms in Ludwigshafen. Trade and industry in Ludwigshafen have about 90,000 employees in total, with an annual total turnover of nearly 17 billion euros.

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