“In the Beginning was the Word” – is what it says in Gutenberg’s Bible, the first printed book in the world. The invention by the‚ Man of the Millennium’ went out from Mainz around the world, revolutionising mankind’s life, thought and work. This dynamism also stands for today’s state capital.

The river is a waterway bustling with shipping and the vital nerve of the metropolis of Rhine- Hesse. The congress and event venues, Rhinegold Hall and Electoral Palace, are located on its bank alongside the baroque State Government buildings and the modern City Hall. Visitors sense the relaxed character of the city during a stroll along the embankment promenade. And that at any time of the year, but best of all from spring to autumn, when the people of Mainz and their guests saunter along here, filling the benches and the green open spaces, or sunbathing on the Rhine beaches.

Many students gather here, young families make use of the amenities for playing and the passengers from the Rhine ships disembark here for a visit ashore. They admire one of the loveliest city panoramas on Europe’s longest river. And get an inkling of what “Mainz – live it!” means.

The city is self-confident and proud of its rich culture as one of Germany’s oldest cities. Four millennia of the art of writing and printing are to be experienced in the world-renowned Gutenberg Museum. And the great, indeed greatest invention of the modern era: Johannes Gutenberg’s printing with movable type. People come from all over the world to take a look into the strong room with its valuable Bibles. Or to try Gutenberg’s technique once for themselves on the traditional hand-presses in the neighbouring printing shop. History lives, the past is linked to the modern. In the Landesmuseum and Gutenberg Museum, the visitor goes on a journey in time through the epochs. And on a tour of discovery to mankind’s great inventions and creations. have many faces in Mainz.