Photo: Heidelberg Marketing GmbHThe Old Bridge connects the old city centre of Heidelberg with the district of Neuenheim.For centuries, the Ruprecht Karl University has drawn great minds from around the world to Heidelberg. Friedrich Hölderlin, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Robert Schumann, and Clemens Brentano are a few of the artists and intellectuals who discovered the city for themselves. In the sixteenth century, the city served as the residence of the princes of the Electoral Palatinate and flourished under late Humanist and Calvinist influence.

Luther explained his "theologia crucis"

In 1518, Heidelberg became the first city to be visited by Luther after the publication of his Ninety-Five Theses. At the instigation of Rome, the Augustinian Order invited him to a disputation, at which he was to explain his theses in greater detail. Instead, he took advantage of the opportunity to present his ‘theology of the cross’, a Reformational perspective on Christian theology.

Photo: Heidelberg Marketing GmbHCommemorative Luther plaque on the Universitätsplatz A commemorative Luther plaque is to be found on the Universitätsplatz, where the Augustine monastery once stood. The Heidelberg Disputation had important consequences: in 1563, professors from the university wrote the Heidelberg Catechism, which has served as a fundamental formulation of the faith of the Reformed church to the present day.