Heidelberg Castle and Old Town

Heidelberg is situated in an unique landscape in the valley of the River Neckar. The castle is a chef d'oeuvre of German renaissance architecture. With the ruins of the castle, the baroque style architecture based on a ground plan of the middle ages and the surrounding landscape Heidelberg became the centre of the German romanticism in the l9th century. In the European wide difference around 1900 concerning the reconstruction of Heidelberg castle the modern preservation of monuments was constituted ("to preserve not to restore").

Comparison with other similar properties

The cultural monuments of Heidelberg survive in a shape time has given them. The restoration of Heidelberg Castle is symbolic of the transition from a concept of caring for cultural monuments. The medieval ground plan of Heidelberg has mostly survived.