An old European cultural heartland.

The Rhineland was settled by Celts, Romans, Burgundians and Franks. In Speyer, Worms and Mainz, all on the Rhine, stand the great imperial cathedrals of the Middle Ages. Construction of the oldest synagogue in Germany (built in the Romanesque style) began in Worms in 1034. ’twas in Worms, too, at the Imperial Diet of 1521, that the reformer Martin Luther refused to recant his theses. Three hundred years later, in Koblenz, the liberal Paper “Rheinischer Merkur” inveighed against Napoleonic rule and censorship of the press. In 1832 Hambach Castle was the scene of the first democratic-republican assembly in Germany. The world-famous Gutenberg Museum displays its treasures in Mainz, the birthplace of Johannes Gutenberg (1400-1468), who invented the art of printing books with movable type. The philosopher and father of scientific socialism, Karl Marx (181 8-1 883), was born in Trier.

Viticulture and industry.

Products from the state of Rhineland-Palatinate are in high demand on both domestic and international markets. With an export rate of roughly 40 percent, it ranks first in this category among Germany’s federal states. Its economy is remarkably