Magnificent Mainz: A Guide to the Town where Bookprinting Began

Mainz was founded by the Romans in 13 BC, making it one of Germany’s oldest towns. On this tour you’ll hear about Mainz’s most famous son, Johannes Gutenberg, who transformed the Middle Ages by making book printing possible.

The tour starts at the beautiful Market Square, in front of St Martin’s Cathedral. You’ll walk through the ‘Court of Corpses’, a former cemetery, and get a glimpse of how beautiful the medieval town must have been at Kirschgarten (Cherry Garden). You’ll also get a chance to see historic sights like House Aschaffenberg that survived World War II, and catch a glimpse of Germany’s most famous river, the Rhine. The tour will end back at Market Square where we started off.

During the tour you’ll have the opportunity to:

Marvel at two historic columns, one about 1,000 years old, the other one made of wood and used to hammer in nails for a good cause
Step over a marker for the 50th parallel (the line of latitude) – even if it’s a few meters off
Admire St. John’s Church (also called St. Johannes Church), which is even older than St. Martin’s Cathedral
Hear how the company BioNtec made Mainz rich, for a couple of years at least
Try some local wine at the historic wine house, Zum Spiegel
Get a sense of how historic printing presses actually worked in the Gutenberg Museum

Join me on this exciting stroll through one of Germany’s most unique towns!