Brochure for new citizens

International city of culture | 19 International city of culture If you have been living in Heidelberg for some time already, you will know that it lives up to its reputa- tion. As well as the beautiful surrounding scenery of the Odenwald hills, and the lovely river Neckar, the city offers a wide range of cultural and leisure facilities. Heidelberg is a city that knows how to continue its great literary tradition in a contemporary way. Heidelberg‘s tradi- tion as the seat of the oldest university in Germany with important philoso- phers, theologians and literary figures, is combined with Heidelberg‘s lively literary scene and above-average num- ber of libraries, bookstores, publishers and translators, publishing houses and translators. For this reason, in December 2014 it became the first and only Ger- man city to be included in the world‘s largest cultural network, UNESCO‘s Creative Cities Network, as a City of Literature: www.heidelberg.de/ cityofliterature. With its extensive collections, the Kurpfälzisches Museum , founded in 1879, offers an astounding impres- sion of the former Electoral Palatinate and its capital Heidelberg. Learn more about the exhibitions and collections at www.museum-heidelberg.de . As a new citizen, you can use the enclosed family voucher on your first visit to the Kurpfälzische Museum. You can redeem the enclosed family voucher for two adults and two children (see page 49). The Mark Twain Center for Transatlantic Relations in Südstadt is a cultural center and place of exchange on the history and future issues of German-American relations. At a historically significant location in the former commandant‘s of- fice, where the heart of the U.S. Army‘s headquarters in Europe beat, a multi- media exhibition is on display where visitors can discover various facets of German-American coexistence in Heidelberg with the help of digital aids and in a playful way. For more information, visit www.mark- twain-center.com. Culture and leisure Music, film, theater, dance, literature and art of all eras and styles, enter- tainment and celebrations, sports and recreation – Heidelberg offers a wide range of leisure activities. The Theater und OrchesterHeidel- berg is a five-division theater with opera, concert, drama and dance, as well as its own ensemble for children‘s and youth theater, whose capacity uti- lization is among the best in Germany. The theater‘s various festivals, such as the Heidelberger Stückemarkt, the Dance Biennale and the Heidelberg Castle Festival contribute to this. You can find out more about the theater programat www.theater.heidelberg.de . 18 | International city of culture Old masters and modern artists: the Kurpfälzische Museum offers an exciting variety.