Ingelheim on Rhein is a smallish city mostly known for Boehringer-Ingelheim, which is a rather big pharmaceutical company operating globally. Remarkable is, that the company founded in 1885 still is family owned, with the family still being resident in town – the current generation, obviously :), not those shown below. Featuring founder Albert Boehringer (far right) as a kid with his parents and family.

Incidentally, it also is now the home town of my brother & family. Thus, I came to visit, learn, look and take pictures of a place I otherwise wouldn’t have ever noticed.

Here’s what I’ve learned:

Due to this huge company still based in town, Ingelheim is one of the richest places in Germany – I take it, the giant pays his corporate tax straight to the Ingelheim Bürgermeister (Mayor) office. Thus, the town features a concert hall, library and school buildings, along with a newly achitectured town center, all very modern and done up nicely. Surrounded by lovely Rhine valley, situated straight on the river banks, all sums up to a destination well worth a visit. Despite it otherwise being a run-of-the-mill, small town Germany kind of place.

A famous citizen is Sebastian Münster. His likeness is known to most older Germans still, as his face was on the one hundred Marks bill once upon a time. I wondered, where I knew his face from, when I saw him on the school front and on manhole covers all over town.

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I picked just another two sights. One I liked (the new library with its vertical gardens on the facade) ….

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…and one I found somewhat odd (a courtyard with a well esemble or whatever one might call this weird piece of city furniture with a boat on weels, water spewing hens and fish and fairytail figure waving to a king on a rooftop). Maybe it is art?

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