The Alaska daily empire., 1914-09-23
HEIDELBERG
By Gertrude B. Malletto

i oH@N&~ N&~1o@%@@&@%e | 4s--
 Press reports have 1t that the Ger man universities have opened for the regular school year for foreign regis tratlon, and, though 1t is hardly pos sible for those watching the progress of the war to imagine Germany doing anything so peaceable as conducting schools in her usual approved fashion perhaps glimpse of the site of one of her universities may prove of in- terest.
 \ The city of Heidelberg is magnih' gently located, on the banks of the \ INeckar, between two chains of noun tains which are covered with vine yards and forest. So narrow is the valley between the hills and the river that the city streets are limited to two thoroughfares about two and one half miles in length. The city itself is not so extensive nor so interesting as are so many of the cities of the Empire. and is rather duh when the
 university is closed during the vaca-
 tion periods, but 1t claims, neverthe-
 less, one of the most popular ruins in the kingdom.
 Heidelberg castle is to Germany
 what the Coliseum is to Italy. The
 building Is the work of many cen
 turies and consequently presents
 many varying styles of architecture,
 and is really composed of number
 of distinct buildings joined together, giving 1t at once the character of al palace and fortress, so that the vis- itor may admire It's massiveness as
 we'll as its beauty. The earlies DOT tion was begun by Count Rudolph who was chosen Emeperor at the death of Richard Cornwall in 1272. This Ru-
 doIph, swabian, was Hapsburg, and recognizing the folly of Germany's attempt to conquer Italy at that time,
 he bent all his energies toward the firm establishment of his own fam. fly in Germany. His greatest success was the conquest of Austria, which from that time on has belonged to
 the Hapsburg House.
 } This portion suffered partial de. struction, when in 1889 the French
 commander Melac caused the fortifi- cations to be blown up and the palace to be burned. The peace of Rhys- wich finally settle the disputes in 1897 and the famous old castle was
 left in peace for years. Its destruc- tion was completed by the soaring ' sword of lighting in 1764, and the ruins now rise an irregular mound of stone almost entirely covered with
 ivy. The terrace and tower still af- ford a wonderful view of the valley . of the Neckar. Perhaps the most . curious feature of the the ruins is the blown up tower" as the Germans call 1t. This particular tower was the one which the French attempted to destroy with powder, but the masonry was : so massive that it was merely split
 in two parts, one half falling into the moat, and the other remaining stand I ing.
 The tourist always descends into ; the cellar to see the immense wine , tun. the famous Heidelberg Tass B. This tun was constructed in 1864 and , has a capacity of 2S6,OOO bottles of l. wine. Just opposite it stands a wood . en model of the court jester Perkeo,
 to whom dame rumor has attached the interesting habit of drinking only
 about fifteen bottles daily.
 Just back of the castle is a noun tain known as the Koenigsstuhl which 1 rises one thousand eighteen hundred and forty-seyen feet above the sea
 Snd which is crowned by a tower that commands an almost boundless view.
 Directly opposite on the other side
 of the river. is the much-talked-of inn known as the Hirschgasse, where the Heidelberg students amuse themselves at their far-famed duelling, and back of this runs the classic path known as the "Philisophers Way" which is two miles long, and from which one gets
 fine view of the Neckar and the
 Castle.
 Heidelberg University is the old
 est university in the present German.
 Empire, and owes it's existence to
 Rupert the First, one of that group of electors who in the fourteenth cen
 tury formed a part of Germany's feu.
 dal monarchial government, The ex-
 act year of its establishment was in
 1886. The university came under con
 trol of the Reformation movement in 1856 and was more or less reorganized
 by the leaders of the educational in-
 terests at that time. In 1923 its H.
 brary was plundered and sent to Rome
 part of the booty being returned in
 1916.
 In 1903 Elector Charles Frederick
 again undertook the work of reorgani.
 zation. The Library now contains
 over 100000 volumes and the univer- sity ranks probably first in the edu.