The creation of the "square city"
Prince-Elector Friedrich IV von der Pfalz (1574–1610) commissioned the Dutch fortification architect, Bartel Janson, to plan his ideal city. For the planned city, Bartel Janson followed ideals strongly characterized by military aspects. He designed the extremely regular system of geometric shapes that characterizes Mannheim even today: It consists of parallel streets that cross at right angles with city blocks of equal sizes.