Ludwigshafen am Rhein, meaning Ludwig's Port on the Rhine, is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the river Rhine, opposite Mannheim. With Mannheim, Heidelberg, and the surrounding region, it forms the Rhine Neckar Area.
Known primarily as an industrial city, Ludwigshafen is the home of chemical giant BASF and other companies. Among its cultural facilities are the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz. It is the birthplace of the former German chancellor Helmut Kohl and the philosopher Ernst Bloch.
The city is a global city with 'sufficiency' status.
The Pfalzbau is a theatre and concert hall with regional importance. The Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz keeps its own symphonic orchestra, and there is a production company that stages operas 25 nights per year. In the Hemshof district, there are smaller theatres playing regional dialect plays.
The Wilhelm-Hack-Museum is the municipal art museum, with collections spanning from ancient to contemporary art. It is known for the emblematic Miró mural covering an entire façade, called the "Miró Wall" (Miró-Wand in German). The mural is a work of art by the Spanish artist Joan Miró, with the collaboration of his long-time colleague, the ceramist, Joan Gardy Artigas, and is made of 7,200 ceramic tiles. It has been subject to degradation due to air pollution since it was installed in 1979.
Several small museums in Ludwigshafen focus on the city's history, first of all the Stadtmuseum in the Rathaus Center, but also the Schillerhaus Oggersheim, K.O. Braun-Museum in Oppau or the Frankenthaler Kanal Museum in the North.
The Fachhochschule Ludwigshafen (technical college) specialises in economics and has an affiliated Ostasieninstitut (East Asia Institute). There is also the Evangelische Fachhochschule Ludwigshafen, specialising in social sciences.
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