Portrait: Johannes Gutenberg, inventor of the Printing Press

23 January 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Portrait Reading Time:  7 minutes

Gutenberg Bible - Lenox Copy - New York Public Library © flickr.com - NYC Wanderer (Kevin Eng)/cc-by-sa-2.0

Gutenberg Bible – Lenox Copy – New York Public Library © flickr.com – NYC Wanderer (Kevin Eng)/cc-by-sa-2.0

Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg was a German blacksmith, goldsmith, inventor, printer, and publisher who introduced printing to Europe with the printing press. His introduction of mechanical movable type printing to Europe started the Printing Revolution and is regarded as a milestone of the second millennium, ushering in the modern period of human history. It played a key role in the development of the Renaissance, Reformation, the Age of Enlightenment, and the scientific revolution and laid the material basis for the modern knowledge-based economy and the spread of learning to the masses.   read more…

Mainz, City of Science 2011

20 March 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  8 minutes

State Theater © Martin Bahmann

State Theater © Martin Bahmann

Mainz is a city in Germany and the capital of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It was a politically important seat of the Prince-elector of Mainz (Archbishopric of Mainz) under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire. Mainz is located on the river Rhine across from Wiesbaden, in the western part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main Region; in the modern age, Frankfurt shares much of its regional importance. Mainz is a city with over two thousand years of history. The first European books printed using movable type were manufactured in Mainz by Gutenberg in the early 1450s.   read more…

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