Welcome to Mainz!
Mainz is a historic city with about 250.000 inhabitants on the banks of the Rhine River, in the heart of Germany’s wine country. Once a major Roman stronghold and later the seat of powerful archbishops, it is now the capital of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate and an important cultural and economic centre in the Rhine-Main region.
Founded over two thousand years ago by the Romans, Mainz has preserved its rich history while embracing a modern, welcoming spirit. The city’s old town, with its half-timbered houses and medieval market squares, is home to the magnificent Romanesque cathedral of St. Martin, one of Germany’s most impressive ecclesiastical buildings. The legacy of Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of the movable-type printing press, lives on in the renowned Gutenberg Museum.
Mainz is also famous for its wine culture. Surrounded by the rolling vineyards of the Rheinhessen region, the city celebrates a centuries-old wine culture that permeates its lifestyle. Countless wine taverns, festivals, and local markets invite visitors to taste the best Rieslings of the Rhine and enjoy the relaxed, convivial atmosphere that characterises the region.
Despite its ancient roots, Mainz is a lively university city with a thriving cultural scene. Music, theatre, and art flourish here, and the city’s riverside promenade, cafés, and restaurants make it an inviting place to explore and unwind. Whether you are drawn by its Roman heritage, its historic charm, or its outstanding wines, Mainz offers an inspiring setting where tradition and innovation meet along the Rhine.
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU)
JGU Mainz is one of Germany’s largest and most dynamic universities. Founded in 1477, it bears the name of Mainz’s most famous citizen, Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of modern printing. True to its namesake’s spirit of innovation and openness, JGU combines a rich academic tradition with a forward-looking approach to research and education.
The university hosts more than 37.000 students across a broad range of disciplines, from the humanities and social sciences to natural sciences, medicine, and the arts. Most faculties are located on a single, spacious campus close to the city centre fostering an atmosphere of collaboration and exchange.
JGU is internationally recognized for its excellence in research, with strengths in particle and nuclear physics, materials science, immunology, translation studies, and media studies. It maintains close ties with national research institutions such as the Max Planck Institutes and the Helmholtz Institute Mainz, as well as with partner universities around the world.
Beyond academics, the university contributes greatly to the city’s cultural life. With its own theatre, art gallery, music academy, and numerous public lectures and festivals, JGU serves as an intellectual and creative hub for Mainz and the surrounding region.
Institute for Physics
The Institute for Physics (Institut für Physik) at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz is a vibrant research centre with over forty professors and a large team of scientists and technical staff working across a broad range of fields, from quantum and particle physics to condensed matter, photonics, and astroparticle physics. Its research combines theoretical and experimental approaches and is embedded in a strong international network. The institute collaborates with leading research facilities worldwide, including CERN (Mainz has one of the largest ATLAS Groups in Germany), the Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble, TRIUMF in Vancouver, and the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole. It plays a key role in major collaborative research initiatives such as the Excellence Cluster PRISMA+, the Max Planck Graduate Center (MPGC), and several DFG Collaborative Research Centres.
The Institute for Physics offers students a stimulating academic environment where they can participate in cutting-edge research projects and gain hands-on experience. Well-equipped workshops and laboratories on campus provide essential technical support for experimental work and the development of innovative instrumentation.
Institute for Nuclear Physics
The Institute for Nuclear Physics (Institut für Kernphysik) is one of the leading research centres in Europe dedicated to the study of the structure and interactions of hadrons. Combining experimental and theoretical expertise, the institute investigates fundamental questions in nuclear and particle physics through precision measurements and advanced modelling. At the heart of its experimental programme lies the MAMI electron accelerator, a world-renowned facility that has enabled groundbreaking experiments for several decades. MAMI also hosts a test beam facility with a high-intensity electron beam of up to 855MeV. Building on this legacy, the institute is now developing MESA (Mainz Energy-Recovering Superconducting Accelerator), an innovative new accelerator that will expand the scope of precision experiments and open new possibilities for exploring physics beyond the Standard Model.
The Institute for Nuclear Physics brings together a diverse community of more than 150 researchers, supported by a comprehensive technical infrastructure and several specialized experimental setups such as the A1 and A2 Experiments of MAMI and the MAGIX, P2, and DarkMESA Experiments of the under-construction MESA facility. Through its close integration with the Excellence Cluster PRISMA+, the institute continues to strengthen Mainz’s position as a global hub for forefront research in nuclear and particle physics.
