Darmstadt, city in southwestern Germany, in Hessen, near Mainz. Manufactures include chemicals, machine tools, printed materials, electronic equipment, and glass products. The old section of the city, with its narrow, crooked streets, has a medieval appearance; it contains the marketplace and the town hall (built in 1580). Most of the notable points of interest center around the Luisenplatz, a square in the new section of Darmstadt. Among these are the statue of Louis I, Grand Duke of Hessen-Darmstadt in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the founder of the new town; the old ducal palace; an art gallery famous for its early Dutch and German masterpieces, notably the Madonna of the Burgomaster Meyer (1516), by Hans Holbein the Younger; and a museum of Egyptology and German antiquities. On the eastern heights of the city is the Jugendstil (art nouveau) artists' colony, founded at the turn of the 20th century. A technical university (1836) is also located in the city.
Probably founded in the 11th century, Darmstadt received its municipal charter in 1330, but its importance dates from 1567. In that year it became the ducal seat of the house of Hessen-Darmstadt. The city suffered severe damage from bombing during World War II (1939-1945). Population (1997) 139,063.Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001
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