OPPENHEIM, a small town in the grand-duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, is picturesquely situated on a hill on the left bank of the Rhine, 20 miles to the south of Mainz. It contains (1880) 3288 inhabitants, half Roman Catholics and half Protestants, who cultivate the vine and manufacture tacks, quinine, and leather.

Oppenheim, which occupies the site of the Roman castle Bau-conica, was formerly much larger than at present; and in the early Middle Ages it was a free town of the empire and one of the most important members of the Rhenish League. It lost its independence in 1398, when it was given in pledge to the elector palatine. During the Thirty Years’ War the town was alternately occupied by the Swedes and the Imperialists, and in 1689 it was entirely destroyed by the French under Melac. The only relic of its former importance is the church of St Catherine, one of the most beautiful Gothic edifices of the 13th and 14th centuries in Germany, recently carefully restored at the expense of Government.