Mannheim, officially the University City of Mannheim, is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg in Germany. The city is the cultural and economic centre of the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region, Germany's seventh-largest metropolitan region. Mannheim is unusual among German cities in that the city center's streets and avenues are laid out in a grid pattern, leading to its nickname Quadratestadt (Square City).  Since 2014, Mannheim has been a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network and holds the title of "UNESCO City of Music".

Within a ring of avenues surrounding the city centre, there are squares numbered from A1 to U6 instead of street names. At the southern base of that system sits Mannheim Palace, one of the largest palace complexes in the world, and the second-largest in Baroque style after Versailles. It was the former home of the Prince-elector of the Electoral Palatinate, and now houses the University of Mannheim, which repeatedly receives top marks in business administration and is sometimes known as the "Harvard of Germany". The Mannheim May Market is the largest regional consumer exhibition of Germany. The civic symbol of Mannheim is the Romanesque Mannheim Water Tower, completed in 1886 and rising to 60 metres (200 feet) above the highest point of the art nouveau area Friedrichsplatz. Mannheim is well-known for its inventions, including the automobile, the bicycle, and the tractor, which is why the city is often called the "city of inventions". The city is the starting and finishing point of the Bertha Benz Memorial Route that follows the tracks of the first long-distance automobile trip in history.

The National Theatre Mannheim was founded in 1779 and is the oldest "Stage" in Germany. In 1782 the premiere of Die Räuber, written by Friedrich Schiller, was shown.

Recently, more smaller stages have opened, such as the Oststadt-Theater, the TIG7 (Theater im Quadrat G7), the Theater Oliv, the Freilichtbühne, the Theater31, the Theater ImPuls, the Theater Felina-Areal, the Mannheimer Puppenspiele, the Kleinkunstbühne Klapsmühl', Schatzkistl, and zeitraumexit.