Riga vs Mannheim

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Riga (; Latvian: Rīga [ˈriːɡa] (listen)) is the capital of Latvia and is home to 627,487 inhabitants (2020), which is a third of Latvia's population. Being significantly larger than other cities of Latvia, Riga is the country's primate city. It is also the largest city in the three Baltic states and is home to one tenth of the three Baltic states' combined population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Baltic Sea. Riga's territory covers 307.17 km2 (118.60 sq mi) and lies 1–10 m (3 ft 3 in–32 ft 10 in) above sea level, on a flat and sandy plain.Riga was founded in 1201 and is a former Hanseatic League member. Riga's historical centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, noted for its Art Nouveau/Jugendstil architecture and 19th century wooden architecture.

Riga was the European Capital of Culture in 2014, along with Umeå in Sweden. Riga hosted the 2006 NATO Summit, the Eurovision Song Contest 2003, the 2006 IIHF Men's World Ice Hockey Championships and the 2013 World Women's Curling Championship. It is home to the European Union's office of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC). In 2017, it was named the European Region of Gastronomy. In 2016, Riga received over 1.4 million visitors. The city is served by Riga International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in the Baltic states. Riga is a member of Eurocities, the Union of the Baltic Cities (UBC) and Union of Capitals of the European Union (UCEU).

Source: Wikipedia

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Mannheim (German pronunciation: [ˈmanhaɪm] (listen); Palatine German: Mannem or Monnem) is a Universitätsstadt (university town) in the southwestern part of Germany and the third-largest in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart and Karlsruhe with a 2019 population of approximately 310,700 inhabitants. The city is at the centre of the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region and is Germany's eighth-largest metropolitan region. Mannheim is located at the confluence of the Rhine and the Neckar in the northwestern corner of Baden-Württemberg. The Rhine separates Mannheim from the city of Ludwigshafen, just to the west of it in Rhineland-Palatinate, and the border of Baden-Württemberg with Hesse is just to the north. Mannheim is downstream along the Neckar from the city of Heidelberg. Mannheim is unusual among German cities in that its streets and avenues are laid out in a grid pattern, leading to its nickname "die Quadratestadt" (the Square City). The eighteenth century Mannheim Palace, former home of the Prince-elector of the Palatinate, now houses the University of Mannheim.

The city is home to major corporations including Daimler, John Deere, Caterpillar, ABB, Fuchs Petrolub, IBM, Roche, Reckitt Benckiser, Unilever, Phoenix Group, Pepperl+Fuchs, Siemens, and several other well-known companies. In addition, Mannheim's SAP Arena is not only the home of the German ice hockey record champions the Adler Mannheim, but also the well-known handball team, the Rhein-Neckar Löwen. Since 2014, Mannheim has been a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network and holds the title of "UNESCO City of Music". Mannheim is a smart city; the city's electrical grid is installed with a power-line communication network.The city's tourism slogan is "Leben. Im Quadrat." (Life. In the Square.) The civic symbol of Mannheim is der Wasserturm (the Watertower), a Romanesque water tower completed in 1886 that rises to 60 metres (200 feet) above the highest point of the art nouveau area Friedrichsplatz. Mannheim is the starting and finishing point of the Bertha Benz Memorial Route.

Source: Wikipedia