From Karlsplatz, you can enjoy an unobstructed view of Heidelberg Castle.
Karlsplatz, named after Grand Duke Karl Friedrich of Baden, extends over the area of the Franciscan monastery, which was demolished in 1803. The square, which is unusually large for the small-parcel Old Town, opens up an unobstructed view of the castle and is located directly on the main street.
Karlsplatz is home not only to the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and the Palais Boisserée but also to two of Heidelberg's oldest and best-known student pubs and several fraternity houses. Generations of fraternity students have been guests at the "Zum Seppl" inn, built in 1634, and the "Zum Roten Ochsen," built right next door in 1703.
One attraction of the Heidelberg Christmas Market is the ice rink on Karlsplatz at the foot of the castle. An open-air ice rink transforms the square into an atmospheric ice landscape - with a dreamlike view of the most famous ruin in the world - Heidelberg Castle!
Sebastian Münster Fountain
Since a redesign of Karlsplatz in 1978, the square has been adorned by the modern Sebastian Münster Fountain - a work by Berlin artist Michael Schoenholtz. The fountain commemorates the humanist and cosmographer Sebastian Münster (1488-1552), who worked as a teacher of Hebrew and researcher of astronomy and mathematics in the Franciscan monastery located here from 1521 to 1529. Here he began his famous cosmography, to which the fountain refers.
