Stuttgart is unusual in the scheme of German cities.[11] It is spread across a variety of hills (some of them covered invineyards),[12]valleys (especially around theNeckar river and theStuttgart basin) andparks. The city is known as the "cradle of the automobile".[13][14] As such, it is home to famous automobile museums like theMercedes-Benz Museum andPorsche Museum, as well as numerous auto-enthusiast magazines, which contributes to Stuttgart's status as Germany's "Autohauptstadt" ("car capital city"/"capital of cars").[15][16][17] The city's tourismslogan is "Stuttgart offers more".[18] Under current plans to improve transport links to the international infrastructure (as part of theStuttgart 21 project), Stuttgart unveiled a new city logo and slogan in March 2008, describing itself as "Das neue Herz Europas" ("The new Heart of Europe").[19] For business, it describes itself as "Where business meets the future". In July 2010, the city unveiled a new logo, designed to entice more business people to stay in the city and enjoy breaks in the area.[20]
Since the seventh millennium BC, the Stuttgart area has been an important agricultural area and has been host to a number of cultures seeking to utilize the rich soil of theNeckar valley. TheRoman Empire conquered the area in AD 83 and built a massivecastrum nearBad Cannstatt, making it the most important regional centre for several centuries. Stuttgart's roots were truly laid in the tenth century with its founding byLiudolf,Duke of Swabia, as astud farm for his warhorses. Initially overshadowed by nearby Bad Cannstatt, the town grew steadily and was granted a charter in 1320. The fortunes of Stuttgart turned with those of theHouse of Württemberg, and they made it the capital of theircounty,duchy, andkingdom from the 15th century to 1918. Stuttgart prospered despite setbacks in theThirty Years' War and devastating air raids by the Allies on the city and its automobile production duringWorld War II. However, by 1952, the city had bounced back and became the major cultural, economic, industrial, financial, tourism and publishing centre it is today.[21]
Stuttgart is known for its stronghigh-tech industry, especially in theautomotive sector. It has the highest general standard of prosperity of any German city. In addition to manymedium-sized companies, several major corporations are headquartered in Stuttgart, includingPorsche,Bosch,Exyte, andMercedes-Benz Group. Stuttgart is an importantfinancial center; theStuttgart Stock Exchange is the second largest in Germany (afterFrankfurt), and theLandesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) is Germany's largestLandesbank. Stuttgart is also a major transport junction; it is among the most congested conurbations of Europe, andits airport is thesixth-busiest in Germany (2019). Stuttgart is a city with a high number of immigrants; according toDorling Kindersley'sEyewitness Travel Guide to Germany, "In the city of Stuttgart, every third inhabitant is a foreigner."[22] 40% of Stuttgart's residents, and 64% of the population below the age of five, are of immigrant background.[23] In the rest of Germany, 28.7% of people are of immigrant background, with a relatively higher percentage living in cities and former western Germany (such as Stuttgart).[24]
In the local dialects ofAlemannic German it can be "Schtuegert", and inSwabian German "Stuagart"; with similar variant spellings, usually dropping the central T sound.
Stuttgart's first coat of arms (1286)[c]1634 Drawing of Stuttgart byMatthäus MerianDrawing of Stuttgart, 1794Map of Stuttgart, 1888Map of Stuttgart area, 1890View of Stuttgart from Alexanderstraße, between 1890 and 1905. The Rotebühlkaserne is visible to the left, and theOld Castle andStiftskirche to the right.The historic StuttgartMarktplatz [de] looking west, 1881Stuttgart Rathaus on the Marktplatz, 1907. The building was destroyed byAlliedbombing duringWorld War II. What was left of the building was used to build the current City Hall.Villa Berg, the summer residence of the royalty of Wurttemberg built from 1845 to 1853, in a colorized photograph from 1910A colorized photo from 1911 of theDaimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft factory inUntertürkheim. Today, this building is the seat ofMercedes-Benz Group.Front and back of a 50-pfennigNotgeld from 1921 featuring the state capital, StuttgartDemonstration at the Stuttgart Marktplatz on German Hiking Day (German:Deutscher Wandertag), 1938Map of the destruction of Stuttgart after the air raidsA war-damagedNeues Schloss atSchlossplatz prior to restoration, 1956Stuttgart'sHauptbahnhof from the Königstraße, 1965
As with many military installations, a settlement sprang up nearby and remained there even after thelimes moved further east. When they did, the town was left in the capable hands of a localbrickworks that produced sophisticated architectural ceramics and pottery.[29] When the Romans were driven back past theRhine andDanube rivers in the third century by theAlamanni,[30] the settlement temporarily vanished from history until the seventh century.[31]
In 700,DukeGotfrid mentions a "Chan Stada" in a document regarding property.[32] Archaeological evidence shows that laterMerovingian eraFrankish farmers continued to till the same land the Romans did.[33]
Cannstatt is mentioned in theAbbey of St. Gall's archives as "Canstat ad Neccarum" (German:Cannstatt-on-Neckar) in 708.[citation needed] Theetymology of the name "Cannstatt" is not clear, but as the site is mentioned ascondistat in theAnnals of Metz (9th century),[citation needed] it is mostly derived from the Latin wordcondita ("foundation"), suggesting that the name of the Roman settlement might have had the prefix "Condi-". Alternatively, Sommer (1992) suggested that the Roman site corresponds to theCivitas Aurelia G attested to in an inscription found nearÖhringen.[34] There have also been attempts at a derivation from a Gaulish*kondâti- "confluence".[31][35]
InAD 950,Duke Liudolf ofSwabia, son of the currentHoly Roman EmperorOtto I, decided to establish a stud farm for his cavalry during theHungarian invasions of Europe on a widened area of theNesenbach river valley 5 km (3.1 mi) south of the old Roman castrum.[28] The land and title ofDuke of Swabia remained in Liudolf's hands until his rebellion was quashed by his father four years later. In 1089, Bruno of Calw built the precursor building to theOld Castle.[32]
Stuttgart's viticulture, first documented in theHoly Roman Empire in the year AD 1108,[32] kept people in the area of that stud farm for some time, but the area was still largely overshadowed by nearby Cannstatt because of its role as a local crossroad for many major European trade routes.[36] Nevertheless, the existence of a settlement here (despite the terrain being more suited for that original stud farm) during theHigh Middle Ages is provided by a gift registry fromHirsau Abbey dated to around 1160 that mentions a "Hugo de Stuokarten".[32] A settlement at this locale was again mentioned in 1229, but this time byPope Gregory IX.[25] In AD 1219, Stuttgart (then Stuotgarten) became a possession ofHerman V,Margrave of Baden.[25] In addition toBacknang,Pforzheim, andBesigheim, Hermann would also found the Stuttgart we know today inc. 1220.[37] In 1251, the city passed to theUlrich Ivon Württemberg as part of Mechthild von Baden'sdowry. His son,Eberhard I "the Illustrious",[25] would be the first to begin the many major expansions of Stuttgart under the House of Württemberg.
Eberhard desired to expand the realm his father had built through military action with the aid of theanti-kingHenry Raspe IV,Landgrave of Thuringia, but was thwarted by the action of EmperorRudolph I. Further resistance by Eberhard I against the Emperor's createdVogts andBailiwicks as well as the newly appointed Duke of SwabiaRudolf II, Duke of Austria, eventually led to armed conflict and initial successes upon Emperor Rudolph I's death in 1291 against the Emperor's men. After initially defeating his regional rivals,Henry VII, newly elected as Emperor, decided to take action against Eberhard I in 1311 during his war with theFree imperial city ofEsslingen by ordering his Vogt, Konrad IV von Weinberg, to declare war on Eberhard I. Eberhard I, defeated on the battlefield, lost Stuttgart and his castle (razed in 1311)[38] to Esslingen and the city was thus managed by the city state from 1312 to 1315.[25] Total destruction of the county was prevented by Henry VII's death on 24 August 1313 and the elections ofLouis IV as King of the Germans andFrederick III as anti-king. Eberhard seized the opportunity granted to him by the political chaos, and recaptured his hometown and birthplace in 1316,[39] and made much territorial gain. With peace restored at last, Eberhard began repairs and expansion to Stuttgart beginning with the reconstruction ofWirtemberg Castle, ancestral home to the House of Württemberg, in 1317 and then began expansion of the city's defenses. The early 1320s were important years for Stuttgart: Eberhard I moved the seat of the county to the city to anew and expanded castle,[40] thecollegiate church inBeutelsbach, where previous members of the Württemberg dynasty had been buried prior to its destruction in 1311,[39] moved to itscurrent location in Stuttgart in 1320,[39] and the town's Stiftkirche was expanded into an abbey, and the control of the Martinskirche by the Bishopric of Constance was broken by Papal order in 1321.[39] A year after the city became the principal seat of the Counts of Württemberg in 1320,[27] the city was granted status as a city and given civic rights.[27] At the end of the 14th century, new suburbs sprang up around Leonhard Church and near the city's fortifications as well. Towards the end of the 15th century, CountUlrich V began construction of a new suburb on the northeastern edge of the city around theDominicanmonastery Hospitalkirche. In the 1457, the first Landtag of theEstates of Württemberg was established in Stuttgart and a similar institution was established inLeonberg. After the temporary partitions of the County of Württemberg by theTreaties of Nürtingen,Münsingen, and Esslingen, Stuttgart was once again declared the capital of the county in 1483.[39]
In 1488, Stuttgart officially became the de facto residence of the Count himself as opposed to the location of his home, the Old Castle.[26]Eberhard I, then Count Eberhard V, became the firstDuke of Württemberg[d] in 1495,[28] and made Stuttgart the seat of theDuchy of Württemberg in addition to the County thereof. All this would be lost to the Württembergs during the reign of his son,Ulrich. Though Ulrich initially made territorial gains as a result of his decision to fight alongside the EmperorMaximilian I,[41] he was no friend of the powerfulSwabian League nor of his own subjects,[41] who launched thePoor Conrad rebellion of 1514.[42][43] Despite this and his rivalry with the Swabian League, his undoing would actually come in the form of his unhappy marriage toSabina of Bavaria.[44] In 1515, Ulrich killed an imperial knight and lover of Sabina's by the name of Hans von Hutten,[45] obliging her to flee to the court of her brother,William IV,Duke of Bavaria, who successfully had Ulrich placed underImperial ban twice. When the Emperor died in 1519, Ulrich struck, seizing the Free Imperial City ofReutlingen, prompting the League to intervene. That same year, Ulrich was soundly defeated and he was driven into exile in France and Switzerland following the League's conquest of Württemberg.[41] Württemberg was then sold by the League to EmperorCharles V,[46] who then granted it to his brother,Ferdinand I, thus beginning the 12 year ownership of the county by theHabsburgs.[36] When the peasants Ulrich had crushed before rose once again in theGerman Peasants' War,[42][43] Stuttgart was occupied by the peasant armies for a few days in the Spring of 1525. Ulrich, with the help ofPhilip I,Landgrave of Hesse, seized the chance to restore himself to power (albeit as an Austrian vassal)[41] in the turmoil of theReformation andWar with theTurks and invitedErhard Schnepf to bring the Reformation to Stuttgart. He accepted, was named Court Preacher in Stuttgart, and worked in concert withAmbrosius Blarer until his dismissal following his resistance to theAugsburg Interim by the Duke in 1548.[47] Duke Ulrich himself died two years later, and was succeeded by his son,Christoph. He had grown up in a Württemberg in turmoil and wished to rebuild its image. To this end, he once again began a construction boom all over the Duchy under the direction of Court Architect Aberlin Tretsch;[48] knowing full well that the time of the Reisekönigtum was over, Christoph and Tretsch rebuilt and remodeled the Old Castle into aRenaissance palace,[40] and from 1542 to 1544, what is today theSchillerplatz was built as a town square.[28] Duke Christoph also responded to the increasing made for drinking water by embarking upon a massivehydraulic engineering project in the form of a 2,810 ft (860 m) tunnel to Pffaf Lake, theGlems, and theNesenbach from 1566 to 1575. In 1575, Georg Beer was also appointed Court Architect, and he built the Lusthaus. But it was architect Heinrich Schickhardt who would carry Tretsch's torch further; Schickhardt constructed the Stammheim Castle in the suburb of Stammheim, rebuilt the Fruchtkasten in the today's Schillerplatz,[49] and expanded the Prinzebau.[50]
TheThirty Years' War devastated the city,[51] and it would slowly decline for a period of time from then on.[27] After the catastrophic defeat of the ProtestantHeilbronn League by the Habsburgs atNörlingen in 1634,Duke Eberhard III and his court fled in exile toStrasbourg, abandoning the Duchy to looting by pro-Habsburg forces. The Habsburgs once again had full reign of the city for another four years, and in that time Stuttgart had to carry the burden of billeting the pro-Habsburg armies inSwabia.Ferdinand III,King of the Romans, entered the city in 1634 and, two years later in 1636, once again attempted to re-Catholicize Württemberg.[52] The next year, theBubonic plague struck and devastated the population.[53] The Duke returned in 1638 to a realm somewhat partitioned to Catholic factions in the region, and entirely ravaged by the war. In the Duchy itself, battle,famine,plague and war reduced the Duchy's population of 350,000 in 1618 to 120,000 in 1648 – about 57% of the population of Württemberg.[54] Recovery would be slow for the next several decades, but began nonetheless with the city's first bookstore in 1650 and high school in 1686.[55] This progress was almost entirely undone whenFrench soldiers underEzéchiel du Mas appeared outside the city's walls in 1688 during theNine Years' War,[55] but the city was saved from another sack due to the diplomatic ability ofMagdalena Sibylla,[55] reigning over Württemberg as regent for her son,[56]Eberhard Ludwig.[citation needed]
For the first time in centuries, Duke Eberhard Ludwig moved the seat of the Duchy out of the declining city of Stuttgart in 1718 toLudwigsburg, founded in 1704, while thenamesake Baroque palace, known as the "Versailles of Swabia",[57] was still under construction.[57] When Eberhard Ludwig died, his nephewCharles Alexander, ascended to the throne.[51] Charles Alexander himself died in 1737, meaning his sonCharles Eugene became the premature Duke (and later King) at the age of nine. When he came of age and returned from his tutoring at the court ofFrederick the Great,King of Prussia, Charles desired to move the capital back to Stuttgart. He commissioned the construction of theNew Castle in 1746,[58]Castle Solitude in 1763,[59]Castle Hohenheim in 1785,[60] and theKarlsschule in 1770.[61] The rule of Charles Eugene also saw the tutoring and origins ofFriedrich Schiller in Stuttgart, who studied medicine and completedThe Robbers here.[51] Stuttgart, at the end of the 18th century, remained a very provincial town of 20,000 residents, narrow alleys, and agriculture and livestock. Despite being the capital and seat of the Duchy, the general staff of theArmy of Württemberg was not present in the city.[62] In 1794, Duke Charles dissolved the Karlsschule to prevent the spreading of revolutionary ideas.
Stuttgart was proclaimed capital once more when Württemberg became an electorate in 1803,[28] and was yet again named as capital when theKingdom of Württemberg was formed in 1805 by thePeace of Pressburg.[63]
From the outset of the 19th century, Stuttgart's development was once again impeded by its location (population of the city at the time was around 50,000),[68] but the city began to experience the beginning of economic revival with the opening of theMain Station in 1846. Prior to then, the signs of rebirth in Stuttgart were evidenced by the construction of such buildings ofRosenstein Castle in 1822–1830, theWilhelmspalais 1834–1840, and the foundations of theStaatsgalerie in 1843,University of Stuttgart in 1829,[69] theUniversity of Music and Performing Arts later, in 1857.[70] Stuttgart had a role to play during therevolution of 1848/1849 as well. When internal divisions of theFrankfurt Parliament began the demise of that congress, the majority of the Frankfurt Congress voted to move to Stuttgart to flee the reach of the Prussian and Austrian armies in Frankfurt andMainz.[71] Even though the Congress may have had contacts with revolutionaries inBaden andWürttemberg,[72] the Congress, not popular with the content citizens of Stuttgart,[72] were driven out by the King's army.[72]
Stuttgart's literary tradition also bore yet more fruits, being the home of such writers of national importance asWilhelm Hauff,Ludwig Uhland,Gustav Schwab, andEduard Mörike.[73] From 1841 to 1846, the Jubiläumssäule was erected on theSchlossplatz before the New Palace according to the plans ofJohann Michael Knapp to celebrate the rule of King Wilhelm I.[74] A decade later, theKönigsbau was constructed by Knapp and court architectChristian Friedrich von Leins as a concert hall.[75] Another milestone in Stuttgart's history was the running of the first rail line from Cannstatt toUntertürkheim on 22 October 1845. The advent ofIndustrialisation in Germany heralded a major growth of population for Stuttgart: In 1834, Stuttgart counted 35,200 inhabitants,[76] rose to 50,000 in 1852, 69,084 inhabitants in 1864,[76] and finally 91,000 residents in 1871.[76] By 1874, Stuttgart once again exceeded the 100,000 inhabitant mark. This number doubled, due to the incorporation of local towns, to approximately 185,000 in 1901 and then 200,000 in 1904. In 1871, Württemberg joined theGerman Empire created byOtto von Bismarck,Prime Minister of Prussia, during theUnification of Germany, as an autonomous kingdom.
Territorial expansion of Stuttgart from 1836 to 1942
DuringWorld War I, the city was a target of air raids. In 1915, 29 bombs struck the city and the nearby Rotebühlkaserne, killing four soldiers and injuring another 43, and likewise killing four civilians. The next major air raid on Stuttgart occurred 15 September 1918, when structural damage caused house collapses that killed eleven people.[80]
At the end of the First World War,November revolutionaries[81] stormed the Wilhelmpalais on 30 November 1918 to force KingWilhelm II to abdicate, but failed halfway. Under pressure from the revolutionaries, Wilhelm II refused the crown, but also refused to abdicate the throne.[82] When he did eventually abdicate, theFree State ofWürttemberg was established as a part of theWeimar Republic, and Stuttgart was declared its capital. On 26 April 1919, a new constitution was devised, and the final draft was approved and ratified on 25 September 1919 by the Constituent Assembly. In 1920, Stuttgart temporarily became the seat of the German National Government when the administration fled fromBerlin from theKapp Putsch.[83] Also in 1920,Erwin Rommel became the company commander of the 13th Infantry Regiment based in Stuttgart and would remain as such for the next nine years.[84]
TheHotel Silber (English:Silver), previously occupied by other forms ofpolitical police, was occupied by theGestapo in 1933 to detain and torture political dissidents.[90] The hotel was used for the transit of Nazi prisoners of conscience includingEugen Bolz,Kurt Schumacher, andLilo Herrmann toconcentration camps. The nearby court at Archive Street (German:Archivstraße) 12A was also used as a central location for executions in Southwest Germany, as the headstone located in its atrium dedicated to the 419 lives lost there recalls.[91] Participants of theKristallnacht burned theOld Synagogue to the ground[92] along with the relics contained within and also destroyed itsJewish cemetery.[93] The next year the Nazi regime began the arrests and deportation of Stuttgart's Jewish inhabitants, beginning with the entire male Jewish population of Stuttgart, to the police-run prison camp atWelzheim or directly toDachau.[94] Other Jews from around Württemberg were brought to Stuttgart and housed in the ghetto on the former Trade Fair grounds inKillesberg. As the Memorial atStuttgart North records,[95] between 1941 (the first train arrived 1 December 1941, and took around 1,000 men toRiga) and 1945, more than 2,000 Jews from all over Württemberg[95] were deported toTheresienstadt,Auschwitz, and the ghettos at Riga andIzbica. Of them, only 180 held inInternment survived theShoah.[96][97]
Stuttgart, like many of Germany's major cities, was ravaged throughout the war byAllied air raids. For the first four years of the war, successful air raids on the city were rare because of the capable defence of the city byWehrmacht ground forces, theLuftwaffe, andartificial fog.[98] Despite opinions among some Royal Air Force members that day-time air raids on the city were suicidal,[98] substantial damage to the city's industrial capacity still occurred, such as the 25 August bombing of the Daimler AG plant in 1940 that killed five people.[98] With the war increasingly turning against the Third Reich, more and more troops were pulled from the defence of the city in 1943 to fight on theEastern Front.[98] In 1944, the city centre was entirely in ruins due toAllied bombing raids that could now more easily attack the city. The heaviest raid took place on 12 September 1944, when theRoyal Air Force, dropping over 184,000 bombs – including 75blockbusters – levelled Stuttgart's city centre, killing 957 people in the resultingfirestorm.[98] In totality, Stuttgart was subjected to 53 bombing raids, resulting in the destruction of 57.7% of all buildings in the city,[e] the deaths of 4,477 inhabitants, the disappearance of 85 citizens, and the injury of 8,908 more people.[98] The Allies lost 300 aircraft and seven to ten enlisted men.[98] To commemorate the city citizens who died during the war, the rubble was assembled and used to create theBirkenkopf. Today[when?] Stuttgart consists of over 40% of buildings from before World War II, besides all destruction.[99][page needed]
The Allied ground advance into Germany reached Stuttgart in April 1945. Although the attack on the city was to be conducted by theUS Seventh Army's 100th Infantry Division, French leaderCharles de Gaulle found this to be unacceptable, as he felt the capture of the region byFree French forces would increase French influence in post-war decisions. Independently, he directedGeneral de Lattre to order theFrench 5th Armored Division,2nd Moroccan Infantry Division and3rd Algerian Infantry Division to begin their drive to Stuttgart on 18 April 1945. Two days later, the French forces coordinated with the US Seventh Army and VI Corps heavy artillery, who began a barrage of the city. The French 5th Armored Division then captured Stuttgart on 21 April 1945, encountering little resistance.[100] The city fared poorly under their direction; French troops forcefully quartered their troops in what housing remained in the city, rapes were frequent (there were at least 1,389 recorded incidents of rape of civilians by French soldiers),[101][102] and the city's surviving populace were poorly rationed.[f] The circumstances of what later became known as "The Stuttgart Crisis" provoked political repercussions that reached even theWhite House.PresidentHarry S. Truman was unable to get De Gaulle to withdraw troops from Stuttgart until after the final boundaries of the zones of occupation were established.[104] The French army remained in the city until they finally relented to American demands on 8 July 1945 and withdrew. Stuttgart then became capital ofWürttemberg-Baden, one of the three areas of Allied occupation in Baden-Württemberg, from 1945 until 1952.
An early concept of theMarshall Plan aimed at supporting reconstruction and economic/political recovery across Europe was presentedduring a speech 6 September 1946 given byUS Secretary of StateJames F. Byrnes at the StuttgartOpera House.[106] His speech led to the unification of the British and American occupation zones, resulting in the 'bi-zone' (later the 'tri-zone' when the French reluctantly agreed to cede their occupied territory to the new state). In 1948, the city applied to become the capital of the soon to-beFederal Republic of Germany, and was a serious contender againstFrankfurt,Kassel, andBonn. All these cities were examined by theParlamentarischer Rat,[107] but ultimately Bonn won the bid when the Republic was founded on 23 May 1949.[107] The city's bid for capital failed primarily because of the financial burdens its high rents would place on the government.
The immediate aftermath of the War would be marked by the controversial efforts ofArnulf Klett, the firstOberbürgermeister of Stuttgart, to restore the city. Klett favored the idea of amodernistAutomotive city with functional divisions for residential, commercial and industrial areas according to theAthens Charter. Klett demolished both ruins and entire streets of largely undamaged buildings without rebuilding them to their original visage, a move that earned him much scorn from his contemporaries. In the 150th year since his death (1955), the last remnant of the alma mater ofFriedrich Schiller, the Karlsschule, was removed in favor of an expansion to theBundesstraße 14. Klett also dramatically expanded thepublic transportation of Stuttgart with theStuttgart Stadtbahn and, in 1961, initiated acity partnership with the French city ofStrasbourg as part of an attempt to mendFranco-German relations. It would be finalized in 1962 and is still active today.[108] Klett's Stuttgart saw two major media events: the same year the partnership with Strasbourg was finalized, thenFrench president Charles de Gaulle visited the city andLudwigsburg Palace in the ending moments of his state visit to Germany,[109] andQueen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom visited the city 24 May 1965.[110]
In the late 1970s, the municipal district of Stammheim was centre stage to one of the most controversial periods of German post-war history.Stammheim Prison, built from 1959 to 1963, came to be the place of incarceration forUlrike Meinhof,Andreas Baader,Gudrun Ensslin, andJan-Carl Raspe, members of a communist terrorist organization known as theRed Army Faction, duringtheir trial at theOberlandesgericht Stuttgart in 1975. Several attempts were made by the organization to free the terrorists during the "German Autumn" of 1977 that culminated in such events as thekidnap and murder ofHanns-Martin Schleyer and the hijacking ofLufthansa Flight 181. When it became clear, after many attempts to free the inmates including the smuggling of three weapons into the prison by their lawyer,[113][114] that the terrorists could not escape and that they would receivelife sentencing, the terrorists killed themselves[g] in April 1977 in an event remembered locally as the "Todesnacht von Stammheim", "Night of Death at Stammheim".
Since the monumental happenings of the 1980s, Stuttgart has continued being an important centre of not just Europe, but also the world. In 1993, theWorld Horticultural Exposition, for which two new bridges were built,[118] andWorld Athletics Championships of that year took place in Stuttgart in the Killesburg park and Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion respectively, bringing millions of new visitors to the city. At the 1993 WCA, British athleteSally Gunnell and the United States Relay teamboth set world records. In 2003, Stuttgart applied for the2012 Summer Olympics but failed in their bid when the German Committee for the Olympics decided onLeipzig to host the Olympics in Germany. Three years later, in 2006, Stuttgart once again hosted theFIFA World Cup as it had in 1974.
Stuttgart still experienced some growing pains even long after its recovery from the Second World War. In 2010, the inner city become the focal point of theprotests against the controversialStuttgart 21.
Since shortly after the end of World War II, there has been a US military presence in Stuttgart. At the height of theCold War over 45,000 Americans were stationed across over 40 installations in and around the city.[119] Today about 10,000 Americans are stationed on 5 installations (Patch Barracks, Panzer Kaserne, Kelley Barracks, Robinson Barracks, and Stuttgart Army Airfield) representing all branches of service within theDepartment of Defense, unlike the mostly Army presence of the Occupation and Cold War.
In March 1946 theUS Army established a unit of theUS Constabulary and a headquarters at Kurmärker Kaserne (later renamedPatch Barracks) in Stuttgart. These units of soldiers retrained in patrol and policing provided the law and order in the American zone of occupied Germany until the civilian German police forces could be re-established.[120] In 1948 the headquarters for all Constabulary forces was moved to Stuttgart.[121] In 2008 a memorial to the US Constabulary was installed and dedicated at Patch Barracks.[122] The US Constabulary headquarters was disbanded in 1950 and most of the force was merged into the newly organized7th Army. As the Cold War developed US ArmyVII Corps was re-formed in July 1950 and assigned to Hellenen Kaserne (renamedKelley Barracks in 1951) where the headquarters was to remain throughout the Cold War.
In 1990 VII Corps was deployed directly from Germany toSaudi Arabia for OperationsDesert Shield andDesert Storm to include many of the VII Corps troops stationed in and around Stuttgart. After returning from the Middle East, the bulk of VII Corps units were reassigned to the United States or deactivated. The VII Corps Headquarters returned to Germany for a short period to close out operations and was deactivated later in the United States. The withdrawal of VII Corps caused a large reduction in the US military presence in the city and region and led to the closure of the majority of US installations in and around Stuttgart which resulted in the layoff of many local civilians who had been career employees of the US Army.[123]
Since 1967, Patch Barracks in Stuttgart has been home to the USEUCOM. In 2007AFRICOM was established as a cell within EUCOM and in 2008 established as the USUnified Combatant Command responsible for most of Africa headquartered at Kelley Barracks.[124] Due to these two major headquarters, Stuttgart has been identified as one of the few "enduring communities" where the United States forces will continue to operate in Germany.[125] The remaining U.S. bases around Stuttgart are organized into US Army Garrison Stuttgart and include Patch Barracks,Robinson Barracks,Panzer Kaserne and Kelley Barracks.[citation needed] From the end ofWorld War II until the early 1990s these installations excepting Patch were almost exclusively Army, but have become increasingly "Purple"—as in joint service—since the end of the Cold War as they are host toUnited States Department of Defense Unified Commands and supporting activities.[126]
Panorama of Stuttgart looking southeast. From theNeckar valley on the left the city rises to the city centre, backed by high woods to the south (television tower). Stuttgart South and Stuttgart West are to the right.
The core area of Stuttgart lies in a fertile bowl-shaped valley about 900 ft (270 m)above sea level,[127][h] an hour from theBlack Forest andSwabian Jura[27] on the banks of theNeckar river at48°47′N9°11′E / 48.783°N 9.183°E /48.783; 9.183 115 mi (185 km) to the west and north ofMunich.[128] The city is often described as being "zwischen Wald und Reben" ("between forest and vines") because of its viticulture and surrounding forests. Stuttgart covers an area of 207.35 km2 (80 sq mi) and sits at elevation ranging from 207 m (679 ft)above sea level by theNeckar river to 549 m (1,801 ft) onBernhartshöhe hill – something rather unique in large German cities. The most prominent elevated locales in Stuttgart are theBirkenkopf (511 m (1,677 ft)) on the edge of theStuttgart basin, theWürttemberg (411 m (1,348 ft)) rising above the Neckar valley, and theGrüner Heiner (395 m (1,296 ft)) at the northeast end of the city.
Stuttgart experiences anoceanic climate (Köppen:Cfb).[131] Its summers are warm, with average highs around 25 °C (77 °F), while its winters are chilly, with daily means just above freezing. Annually, the city receives average 718.7 mm (28.30 in) of rain.[132] On average, Stuttgart enjoys 1,807 hours of sunshine per year and an average annual temperature of 9 °C (48 °F).[133]
Typically during summer months, the nearby hills,Swabian Alb mountains, theBlack Forest,Schurwald, and theSwabian-Franconian Forest act as shields from harsh weather, nevertheless the city can be subject to thunderstorms, whereas in the winter periods snow may last for several days. Snow cover tends to last no longer than a few days although it had lasted several weeks at a time as recently as 2010. Though it is a rare occurrence in Stuttgart, the city sometimes receives damaginghailstorms, such as in July 2013.[134] In order to fight this phenomenon, weather stations known as "Hagelflieger" are stationed near the city and are largely funded byDaimler AG, who maintain several parking lots and factories in the municipal area.[135]
Climate data for Stuttgart (Schnarrenberg) (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1958–2014)
Stuttgart has become a widely cited case study in urban climatology for its use ofventilation corridors to mitigate the effects of heat and air pollution. Owing to its location in a basin surrounded by hills, the city is prone to stagnant air masses and elevated summer temperatures. To address these challenges, municipal planners developed a detailedClimate Atlas (Klimaanalyse) beginning in the late 20th century, which maps local wind patterns, cold-air drainage flows, and areas of heat accumulation.[139][140]
The atlas has informed zoning regulations that preserve open spaces and prohibit construction in designated corridors, allowing cooler night-time air from surrounding forests and vineyards to flow into the urban core. These corridors also function as green belts, providing ecological and recreational benefits in addition to climate regulation.[139] Studies in urban climatology have highlighted Stuttgart’s approach as an early example of integrating microclimatic analysis into statutory planning, influencing similar initiatives in other European and Asian cities.[140]
TheStiftskirche, seen from south-east (Kirchstraße)
At the center of Stuttgart lies its main square,Schlossplatz. As well as being the largest square in Stuttgart, it stands at the crossover point between the city's shopping area,Schlossgarten park which runs down to the riverNeckar, Stuttgart's two central castles and major museums and residential areas to the south west. Königstraße, Stuttgart's most important shopping street which runs along the northwestern edge of Schlossplatz, claims to be the longest pedestrianized street in Germany.[141]
Although the city center was heavily damaged during World War II,[141] many historic buildings have been reconstructed and the city boasts some fine pieces of modern post-war architecture. Buildings and squares of note in theinner city include:
TheStiftskirche (Collegiate Church), dates back to the 12th century, but was changed to the Late Gothic style in the 15th century and has been a Protestant church since 1534.[141] Exterior:Romanesque/Gothic; interior: Romanesque/Gothic/Modern. Reconstructed with simplified interior after World War II.
Altes Schloss (theOld Castle), mostly dating from the late 15th century, some parts date back to 1320.[141]Renaissance style; reconstructed.[141]
Alte Kanzlei (the Old Chancellery) onSchillerplatz square which backs onto the 1598 Mercury Pillar
Neues Schloss (theNew Castle), completed in 1807.[141]Baroque/Classicism); reconstructed with modern interior, currently houses government offices.[141] The cellars with a collection of stone fragments from the Roman times are open to visitors.[142]
Wilhelmpalais (the Wilhelm Palace) on Charlottenplatz, completed in 1840 and rebuilt in 1965.
Königsbau (the King's Building), 1850. Classicism; reconstructed; has been housing the "Königsbau Passagen" shopping centre since 2006.
TheHauptbahnhof (Main Railway Station) was designed in 1920;[141] its stark, functional lines are typical of the artistic trend 'Neue Sachlichkeit' (New Objectivity).[141]
TheObservation Tower of Burgholzhof, an 1891 brick observation tower constructed by the Cannstatt municipal architect Friedrich Keppler on behalf of the Verschönerungsverein Cannstatt e. V. ("Society for the Beautification of Cannstatt"), in the style of a Roman tower
At the center of Stuttgart lies a series of gardens which are popular with families and cyclists. Because of its shape on a map, the locals refer to it as theGreen U. The Green U starts with the old Schlossgarten, castle gardens first mentioned in records in 1350. The modern park stretches down to the riverNeckar and is divided into the upper garden (bordering theOld Castle, theMain Station, theState Theater and the State Parliament building), and the middle and lower gardens – a total of 61 hectares. The park also houses Stuttgart planetarium.
At the far end of Schlossgarten lies the secondGreen U park, the largerRosensteinpark which borders Stuttgart'sWilhelma zoo and botanical gardens. Planted by KingWilliam I of Württemberg, it contains many old trees and open areas and counts as the largest English-style garden in southern Germany. In the grounds of the park stands the former Rosenstein castle, now the Rosenstein Museum.
Beyond bridges over an adjacent main road lies the finalGreen U park,Killesbergpark or 'Höhenpark' which is a former quarry that was converted for theThird Reich garden show of 1939 (and was used as a collection point for Jews awaiting transportation toconcentration camps). The park has been used to stage many gardening shows since the 1950s, including theBundesgartenschau and 1993 International Gardening Show, and runs miniature trains all around the park in the summer months for children and adults. The viewing tower (Killesbergturm) offers unique views across to the northeast of Stuttgart.
On the northern edge of theRosensteinpark is the famous 'Wilhelma', Germany's only combined zoological and botanical garden. The whole compound, with its ornate pavilions, greenhouses, walls and gardens was built around 1850 as a summer palace in moorish style for KingWilhelm I ofWürttemberg. It currently houses around 8000 animals and some 5000 plant species and contains the biggestmagnolia grove in Europe.
Other parks in Stuttgart include the historicBotanischer Garten der Universität Hohenheim andLandesarboretum Baden-Württemberg atCastle Hohenheim (which date back to 1776 and are still used to catalog and research plant species), Uhlandshöhe hill (between the city center, Bad Cannstatt and Frauenkopf, and home to Stuttgart observatory), the Weißenburgpark (a five-hectare park in the Bopser area of Stuttgart South which dates back to 1834 and is now home to a 'tea house' and the 'marble room' and offers a relaxing view across the city center), theBirkenkopf aSchuttberg (at 511 m or 1,677 ft the highest point in central Stuttgart, where many ruins were laid to commemorate the Second World War), and the Eichenhain park in Sillenbuch (declared a nature reserve in 1958 and home to 200oak trees, many 300–400 years old).
View from the Birkenkopf
There are a number of natural and artificial lakes and ponds in Stuttgart. The largest is theMax-Eyth-See, which was created in 1935 by reclaiming a former quarry and is now an official nature reserve. It is surrounded by an expansive open area overlooked by vineyards on the banks of the riverNeckar near Mühlhausen.There are expansive areas of woodland to the west and south west of Stuttgart which are popular with walkers, families, cyclists and ramblers. The most frequented lakes form a 3 km (1.9 mi) trio made up of the Bärensee, Neuer See and Pfaffensee. The lakes are also used for local water supplies.
In the Feuersee area in the west of Stuttgart lies one of two 'Feuersee's (literally fire lakes), striking for its views of theJohanneskirche (St. Johns) church across the lake, surrounded by nearby houses and offices. The other Feuersee can be found in Vaihingen.
Cemeteries in Stuttgart include:
The Hoppenlaufriedhof in Central Stuttgart, the oldest remaining cemetery which dates back to 1626, aninfirmary graveyard last used in 1951
The Waldfriedhof, the 1913 forest cemetery that is connected to Südheimer Platz byfunicular railway
The Uff-Kirchhof cemetery in Bad Cannstatt which stands at the crossroads of two ancientRoman roads and Cannstatter Hauptfriedhof, the largest graveyard in Stuttgart which has been used as a Muslim burial ground since 1985
The city boasts the second-largest mineral water deposits in Europe afterBudapest,[141][143] with over 250 springs within the urban area.[143] TheAthenebrunnen (or Fountain of Pallas Athena) is along Jean-Amery-Weg in the western part of Stuttgart, dating from 1911.
Stuttgart is also home to one of Germany's most prestigioussymphony orchestras, theStuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, with famous English conductorSir Roger Norrington, who developed a distinct sound of that orchestra, known as theStuttgart Sound. They mostly perform in theLiederhalle concert hall.
The city offers two Broadway-style musical theatres, the Apollo and the Palladium Theater (each approx. 1800 seats).Ludwigsburg Palace in the nearby town ofLudwigsburg is also used throughout the year as a venue for concerts and cultural events.
As a result of Stuttgart's long history ofviticulture (Even today there are vineyards less than 500 m (1,640 ft) from theMain Station), there are more than 400 flights of stairs (known in the local dialect as the "Stäffele") around the city, equivalent to approximately 20 km (12 mi) of steps.[145] Later, in the early 19th century, the city continued to grow and many vineyards were replaced by houses and streets and theStäffele were used as footpaths to connect the newly built neighborhoods. Some of the stairs were elaborately decorated with fountains and plantings.[145]
TheSchleyerhalle sports arena is regularly used to stage rock and pop concerts with major international stars on European tour.
Stuttgart'sSwabian cuisine, beer and wine have been produced in the area since the 17th century and are now famous throughout Germany and beyond.[146] For example,Gaisburger Marsch is a stew that was invented in Stuttgart's Gaisburg area of Stuttgart East.
In October 2009 the Stuttgart Ministry of Agriculture announced that the European Union was to officially recognise the pasta dishMaultaschen as a "regional specialty", thus marking its significance to the cultural heritage ofBaden-Württemberg.[147]
The world-famous annual'Volksfest', originally a traditional agricultural fair which now also hosts beer tents and a French village and is second in size only to theOktoberfest in Munich. There is also aSpring festival on the same grounds in April of each year.
With more than 3.6 million visitors in 2007[149] and more than 200 stands, Stuttgart'sChristmas Market, running from late November to 23 December,[150] is the largest and one of the oldest traditional Christmas markets in Europe.[150] It is especially renowned for its abundant decorations and takes place in the four weeks leading up to Christmas.[151]
The Fish Market (Hamburger Fischmarkt, late July) with fresh fish, other food and beer fromHamburg
The Summer Festival (Stuttgart Sommerfest, usually in early August) with shows, music, children's entertainment and local cuisine inSchlossplatz, Stuttgart[152] and adjacent parks
The Lantern Festival (Lichterfest, early July) inKillesberg park with its famous firework display and fairground attractions
The Wine Village (Weindorf, late August/early September) – vintages are sold at this event held at Schillerplatz and Marktplatz (Market Square).[152]
TheMercedes-Benz Museum (1936, moved in 2006), now the most visited museum in Stuttgart (440,000 visits per year).[153] The museum traces the 125-year history of the automobile from the legendary silver arrow to theMercedes-Benz brand of today.
Stuttgart Art Museum (Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, 2005), the number two museum in Stuttgart in terms of visitors with a strong leaning towards modern art (the foremost exhibition ofOtto Dix works). The museum stands on the corner ofSchlossplatz, Stuttgart in a huge glass cube, in strong contrast to the surrounding traditional architecture.
ThePorsche Museum (1976; reopened in 2008 on new premises)
Stuttgart Tram Museum (Straßenbahnwelt Stuttgart) in Bad Cannstatt, a display of historical vehicles dating back to 1868
Theodor Heuss House (Theodor-Heuss-Haus, 2002) inKillesbergpark, a tribute to the life and times of the former German president
The North Station Memorial (Gedenkstätte am Nordbahnhof Stuttgart) in memory of the 2000 or so Jewishholocaust victims deported by theNazis from the now disused North Station
Stuttgart is the seat of aProtestant bishop (Protestant State Church in Württemberg) and one of the two co-seats of the bishop of theRoman Catholic Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart. The Stuttgart-basedPentecostalGospel Forum is the largest place of worship (megachurch) in Germany.[155] It is also home to a large English speaking church, The International Baptist Church of Stuttgart.[156]
TheWürttembergische Landesbibliothek (WLB) is one of two state libraries for Baden-Württemberg. The WLB is specifically responsible for the administrative regions of Stuttgart andTübingen. Especially devoted to the National Library of acquiring, cataloging, archiving and provision of literature about Württemberg, calledWürttembergica. Together with theBadische Landesbibliothek (BLB) inKarlsruhe it also has the legal deposit for Baden-Württemberg, making it an archive library.
TheStuttgart University Library (UBS) is a central institution of the University of Stuttgart. It forms the center of the library system of the university, ensuring the supply of research, teaching and studies with literature and other information resources. It stands next to the members of the university and citizens of the city are available. Together with other research libraries and documentation centers in the Stuttgart area – such as theUniversity of Hohenheim Library – it forms the UBS Library Information System of the Stuttgart Region (BISS).
The Central State Archive Stuttgart is the archive in charge of the Ministries of the State of Baden-Württemberg. Since 1965, it is located right next to the WLB and belongs since 2005 as a department of the Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg in. It includes the stocks of the county and the duchy Württemberg until 1806, the Württemberg central authorities of the 19th and 20th century and the early 19th century as a result of media coverage of fallen Württemberg gentlemen and imperial cities in South Württemberg.
The Stadtarchiv Stuttgart is the archive in charge of the provincial capital Stuttgart. The archived material is in principle open to the public and can be consulted in the reading room in Bellingweg 21 in Bad Cannstatt.
TheLandeskirchliche Archives preserve the stocks of the Württemberg church leaders and of other ecclesial bodies and institutions: the ducal and royal Württemberg consistory, the Evangelical Supreme Ecclesiastical Council, deanery and parish archives, educational institutions, the works and associations as well as estates and collections. It also has the microfilms of all church books (especially baptism, marriage, and family Death's Register) in the area of theEvangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg.
The "Archive instigator" is dedicated to the dead of the city. Since 2005, the instigators are working on a memoir about "The dead town". So far, about 5,000 names of victims of the regime ofNational Socialism have been acquired.
There are two large tours that are available to visitors to Stuttgart. The first is the Hop-on Hop-off bus tour (also called the CityTour Stuttgart), lasting from 10 AM to 4 PM that takes visitors around the city.[157] The other is the Neckar-Käpt'n, only available from May to October, which cruises on the Neckar river from its dock atWilhelma inBad Cannstatt.[150]
Population size may be affected by changes in administrative divisions.Source:[158]
Stuttgart has a population of about 630,000 and is the 6th largest city in Germany. Stuttgart reached its population peak of over 100,000 in 1874. In 1946, when Stuttgart became the capital ofBaden-Württemberg state, it had a population of about 415,000. In 1960s the industrialization boomed in Stuttgart due to its automobile companiesMercedes-Benz andPorsche and other companies came to Stuttgart. It also saw the growth of foreign population, mostly from Turkey, Greece, India, Italy and former Yugoslavian countries. The population of Stuttgart hasn't changed a lot since then due to its high rent of the city where many people moved to neighbouring municipalities.
More than half of the population today is not ofSwabian background, as many non-Swabian Germans have moved here due to the employment situation, which is far better than in most areas of Germany. Since the 1960s, many foreigners have also immigrated to Stuttgart to work here (as part of the "Gastarbeiter" program); another wave of immigrants came as refugees from theWars in Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Thus, as of 2022, 47% of the city's population is of foreign background. In 2000, 22.8% of the population did not holdGerman citizenship, in 2022 this had increased to 27.6%.[160] By end of 2018 the largest groups of foreign nationals wereTurks (17,900),Greeks (13,757),Italians (14,021),Croats (15,268),Serbs (5,844) followed by immigrants from Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Portugal, Poland, France, Austria, Morocco and Cameroon. 39% of foreign nationals come from the European Union (mostly Italy, Greece, and Poland).[159]
The religious landscape in Stuttgart changed in 1534 as a direct result of theReformation.[161] Since this timeWürttemberg has been predominantlyProtestant. However, since 1975 the number of Protestants in Stuttgart has dropped from around 300,000 to 200,000. In 2014, 26.2% of inhabitants wereProtestant and 24.0% were Roman Catholic. 49.8% of the population fell into other categories: Muslims, Jews and those who either followed no religion or one not accounted for in official statistics.[162]
Unemployment in theStuttgart Region is above the average ofBaden-Württemberg, but very low compared to other metropolitan areas in Germany. In November 2008, before the annual winter rise, unemployment in the Stuttgart Region stood at 3.8%, 0.1% lower than the rate for Baden-Württemberg, in February 2009 it was 4.7%. Unemployment in the actual city of Stuttgart during the same periods stood at 5.2% and 6.0% (8 November and 9 February respectively). By comparison: unemployment for the whole of Germany stood at 7.1% (8 Nov) and 8.5% (9 Feb).[163][164]
Stuttgart ranks as one of the safest cities in Germany. In 2003, 8535 crimes were committed in Stuttgart for every 100,000 inhabitants (versus the average for all German cities of 12,751).[165] Figures for 2006 indicate that Stuttgart ranked second behindMunich.[166] 60% of Stuttgart crimes were solved in 2003, ranking second behindNuremberg.
When Stuttgart was run as a (or within) theDuchy of Württemberg, it was governed by a type of protectorate called aVogt appointed by theDuke. After 1811 this role was fulfilled by a City Director or 'Stadtdirektor'. After 1819 the community elected its own community mayor or 'Schultheiß'. Since 1930 the title of Oberbürgermeister (the nearest equivalent of which would be an executive form oflord mayor in English) has applied to Stuttgart and all other Württemberg towns of more than 20,000 inhabitants.
At the end of the Second World War, French administrators appointed the independent politicianArnulf Klett asBurgomaster, a role he fulfilled without interruption until his death in 1974. Since this time Stuttgart has mainly been governed by theCDU. One former mayor wasManfred Rommel (son of perhaps the most famous Germanfield marshal of World War II,Erwin Rommel).
As the capital ofBaden-Württemberg, Stuttgart is an important political centre in Germany and the seat of the State Parliament, orLandtag as well as all Baden-Württemberg state departments.
In June 2009, for the first time theGreens gained the most seats in a German city with more than 500,000 inhabitants, effectively changing the balance of power in the city council. For the first time since 1972 theCDU no longer held the most seats, toppling its absolute majority shared with the Independent Party and theFDP. According to the German newspaperDie Welt, the main reason for the Greens' victory was disgruntlement with the controversialStuttgart 21 rail project.[167]
Results of the second round of the 2020 mayoral election
The current mayor of Stuttgart isFrank Nopper of theChristian Democratic Union (CDU) since 2020. The most recent mayoral election was held on 8 November 2020, with a runoff held on 29 November, and the results were as follows:
The Stuttgart city council governs the city alongside the Mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 9 June 2024, and the results were as follows:
The city of Stuttgart is administratively divided into 23city districts[168] – five "inner" districts and 18 "outer" districts. Each district has a council headed by a district director. From there, the districts are broken down intoquarters. Since the changes in city statutes on 1 July 2007 and 1 January 2009, the total number of quarters rose to 152.[169]
Stuttgart is home to Germany's ninth biggest exhibition center,Stuttgart Trade Fair, which lies on the city outskirts next toStuttgart Airport. Hundreds ofSMEs are still based in Stuttgart (often termedMittelstand), many still in family ownership with strong ties to the automotive, electronics, engineering and high-tech industry.
The automobile and motorcycle were purported to have been invented in Stuttgart (byKarl Benz and subsequently industrialized in 1887 byGottlieb Daimler andWilhelm Maybach at theDaimler Motoren Gesellschaft). As a result, it is considered to be the starting point of the worldwide automotive industry and is sometimes referred to as the 'cradle of the automobile'.[13] Today,Mercedes-Benz and Porsche both have their headquarters in Stuttgart, as well as automotive parts giants Bosch andMahle. A number of auto-enthusiast magazines are published in Stuttgart.[173]
TheStuttgart Stock Exchange is the second largest in Germany (afterFrankfurt). Many leading companies in the financial services sector are headquartered in Stuttgart with around 100 credit institutes in total (e.g.LBBW Bank, Wüstenrot & Württembergische,Allianz Life Assurance).
Stuttgart is the only city in Germany where wine grapes are grown within the urban area, mainly in the districts of Rotenberg, Uhlbach and Untertürkheim.
Wine-growing in the area dates back to 1108 when, according to State archives,Blaubeuren Abbey was given vineyards in Stuttgart as a gift from 'Monk Ulrich'. In the 17th century the city was the third largest German wine-growing community in theHoly Roman Empire. Wine remained Stuttgart's leading source of income well into the 19th century.
Stuttgart is still one of Germany's largest wine-growing cities with more than 400 hectares of vine area, thanks in main to its location at the center of Germany's fourth largest wine region, theWürttemberg wine growing area which covers 11,522 ha (28,470 acres) and is one of only 13 official areas captured under Germanwine law. The continuing importance of wine to the local economy is marked every year at the annual wine festival ('Weindorf').
The city, in its engineering tradition as the cradle of the automobile, has also always been a fruitful place of research and innovation. Stuttgart has Germany's second-highest number of institutions (six) of applied research of theFraunhofer Society (afterDresden).
The city is not considered a traditional university city, but nevertheless has a variety of institutions of higher education. The most significant of them are:
University of Stuttgart, it is the fourth biggest university in Baden-Württemberg afterHeidelberg,Tübingen andFreiburg. Founded in 1829, it was aTechnische Hochschule ("Technical University") until 1967, when it was renamed to "university". Its campus for social sciences and architecture is located in the city centre, near themain train station, while the natural science campus is in the southwestern city district of Vaihingen. Historically, it has been especially renowned for its faculty of architecture (Stuttgarter Schule). Today, its main focus is on engineering and other technical subjects.
University of Hohenheim, founded in 1818 as an academy foragricultural science andforestry. While these subjects are still taught there today, its other focus today is on business administration. It is located in Hohenheim quarter of the southern city district of Plieningen.
State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart, one of the biggest art colleges in Germany, founded in 1761, located in the Killesberg quarter of the northern city district Stuttgart-Nord
Stuttgart Media University (Hochschule der Medien Stuttgart), founded in 2001 as a university of applied sciences, a merger of the formerCollege of Printing and Publishing and theCollege of Librarianship, located in Vaihingen
Historically, an elitemilitary academy existed in Stuttgart in the late 18th century (1770–1794), theHohe Karlsschule, at Solitude Castle. Friedrich Schiller and the city's most famousClassicist architect, Nikolaus Friedrich von Thouret, were among its many esteemed alumni.
TheEberhard-Ludwigs-Gymnasium was created in 1668 from a historical Latin School as a model high school with the goal of modernising education. Later, the Dillman-Gymnasium, Friedrich-Eugens-Gymnasium and Karls-Gymnasium emerged from it.
One of the headquarters of the publicSüdwestrundfunk (SWR;Southwest Broadcasting) channels (several radio and one TV channel; regional focus on the southwestern German States of Baden-Württemberg andRhineland-Palatinate) is located in Stuttgart (the other ones beingBaden-Baden andMainz). It also has aLandesmedienzentrum, a state media center.
The newspapersStuttgarter Zeitung (StZ; regional, with significant supra-regional, national and international sections) and Stuttgarter Nachrichten (StN; regional) are published here as well as a number of smaller, local papers such asCannstatter Zeitung.
Following the suit of other German cities such as Berlin,Cologne andHanover, on 1 March 2008 alow emission zone (LEZ) came into effect in Stuttgart with the aim of improving air quality. This affects all vehicles entering the Stuttgart 'Environmental zone' (Umweltzone), including vehicles from abroad.[178][179]
Stuttgart has alight rail system known as theStuttgart Stadtbahn. In the city center and densely built-up areas, the Stadtbahn runs underground. Stations are signposted with a 'U' symbol, which stands forunabhängig (independent), due to the system being mostly separated from road traffic.[180] Until 2007, Stuttgart also operated regular trams. Stuttgart also has a large bus network. Stadtbahn lines and buses are operated by theStuttgarter Straßenbahnen AG (SSB). The outlying suburbs of Stuttgart and nearby towns are served by a suburban railway system called theStuttgart S-Bahn, using tracks supplied by the nationalDeutsche Bahn AG (DB).
A peculiarity of Stuttgart is theZahnradbahn, arack railway that is powered by electricity and operates between Marienplatz in the southern inner-city district of the city and the district of Degerloch. It is the only urban rack railway in Germany. Stuttgart also has aStandseilbahn, afunicular railway that operates in the Heslach area and the forest cemetery (Waldfriedhof). InKillesberg Park, on a prominent hill overlooking the city, there is theminiature railway run by diesel (and on weekends with steam).
Stuttgart is a hub in theIntercity-Express andIntercity networks ofDeutsche Bahn AG (DB), with through services to most other major German cities. It also operates international services toStrasbourg, Vienna,Zürich and Paris (five times a day, journey time 3 hours 11 minutes).[181]
Long-distance trains stop atStuttgart Hauptbahnhof, the city's main line terminus, which is also used byInterregio-Express,Regional-Express andRegionalbahn trains for services to stations in the Stuttgart metropolitan area. The local rail networks (see above) operate underneath the terminus.[182]
After years of political debate and controversy, plans were approved in October 2007 to convert the existing above-groundmain train station to an underground through station. TheStuttgart 21 project will include the rebuilding of surface and underground lines connecting the station in Stuttgart's enclosed central valley with existing railway and underground lines. Building work started in 2010 with controversial modifications to the Hauptbahnhof and was slated to be completed in 2019, then 2021 and now 2025.
Stuttgart is served byStuttgart Airport (German:Flughafen Stuttgart, IATA airport codeSTR), an international airport approximately 13 km (8 mi) south of the city centre on land belonging mainly to neighboring towns. It takes 30 minutes to reach the airport from the city center usingS-Bahn lines S2 or S3 or Stadtbahn line U6. Stuttgart airport is Germany's only international airport with one runway. Despite protests and local initiatives, surveys are currently underway to assess the impact of a second runway.[183]
Besides theseAutobahns, Stuttgart is served by a large number of expressways, many of which are built to Autobahn standards, and were once intended to carry an A-number. Important expressways like B10, B14,B27 and B29 connect Stuttgart with its suburbs. Due to the hilly surroundings, there are many road tunnels in and around Stuttgart. There are also a number of road tunnels under intersections in the center of Stuttgart.
As in many parts of Germany, football is the most popular sport in Stuttgart which is home to 'The Reds' and 'The Blues'. 'The Reds',VfB Stuttgart, are the most famous and popular local club. An established team currently playing in the GermanBundesliga, VfB was founded in 1893 and has won five German titles since 1950, most recently in 1992 and 2007. VfB is based at theMHPArena in Bad Cannstatt.
'The Blues',Stuttgarter Kickers, are the second most important football team; their most successful years date back to the time when young Jürgen Klinsmann started his career as forward in their team. They currently play in theRegionalliga Südwest (fourth division) at the smallerGazi Stadium close to theTV tower in Degerloch.
Other lower-division football teams areSportfreunde Stuttgart – most famous for taking part in theSir Thomas Lipton Trophy in 1908, considered the firstWorld Cup[184] – and FV Zuffenhausen.
TV Bittenfeld has been playing in the men'sHandball-Bundesliga since the 2015–2016 season under the name TVB 1898 Stuttgart. The home venue is theScharrena Stuttgart, part of the home games also take place in thePorsche-Arena for capacity reasons. VfL Pfullingen/Stuttgart played in the Bundesliga from 2001 to 2006, where they played their home games in theHanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle.
Since 2008, the women's volleyball teamAllianz MTV Stuttgart (until 2010 Allianz Volley Stuttgart, until 2012 Smart Allianz Stuttgart) plays in theDeutsche Volleyball-Bundesliga. They became German champions in 2019 and 2022, having previously been runners-up four times in a row from 2015 to 2018, and also won the German cup four times and reached the final ofCEV Cup. CJD Feuerbach was German champion in women's volleyball three times. The club withdrew its first team from the Bundesliga in 1996 for financial reasons.
Stuttgart has two major ice hockey teams.Stuttgart Rebels EC, plays in the "Landesliga" (4th tier) at the Waldau ice rink in Degerloch. The Bietigheim Bissingen Steelers play in the first division of the DEL. The Steelers play in the new Ege Trans Arena in Bietigheim.
The strongest localwater polo team is SV Cannstatt, which won the German championship in 2006.
TC Weissenhof is a Stuttgart-based women's tennis team that has won the German championship four times. Another women's team is TEC Waldau Stuttgart (German champions in 2006).
HTC Stuttgarter Kickers is one of the most successfulfield hockey clubs in Germany, having won the German championship in 2005 and a European title in 2006.
In the 2003 video gameCommand & Conquer: Generals Zero Hour, GLA forces attacked the US base in Stuttgart in their final mission. In the first Chinese mission, the player must reclaim the city from the GLA.[188]
Reinhardt, one of the tank classes inBlizzard's 2016 team based shooterOverwatch, originates from Stuttgart. Furthermore, the game also features the map Eichenwalde, which is a fictional castle town near the city.[192]
In the 2012 filmThe Avengers, the villainLoki is tracked to a gala in Stuttgart, where he intends to steal a large quantity ofiridium for his schemes. These scenes were actually filmed inCleveland,Ohio, and a number of Stuttgart residents noted the errors in the film's depiction of the city.[194]
^10th in Europe and third in Germany, behind Munich and Berlin[9]
^The history of Stuttgart'scoat of arms is long. TheChorographia Württemberg of 1591 shows a horserampant facingsinister on a fieldargent.Siebmachers Wappenbuch of 1605 (p. 225) has the modern coat of arms, with the horse facingdexter, on a fieldor. The modern design of this coat of arms dates to 1938 (and was also adopted as part of thePorsche logo in 1952).
^This type of sovereign royal duke was known in Germany as aHerzog.
^Of those, 67.8% of the residential buildings and 75% of the Industrial structures were destroyed.[98]
^"When French troops occupied Stuttgart – which was meant to form part of the American Zone as the capital of Württemberg – the Americans ordered them to leave. De Gaulle refused, saying he would stay put until the zones were finalized ... The American solution was to offer them some bits of Baden and Württemberg while keeping the lion's share for themselves ... French soldiers' behaviour in Stuttgart, where some 3,000 women and 8 men were raped, was thought to have added to American fury at their overstepping their lines."[103]
^Meinhof had by this point already committed suicide via hanging in her cell, 9 May 1976.
^The nature of Stuttgart's hilly landscape often makes changes in the city's height. By the Neckar, the elevation is about 207 m (679 ft), whereas the highest elevationBernhartshöhe is 549 m (1,801 ft) – something rather unique in large German cities.
^abcde"Das Mittelalter (bis 1500)" [The Middle Ages (until 1500)].Die Geschichte von Stuttgart (in German). 2008.Archived from the original on 22 November 2018. Retrieved14 October 2018.
^C. Sebastian Sommer, "Die städtischen Siedlungen im rechtsrheinischen Obergermanien" in:Die römische Stadt im 2. Jahrhundert n. Chr. Der Funktionswandel des öffentlichen Raumes, (Xantener Berichte 2, 1992, 119 ff.
^Greule, Albrecht (2007). "Keltische Ortsnamen in Baden-Württemberg. Wir können alles – außer Latein". In Schmidt, Susanne (ed.).Imperium Romanum. Roms Provinzen an Neckar, Rhein und Donau. Theiss, Konrad. pp. 80–84.ISBN9783806221404.
^abBurg, David F. (2004)."Tax Rebellions".A World History of Tax Rebellions: An Encyclopedia of Tax Rebels, Revolts, and Riots from Antiquity to the Present.Routledge.ISBN9781135959999.Archived from the original on 19 August 2020. Retrieved20 July 2014.
^One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ulrich".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 567–568. This work in turn cites:
L. F. Heyd,Ulrich, Herzog zu Württemberg (Tübingen, 1841–1844)
B. Kugler,Ulrich, Herzog zu Württemberg (Stuttgart, 1865)
H. Ulmann,Fünf Jahre württembergischer Geschichte 1515–1519 (Leipzig, 1867)
Johannes Janssen,Geschichte des deutschen Volkes seit dem Ausgang des Mittelalters (Freiburg, 1890) Eng. trans. by A. M. Christie and M. A. Mitchell (London, 1900 seq.)
C. F. von Stälin,Wirtembergische Geschichte. Bd. iv. (Stuttgart, 1873)
J. Wille,Philipp der Grossmüthige von Hessen und die Restitution Ulrichs von Wirtemberg (Tübingen, 1882)
^"Von Zeit zu Zeit" (in German). Stuttgart Zeitung newspaper, online historical archive. May 2008. Archived fromthe original on 6 October 2016. Retrieved14 October 2018.
^"Wuerttemberg".JewishVirtualLibrary.org. American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise.Archived from the original on 15 October 2018. Retrieved14 October 2018.
^Stanton, Shelby L. (2006).World War II Order of Battle: An Encyclopedic Reference to U.S. Army Ground Forces from Battalion through Division 1939–1946 (Revised ed.). Stackpole Books.ISBN978-0811701570.
^Bruhns, Annette (30 March 2005)."Der Krieg gegen die Frauen".Der Spiegel (in German). Spiegel-Verlag. Archived fromthe original on 1 December 2018. Retrieved14 October 2018.
^"History". Eur.army.mil. Archived fromthe original on 7 March 2013. Retrieved14 October 2018.
^Killebrew (Retired), Colonel Robert (9 October 2008)."U.S. Africa Command Stands Up". Africom.mil.Archived from the original on 15 October 2018. Retrieved14 October 2018.
Bauz, Ingrid; Breuggemann, Roland (2013).Die Geheime Staatspolizei in Württemberg und Hohenzollern. Stuttgart,BW: Schmetterling-Verlag.ISBN978-3-89657-138-0.
Gühring, Albrecht; Matthias, Beer; Binder, Petra; Ehmer, Hermann; Friederich, Susanne; Heinz, Reinhard; Juréwitz, Peter; Kull, Ulrich; Meyle, Wolfgang; Müller, Roland; Raberg, Frank; Rees, Werner (2004).Zuffenhausen. Village – Town – City District.Zuffenhausen, Baden-Württemberg: Association For the Promotion of Home and Care Partnership and of Young and Old People.ISBN3-00-013395-X.
Schulte-Peevers, Andrea; Christiani, Kerry; Di Duca, Marc; Le Nevez, Catherine (15 March 2016). "Stuttgart and the Black Forest".Germany. Melbourne, Australia: Lonely Planet.ISBN978-1-74321-023-9.
Schlaich, Klaus; Heckel, Martin; Heun, Werner (1997).Gesammelte Aufsätze: Kirche und Staat von der Reformation bis zum Grundgesetz (in German). Mohr Siebeck.ISBN978-3-16-146727-1.
W. Pembroke Fetridge (1881),"Stuttgart",Harper's Hand-book for Travellers in Europe and the East, New York: Harper & Brothers, retrieved10 February 2016
Published in the 20th century
"Stuttgart",Guide through Germany, Austria-Hungary, Switzerland, Italy, France, Belgium, Holland, the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, &c (9th ed.), Berlin: J.H. Herz, 1908,OCLC36795367, retrieved10 February 2016
Hagel, Jürgen:Mensch und Natur im Stuttgarter Raum. Silberburg-Verlag, Tübingen 2001,ISBN3-87407-385-8.
Hagel, Jürgen:Das Paradies des Neckars Bad Cannstatt. In: Wolfgang Niess, Sönke Lorenz (Hrsg.):Kult-Bäder und Bäderkultur in Baden-Württemberg. Markstein-Verlag, Filderstadt 2004,ISBN3-935129-16-5.
Kreh, Ulrike:Naturdenkmale Stuttgart. Naturschätze vor der Haustüre. Hrsg. v. Amt für Umweltschutz der Landeshauptstadt Stuttgart. verlag regionalkultur Ubstadt-Weiher, 2005,ISBN3-89735-405-5.
Ostertag, Roland (Hrsg.):Das Bosch-Areal. Verlag Karl Krämer, Stuttgart 2004,ISBN3-7828-1613-7.
Ostertag, Roland (Hrsg.):Stuttgart… wohin? Band 2, mit Beiträgen von Max Bächer, Helmut Böhme, Otto Borst, Hermann Hesse, Timo John, Wolfgang Kil, Arno Lederer, Roland Ostertag, Frei Otto, Hannelore Schlaffer, Walter Siebel, Klaus Töpfer. Karl Krämer Verlag, Stuttgart 2004,ISBN3-7828-4042-9.
Schaefer, Albert T.:Stuttgart Panorama. Mit Texten von Manfred Rommel. edition braus, Heidelberg 2006,ISBN3-89904-224-7 (Fotoband).
Schäfer, Hartmut:Befunde aus der "Archäologischen Wüste:" Die Stiftskirche und das Alte Schloss in Stuttgart. Denkmalpflege in Baden-Württemberg 31, 2002, S. 249–258.
Zelzer, Maria (Hrsg.):Stuttgart unterm Hakenkreuz. Chronik 1933–1945. Cordeliers, Stuttgart 1983,ISBN3-608-91931-7.
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