Altensteig (; Swabian: ''Aldaschdaeg'') is a town in the district of Calw, in

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

History

Altensteig was most likely given

town rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...

by the Counts of Hohenberg around the middle of the 14th century. In 1398, the town became a possession of the

Margraviate of Baden The Margraviate of Baden (german: Markgrafschaft Baden) was a historical territory of the Holy Roman Empire. Spread along the east side of the Upper Rhine River in southwestern Germany, it was named a margraviate in 1112 and existed until 1535, ...

and then of the Duchy of Württemberg in 1603. Altensteig was made the seat of its own district, which was reorganized in 1808 as , which was dissolved two years later and resulted in Altensteig being assigned to . That district, too, was dissolved in 1938 and Altensteig was assigned to the newly-organized Landkreis Calw.

Geography

The city ('' Stadt'') of Simmersfeld is located at the south-western edge of

the district ''The District'' is an American crime drama and police procedural television series which aired on CBS from October 7, 2000, to May 1, 2004. The show followed the work and personal life of the chief of Washington, D.C.'s police department. Pr ...

Calw Calw (; previously pronounced and sometimes spelled ''Kalb'' accordingly) is a town in the middle of Baden-Württemberg in the south of Germany, capital and largest town of the district Calw. It is located in the Northern Black Forest and is a ...

, in the German state of

. It lies along the border with

Freudenstadt Freudenstadt (Swabian: ''Fraidestadt'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is capital of the district Freudenstadt. The closest population centres are Offenburg to the west (approx. 36 km away) and Tübingen to the eas ...

to the south and west. Altensteig's municipal area is located mostly in the

Black Forest The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...

, though a portion of its eastern mass lies in the . Elevation above sea level in the municipal area ranges from a high of

Normalnull ("standard zero") or (short N. N. or NN ) is an outdated official vertical datum used in Germany. Elevations using this reference system were to be marked (“meters above standard zero”). has been replaced by (NHN). History In 187 ...

(NN) to a low of NN. Portions of the Federally protected , , and

nature reserves A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

are located in Altensteig's municipal area.

Politics

Altensteig has nine boroughs: Altensteig, Altensteigdorf, Berneck, Garrweiler, Hornberg, Spielberg, Überberg, Walddorg, Wart. There are also 15 villages in the municipal area: Bahnhof Berneck, Baiermühle, Bruderhaus, Chausseehaus, Elektrizitätswerk, Fischhaus, Heselbronn, Internationales Forum Burg Hornberg, Kohlsägmühle, Lengenloch, Lohmühle, Monhardt, Trögelsbach, Ziegelhütte, Zumweiler.

Coat of arms

The municipal

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

of Altensteig shows a castle in

red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

and

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

, upon a

field Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In the ...

and below a

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...

, atop a

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combi ...

mountain approached by a yellow road. This coat of arms first appeared on a town seal in 1604, and was modified in 1935 with the addition of the stag antler to reference Württemberg. The winding path refers to the German word '' Steige'', or "path", and to the name Altensteig.

Transportation

Altensteig is connected to Germany's network of roadways by Bundesstraße 28. The city was also connected by rail via the from 1891 until its shutdown in 1967. Local public transportation is provided by the .

References

External links

* (in German) {{Authority control Towns in Baden-Württemberg Calw (district) Württemberg