The Birkenkopf () is a prominent hill in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the Sw ...

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 betwee ...

. At an elevation of 511m, is almost 260m higher than city centre. It is in part a Schuttberg, an artificial hill built from the ruins and rubble from

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. During the war, 53 Allied bombing missions destroyed over 45% of Stuttgart, and nearly the entire city center. Between 1953 and 1957, 1.5 million cubic metersPanoramas of Birkenkopf
/ref> of rubble were cleared and moved to the hill, which resulted in an increase in height of around 40 meters. At the summit there are many recognizable facades from ruined buildings. The locals colloquially call the Birkenkopf "Monte Scherbelino", which roughly translates as "Mount Shards" but in an expression alluding to Italian. One of the pieces of rubble has a plaque attached to it, which says: ''Dieser Berg nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg aufgetürmt aus den Trümmern der Stadt steht den Opfern zum Gedächtnis den Lebenden zur Mahnung.'' This translates roughly as: ''This mountain, after World War II piled up from the ruins of the city, stands as a memorial to the victims and a reminder to the living''. From the summit the whole city center can be seen, and on a clear day the view extends to the

Swabian Alb The Swabian Jura (german: Schwäbische Alb , more rarely ), sometimes also named Swabian Alps in English, is a mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, extending from southwest to northeast and in width. It is named after the region of ...

, to 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 ...

, and the lowlands of

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Württ ...

. On the summit there is a steel cross, which in 2003 replaced the original 1953 wooden cross. In the summer, early morning services are held here on Sundays.

References

External links

Stuttgarter Zeitung: Der Birkenkopf
(in German)

(in German)
Attractions in Stuttgart
Geography of Stuttgart Mountains and hills of Baden-Württemberg Germany in World War II {{BadenWürttemberg-geo-stub