Kuchen is a municipality of the district of Göppingen 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

The earliest historical document ion of Kuchen, from between 1304 and 1315, refers to it as a "town" (''stadt''), implying that it received

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 ...

from the Count of Helfenstein in the first half of the 13th century. Kuchen was made a

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

in 1356. At some point between the years 1382 and 1396, Kuchen became a possession of the

Free Imperial City In the Holy Roman Empire, the collective term free and imperial cities (german: Freie und Reichsstädte), briefly worded free imperial city (', la, urbs imperialis libera), was used from the fifteenth century to denote a self-ruling city that ...

Ulm Ulm () is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Danube on the border with Bavaria. The city, which has an estimated population of more than 126,000 (2018), forms an urban district of its own (german: link=no, ...

. Ulm and by extension Kuchen was annexed by the

Electorate of Bavaria The Electorate of Bavaria (german: Kurfürstentum Bayern) was an independent hereditary electorate of the Holy Roman Empire from 1623 to 1806, when it was succeeded by the Kingdom of Bavaria. The Wittelsbach dynasty which ruled the Duchy of Ba ...

in 1802, but was ceded in 1810 to the

Kingdom of Württemberg The Kingdom of Württemberg (german: Königreich Württemberg ) was a German state that existed from 1805 to 1918, located within the area that is now Baden-Württemberg. The kingdom was a continuation of the Duchy of Württemberg, which exist ...

and then assigned to . The

Fils Valley Railway The Fils Valley Railway (german: Filstalbahn, historically ''Filsbahn'' or ''Württembergische Ostbahn''—Württemberg Eastern Railway) designates the Württemberg line from Stuttgart via Göppingen to Ulm. It runs from Plochingen to Geisling ...

was constructed through Kuchen in 1845. Kuchen was reassigned in 1938 to the newly-reorganized district of

Göppingen Göppingen ( Swabian: ''Geppenge'' or ''Gebbenga'') is a town in southern Germany, part of the Stuttgart Region of Baden-Württemberg. It is the capital of the district Göppingen. Göppingen is home to the toy company Märklin, and it is the b ...

. The town grew in every direction after

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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and then again in the 1970s to the northeast.

Geography

The municipality (''

Gemeinde Gemeinde (; plural: Gemeinden) is a German word translating to "community", "town", "parish", or "municipality". Gemeinde may refer to: * An administrative division encompassing a single village, town, or city: ** Gemeinde (Austria) ** Gemeinde (G ...

'') of Kuchen is situated in

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. Pre ...

, in

, one of the 16 States of the

Federal Republic of 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 between ...

. Kuchen is physically located in the valley of the

Fils Fils or FILS may refer to: People * Anton Fils (1733–1760), German composer * Arthur Fils (born 2004), French tennis player * Pascal Fils (born 1984), Canadian football player Other uses * Fils (currency), a subdivision of currency used in ...

, in the of the

Swabian Jura 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 ...

. 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.

Politics

Kuchen has one borough (''Ortsteil''), Kuchen, and one minor administrative area, Süddeutsche Baumwolleindustrie. There are three

abandoned villages An abandoned village is a village that has, for some reason, been deserted. In many countries, and throughout history, thousands of villages have been deserted for a variety of causes. Abandonment of villages is often related to epidemic, f ...

in the municipal area: Böldlinshof, Seelhofen, and Spitzenberg.

Coat of arms

Kuchen's

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

is divided ''party per fess'' into an upper,

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 ...

half and a lower,

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 on ...

half. In the upper half is a white elephant standing upon a

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 R ...

, four-pointed hill, which is a reference to the House of Helfenstein. The lower half contains a red, five-petaled rose with

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 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

sepals, taken from the arms of

Geislingen an der Steige Geislingen an der Steige is surrounded by the heights of the Swabian Alb and embedded in 5 beautiful valleys. It is a town in the district of Göppingen in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The name relates to its location "on the climb ...

, a town Kuchen has centuries of shared history with. This coat of arms first appeared in town

seals Seals may refer to: * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impress an emblem, used as a means of a ...

created after 1930. It was approved by the

Federal Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

and a corresponding municipal flag issued on 16 February 1959.

Transportation

Kuchen is connected to Germany's network of roadways by

Bundesstraße 10 The Bundesstraße 10 (abbr. B10) is a German federal highway. It leads from Eppelborn, near the city of Lebach in Saarland, eastward to Neusäß near Augsburg in Bavaria. The Bundesautobahn 8 mostly runs in parallel to the Bundesstraße 10. Afte ...

and its system of railroads by

. Local public transportation is provided by the .

References

External links

* (in German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuchen, Baden-Wurttemberg Towns in Baden-Württemberg Göppingen (district)