Rastatt is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in the west of

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 betwee ...

. Neighbouring districts are (from north clockwise)

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

, Calw, Freudenstadt and the Ortenaukreis. To the west it borders the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety ...

Bas-Rhin Bas-Rhin (; Alsatian: ''Unterelsàss'', ' or '; traditional german: links=no, Niederrhein; en, Lower Rhine) is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est super-region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its lo ...

. Rastatt completely surrounds the district-free city Baden-Baden.

History

The district was created in 1939 as the successor of the ''Oberamt Rastatt'' and later the ''Großkreis Baden''. In 1973 it was merged with the majority of the neighboring district Bühl, and some small parts of the district Kehl.

Geography

The district is located in the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , source ...

valley. The south-east part, however, is part of the

Northern Black Forest The Northern Black Forest (german: Nordschwarzwald) refers to the northern third of the Black Forest in Germany or, less commonly today, to the northern half of this mountain region. Geography The Northern Black Forest is bounded in the north ...

. The highest elevation is the Hoher Ochsenkopf. The county has three small exclaves within the borough of Baden-Baden. The largest of these is home to the

Waldenecksee The Waldenecksee or Petersee is a quarry lake on the western edge of the Northern Black Forest. It lies in an exclave of the municipality of Sinzheim, surrounded by Baden-Baden, between Iberg and Fremersberg on the western side of the hill of Wa ...

, the smallest, the old abbey of

Fremersberg The Fremersberg is a hill, , on the western edge of the northern Black Forest in south Germany on the territory of the town of Baden-Baden and the municipality of Sinzheim. On the summit plateau, which is made of bunter sandstone there is the resi ...

Partnerships

Since 1968 the district has partnership with the Finnish city Vantaa. The partnership with the Italian

Provincia di Pesaro e Urbino The Province of Pesaro and Urbino ( it, Provincia di Pesaro e Urbino, ) is a province in the Marche region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Pesaro. It also borders the state of San Marino. The province is surrounded by San Marino and Emilia ...

was started in 1996. It is twinned with

Fano Fano is a town and '' comune'' of the province of Pesaro and Urbino in the Marche region of Italy. It is a beach resort southeast of Pesaro, located where the '' Via Flaminia'' reaches the Adriatic Sea. It is the third city in the region by ...

in Italy, New Britain, Connecticut in the USA and also twinned with Woking, England in 2000. It is also twinned with the Czech town from which its Princess came from during the Baroque period and for whom the summer palace was built.

Coat of arms

The top-left corner of the coat of arms show a wine ladder, the symbol of the city Rastatt. The grapes in the top-right symbolize the

viticulture Viticulture (from the Latin word for '' vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of '' Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, r ...

in the area around Bühl. The red bar on yellow ground in the bottom-right is the symbol of

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden i ...

, and the rose in bottom-left is the symbol of the counts of Eberstein.

Cities and towns

References

External links

Official website
(German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rastatt (District) Karlsruhe (region) Districts of Baden-Württemberg