Bergstraße (, ) is a ''Kreis'' (

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

) in the south of

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

, Germany. It is at the northern end of the Bergstraße route. Neighboring districts are Groß-Gerau,

Darmstadt-Dieburg Darmstadt-Dieburg is a Kreis (district) in the south of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Offenbach, Aschaffenburg, Miltenberg, Odenwaldkreis, Bergstraße, Groß-Gerau, and the district-free city of Darmstadt, which it surrounds. Histo ...

, Odenwaldkreis,

Rhein-Neckar-Kreis The Rhein-Neckar-Kreis is a district in the northwest of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The administrative headquarters are based in the city Heidelberg, which is a district-free city. As of 2019, the district is the most populous in Baden-Württe ...

, the urban district

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...

, the

Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis The Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis () is a district (''Kreis'') in the east of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from north clockwise) the district-free city Worms, Germany, Worms, the district Bergstraße (district), Bergstraße, dis ...

, and the urban district of

Worms The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive catalogue and list of names of marine organisms. Content The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scien ...

. ''Kreis Bergstraße'' belongs both to the Rhine Neckar Area and the Rhein-Main Region.

History

The district was created in 1938, when the two former districts Bensheim and Heppenheim were merged.

Geography

The Bergstraße district is situated along the western slopes of the

Odenwald The Odenwald () is a low mountain range in the Germany, German states of Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. Location The Odenwald is located between the Upper Rhine Plain with the Bergstraße Route, Bergstraße and the ''Hessisches Ried' ...

mountains in southern Hesse, Germany. Its highest point is the

Melibokus The Melibokus (also ''Melibocus'', ''Malchen'' or ''Malschen'') is at 517 metres (1696 feet), the highest hill in the Bergstraße region of southern Hesse, central Germany. It was also the name of a hill in Germania described by classical ...

, a 517-meter (1,696-foot) hill near Zwingenberg. The district derives its name from the historic Bergstraße ("Mountain Road"), an 80-kilometer scenic route that runs from

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...

to Wiesloch, with its northern section passing through the district.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms is split into four quarters. In the top-left it shows the Starkenburg castle, which is one of the major landmarks in the district and a reminiscence of the former Province Starkenburg, a former provinces of the

Grand Duchy of Hesse The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine () was a grand duchy in western Germany that existed from 1806 to 1918. The grand duchy originally formed from the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1806 as the Grand Duchy of Hesse (). It assumed the name ...

, to which the District once belonged. The flower in the top-right stands for the flower-richness in spring. The cross in the bottom-left derives from the coat of arms of the imperial abbey of

Lorsch Abbey Lorsch Abbey, otherwise the Imperial Abbey of Lorsch (; or ''Laurissa''), is a former Imperial abbey in Lorsch, Germany, about east of Worms, Germany, Worms. It was one of the most important monasteries of the Carolingian Empire. Even in its ru ...

, and the lion in the bottom-right is the sign of

. German

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

driver

Sebastian Vettel Sebastian Vettel (; born 3 July 1987) is a German racing driver who most recently competed in Formula One from to . Vettel won four Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won consecutively from to with Red Bull, and rema ...

, who is from Heppenheim, has the Bergstraße coat of arms on the front (chin area) of his racing helmet.

Politics

The Bergstraße electoral district (Wahlkreis 187) is a federal constituency represented in the German

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

. Located in southern Hesse, it encompasses the entire Bergstraße district. Established for the inaugural 1949 federal election, it has undergone several numbering changes over the years, currently designated as constituency 187. In the 2025 federal election, the constituency had 195,419 eligible voters, with a voter turnout of 84.4%. The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) candidate, Dr. Michael Meister, secured the direct mandate with 36.3% of the first votes. Dr. Meister has been serving as the directly elected representative for Bergstraße since 2005, reflecting the CDU's longstanding influence in the region.

Towns and municipalities

References

External links

Official website
(German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bergstrasse Odenwald Darmstadt (region)