About Karlsruhe
The foundation of the city of Karlsruhe dates back to the year 1715. Compared to the history of other German cities, Karlsruhe is considered to be a rather young city. The city's history actually started on June 17, 1715, when the foundation stone for the new residential palace of the Margrave Karl Wilhelm of Baden-Durlach was laid down. Nine south-facing avenues, radiating out from the palace like the ribs of a folding fan, initially formed the urban area of the city. This characteristic fan-shaped, radial layout has been one of the most distingushing features of the city of Karlsruhe and is the reason for why the city is also known as the "Fächerstadt", which literally means "the fan city".
Finding Karlsruhe on a map of Europe is not very complicated. Located next to the Rhine and at the foot of the Black Forrest, Karlsruhe is just at the right-angle corner between Germany and France in the beautiful Upper Rhine Valley of Southwest Germany in the northern area of state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. With almost 300,000 inhabitants, Karlsruhe is the second largest city of the state Baden-Wuerttemberg today and home of two of the highest and most important German courts. The Federal Court of Justice ("Bundesgerichtshof") as well as the Federal Constitutional Court ("Bundesgerichtshof") have been located in the city of Karlsruhe since the early 1950s.
As Karlsruhe is a hub of many main motorways and therefore offers very good transport connections, it is very easy to get to Karlsruhe and it is just as easy to travel thorugh Germany or to other areas of Europe. Many European business regions such as Bruxelles, Paris, Zurich, Munich, Cologne, or Milano can be reached within travel distances of not more than 400 miles with straight motorway connections. The Alps can be reached within a three to four hours drive by car. Traveling to Kalruhe by plane is also very comfortable. Germany's international airport in Frankfurt/Main can be reached by car or high-speed train within 80 minutes. Other airports like those in Stuttgart, Basel or Strasbourg are also easily accessible by car or train within 90 minutes.
Besides all of this, Kalruhe offers many sigths:
- Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe
- Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe
- Gottesaue palace
- Hoepfner castle and Hoepfner brewery
- Karlsruhe Botanical Gardens
- Karlsruhe Palace and the Palace garden
- Karlsruhe state ceramic manufactory Majolika
- Staatliche Kunsthalle
- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (former: University of Karlsruhe, founded in 1825)
If you want to get more information about the city of Karlsruhe, please have a look at the Karlsruhe Tourist Information website. It provides you with detailled information about the history of the city, a photo gallery, and most interestingly, a Virtual Guide through the city.