Altensteig (; Swabian: ''Aldaschdaeg'') is a town in the district of Calw, in

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, 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 i ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

History

Altensteig was most likely given town rights by the Counts of Hohenberg around the middle of the 14th century. In 1398, the town became a possession of the Margraviate of Baden and then of the

Duchy of Württemberg The Duchy of Württemberg () was a duchy located in the south-western part of the Holy Roman Empire. It was a Imperial Estate, state of the Holy Roman Empire from 1495 to 1803. The dukedom's long survival for over three centuries was mainly du ...

in 1603. Altensteig was made the seat of its own district, which was reorganized in 1808 as , which was dissolved two years later and resulted in Altensteig being assigned to . That district, too, was dissolved in 1938 and Altensteig was assigned to the newly-organized Landkreis Calw.

Geography

The city ('' Stadt'') of Simmersfeld is located at the south-western edge of the district of Calw, in the German state of

. It lies along the border with the district of Freudenstadt to the south and west. Altensteig's municipal area is located mostly in the

Black Forest The Black Forest ( ) is a large forested mountain range in the States of Germany, 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 th ...

, though a portion of its eastern mass lies in the . 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Normalnull ("standard zero") or (short N. N. or NN) is an outdated official vertical datum used in Germany.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 has been replaced by (NHN).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. Portions of the Federally protected , , and nature reserves are located in Altensteig's municipal area.

Politics

Altensteig has nine boroughs: Altensteig, Altensteigdorf, Berneck, Garrweiler, Hornberg, Spielberg, Überberg, Walddorg, Wart. There are also 15 villages in the municipal area: Bahnhof Berneck, Baiermühle, Bruderhaus, Chausseehaus, Elektrizitätswerk, Fischhaus, Heselbronn, Internationales Forum Burg Hornberg, Kohlsägmühle, Lengenloch, Lohmühle, Monhardt, Trögelsbach, Ziegelhütte, Zumweiler.

Coat of arms

The municipal

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 last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

of Altensteig shows a castle in red and

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, upon a field of

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 t ...

and below a

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

, atop a

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

mountain approached by a yellow road. This coat of arms first appeared on a town seal in 1604, and was modified in 1935 with the addition of the stag antler to reference Württemberg. The winding path refers to the German word '' Steige'', or "path", and to the name Altensteig.

Transportation

Altensteig is connected to Germany's network of roadways by Bundesstraße 28. The city was also connected by rail via the from 1891 until its shutdown in 1967. Local public transportation is provided by the .

References

External links

* (in German) {{Authority control Towns in Baden-Württemberg Calw (district)