Landau (), officially Landau in der Pfalz (, ), is an autonomous (''kreisfrei'') town surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße ("Southern Wine Route") district of southern

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

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 ...

. It is a university town (since 1990), a long-standing cultural centre, and a market and shopping town, surrounded by vineyards and wine-growing villages of the Palatinate wine region. Landau lies east of the

Palatinate forest The Palatinate Forest (; ), sometimes also called the Palatine Forest, is a List of landscapes in Rhineland-Palatinate, low-mountain region in southwestern Germany, located in the Palatinate (region), Palatinate in the state of Rhineland-Palatina ...

, on the German Wine Route. It contains the districts (''Ortsteile'') of Arzheim, Dammheim, Godramstein, Mörlheim, Mörzheim, Nussdorf, Queichheim, and Wollmesheim.

History and other settings

Landau was first mentioned as a settlement in 1106. It was in the possession of the counts of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Landeck, whose arms, differenced by an escutcheon of the Imperial eagle, served as the arms of Landau until 1955. The town was granted a charter in 1274 by King Rudolf I of

, who declared the town a Free Imperial Town in 1291; nevertheless Prince-Bishop Emich of

Speyer Speyer (, older spelling ; ; ), historically known in English as Spires, is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in the western part of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the r ...

, a major landowner in the district, seized the town in 1324. The town did not regain its ancient rights until 1511 from Maximilian I. An Augustinian monastery was founded in 1276. It has also helped provide college education for the past 28 years. LASB K Hellwig 1040

After the

Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire ...

in 1648, control of Landau was ceded to France, although with certain ill-defined reservations. Landau was later part of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

from 1680 to 1815, during which it was one of the '' Décapole'', the ten free cities of

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

, and received its modern fortifications by

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

's military architect Vauban in 1688–99, making the little town (its 1789 population was approximately 5,000) one of Europe's strongest citadels. In the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict fought between 1701 and 1714. The immediate cause was the death of the childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700, which led to a struggle for control of the Spanish E ...

it had four sieges. After the siege of 1702 lost by the French, an Imperial garrison was installed in Landau. In a subsequent siege from 13 October to 15 November 1703 the French regained the town, following their victory in the Battle of Speyerbach. A third siege, begun on 12 September 1704 by Louis, Margrave of Baden-Baden, ended on 23 November 1704 with a French defeat. During this siege King Joseph I arrived at Landau coming from Vienna in a newly developed convertible carriage. This carriage would become very popular and became named the

landau Landau (), officially Landau in der Pfalz (, ), is an autonomous (''kreisfrei'') town surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße ("Southern Wine Route") district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town (since 1990), a long ...

in English, or Landauer in German. The French recaptured Landau once more in a final siege which lasted from 6 June to 20 August 1713 by Marshal General Villars. Landau was part of

Bas-Rhin Bas-Rhin () is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its lower altitude among the two French Rhine departments: it is downstream of the Haut-Rhin (Upper Rhine) de ...

department between 1789 and 1815. After

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

's Hundred Days following his escape from Elba, Landau, which had remained French, was granted to the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1815 and became the capital of one of the thirteen ''Bezirksämter'' (counties) of the Bavarian Rheinkreis, later renamed Pfalz. In 1840 famous political cartoonist

Thomas Nast Thomas Nast (; ; September 26, 1840December 7, 1902) was a German-born American caricaturist and editorial cartoonist often considered to be the "Father of the American Cartoon". He was a sharp critic of William M. Tweed, "Boss" Tweed and the T ...

was born in Landau. Following

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Landau was an important barracks town for the French occupation.

Main sites

Landau's large main square (''Rathausplatz'') is dominated by the town hall (''Rathaus'') and the market hall (''Altes Kaufhaus''). In the 19th century, the former fortifications gave way to a ring road that encircles the old town centre, from which the old industrial buildings have been excluded. A convention hall, the ''Festhalle'', was built in

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

style, 1905–07 on a rise overlooking the town park and facing the modernist ''Bundesamt'', the regional government building. The Protestant

Collegiate Church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons, a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, headed by a dignitary bearing ...

( Stiftskirche) in Landau in der Pfalz is one of the oldest buildings in the town. With the construction of the church started in the 14th century, was completed in the mid-16th century. The zoo is located close to the center of Landau alongside the historical fortifications. Animals are held in natural enclosures. The zoo contains numerous exotic species such as tigers and cheetahs, but also seals, penguins, kangaroos and flamingos and many more.

Economy

Wine-making continues to be an important industry of Landau.

Culture

The "

," a luxury open carriage with a pair of folding tops, was invented in the town during the

. A frequent

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

surname In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...

originates in this town. Probably its most famous bearer was Yechezkel Landau, an 18th-century

talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

ist and

halakhist ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is based on biblical commandments ('' mit ...

and the

chief rabbi Chief Rabbi () is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities. Since 1911, through a capitulation by Ben-Zion Meir ...

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

Twin towns – sister cities

Landau in der Pfalz is twinned with: *

Haguenau Haguenau (; or ; ; historical ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Bas-Rhin Département in France, department of France, of which it is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture. It is second in size in the Bas-Rhin only to Strasbourg ...

, France * Ribeauvillé, France * Ruhango, Rwanda

Notable people

* Jan Boner (1463–1523), German-Polish merchant and banker * Johann Caspar Bagnato (1696–1757), German-Italian architect *

Johann Christoph Wendland Johann Christoph Wendland (July 17, 1755 – July 27, 1828) was a German botanist and gardener born in Petit-Landau, Alsace. Family His son, Heinrich Wendland, Heinrich Ludolph Wendland (1791–1869), and his grandson, Hermann Wendland ( ...

(1755–1828), botanist * Johann Birnbaum (1763–1832), jurist * Jacques-Louis Copia (1764–1799), German-French engraver * Charles-Frédéric Soehnée (1789–1878), German-French painter * Heinrich Jakob Fried (1802–1870), painter * François Fleischbein (1804–1878), painter * Franz Joseph Lauth (1822–1895), egyptologist * Marcus Otterbourg (1827–1893), American diplomat, lawyer, and judge * Michel Bréal (1832–1915), German-French philologist * Ludwig Levy (1854–1907), architect * Jakob Ritter von Danner (1865–1942), general * Ludwig Maria Hugo (1871–1935), Roman Catholic bishop in Mainz * Heinrich Kaspar Schmid (1874–1953), composer * Franz Ritter von Hörauf (1878–1957), general *

Helmuth Theodor Bossert Helmuth Theodor Bossert (11 September 1889 – 5 February 1961) was a German and Turkish history of art, art historian, philology, philologist and archaeology, archaeologist. He is best known for his excavations of the Hittite fortress city at K ...

(1880–1961), art historian, philologist and archaeologist * Ludwig Kohl-Larsen (1884–1969), physician * Arnold Metzger (1892–1974), philosopher * Ferdinand Jodl (1896–1956), general * Ernst Maisel (1896–1978), general *

(1840–1902), American caricaturist and editorial cartoonist * Gustav Harteneck (1892–1984), general * Lil Picard (1899–1994), German-American cabaret actress * Richard Rudolf Klein (1921–2011), composer, musician and teacher * Friedrich Wetter (born 1928), Roman Catholic bishop in Munich * Fritz Strack (born 1950), psychologist * Albrecht Hornbach (born 1953), businessman * Volker Zotz (born 1956), German-Austrian philosopher and writer * Éric de Moulins-Beaufort (born 1962), French prelate of the Roman Catholic Church * Anne Lünenbürger (born 1964), operatic soprano * Charlotte Seither (born 1965), composer and pianist * Christine Schneider (born 1972), politician (CDU) * Bas Kast (born 1973), science writer * Stefan Raunser (born 1976), scientist * Bernd Metz (born 1979), artist * Kris Menace (born 1980), electronic musician * Benjamin Auer (born 1981), footballer * Marlene Zapf (born 1990), handball player * Michael Schultz (born 1993), footballer * Ricarda Lobe (born 1994), hurdler * Jan May (born 1995), cyclist * Niklas Hoffmann (born 1997), footballer

References

External links

*
Official website

Pictures
*

Lev Landau Lev Davidovich Landau (; 22 January 1908 – 1 April 1968) was a Soviet physicist who made fundamental contributions to many areas of theoretical physics. He was considered as one of the last scientists who were universally well-versed and ma ...

{{Authority control Free imperial cities Palatinate Forest South Palatinate Anterior Palatinate Palatinate (region) Vauban fortifications Urban districts of Rhineland-Palatinate