Karlsbad (;

South Franconian South Franconian () or South Rhine Franconian () is an Upper German dialect which is spoken in the northernmost part of Baden-Württemberg in Germany, around Karlsruhe, Mosbach and Heilbronn. Like closely related East Franconian, it is a transit ...

: ''Kallsbad'') is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the district of Karlsruhe, 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 ...

Demographics

Population development:

Geography and history

The municipality is situated on the Alb-Pfinz Plateau in the northern

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 ...

, 8 km east-southeast of

Ettlingen Ettlingen (; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Eddlinge'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about south of the city of Karlsruhe and approximately from the German-French border, border with Lauterbourg, in France's Bas-Rhin, ...

, 13 km southeast of

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

, and 15 km west of

Pforzheim Pforzheim () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city of over 125,000 inhabitants in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, in the southwest of Germany. It is known for its jewelry and watch-making industry, and as such has gained the ...

Constituent villages

The municipality of Karlsbad consists of 5 previously independent single-village municipalities united by the municipality reform in 1971:

Langensteinbach

Auerbach

Mutschelbach

Spielberg

Ittersbach

Neighbours

Karlsruhe

In the north Karlsbad borders to

and its neighbourhoods Stupferich and

Palmbach Palmbach is the smallest district of the Baden-Württemberg city of Karlsruhe. The Waldensian town of Palmbach is located on the southeastern edge of the urban area and was incorporated into the city of Karlsruhe on January 1, 1975. Naturally, i ...

. Both of these neighbourhoods form part of a group of neighbourhood known as Karlsruhe's Bergdörfer (''mountain villages''). Most of Karlsruhe is situated within the

Upper Rhine Plain The Upper Rhine Plain, Rhine Rift Valley or Upper Rhine Graben ( German: ''Oberrheinische Tiefebene'', ''Oberrheinisches Tiefland'' or ''Oberrheingraben'', French: ''Vallée du Rhin'') is a major rift, about and on average , between Basel in the ...

, not so the Bergdörfer: They are situated on the mountains of the northern

and the western

Kraichgau The Kraichgau () is a hilly region in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It is bordered by the Odenwald and the Neckar to the North, the Black Forest to the South, and the Upper Rhine Plain to the West. To the east, its boundary is c ...

. They share the

autobahn The (; German , ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. Much of t ...

exit Karlsbad, situated within their borders, with their neighbour municipality and are connected with it through the

Landesstraße ''Landesstraßen'' (singular: ''Landesstraße'' ) are roads in Germany and Austria that are, as a rule, the responsibility of the respective German or Austrian federal state. The term may therefore be translated as "state road". They are road ...

n L609 and L623.

= Stupferich

The village Stupferich is a southeastern neighbourhood of

. Until it was integrated into the city of Karlsruhe in 1972 it was an independent municipality. In 2000 the village celebrated its 900th anniversary. In December 2011 it had about 2,650 inhabitants.

= Palmbach

The village

is an eastern neighbourhood of

. Until it was integrated into the city of Karlsruhe in 1975 it formed part of the municipality Wetterbsbach composed of the villages Palmbach and

Grünwettersbach Since its incorporation in 1975, Grünwettersbach has been a district in the southeast of Karlsruhe. Together with Palmbach (located further southeast), Grünwettersbach forms the administrative unit Wettersbach. Grünwettersbach is naturally lo ...

. Palmbach was founded in 1701 by 28 Waldensian refugee families consisting of 111 people from La Balme in the

French Alps The French Alps are the portions of the Alps mountain range that stand within France, located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions. While some of the ranges of the French Alps are entirely in France, others, such a ...

on an area of 306

acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

s belonging to

. They called their settlement ''La Balme'', just like the place, they came from, which turned into the village's current name still during the 18th century. In March 2012 Palmbach had about 1,800 inhabitants.

Waldbronn

The western frontier of Karlsbad leads to

Waldbronn Waldbronn is a municipality in the Karlsruhe (district), district of Karlsruhe, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated in the northern Black Forest, southeast of Karlsruhe. Geography Waldbronn is located at the border of the Alb-Pfinz- ...

, a municipality in the district of Karlsruhe at the borders of the Alb-Pfinz Plateau and within the

Alb An Alb is a liturgical vestment. ALB, Alb or alb may also refer to: * Alb, Alpine transhumance in Allemannic German Places * Alb (Upper Rhine), a tributary of the Upper Rhine in northern Black Forest near Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany * Al ...

Valley with some 12,500 inhabitants. Just like Karlsbad, this municipality is also product of the municipality reform in

. Its current constituent villages and former independent municipalities joined the former single-village municipality Reichenbach: * Etzenrot and Neurod (joined in 1971) * Busenbach (joined in 1972) In 1974 the enlarged municipality Reichenbach was renamed and received the name ''Waldbronn''

Marxzell

The southwestern frontier of Karlsbad borders to Marxzell, a municipality in the district of Karlsruhe with about 5,300 inhabitants (as of December 2011) consisting of the former independent municipalities * Burbach: Burbach, Marxzell (also part of the other two former municipalities], Metzlinschwander Hof and the houses Fischweier and Weimersmühle. * Pfaffenrot: Pfaffenrot and Gertrudenhof * Schielberg: Schielberg, "Bergschmiede, Hotel", Schlotterhof, Steinhäusle and Frauenalb

Remchingen

The municipality

Remchingen Remchingen () is a municipality in the Enz district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, situated on the river Pfinz, 14 km southeast of Karlsruhe, and 12 km northwest of Pforzheim. History Older history * 1st millennium BC: Celtic ...

in the Enz district borders to Karlsbad on the northeastern frontier of the last-mentioned. It is located within the

Pfinz The Pfinz is a right tributary of the Rhine in Baden-Württemberg. Its origin is located at the northern edge of the Black Forest near the Straubenhardt borough of Pfinzweiler. Near Durlach it enters the Upper Rhine Plain and continues, splitti ...

Valley, counts about 12,000 inhabitants and consists of the following former municipalities: * Nöttingen (bordering to Auerbach), * Wilferdingen * Singen Historic ties between Karlsbad and Remchingen become obvious comparing the coats of arms of the former municipalities. The flowers on Mutschelbach's coat of arms are quite similar to those of all three parts of Remchingen. File:Wappen Noettingen.png, File:Wappen Wilferdingen.png, File:Wappen Remchingen-Singen.png, In addition, in both Nöttingen and Auerbach remains of

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

settlements have been found that can be dated back to circa 80 A.D.

Keltern

To the east of Karlsbad borders

Keltern Keltern is a municipality in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. History The oldest documentary records for the constituent towns of Keltern are from 827 or 830 for Dietenhausen, 919 for Ellmendingen, sometime in the 11th cent ...

, a municipality within the Enz district with approximately 9,000 inhabitants. It consists of the following villages: * Dietenhausen * Ellmendingen * Weiler * Dietenhausen * Niebelsbach

Straubenhardt

This municipality is located southeast of Karlsbad. Straubenhardt forms part of the Enz district with a total of approximately 11,000 inhabitants and is made up of the following previously independent municipalities: * Conweiler * Feldrennach * Pfinzweiler * Langenalb * Ottenhausen * Schwann

Politics

Coat of arms

Municipal partnership

Karlsbad is a municipal partner of the following towns and municipalities: *

Heldrungen Heldrungen is a town and a former municipality in the Kyffhäuserkreis district, Thuringia, Germany. Since 1 January 2019, it is part of the town An der Schmücke. Nearby rivers are the Unstrut and the Wipper. It is known for its fortification ...

Kyffhäuserkreis The Kyffhäuserkreis is a district in the northern part of Thuringia, Germany. Neighboring districts are the districts Mansfeld-Südharz, Saalekreis and Burgenlandkreis in Saxony-Anhalt, and the districts Sömmerda, Unstrut-Hainich-Kreis and E ...

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

, * Hüttau,

Salzburg (state) Salzburg (, ; , also known as ''Salzburgerland''; ) is an Austria, Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state. In German it is called a , a German-to-English dictionary translates that to ''federal state'' and the European Commission calls ...

()

Infrastructure

Karlsbad can be accessed via the road or by train.

Baden Airpark Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden Airport (German: ''Flughafen Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden'') is the international airport of Karlsruhe, the third-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, and also serves the spa town of Baden-Baden. It is the stat ...

, the closest international airport, is situated at a straight-line distance of about 34 kilometers.

Railway

Langensteinbach, Spielberg and Ittersbach are all connected to each other and to the cities of

and

among others by the Busenbach–Ittersbach branch of the

Alb Valley Railway The Alb Valley Railway () is a railway line in southern Germany that runs from Karlsruhe via Ettlingen to Bad Herrenalb with a branch to Ittersbach. The line is owned and operated, as part of the Stadtbahn Karlsruhe, by the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesell ...

(''Albtalbahn''), an electric railway that forms part of the

Karlsruhe Stadtbahn The Karlsruhe Stadtbahn is a German tram-train system combining Karlsruhe trams, tram lines in the city of Karlsruhe with railway lines in the surrounding countryside, serving the entire region of the middle upper Rhine valley and creating connec ...

. Ittersbach is the terminus of the branch, which operates as line S 11. Buses connect Auerbach an Mutschelbach to the mentioned railway through the train stops in Langensteinbach.

Additional public transport

In addition to the mentioned railway, six bus lines circulate in, to and from Karlsbad: * KVV Line 153: Langensteinbach - Auerbach - Langensteinbach * KVV Line 152: Langensteinbach - Mutschelbach - Langensteinbach * KVV Line 118: Langensteinbach - Mutschelbach - Stupferich - Palmbach - Grünwettersbach (school days only) * VPE Line 717 (708): Ittersbach -

* VPE Line 720: Ittersbach -

* VPE Line 721: Langensteinbach - Auerbach - Ellmendingen -

Road network

Other main roads crossing Karlsbad are the following

n: * L562 * L563 * L564 (Albtalstraße, Alb Valley Road) * L609 * L622 * L623 In former times especially Langensteinbach had serious traffic problems caused by several complicated road junctions controlled by traffic lights. The problem led to an interesting solution. Today Langensteinbach counts with two double roundabouts relieving the traffic conditions.

Culture and sights

Celebrities closely linked to Karlsbad

* Fritz Rau, * 1930-2013 German concert and tour promoter and son of a smith from Ittersbach * Horst Floth, 1934–2005, bobsleigh pilot * Jens Nowotny, * 1974, until 1985 SV Spielberg, former DFB national football player

Historic buildings and structures

* Former town hall in Karlsbad-Spielberg * Classical Protestant church in Karlsbad-Langensteinbach designed by Karl August Schwarz in

Friedrich Weinbrenner Friedrich Weinbrenner (24 November 1766 – 1 March 1826) was a German architect and city planner admired for his mastery of classical style. Birth and education Weinbrenner was born in Karlsruhe, and began his career apprenticed to his father, ...

-like style * Ruins of the Saint Barbara chapel in Karlsbad-Langensteinbach, a chapel which can be dated back to 1330 AD. * Ruins of the tower castle ''Burg Langensteinbach'' also called ''Römerturm'' (Roman tower), the remains of the former hill castle on site between 1100 and 1200 AD. Spielberg Rathaus.JPG, Langensteinbach - Kirche im Weinbrenner-Stil.jpg, St Barbara Ruine.jpg, Burgruine-Langensteinbach.jpg,

Karlsbad worldwide

Around the globe there are several places named Karlsbad or

Carlsbad Carlsbad may refer to: Geographical locations * Carlsbad, California, San Diego County, United States ** Carlsbad Santa Fe Depot, NRHP ID No. 93001016 * Carlsbad, New Mexico, United States ** Carlsbad Caverns National Park ** Carlsbad Irriga ...

: *

Karlovy Vary Karlovy Vary (; , formerly also spelled ''Carlsbad'' in English) is a spa town, spa city in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 49,000 inhabitants. It is located at the confluence of the Ohře and Teplá (river), Teplá ri ...

(previously known as Karlsbad) in the *

Carlsbad, California Carlsbad is a beach city in the North County area of San Diego County, California, United States. The city is north of downtown San Diego and south of downtown Los Angeles. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of ...

, of America *

Carlsbad, New Mexico Carlsbad ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Eddy County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 32,238. Carlsbad is centered at the intersection of U.S. Routes 62/ 180 and 285, and is the principal city ...

, of America *

Carlsbad, Texas Carlsbad is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in northwestern Tom Green County, Texas, United States. It lies along U.S. Route 87, northwest of the city of San Angelo, the county seat of Tom Green County. Its elevation i ...

, of America *

Carlsbad Springs, Ontario Carlsbad Springs is a rural community on Bear Brook (Ontario), Bear Brook in Osgoode Ward in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Prior to amalgamation in 2001, the community was on the border between Gloucester, Ontario, Gloucester and Cumberland, Ontario ...

References

{{Authority control Karlsruhe (district)