Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis is a
''Landkreis'' (district) in the north of
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 ...
. Neighboring districts are (from east clockwise)
Main-Tauber-Kreis,
Hohenlohe-Kreis,
Heilbronn,
Rhein-Neckar-Kreis,
Odenwaldkreis (
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 ...
) and
Landkreis Miltenberg (
Bavaria
Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...
). The district is part of the
Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region.
History
The district was created in 1973 by merging the previous districts Buchen and Mosbach. At first it was named ''Odenwaldkreis'', however to avoid confusion with the neighboring district in Hesse with the same name it was renamed in 1974 to be ''Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis''.
Geography
As the name already suggests the district is located in the
Odenwald mountains, with the highest elevation at the Katzenbuckel (626 m) near Waldbrunn in the west of the district. The main river of the district is the
Neckar.
Coat of arms
The district's
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 ...
might be described thus: Per pale dexter bendy lozengy argent and azure, sinister gules a wheel spoked of six argent. The coat of arms shows the symbols of the two historical rulers of the district. On the dexter (armsbearer’s right, viewer’s left) side is the blue and white "bendy lozengy" (that is, slanted diamond shapes) of the
Wittelsbach family as owners of the
Electorate of the Palatinate
The Electoral Palatinate was a Imperial State, constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire until it was annexed by the Electorate of Baden in 1803. From the end of the 13th century, its ruler was one of the Prince-electors who elected the Holy ...
; on the sinister (armsbearer’s left, viewer’s right) side is the
Wheel of Mainz
The Wheel of Mainz or , in German language, German, was the coat of arms of the Archbishopric of Mainz and thus also of the Electorate of Mainz (Kurmainz), in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It consists of a silver wheel with six spokes on a red ...
, a symbol of the old
Electorate of Mainz.
Municipalities
References
External links
Official website(German)
Karlsruhe (region)
Districts of Baden-Württemberg
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