Rastatt () is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

with a Baroque core, District of Rastatt,

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 ...

. It is located in the Upper Rhine Plain on the Murg river, above its junction with the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

and has a population of around 51,000 (2022). Rastatt was an important place of 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 ...

( Treaty of Rastatt) and the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states.

History

Until the end of the 17th century, Rastatt held little influence, but after its destruction by the French in 1689, it was rebuilt on a larger scale by Louis William, Margrave of

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in southern Germany. In earlier times it was considered to be on both sides of the Upper Rhine, but since the Napoleonic Wars, it has been considered only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Ba ...

, the Imperial General in the Great Turkish War known popularly as ''Türkenlouis''. It then remained the residence of the Margraves of Baden-Baden until 1771. It was the location of the First and

Second Congress of Rastatt The Second Congress of Rastatt, which began its deliberations in November 1797, was intended to negotiate a general peace between the French Republic and the Holy Roman Empire, and to draw up a compensation plan to compensate those princes whose ...

, the former giving rise to the Treaty of Rastatt while the second ended in failure in 1799. In the 1840s, Rastatt was surrounded by fortifications to form the Fortress of Rastatt. For about 20 years previous to 1866, it was occupied by the troops of the German Confederation. The Baden revolution of 1849 began with a mutiny of soldiers at Rastatt in May 1849 under Ludwik Mieroslawski and Gustav Struve, and ended there a few weeks later with the capture of the town by the

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

ns. (See The Revolutions of 1848 in the German states and History of Baden.) For some years, Rastatt was one of the strongest fortresses of the German empire, but its fortifications were dismantled in 1890. In the same year, the town's

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

was relocated closer to the centre of Rastatt, from a location formerly outside the town walls, in what is now an industrial area. Between 1946 and 1954, about twenty major criminal proceedings (known as the Rastatt Trials) for crimes against foreign workers and prisoners in smaller camps in the National Socialist camp system in south-west

took place in front of the French Military Administration's Tribunal Général on the basis of Control Council Law No. 10, along with more than 2000 defendants. In 1992, a new

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

car factory started production in Rastatt.

Local attractions

Rastatt and the surrounding area is home to a variety of historical buildings, includes palaces and castles such as Schloss Rastatt and Schloss Favorite. It lies in the vicinity of 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 ...

and the French border.

Climate

By most sources, it is the warmest place in Germany. Under the Köppen system, Rastatt has an meditteran and

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...

(''Cfb''), closely bordering an incredibly rare 48°N

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

(''Cfa''), with mildly cold winters and long, very hot summers. The city is close to the Karlsruhe. At the weatherstation in Rastatt a temperature of 46.3°C was recorded on 9th August 2003.

Climate types

Twin towns – sister cities

Rastatt is twinned with: *

Fano Fano () is a city and ''comune'' of the province of Pesaro and Urbino in the Marche region of Italy. It is a beach resort southeast of Pesaro, located where the ''Via Flaminia'' reaches the Adriatic Sea. It is the third city in the region by pop ...

, Italy * Guarapuava, Brazil * New Britain,

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

, United States * Orange, France * Vantaa, Finland * Ostrov, Czech Republic *

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

, England, United Kingdom

Notable people

* Herman Fortunatus (1595–1665), Margrave of Baden-Rodemachern * Charles William (1627–1666), Margrave of Baden-Rodemachern * Augustus George (1706–1771), Margrave of Baden-Baden * Joseph Frank (1771–1842), physician. * Wilhelm Stemmermann (1888–1944), general in the Wehrmacht * Luise Adolpha Le Beau (1850–1927), pianist and composer of classical music * Bodo Uhse (1904–1963), writer * Oliver Hassencamp (1921–1988), cabaret artist, actor and author * Ricky King (born 1946), guitarist and musician * Joachim Schuster (born 1962), politician (SDP)

Sport

* Christian Seifert (born 1969), football functionary * Andria Lloyd (born 1971), Jamaican sprinter, studied locally, team bronze medalist at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

* Philipp Laux (born 1973), footballer, played 230 games * Christian Essig (born 1986), retired footballer, played 295 games

In literature

The plot of the historical novel ''The Lenz Papers'' by

Stefan Heym Helmut Flieg (10 April 1913 – 16 December 2001) was a German writer, known by his pseudonym Stefan Heym (). He lived in the United States and trained at Camp Ritchie in 1943, making him one of the Ritchie Boys of World War II. In 1952, he r ...

(published London 1964) is set in 1849 Rastatt, during the failed revolutions in Germany in 1848.

Gallery

Rastatt-Rathaus-04-2018-gje.jpg, Town hall Rastatt-Murg-04-Wasserturm-Brauerei Franz-2016-gje.jpg, Murg river Rastatt-Pagodenburg-10-Wasserturm-2006-gje.jpg, Pagodenburg and water tower Rastatt-Franziskanerkloster-04-2018-gje.jpg, Former Franciscan monastery Rastatt-Ludwig-Wilhelm-Gymnasium-06-2018-gje.jpg, Ludwig-Wilhelm school Close Act-Saurus-120-gje.jpg, Street theatre festival Rastatt-Hopfenschlingel-10-Bierwagen-2017-gje.jpg, Hopfenschlingel beer garden Rastatt-Schloss Favorite-Hauptfassade-28-2006-gje.jpg, Schloss Favorite

References

External links

Official websiteRastatt pictures
* * {{Authority control Rastatt (district)