Rastatt is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in the west 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 ...

. Neighbouring districts are (from north clockwise)

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 ...

, Calw, Freudenstadt and the Ortenaukreis. To the west it borders the French '' département''

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 ...

. Rastatt completely surrounds the district-free city

Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the states of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos (river), Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the ...

History

The district was created in 1939 as the successor of the ''Oberamt Rastatt'' and later the ''Großkreis Baden''. In 1973 it was merged with the majority of the neighboring district Bühl, and some small parts of the district Kehl.

Geography

The district is located in 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 ...

valley. The south-east part, however, is part of the Northern Black Forest. The highest elevation is the Hoher Ochsenkopf. The county has three small

exclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is s ...

s within the borough of Baden-Baden. The largest of these is home to the Waldenecksee and the smallest is the old .

Partnerships

Since 1968 the district has partnership with the Finnish city Vantaa. The partnership with the Italian Provincia di Pesaro e Urbino was started in 1996. It 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 ...

in Italy,

New Britain, Connecticut New Britain is a city in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. It is located approximately southwest of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. The city is part of the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, Capitol ...

in the USA and also twinned with

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 in 2000. It is also twinned with the Czech town from which its Princess came from during the Baroque period and for whom the summer palace was built.

Coat of arms

The top-left corner of the coat of arms show a wine ladder, the symbol of the city Rastatt. The grapes in the top-right symbolize the

viticulture Viticulture (, "vine-growing"), viniculture (, "wine-growing"), or winegrowing is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine ...

in the area around Bühl. The red bar on yellow ground in the bottom-right is the symbol 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 ...

, and the rose in bottom-left is the symbol of the counts of Eberstein.

Cities and towns

References

External links

Official website
(German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rastatt (District) Karlsruhe (region) Districts of Baden-Württemberg