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KARLSRUHE RURAL DISTRICT (Kreise)
Karlsruhe is a district (Kreis)
in the north-west of Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
Neighboring districts are (from north clockwise) Rhein-Neckar,
Heilbronn, Enz,
Calw, Rastatt, Germersheim, Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis
and the district-free city Speyer.
The urban district Karlsruhe
is located in the middle of the district, and cuts it into a northern and a
southern part.
The historic
origin of the district is the Oberamt
Karlsruhe. In 1809 it was split into one part responsible for the city
Karlsruhe (Stadtamt), and one for the surrounding
municipalities (Landamt). In 1865 however both parts were merged again to the Bezirksamt Karlsruhe. 1938 it was split again, this time with the district of
Karlsruhe for the
surrounding part, and the urban district of Karlsruhe for the
urban area. In 1973 the district was enlarged by adding the complete
district of Bruchsal and parts of the districts Sinsheim, Vaihingen, Pforzheim
and Rastatt; some municipalities were also added to
the city Karlsruhe and therefore left the district.
Since the
founding of the Federal Republic, Karlsruhe has been the seat of the Federal
Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht
), Germany’s highest.
The western
part of the district is located in the Rhine valley. The area in the east belongs to the landscape
of the Kraichgau, and it is also to the
north of the foothills of the Black Forest.
KARLESRUHE URBAN DISTRICT (Stadtkreise)
Karlsruhe, (population 288,917 in
2007) is a city in the south west of Germany, in the Bundesland
Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border. It is one of the
112 urban districts (Kreisfreie Städte or Stadtkreise)
– cities which constitute a district in their own right. It is surrounded by the Karlsruhe Rural
District and the Rhine River.
Founded
in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, the surrounding town became the seat of two of the highest courts in
Germany, the Federal Constitutional Court of
Germany (Bundesverfassungsgericht)
whose decisions have the force of a law, and the Federal Court of Justice of
Germany (Bundesgerichtshof)
, the highest court of appeals in matters of civil law and criminal law. It therefore considers itself the home of justice in Germany, a role
taken over from Leipzig after 1933.
The city takes its name from
Margrave Karl III Wilhelm, Margrave of
Baden-Durlach, who founded the city on June 17, 1715 after a dispute with the
citizens of his previous capital, Durlach. The founding of the city is closely linked to the construction of the
palace. Karlsruhe became the capital of Baden-Durlach and in 1771 of the united Baden until 1945. Built in 1822, the "Ständehaus"
was the first parliament building in a German State. In the aftermath of the
democratic revolution, a republican government was elected here.
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