DISCOVER STUTTGART

The city lies at the centre of a heavily populated area, circled by a ring of smaller towns. The inner urban area has a population of 2.63 million making 'greater Stuttgart' the third biggest city region in Germany after the Ruhr Area and Berlin.

Stuttgart is spread across a variety of hills, valleys and parks - unusual for German cities and often a cause of surprise to visitors who primarily associate the city with its industrial reputation as the "Cradle of the automobile".

Stuttgart has the status of Stadtkreis, a type of self-administrating urban county. It is also the seat of the regional parliament, local council and the Protestant State Church of Württemberg as well as one of the two co-seats of the bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart.

The city's motto is "Stuttgart is more" (to tourists; to business it describes itself as "Standort Zukunft", translated by town hall marketing as "Where business meets the future"). In 2007 the Bürgermeister marketed Stuttgart to foreign investors as "The creative power of Germany". Under current plans to improve transport links to the international infrastructure (as part of the Stuttgart 21 project), in March 2008 the city unveiled a new logo and slogan, describing itself as "Das neue Herz Europas" ("The new heart of Europe").

GEOGRAPHY OF STUTTGART

Stuttgart lies about an hour from the Black Forest and a similar distance from the Swabian Jura. The city centre lies in a lush valley, nestling between vineyards and thick woodland close to the River Neckar. In the hot summer months local residents refer to this area as the "Stuttgart cauldron".

Stuttgart covers an area of 207 square kilometres (80 sq mi). The elevation ranges from 207 metres above sea level by the Neckar river to 549 metres on Bernhartshöhe hill. As a result there are more than 400 flights of stairs around the city, equivalent to approx. 20 kilometres of steps. Many originate from the time when vineyards lined the entire valley. Even today there are vineyards less than 500 metres from the Main Station.

The city of Stuttgart is subdivided into a total of 23 city districts, 6 inner districts and 17 outer districts. The inner districts are: Central Stuttgart, Stuttgart North, East, South and West.

• The Alte Kanzlei on Schillerplatz
• The Stiftskirche (the Collegiate Church), 1200 - 1600. Exterior: Romanesque/Gothic; interior: Romanesque/Gothic/Modern. Reconstructed with simplified interior
• Altes Schloss (the Old Castle), 1300 - 1500. Renaissance style; reconstructed
• Alte Kanzlei (the Old Chancellery) on Schillerplatz which backs onto the 1598 Mercury Pillar N
• eues Schloss (the New Castle), 1700 - 1800. Baroque/Classicism); reconstructed with modern interior
• Wilhelmpalais (the King Wilhelm Palais), 1840
• Königsbau (the King's Building), 1850. Classicism; reconstructed
• The Großes Haus of Stuttgart National Theatre, 1909-1912
• Markthalle Market Hall, 1910. (Art Nouveau)
• The Hauptbahnhof (Main Railway Station), 1920. Pre-Modern
• The Württembergische Landesbibliothek state library, rebuilt in 1970
• Friedrichsbau Varieté (Friedrich Building), rebuilt in 1994 on the site of the former art nouveau building

ARCHITECTURE IN OTHER DISTRICTS

A number of significant castles stand in Stuttgart's suburbs and beyond as reminders of the city's royal past. These include:

• Castle Solitude, 1700 - 1800. Baroque/Rococo
• Ludwigsburg Palace, 1704 - 1758. Baroque, with its enormous baroque garden.
• Castle Hohenheim, 1771 - 1793.

• Castle Rosenstein (1822-1830). Classical
• Württemberg Mausoleum (1824) which holds the remains of Catherine Pavlovna of Russia and King William I of Württemberg
• Wilhelma Zoo and Botanical Gardens (1853)
• Weissenhof Estate (1927), (International Style)
• The TV Tower (1950), the world's first concrete TV tower
• Neue Staatsgalerie (State Gallery, 1980). Postmodern
• Stuttgart Airport Terminal Building, 2000. In neighbouring Leinfelden-Echterdingen
• The Kunstmuseum Stuttgart (2005) the new Art Gallery (Modern)
• The Mercedes-Benz Museum (2006), Modern

CULTURE AND EVENTS

Stuttgart is known for its strong cultural heritage, in particular its State Theatre (Staatstheater) and State Gallery (Staatsgallerie). The Staatstheater is home to the State opera and three smaller theatres and it regularly stages opera, ballet and theatre productions as well as concerts. The Staatstheater was named Germany/Austria/Switzerland "Theatre of the year" in 2006; Stuttgart Opera has won the "Opera of the year" award six times. Stuttgart Ballet is connected to names like John Cranko and Marcia Haydée. The city also offers two broadway-style musical theatres, the Apollo and the Palladium Theater (each approx. 1800 seats).

Stuttgart's Swabian cuisine, beer and wine have been produced in the area since the 1600s and are now famous throughout Germany and beyond. For example, Gaisburger Marsch is a stew that was invented in Stuttgart's Gaisburg area of Stuttgart South.

Stuttgart also hosts the world-famous annual "Volksfest", originally a traditional agricultural fair which now also hosts beer tents and a French village and is second in size only to the Oktoberfest in Munich. With more than 3.6 million visitors in 2006, Stuttgart's Christmas Market is the largest and one of the oldest and most beautiful traditional Christmas markets in Europe. It is especially renowned for its abundant decorations.

In 1993 Stuttgart hosted the International Garden Show in the suburb of Killesberg. In 2006 Stuttgart was one of the host cities of the Football World Cup. The city is set to host the 2008 World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships.

PARKS AND LAKES

At the centre of Stuttgart lies a series of gardens referred to by locals as the Green U. It starts with the old Schlossgarten, castle gardens first mentioned in records in 1350. The modern park stretches down to the river Neckar and is divided into the upper garden (bordering the Old Castle, the Main Station, the State Theater and the State Parliament building), and the middle and lower gardens - a total of 61 hectares. The park also houses Stuttgart planetarium.

At the far end of Schlossgarten lies the second Green U park, the larger Rosensteinpark which borders Stuttgart's Wilhelma zoo and botanical gardens. Planted by King William I of Württemberg, it contains many old trees and open areas and counts as the largest English-style garden in southern Germany. In the grounds of the park stands the former Rosenstein castle, now the Rosenstein museum.

Beyond bridges over an adjacent main road lies the final Green U park, Killesbergpark or 'Höhenpark' which is a former quarry that was converted for the Third Reich garden show of 1939 (and was used as a collection point for Jews awaiting transportation to concentration camps). The park has been used to stage many gardening shows since the 1950s, including the Bundesgartenschau and 1993 International Gardening Show.

On the northern edge of the Rosensteinpark is the famous "Wilhelma", Germany's only combined zoological and botanical garden. The whole compound was built around 1850 as a summer palace in moorish style for King Wilhelm I of Württemberg. It currently houses around 8000 animals and some 5000 plant species.

Other parks in Stuttgart include the gardens at Castle Hohenheim (which date back to 1776 and are still used to catalogue and research plant species), Uhlandshöhe hill (between the city centre, Bad Cannstatt and Frauenkopf, and home to Stuttgart observatory), the Weißenburgpark (a five hectare park in the Bopser area of Stuttgart South which dates back to 1834 and is now home to a 'tea house' and the 'marble room' and offers a relaxing view across the city centre), the Birkenkopf (at 511 metres the highest point in central Stuttgart, where many ruins were laid to commemmorate the Second World War), and finally the Eichenhain park in Sillenbuch (declared a nature reserve in 1958 and home to 200 oak trees, many 300-400 years old).

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