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Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe Palace at night
Coordinates	49°1′0″N 8°24′0″E / 49.016667°N 8.4°E / 49.016667; 8.4
Administration
Country	Germany
State	Baden-Württemberg
Admin. region	Karlsruhe
District	Urban district
City subdivisions	27 quarters
Lord Mayor	Heinz Fenrich (CDU)
Basic statistics
Area	173.46 km2 (66.97 sq mi)
Elevation	115 m  (377 ft)
Population	288,917  (31 December 2007)[1]
- Density	1,666 /km2 (4,314 /sq mi)
Founded	1715
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	KA
Postal codes	76131–76229
Area code	0721
Website	www.karlsruhe.de

Karlsruhe (German pronunciation: [ˈkaɐ̯lsʁuːə]; 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.

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.

It is said to be model city for the cityscape of Washington D.C., due to similarities to the US capital city. Both cities have a center—in Karlsruhe the palace and in D.C. the Capitol Building—from which the streets lead away like sunrays.

History

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 of 1848, a republican government was elected here.

According to legend, the name Karlsruhe, which translates as Charles’ repose, was given to the new city after a hunting trip when Margrave Karl III Wilhelm, Margrave of Baden-Durlach woke from a dream in which he dreamt of founding his new city.

Much of the central area, including the palace, was reduced to rubble by Allied bombing during World War II but was rebuilt after the war.

Geography

The 49th parallel north in the Karlsruhe Stadtgarten

The city's altitude is between 100 m (on the western shore of the river Rhine) and 322 m (near to the TV Tower). Its geographical coordinates are 49°00′N 8°24′E / 49°N 8.4°E / 49; 8.4; the 49th parallel runs through the city center. Its course is marked by a stone and painted line in the Stadtgarten (city park).

MiRO oil refinery

The city was planned with the tower of the palace (Schloss) at the center and 32 streets radiating out from it like spokes on a wheel, or ribs on a folding fan, so that a nickname for Karlsruhe in German is the "fan city" (Fächerstadt). Almost all of these streets survive today. Because of this city layout, in metric geometry, Karlsruhe metric refers to a measure of distance that assumes travel is only possible along radial streets and along circular avenues around the center.^[2]

The city center was the oldest part of town and lies south of the palace in the quadrant defined by nine of the streets. The central part of the palace runs east-west, and there are two wings of the palace, each at a 45° angle to the center, so that they are pointing southeast and southwest (i.e. parallel with streets at the ends of the quadrant defining the city center).

The market place is on the street running south from the palace to Ettlingen. The market place has the town hall (das Rathaus) to the west, the main Protestant church (Evangelische Stadtkirche) to the east, and the tomb of Margrave Karl Wilhelm in a pyramid in the center. The architect Friedrich Weinbrenner designed many of the most important buildings. That is why Karlsruhe is one of only three large German cities in which building ensembles exist in Neoclassicism style.

The area north of the palace is a park and forest. East of the palace there originally were gardens and more forest, some of which remain, but the University, Wildparkstadion, and residential areas have since been built there. West of the palace is now mostly residential.

Panorama of Karlsruhe from the tower of the palace, looking south. The University is at left, the Marketplace at center, Federal Constitutional Court at right. Note wings of palace aligning with streets, all radiating out from center of town (i.e. the palace tower).

Climate

Karlsruhe experiences an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb) similar to much of Germany.

Government

Justice

The Federal Constitutional Court of Germany

Karlsruhe is the seat of the German Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) and the highest Court of Appeals in civil and criminal cases, the Bundesgerichtshof. The court came to Karlsruhe when the provinces of Baden and Württemberg were merged. Stuttgart, capital of Württemberg, became the capital of the new province, and Karlsruhe was given the high court in a compromise.

Public health

There are four hospitals: The municipal Klinikum Karlsruhe provides the maximum level of medical services, the St. Vinzenzius-Kliniken and the Diakonissenkrankenhaus, connected to the Catholic and Protestant churches, respectively, offer central services, and the private Paracelsus-Klinik basic medical care, according to state hospital demand planning.

Economy

Germany's largest oil refinery is located in Karlsruhe, at the western edge of the city, directly on the river Rhine.

The Technologieregion Karlsruhe is a loose confederation of the region's cities in order to promote high tech industries; today, about 20% of the region's jobs are in Research and Development which gives a good basis for high tech.

Internet activities

Due to the University of Karlsruhe providing services until the late 1990, Karlsruhe became known as the internet capital of Germany. The DENIC, Germany's Network Information Centre, has since moved to Frankfurt, though, where DE-CIX is located.

Two major internet service providers, WEB.DE and schlund+partner/1&1, now both owned by United Internet AG, are located at Karlsruhe.

The City Wiki of Karlsruhe (Stadtwiki Karlsruhe) is the biggest City Wiki in the world.Template:Quot

The library of the University of Karlsruhe developed the Karlsruher Virtueller Katalog, the first internet site that allowed researchers worldwide (for free) to search multiple library catalogues worldwide.

Rail yard, bypass road Südtangente

Transport

Karlsruhe's rail system, the Stadtbahn Karlsruhe, is well known in transport circles around the world for pioneering the concept of operating trams on train tracks (tram-trains), to achieve a more effective and attractive public transport system. This concept makes it possible to reach other towns in the region, like Ettlingen, Wörth am Rhein, Pforzheim, Bad Wildbad, Bretten, Bruchsal, Heilbronn, Baden-Baden and even Freudenstadt in the Black Forest right from the city centre.

Karlsruhe is also the home of the Karlsruhe model tram-train system.

Karlsruhe is well-connected via road and rail, with Autobahn and InterCityExpress connections going to Frankfurt, Stuttgart/Munich and Freiburg/Basel. Since June 2007 it has been connected to the TGV network, reducing travel time to Paris to only three hours (compared to 5 hours previously).

Oil port

Two ports on the Rhine provide transport capacity on cargo ships, especially for petroleum products.

The nearest airport is part of the Baden Airpark (officially Flughafen Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden) about 45 km (28 miles) southwest of Karlsruhe, with regular connections to airports in Germany and Europe in general. Frankfurt International Airport can be reached in about an hour and a half by car (one hour by InterCityExpress); Stuttgart Airport can be reached in about one hour (about an hour and a half by train and S-Bahn).

Jewish community

Jewish cemetery of Grötzingen

Jews settled in Karlsruhe since its foundation. They were attracted by the numerous privileges granted by its founder to settlers, without discrimination as to creed. Official documents attest the presence of several Jewish families at Karlsruhe in 1717. A year later the city council addressed to the margrave a report in which a question was raised as to the proportion of municipal charges to be borne by the newly arrived Jews, who in that year formed an organized congregation, with Rabbi Nathan Uri Kohen of Metz at its head. A document dated 1726 gives the names of twenty-four Jews who had taken part in an election of municipal officers. As the city grew permission to settle there became less easily obtained by Jews, and the community developed more slowly. A 1752 Jewry ordinance stated Jews were forbidden to leave the city on Sundays and Christian holidays, or to go out of their houses during church services, but they were exempted from service by court summonses on Sabbaths. They could sell wine only in inns owned by Jews and graze their cattle, not on the commons, but on the wayside only. Karlsruhe was the seat of the central council of Baden Jewry. The first chief rabbi of the country Rabbi Asher Lowe was from (Durlach) Karlsruhe, Nethaneel Weil was a rabbi in Karlsruhe from 1750 until his death.

First synagogue, built by Friedrich Weinbrenner in 1806, existed until 1871

A memorable date in the annals of the Jews of Baden, especially memorable to the Jews of Karlsruhe, was the year 1783, when, by a decree issued by Margrave Carl Friedrich (1746-1811), the Jews ceased to be serfs, and consequently could settle wherever they pleased. The same decree freed them from the "Todfall" tax, paid to the clergy for each Jewish burial. In commemoration of these happy changes special prayers were prepared by the acting rabbi Jedidiah Tiah Weill, who, succeeding his father in 1770, held the office until 1805. In 1808 the government issued regulations concerning the administration of the spiritual affairs of the Jewish community, by which the chief rabbi of Karlsruhe became the spiritual head of the Jews of the country. Complete emancipation was given in 1862, Jews were elected to city council and Baden parliament, and from 1890 were appointed judges. Jews were persecuted in riots occurring in 1819 and anti-Jewish demonstrations were held in 1843, 1848, and the 1880s. The well-known German-Israeli artist Leo Kahn studied in Karlsruhe before leaving for France and Israel in the 1920s and '30s.

Public hanukkah on the Schlossplatz

Today, there are about 900 members in the Jewish community, many of whom are recent immigrants from Russia, and a Chabad rabbi.^[4]

Karlsruhe has memorialized its Jewish community and notable pre-war synagogues with a memorial park.^[5]

This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.

Karlsruhe and the Holocaust

The new synagogue

In 1933, 3,358 Jewish Germans lived in Karlsruhe. The community owned buildings and property, such as two synagogues, one on Karl-Friedrich-Straße and one on Kronenstraße, two elderly citizens' homes, a Jewish school, a hospital, welfare institutions and several Jewish cemeteries. During the first years of the Nazi regime, the community continued to function, particularly to prepare Jews for emigration. On October 28, 1938, all male Polish Jews living in Karlsruhe were deported to Poland. Synagogues were destroyed on Kristallnacht, 9–10 November 1938. Most of the men were arrested and sent to Dachau concentration camp, but were released after they had furnished proof that they intended to emigrate. In October 1940, 895 Jews were expelled during Operation Wagner-Bürckel and interned by the French Vichy authorities in Gurs in southern France. Most of these were then deported from there to Auschwitz (via the Drancy deportation camp, on the outskirts of Paris) between August and November 1942. Most of the 429 remaining Jews and other so-called "non-Aryans" were deported to the east between 1941 and 1944. In 1945 there were only 18 Jews in Karlsruhe. More than 1,000 of them had been killed between 1933 and 1945 ^[6]. The Baden Central Jewish Council was reorganized in 1948. A new synagogue was built in 1969.

Historical population

Source: Karlsruhe City Archive (German).^[7]

Memorial for Baden troops in several wars, 1803–1918

Famous people

• Female Bodybuilding legend Christa Bauch hails from Karlsruhe.
• Karoline von Günderrode, a German poet, was born in Karlsruhe (1780-1806).
• Karlsruhe is the birthplace of Karl Benz (1844–1929), inventor of the automobile and founder of Benz & Co., now part of Daimler AG (formerly Daimler-Benz), as well as Karl Drais who invented the precursor of the bicycle and other transportation devices.
• Walther Bensemann is one of the founders of the first southern German soccer club Karlsruher FV and later he became one of the founders of DFB and the founder of Kicker, which still is Germanys leading soccer magazine.
• Oliver Bierhoff, retired German football striker and former national team captain for the Germany and Italian Serie A clubs Udinese, A.C. Milan and Chievo; currently working as the German national team manager
• Siegfried Buback then Attorney General of Germany fell victim to terrorists of the Rote Armee Fraktion in April 1977.
• Andi Deris, lead singer of the power metal band Helloween, was born in Karlsruhe.
• Obergruppenführer SS Hans Frank (1900-1946), Gauleiter and governor general of Nazi occupied Poland
• Reinhold Frank, a German lawyer who worked for the resistance in Nazi Germany, ran a law practice in Karlsruhe. In his honour the street in Karlsruhe where the lawyers´chambers was founded bears his name.
• Gottfried Fuchs was born in Karlsruhe and holds the record of 10 goals in one single international soccer match for the German national team.
• Regina Halmich, the current female boxing flyweight world champion, is a native of Karlsruhe, too.
• Johann Peter Hebel, writer and poet, lived in Karlsruhe for most of his life.
• In the late 1880s, professor Heinrich Rudolf Hertz discovered electromagnetic waves at the University of Karlsruhe; today, a lecture room named after Hertz lies close by the very spot where the discovery was made.
• Friedrich Hund a physicist of the pioneering generation of quantum mechanics (see Hund's rules) was born here.
• Oliver Kahn, retired goalkeeper of Bayern Munich and Germany was also born in this city, in 1969.
• Sebastian Koch was born May 31, 1962 in Karlsruhe. He is a German actor.
• Gustav Landauer, one of the leading theorists of anarchism in Germany, was born in Karlsruhe.
• Renate Lingor, Former German National Football player.
• Markus Lüpertz worked and lives in Karlsruhe. He has created the “Narrenbrunnen” (Fool's Fountain) in the city center.
• Composer Wolfgang Rihm is a resident of Karlsruhe
• In 1886, Joseph Viktor von Scheffel, a German poet and novelist, was born in Karlsruhe.
• Peter Sloterdijk, philosopher and current president of the State Academy of Design
• Mehmet Scholl, retired footballer for Bayern and the German national team
• Muhammed Suiçmez guitarist and composer for German technical death metal band Necrophagist was born in Karlsruhe on November 23, 1975.
• Johann Gottfried Tulla, born on March 20, 1770 in Karlsruhe and died on March 27, 1828 in Paris. Tulla studied engineering at the Mining Academy in Freiberg (Saxony) during the 1790s. From 1817 on, Tulla was instrumental in stabilizing and straightening the course of the southern Rhine River, a project that continued until 1879. Tulla was also a co-founder of the Technical University in Karlsruhe (1825).
• Karlsruhe is the birthplace of Friedrich Weinbrenner, a German architect of Neoclassicism, who was born in 1766. Here he died in 1826. His tomb is situated in the main Protestant church.

Education

Karlsruhe is a renowned research and study centre, with one of Germany's finest institutions of higher education, namely, the University of Karlsruhe (Universität Karlsruhe-TH)—the oldest technical university in Germany. Karlsruhe is also the home of the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe (Research Center Karlsruhe), at which engineering and scientific research is performed in the areas of health, earth and environmental sciences, and Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences (Hochschule Karlsruhe-HS), the largest university of technology in the State of Baden-Württemberg, offering both professional and academic education in engineering sciences and business. On 1 October 2009 the University of Karlsruhe was joined with the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe to form a new institution, the Karlsruher Institut für Technologie. The Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe is a music conservatory which offers degrees in composition, music performance, education and radio journalism. Since 1989 it is located in the Gottesaue Palace (see picture). The Merkur Internationale Fachhochschule Karlsruhe, University of Applied Science was founded in 2004. It is a private owned state approved business school focussing on international and intercultural management as well as service- and culture-related industries.

Knowledge and Innovation Community EIT

Karlsruhe is one of co-location centres of Knowledge and Innovation Community (Sustainable Energy) of The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) ^[8]

Co-location centres—KIC Inno Energy:

CC Germany: Karlsruhe, CC Alps Valleys: Grenoble, CC Benelux: Eindhoven / Leuven, CC Iberia: Barcelona, CC PolandPlus: Krakow, CC Sweden: Stockholm

InnoEnergy is a strongly integrated alliance of reputable players from the education, research and industry sectors. It was created based on long standing links of cooperation as well as the principles of excellence and transformation. The partners have jointly developed a strategy to tackle the weaknesses of the European innovation landscape and aim to be the leading motor for innovation in the field of sustainable energy.The KIC will create economical and societal value by developing ideas from mind to market.^[9]

Culture

In 1999 the ZKM (Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Centre for Art and Media) was opened. Within a short time it built up a worldwide reputation as a cultural institution. Linking new media theory and practice, the ZKM is located in a former weapons factory. Among the institutes related to the ZKM are the Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung (State University of Design), whose president is philosopher Peter Sloterdijk and the Museum for Contemporary Art.

Nancy fountain

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Karlsruhe is twinned with:

• Nottingham, England, United Kingdom
• Nancy, France
• Krasnodar, Russia
• Timişoara, Romania
• Halle, Germany
• Varna, Bulgaria

Gottesau Palace (now music college)

Local attractions

The Durlacher Turmberg has a look-out tower (hence its name). It is a former keep dating back to the 13th century.

The Stadtgarten is a recreational area near the Hauptbahnhof (main railway station) and was rebuilt during the Bundesgartenschau (Federal Garden Show) in 1967. It is also the site of the Karlsruhe Zoo.

The city has two botanical gardens: the municipal Botanischer Garten Karlsruhe which forms part of the schloss complex, and the Botanischer Garten der Universität Karlsruhe which is maintained by the university.

The Marktplatz with the stone pyramid marking the grave of the city's founding father. The pyramid, built in 1825, is the symbol of Karlsruhe. The city is nicknamed Die Fächerstadt (the fan city) because of its deliberate layout, with straight streets running out fan-like from the palace. The Karlsruhe Schloss (palace) is an interesting piece of architecture; the adjacent Schlossgarten, including the Botanical Garden with its palm, cactus and orchid house, invites a walk in the woods stretching out to the north of it.

The so called Kleine Kirche (Little Church), built between 1773 and 1776, is the oldest church of Karlsruhe's city centre.

Another sight is the Rosdellplatz with its Constitution Building Columns (1826). It is dedicated to Baden's first constitution in 1818, which was one of the most liberal of this time. The Münze (mint), erected in 1826/27, was built by Weinbrenner too.

St. Stephan

The St. Stephan parish church is one of the masterpieces of neoclassical church architecture in Southern Germany. Weinbrenner, who built this church between 1808 and 1814, orientated to the Pantheon, Rome.

Burial chapel

The neo-gothic Grand Ducal burial chapel, built between 1889 and 1896, rather a mausoleum than a church, is located in the middle of the forest.

The main cemetery of Karlsruhe is the oldest park-like cemetery in Germany. The crematory was the first to be built in a church-like style.

In Karlsruhe is the Museum of Natural History, an opera house (the Baden State Theatre), as well as a number of independent theatres and art galleries. The State Art Gallery, built in 1846 by Heinrich Hübsch, displays paintings and sculptures from six centuries, particularly from France, Germany and Holland. Karlsruhe's newly renovated art museum is one of the most important art museums in Baden-Württemberg. Further cultural attractions are scattered throughout Karlsruhe's various incorporated suburbs. The Scheffel Association or Literary Society for example is a literary organisation and was established in 1924. It is the largest literary organisation in Germany.^{[citation needed]} Today the Prinz-Max-Palais, built between 1881 and 1884 in historism style, houses the organisation including the museum.

Breweries and art nouveau were predominant in the western city

Due to the growth in inhabitants, Karlsruhe has developed several Vorstadt areas in Gründerzeit and especially Art nouveau architecture, plenty of them preserved.

In Karlsruhe there is the only art-ceramics manufacture in Germany, called Majolika-Manufaktur.^{[citation needed]} Founded in 1901, it is located in the "Schlossgarten". A blue streak (Blauer Strahl) consisting of 1645 ceramic tiles connects the manufacture with the palace. It is the world's largest ceramic artwork.^{[citation needed]}

Another tourist attraction is the ZKM (Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie)—Centre for Art and Media. Its collections are quite exceptional, since they combine art and modern technologies. The Centre is located in a converted ammunition manufactory.

Events

Every year in July there is a huge free open air festival lasting three days called Das Fest ("The Festival").^[10].

The Baden State Theatre has sponsored the Händel festival since 1978.

The city hosted the 23rd and 31st European Juggling Conventions (EJC) in 2000 and 2008.

In July the African Summer Festival is held in the city's Nordstadt. Markets. Drumming workshops, exhibitions, a varied children's programme and musical performances take place during the three days festival.^[11]

In the past Karlsruhe has been the host of LinuxTag (the biggest Linux event in Europe) and until 2006 hosted the annual Linux Audio Conference.^[12]

Visitors and locals watched the total solar eclipse at noon on August 11, 1999. The city was not only located within the eclipse path but was one of the few within Germany not plagued by bad weather.

Sport

Football (Soccer) Karlsruher SC (KSC), Bundesliga (second division)

Basketball BG Karlsruhe, Basketball-Pro-Liga A (second division)

Tennis TC Rueppurr (TCR), [Tennis-Bundesliga] (women's first division)

Baseball and Softball Karlsruhe Cougars, Regional League South-East (men's baseball), 1st Bundesliga South (women's softball I) and State League South (women's softball II)

American Football Badener Greifs, currently competing in the Regional League Central but formerly a member of the GFL's 1st Bundesliga, lost to the Berlin Adler in the 1987 German Bowl (see also: German Football League)

References

External links

• Map of Karlsruhe
• List of English websites
• Official website (in German)
• city wiki of Karlsruhe (English and German)

Urban and rural districts in the state of Baden-Württemberg in Germany    Urban districts Baden-Baden · Freiburg · Heidelberg · Heilbronn · Karlsruhe · Mannheim · Pforzheim · Stuttgart · Ulm Rural districts Alb-Donau · Biberach · Bodensee · Böblingen · Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald · Calw · Emmendingen · Enz · Esslingen · Freudenstadt · Göppingen · Heidenheim · Heilbronn · Hohenlohe · Karlsruhe · Konstanz · Lörrach · Ludwigsburg · Main-Tauber · Neckar-Odenwald · Ortenau · Ostalbkreis · Rastatt · Ravensburg · Rems-Murr · Reutlingen · Rhein-Neckar · Rottweil · Schwarzwald-Baar · Schwäbisch Hall · Sigmaringen · Tübingen · Tuttlingen · Waldshut · Zollernalb

From Wikitravel

Karlsruhe Palace

Karlsruhe[1] is a city in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.

Understand

Karlsruhe is located on the Rhine and in the top of the Black Forest, close to the French border. The city was founded in 1715 by margrave Karl Wilhelm von Baden. The city was laid out on the drawing board. It consists of a central circle, containing the castle, and streets running towards the castle as radial "spokes". This pattern is still visible today. Due to the fan-like layout, Karlsruhe is known as the "fan city" (Fächerstadt).

The Rhine valley, where Karlsruhe is located, is the warmest part of Germany because it is only about 115 m above sea level and there are mountains in the east (black forest) and west (vogesen). Therefore, Karlsruhe has more sunny days than many other parts of Germany.

There isn't a lot of tourist traffic to Karlsruhe. Tourists generally tend to gravitate towards the cities of Heidelberg (50km to the north) and Freiburg (100km to the south), with their well-preserved old towns. It's a shame though, as Karlsruhe's radial layout is one of the best early examples of New Urbanism, and is really a joy to explore. Maybe that's a benefit to travelers who do venture there, as the number of visitors is low enough to be sort of a novelty for the locals.

Karlsruhe is home to the two highest federal courts of Germany, the Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal constitutional court) and the Bundesgerichtshof (Supreme federal court). Because of this and other administrative facilities, Karlsruhe has a reputation as a city of civil servants.

Karlsruhe has a large technical university, as well as several other colleges. The presence of the technical university has promoted the city somewhat in the world of Free and Open Source Software: Karlsruhe was the home of LinuxTag until 2005.

• Baden-Airpark is the nearest local airport, about 40km from the city. The airport is now served by low-cost carrier Ryanair, which offers cheap flights to several European destinations. There is a cheap airport shuttle bus (Baden-Airport-Express) (leaving 8 times a day on weekdays, 3 times a day on saturdays, synchronized with the flight schedule) to Karlsruhe Main Station. One-way-tickets can be bought from the driver (9 EUR, cash only, accepted currency: euro); alternatively, you can take a train or a tram-train to Rastatt or Baden-Baden and take a connecting bus to Baden-Airport. Through-ticketing is available, for current prices and schedules see (Karlsruher Verkehrsverbund (Karlsruhe Area Mass Transit Authority))

• Frankfurt airport is Germany's biggest airport and is served by all major carriers that operate in Germany. It has a direct ICE high speed train connection to Karlsruhe (1 hour).

• Stuttgart airport is reachable by train in one and a half hour.

• Frankfurt Hahn airport - is about 200km from the city and reachable by car or a combination of train and bus. The airport is served by Ryanair and other low-cost carriers. To get to the airport with public transport you need to take a train to Heidelberg, Mainz or Frankfurt - there you can catch a bus to the airport [2].

By train

The train station is located south of the city centre, with roughly 5-10 minutes by tram to the central market square, and direct tram links to other parts of the city. Karlsruhe is well linked to other larger cities by ICE high speed trains. The schedules for the inter-city connections can be found on the site of the Deutsche Bahn (German railroads).

By bus

The bus station is located at the south entrance of the train station. You can buy tickets for international destinations inside the train station.

• On Foot: A lot to see in Karlsruhe is all situated along Kaiserstr. and, because all the streets radiate outward, the Marktplatz is a great place to start a walking tour of the city. If you go up or down Kaiserstr. you can find a great variety of shops and restaurants on both sides of the streets. If you go towards the Palace (right in front of you if you're in the Marktplatz) you can visit the city museum inside the castle, or the park right behind it, where the people of Karlsruhe congregate to picnic, play sports, and relax on nice days. Go further in this direction and you can take a walk into the "Hartwald" which has a lot of trails right near the city center. Go south relative to the Marktplatz and you'll soon come upon Ettlinger Tor and the Staatstheater. Exploring on foot allows you the opportunity to go down the allees and smaller streets in Karlsruhe where you can find a wonderful variety of shops, kneipes, and restaurants.

• Public transport: Karlsruhe has an excellent public transportation system called KVV; its mostly build on trams/streetcars. Trams run not just within the city but also far into the surrounding area. Don't be surprised when you see a tram in the pedestrian zone going to Öhringen, which is 110 km away. An overview of the entire tram network can be downloaded here. A single ticket for a trip within the city limits costs 2€ for adults, 1€ for kids. Most tickets have to be stamped upon entering a tram and controllers are quite frequent. In particular for longer distances outside of Karlsruhe buying the right ticket can be a bit challenging, but in front of the main train station you find a KVV office that will be happy to assist you.Trains run late into the night, in particular on weekends, but almost every line stops for a few hours every night. Schedules and maps are posted on virtually every station; you can also find more information on fares and timetables on the KVV homepage (German only).

• Rental bikes: During the summer, spring and autumn rental bikes are available throughout the city. A mobile phone is used to rent a bike and it can be 'returned' (again using the mobile phone) at any inner city corner. To rent a bike costs no more than 8 cent a minute or 9 euro a day. More information is available at Wikipedia and at the Call a bike page.

• ZKM, Lorenzstraße 19, (0721) 81-000, Wed-Fri 10AM-6PM [3] Sat, Sun, holidays 11AM-6PM, Mon, Tue closed (Media Museum). The Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie is devoted to interactive and 'media art'. The museum is quite unique, and the exhibitions are world-class. The ZKM also hosts many cultural events, check their home page for the schedule. The same complex also hosts the Museum für Neue Kunst (Museum for new Art) and the city gallery.

• Staatliche Kunsthalle (Art Hall of the State), Hans-Thoma-Straße 2 - 6, (0721) 926-3355 [4] Tue-Fri 10AM-5PM, Sat, Sun, holidays 10AM-6PM. This museum shows mainly classical paintings from the 16th century on.

• A list of other museums can be found on the city homepage.

• Badisches Staatstheather, Baumeisterstr. 11, (0721) 933-333 (Reservations) [5] is the biggest theater and opera house in the city, but there are various smaller theaters. A list can be found on the city homepage.

• Cinemas: The Schauburg and the Kino im Prinz-Max-Palais are independent cinemas which occasional show movies in their original language. The other cinemas tend to stick to the usual German-dubbed fare. Schauburg, Marienstr. 16, (0721) 3500018. Kino im Prinz-Max-Palais, Karlstr. 10, (0721) 9374714 (Information).

• Palace, directly north of the city center. The palace hosts the Badisches Landesmuseum, Tue-Thu 10AM-17PM, Fri-Sun and holidays 10AM-6PM, special exhibitions Tue-Sun 10AM-6PM. The palace is directly north of the city center, a 2min walk on foot from the Marktplatz. The palace was rebuilt after World War II, and now hosts the Badisches Landesmuseum, a museum dedicated to historical exhibitions and local interest. There are also special exhibitions from time to time. North of the palace is a vast park area, the palace garden (Schlosspark), where the locals hang out on summer days. On Saturdays, Sundays and holidays during the summer season you can also take a ride on the small train that runs through the gardens. Steam trains usually run on Sundays while dieselpowered trains operate on Saturdays. Entry to the gardens is free, the museum is €4 for adults.

• The Pyramid - on the Marktplatz, and the emblem of the city. It marks the place where Karl Wilhelm was buried, and is somewhat unremarkable.

• Zoo [6] - near the main station, opening hours vary throughout the year, but the main entrance is open at least Mon-Sun 9AM-16PM, and longer in the summer months. The other entrances have shorter hours, check on the web page. The zoo is moderately large, and does have some special attractions. The price is €5 for adults, discounts are available for some groups.

• Durlach Nowadays a part of Karlsruhe it is much older (first mentioned in the 12th century) than Karlsruhe itself and has a charming medieval town-center. It can be easily reached by tram 1 in a quarter of an hour. A word of advice: calling an inhabitant of Durlach a "Karlsruher" is asking for trouble. From the Turmberg (tower hill), you have a nice view over the city and the Rhine valley.
• Wildparkstadion, [7]. The stadium where the Karlsruher Sport Club (KSC) plays all of their home games. If you are in Karlsruhe in the Fall or Spring, during the Bundesliga season, you should try to catch a KSC game during the weekend. KSC fans, including the "Ultras", are some of the loudest and most passionate fans in all of German football, and definitely make the experience a good one. To really get in the action purchase a ticket in the 'Stehplatz' (Standing section) and try to buy early, as these are very popular events and the tickets go quickly!  edit

• July: Das Fest [8] - Karlsruhe's most famous yearly event on one weekend in July. Life music on multiple stages erected in the Günther-Klotz Anlage; usually some good bands participate and the program has somethings for almost every taste. Attendance is free, but you are not allowed to bring your own drinks.

• July: African Summer Festival [9] - African culture in Karlsruhe's Nordstadt. Markets, drumming workshops, exhibitions, a varied children's programme and musical performances take place during the three days, the aim being enjoyment for the whole family.

• August: KAMUNA [10] - Karlsruhe Night of the Museum. Once a year many museums in Karlsruhe open late into the night, there are many events at these museums and a live concert at the end. Special KAMUNA buttons are sold that allow for entrance in all participating museums and are also a ticket for the public transport. On the day of the KAMUNA the schedule of public transport is changed to allow the visitors to get home easily. KAMUNA is very popular in Karlsruhe and many people are attending.

• August: Medieval Spectaculum [11] - Medieval themed event with a market, games, music, knights in armor, magicians, fire show etc. in the area around the Karlsruhe palace.

Eat

What to eat (if you want to try something typical):

• Flammkuchen: kind of similar to pizza, but with a a much thinner pastry and topped with sour cream instead of tomato sauce. Most typical toppings are onions and bacon, but there are many variants (in particular some very tasty sweet ones that come flambéed). Just order one after the other (they get cold very fast), always sharing each one with everyone on the table.
• Käsespätzle: a special kind of pasta in a heavy cheese sauce.
• Gebratene Maultaschen: kind of like Tortellini, but much larger and fried with onions. May sound strange, but you really can't do much wrong with these.
• Wurstsalat: Sausage-Salat; well, its Germany after all. Comes with bread and is really quite tasty.
• Hackepeter: Raw minced meat with fresh onions and bread. You don't get this very often (but for example at Vogelbräu).
• Yufka Döner: A kind of döner [12] with different bread. Sold in dozens of places it is probably the cheapest way to get a complete meal.

Where to eat:

• Kräuterküche [13] a small, modern German restaurant that offers a small selection of good food created in front of your eyes with fresh, biological ingredients. Its a good idea to call ahead and reserve a table. (Ritterstraße 10)
• Die Kippe [14] is one of the most typical student pubs in Karlsruhe. It offers cheap greasy food in a nice atmosphere. During the summer time they have a nice beer garden. Among other meals they serve a few regional foods. (Gottesauer Straße 23)
• Ballermann [15] is a cheap restaurant with tasty food close to the university; in particular you get some of the best burgers in Karlsruhe (try the barbecue burger). Ballermann also has a few large TVs and beamers and is showing all major soccer games. (Englerstraße 14)
• ViVA Restaurant [16] offers vegetarian and vegan food in the city center. (Lammstraße 7a)
• Shogun [17] is a good place to eat Sushi. (Zähringerstraße 96)
• Pizzahaus is an Italian restaurant with good pizza. (Rintheimer Straße 2)
• Vogelbräu Karlsruhe [18] is a beer garden, restaurant and brewery. You get good beer and German food here, really a nice place for lunch, dinner or drinking. There are two more 'Vogelbräu' restaurants in the nearby towns of Ettlingen [19] and Durlach [20]. (Kapellenstraße 50)
• Litfaß, Kreuzstraße 10, [21]. A resteraunt in the heart of Karlsruhe that offers a good variety of regional specialties including Maultaschen, Käsespätzle, and a pretty tasty Jägerschnitzel.  edit
• Café Bleu, Café Emaille. Two restaraunts owned by the same purveyor that runs "Die Kippe". Both have the same menu as Die Kippe, but different atmospheres. (Bleu is at Kaiserallee 11 and Emaille at Kaiserstr. 142) All three restaurants are as described above, and always a nice place to grab breakfast, a drink with friends or a quick meal without breaking the bank.  edit
• Dean&David, Kaiserstraße 223a, [22]. A very modern restaurant that strives to offer healthy fast-food from fresh ingredients. It offers mostly curries, soups and a large selection of salads.  edit

• Badisch Brauhaus [23] is a very large multi-story beer garden, brewery and restaurant. On its uppermost floor is a cocktail bar; probably the nicest place in Karlsruhe for cocktails (although on weekends it can be difficult to get a seat and service can be slow). (Stephanienstr. 38-40)
• Hoepfner - like other cities in Germany, Karlsruhe has a few regional brands of beer, of which Hoepfner is the most famous. There is a brewery and Beer Garden at the east site of the town. It is also worth exploring the microbreweries scattered around the city, such as the Vogelbraeu, Wolf Brauerei and the Badische Brauhaus, all of which have seasonal specialities.
• Alter Brauhof - a nice place to sit outside and have a beer (only a good place in summer), also offers decent food. Its not so well known, so you stand a good chance of finding a nice place even on a nice summer evening even on weekends. (Beiertheimer Allee 18a)
• Carambolage [24] - Special club in the near of the university and maybe the only place of the city where you can go out until 5 a.m. during the week.
• Z-10, Zaehringerstr. 10, [25]. A bar run by local university students that is frequented by the Karlsruhe's student population. There are several local beers offered here for very cheap (think 1 - 1.50 euro) and also decent cocktails. Bands are frequently playing in one or more of the rooms and visitors can play cards or board games with other patrons. Check the website for hours as the bar is generally only open when school is in session.  edit
• Scruffy's. Scruffy's is Karlsruhe's best Irish Pub. The interior of the bar is reminiscent of the hold of an old ship and is a comfortable environment. There are a variety of beers and whiskeys, as well as good Irish music every week. Often the owner's band will play, always a treat. The bartenders and some of the patrons are native English speakers, so it's a good place to let the tourist's brain relax after speaking a lot of German! (Kalrstr. 4, Across from the Europaplatz)  edit
• Dorfschänke, [26]. The Dorfschänke is Karlsruhe's oldest Kneipe, and a good place to meet up with people. With the normal selection of beers and drinks, this is also a good place to see bands or to watch soccer outside during the summer. There is also a fairly popular "Kicker" (or Foos-ball to us Americans) table inside where you can pick up a game or two. Be prepared to pay cover on nights when bands are playing. (Am Künstlerhaus 33 )  edit

• Thalia [27] - A bookstore in the main shopping street (Kaiserstraße 167) has some internet terminals in the uppermost floor
• Gelbe Seiten [28] - This quite stylish bar/cafe close to Ettlinger Tor (Karl-Friedrich-Straße 22) has free WLAN, one internet computer; offers a nice selection of drinks&cocktails and some simple food.
• LOC [29] - Surprisingly good art and culture restaurant in the main train station that offers good food, attentive staff, music and culture events in the evenings and relatively cheap WLAN. Only the coffee is bad.
• Kaffee Schiller [30] - Has free WLAN and a few computers to use. You also get good coffee, cakes and some simple (but good) food. Its close to the main shopping street and the university. (Kronenstr.30)
• An extensive (but German) list of further locations can be found here [31].

Shopping

Most shops are located in the pedestrian zone in the Kaiserstrasse. At Ludwigsplatz, near Kaiserstrasse, there are various open-air cafes where the shopper can relax. Some of the more expensive boutiques and shoe shops are also located in this area. In the south of the Marktplatz, at the end of the pedestrian zone, is a big shopping mall called "Ettlinger Tor". Definitely an alternative to the Kaiserstrasse, especially when the weather is bad.

• Youth Hostel [32]
• Other hotels: you can search for hotels on the city homepage.

Stay safe

Karlsruhe is maybe one of the safest cities in the world. Especially the centre of the town. There are a lot of policemen walking and driving around, mainly because of the important courts. Maybe some suburbs should be avoided at night (Oberreut or Daxlanden), but all in all there are no reasons to feel unsafe in this city.

Cope

Religious services

Overview over all Catholic churches in Karlsruhe

• Unsere Liebe Frau, Marienstr. 80 (from central station 800 m direction Nordeast). [33] Sun: 10:15; Tue: 15:00; Thu-Fri: 18:30

• St. Michael, Barbarossaplatz (from central station 1000 m direction west). [34] Sat: 18:00; Sun: 11:15, 16:00 (croat.); Tue: 8:00; Wed: 7:45; Thu: 18:00

• St. Elisabeth, Südendstraße 39 (from central station 1400 m direction nordwest).[35] Sun: 9:45; Tue: 18:00; Wed: 7:45; Thu: 18:00

Deutschsprachiger Muslimkreis (german-speaking muslim circle), Kaiserpassage 10 (from central station 1400 m direction center).

• Bertha Benz Memorial Route- Follow the tracks of the world's first automobile journey (Mannheim - Pforzheim/Black Forest - Mannheim) back in 1888, leading right through Karlsruhe-Grötzingen
• Baden-Baden
• Heidelberg
• Stuttgart
• Freiburg
• Paris The French TGV high speed train gets you there in as little as 3 hours and 3 minutes

From LoveToKnow 1911