Karlsruhe

Commercial and university city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, close to the River Rhine, 61 km/38 mi northwest of Stuttgart; population (2005 est) 285,300. Industries include mechanical engineering, electronics, nuclear research, and oil-refining. The city participates in the Four Cities' Partnership with Halle, Nancy (France), and Nottingham (UK), which was established in the early 1990s to exchange industrial expertise in joint research and business ventures. It was built around an 18th-century castle as the new capital for the former state of Baden.

History The castle was erected by the Margrave Karl-Wilhelm von Baden-Durlach in 1715, and the city laid out in the shape of a fan. The mechanical engineer Karl Benz (1844–1929) built his first motor-tricycle here in 1885, and the physicist and Nobel laureate Heinrich Hertz (1887–1975) conducted his most important experiments in the city's technical college.

Features Karlsruhe lies just north of the Black Forest, and is connected by canal to the Rhine. It is a city of imposing design, with fine parks and avenues, and many notable neoclassical buildings. There are a number of important museums and art galleries, including the State Art Gallery with an important collection of German, Dutch, and French masters. The city hosts an annual Handel Festival in February/March.

It is the home of the European Atomic Agency (EURATOM), an organization for nuclear research and development.