Rottweil

Rottweil (/ʁɔtvα:il/ listen ) is a city in southwest Germany in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Rottweil was a Free Imperial City for nearly 600 years.

Located between the Black Forest and the Swabian Alps, Rottweil has about 25,000 inhabitants. The old city is famous for its medieval center and for its traditional carnival, (called "Fasnet" in the local Swabian dialect). The oldest town in Baden-Württemberg,^[2] its appearance has changed very little from the 16th century.

History

Rottweil was founded by the Romans in AD 73 as Arae Flaviae and became a municipium, but there are traces of human settlement going back to 2000 BC. Roman baths and a mosaic of Orpheus (c. AD 180) date from the time of Roman settlement. The present town became a ducal and a royal court before 771 and in the Middle Ages it became a Free Imperial City in 1268.

In 1463 the city joined the Swiss Confederacy, with which it was closely aligned for several centuries. Both its status as free city and its alliance with the Swiss Confederacy were eventually lost with the conquest of the region by Napoleon in 1803.

Main sights

The late-Romanesque and Gothic-era Münster Heiliges Kreuz ("Minster of the Holy Cross"), built over a pre-existing church from 1270. It features a crucifix by Veit Stoss and noteworthy Gothic sculptures.
Kapellenkirche (1330–40), a Gothic church with a tower and with three statue-decorated portals.
Lorenzkapelle ("Church of St. Lawrence", 16th century), in late Gothic style. It houses some two hundred works by Swabian masters and Gothic altarpieces from the 14th and 5th centuries.
The City museum, including a notable Roman mosaic with the legend of Orpheus.
The late-Gothic Town Hall (1521).
St. Pelagius, a Romanesque church from the 12th century. Excavations have brought to light Roman baths in the same site.

Other

The Rottweiler dog is named after this town; it used to be a butcher's dog in the region.
Adam of Rottweil, the 15th-century scholar and printer, was born in Rottweil.
Konrad Witz, painter
Das Mädchen aus Rottweil is a song by the German band Die Toten Hosen

International relations

Rottweil is twinned with:

Images

Depiction of St. Veronica's sudarium over the portal of the Minster of the Holy Cross
A statue for rottweiler dogs in Rottweil

Rottweiler "Fasnet" 2007

References

↑ "Gemeinden in Deutschland mit Bevölkerung am 31.12.2012 (Einwohnerzahlen auf Grundlage des Zensus 2011)". Statistisches Bundesamt (in German). 12 November 2013.
↑ Website of Dominikaner Museum Rottweil (retrieved May 22, 2014), on permanent display is a wooden table from August 4, AD 186 naming arae flaviae as municipium thus making Rottweil the oldest town in Baden-Württemberg

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rottweil.

Free Imperial Cities of the Holy Roman Empire

As of 1792

Free Imperial Cities as of 1648

Cities that lost Imperial immediacy or were no longer part of the Holy Roman Empire by 1792

^D Member of the Décapole
^H Member of the Hanseatic League
^S Member or associate of the Swiss Confederacy.

Holy Roman Empire — Imperial abbeys of the Swabian College

Imperial abbeys and colleges (Reichsabteien, Reichsklöster und Reichsstifte)	Baindt Comburg Disentis Elchingen Frauenchiemsee Fraumünster Fürstenfeld Gengenbach Göss Gutenzell Heggbach Helmarshausen Herrenalb Irsee Kaisheim† Lindau Lorsch Marchtal Marmoutier Maulbronn Mönchrot Mondsee Murbach* Neresheim Ochsenhausen Ottobeuren Petershausen Prüfening Reichenau Roggenburg Rottenmünster St. Gall's* St. George's in Isny Salem Schänis Schussenried Schuttern Söflingen Ursberg Waldsassen Weingarten Weissenau Wettenhausen

Imperial charterhouse (Reichskartause)	Buxheim†

* Also a Prince of the Empire † Also in Rhenish College

Towns and municipalities in Rottweil (district)

Aichhalden Bösingen Deißlingen Dietingen Dornhan Dunningen Epfendorf Eschbronn Fluorn-Winzeln Hardt Lauterbach Oberndorf am Neckar Rottweil Schenkenzell Schiltach Schramberg Sulz am Neckar Villingendorf Vöhringen Wellendingen Zimmern ob Rottweil