Located between the
Black Forest and the
Swabian Alps, Rottweil has over 25,000 inhabitants as of 2022. The town is famous for its
medieval center and for its traditional
carnival (called "
Fasnet" in the local
Swabian dialect). It is the oldest town in Baden-Württemberg,[3] and its appearance has changed very little since the 16th century.
The town gives its name to the
Rottweiler dog breed.
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 an
Orpheus mosaic of c. AD 180 date from the time of Roman settlement. The present town became a ducal and a royal court before 771 and in 1268 it became a
free imperial city.
In 1463 Rottweil joined the
Swiss Confederacy under the pretence of a temporary alliance. In 1476 the Rottweilers fought on the Swiss side against
Charles the Bold in the
Battle of Morat. In 1512, Pope Julius II gave the city a valuable
"Julius banner" for its services in the 1508–1510 "Great Pavier Campaign" to expel the French.[4] In 1519, the Rottweilers left the old Swiss alliance. They joined a new one in which their membership was extended indefinitely – the so-called "Eternal Covenant".
Rottweil thus became a centre of the Swiss Confederation. The relations between the Swiss Confederation and Rottweil cooled rapidly during the Protestant Reformation. When Rottweil was troubled by wars, however, it still asked the Confederates for help.[5]
In the
Rottweil Witch Hunts from 1546 to 1661, 266 so-called witches, wizards and magicians were executed in the imperial city of Rottweil. On April 15, 2015, they were given a posthumous pardon. An official apology was given by the City Council about 400 years after their violent deaths.[6]
Rottweil lost both its status as free city and its alliance with the Swiss Confederacy with the conquest of the region by
Napoleon in 1803.
Lord mayors since the 19th century
1820–1833: Max Joseph von Khuon, Schultheiß
1833–1845: Max Teufel
1845–1848: Karl Dinkelmann
1848–1851: Kaspar Rapp
1852–1887: Johann Baptist Marx
1887–1923: Edwin Glückher
1924–1943: Josef Abrell
1943–1944: Otto Mann
1944–1945: Paul Fritz
1945–1946: Franz Mederle
1946–1965: Arnulf Gutknecht
1965–1985: Ulrich Regelmann, mayor; from 1970 Lord Mayor
During the
Middle Ages, Rottweil used to be a flourishing
imperial city with great economic and cultural influence.[13] In 1868, Rottweil was connected to
Stuttgart by rail, which boosted the economy of the region.[13]
Today, most companies in Rottweil are either
small or medium-sized.[14] A trading and shopping town with a high level of
innovation that benefits from its well developed educational and transport infrastructure, Rottweil has many industrial companies and a steadily growing proportion of knowledge-intensive
service jobs.[14]
At 7.9%, Rottweil has one of the highest
academic rates in the region.[14]
In the neighboring village of Zepfenhan, about 12 km (7.5 mi) away, is the
Flugplatz Rottweil-Zepfenhan [
de] (Rottweil-Zepfenhan airfield), which can be approached by small aircraft. The nearest commercial airports are
Stuttgart Airport and
Zurich Airport.
Education
Rottweil has three
Gymnasien (Albertus-Magnus-Gymnasium, Droste-Hülshoff-Gymnasium, Leibniz-Gymnasium), one
Realschule, one
Förderschule (Achert-Schule), three
Grundschulen (Eichendorff-Grundschule, Grundschule Neufra and Grundschule Neukirch), and four
Hauptschulen (GHS Göllsdorf, Johanniter-Grund- und Hauptschule, Konrad-Witz-Grund- und Hauptschule and Römer-Grund- und Hauptschule).
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 (1330–1340), 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 15th centuries.
The town's 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 on the same site.
ThyssenKrupp constructed a $45 million, 807-foot (246 m) tower, the
Rottweil Test Tower. The tower is a research facility for the company and is used to test new elevator cars and technologies. When the tower was completed in 2017, it was the tallest elevator test tower in the world.[17][a] The tower has 12 elevator shafts.[18]
^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
[1]Archived 2014-05-21 at the
Wayback Machine