Landau
Landau or
Landau in der Pfalz (pop. 41,821) is an autonomous (
kreisfrei) city surrounded by the
Südliche Weinstraße ("southern wineroute") district of southern
Rhineland-Palatinate,
Germany. It is a university town (since
1990) a long-standing cultural centre, and a market and shopping town, surrounded by vineyards and wine-growing villages. Landau lies east of the
Pfälzer Wald, Europe's largest contiguous forest.
Landau was first mentioned as a settlement in
1106. It was in the possession of the counts of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Landeck, whose arms, differenced by an
escutcheon of the Imperial eagle, served as the arms of Landau (
illustration at right) until
1955 [
1]. The city was granted a charter in
1274 by
Rudolf I von Habsburg, King of Germany, who declared the city an
Imperial Free City in
1291; nevertheless the
bishop of Speyer, a major landowner in the district, seized the city in
1324. The city did not regain its ancient rights until
1511, through the offices of
Maximilian I.
An Augustinian monastery was founded in
1276.
Landau was later occupied by the
French from
1680 to
1815, when it was one of the
Décapole, the ten free cities of
Alsace, and received its modern fortifications by
Louis XIV's military architect
Vauban,
1688–
99, making the little city (population in
1789 was still only approximately 5,000) one of Europe's strongest citadels. After
Napoleon's
Hundred Days following his escape from Elba, Landau, which had remained French, was granted to
Bavaria in
1816 and became the capital of one of the thirteen
Bezirksämter (counties) of the Bavarian Rheinpfalz. Following
World War II, Landau was an important barracks city for the
French occupation.
Wine-making continues to be an important industry. Landau's giant main square (
Rathausplatz) is dominated by the city hall (
Rathaus) and the market hall (
Altes Kaufhaus).
The former fortifications gave way in the 19th-century to a
Hauptring that encircles the old town centre, from which the old industrial buildings have been excluded. A convention hall, the
Festhalle, was built in
Art Nouveau style,
1905–
07 on a rise overlooking the city park and facing the modernist
Bundesamt, the regional government building.
The familiar luxury open carriage called the "
landau" was indeed invented in the city.
Other city sights:
Deutsches TorGalereenturm*
Official website*
Private website about the American soldiers that lived in Landau*
Informations about the Royal Bavarian Army in Landau until 1918 - So far only in German
