Bietigheim-Bissingen

Bietigheim-Bissingen
Bietigheim Altstadt
Bietigheim-Bissingen
Coordinates	48°58′N 9°8′E
Administration
Country	Germany
State	Baden-Württemberg
Admin. region	Stuttgart
District	Ludwigsburg
Town subdivisions	5
Mayor	Jürgen Kessing (SPD)
Basic statistics
Area	31.29 km2 (12.08 sq mi)
Elevation	200 m  (656 ft)
Population	42,810 (31 December 2010)
- Density	1,368 /km2 (3,544 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	LB
Postal codes	74301–74321
Area code	07142
Website	www.bietigheim-bissingen.de

Bietigheim-Bissingen is the second-largest town in the district of Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany with 42,515 inhabitants in 2007. It is situated on the river Enz, close to its confluence with the Neckar, about 19 km north of Stuttgart, and 20 km south of Heilbronn.

Buildings and sights

Bietigheim Old Gate

• 287 m long Bietigheim Enz Valley Bridge (German: "Bietigheimer Enzviadukt") (built in 1853)
• Old gate (only one still present, built in 14th century)
• (Protestant) church in Downtown Bietigheim (built in 1401)
• Town hall (built in 1506)
• "Hornmoldhaus" (built in 1536)
• Castle of Bietigheim (built in 1546, renovated between 2000 and 2002), nowadays home to the Bietigheim-Bissingen music school

Infrastructure

Bietigheim-Bissingen station is located on an important railway junction on the Western Railway (connecting Stuttgart with Karlsruhe and Heidelberg) and the Franconia Railway to Heilbronn. Line 5 of the Stuttgart S-Bahn and line 5 of the Stadtbahn Karlsruhe both start here.

People

• Ottmar Mergenthaler, inventor of the Linotype typesetting machine spent four years in Bietigheim during his apprenticeship to a watchmaker
• Heiko Maile, Marcus Meyn and Oliver Kreyssig, members of the German pop group Camouflage
• Matthias Ettrich, founder of KDE
• Roland Bless and Ingo Reidl, members of the German pop group Pur
• Namosh, a German musician and singer

Events

• Bietigheim Horse Market
• Music Exchange with Blue Valley Northwest High School string orchestra every 2 years
• Music Exchange with Shawnee Mission South High School symphonic band every 4 years
• Music Exchange with Community High School District 99 Honors Band and Orchestra (Downers Grove, IL) every 2 years.

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Germany

Bietigheim-Bissingen is twinned with: Kusatsu (Japan) (since 1962) Sucy-en-Brie (France) (since 1967) Surrey Heath (United Kingdom) (since 1971) Szekszárd (Hungary) (since 1989) Overland Park, USA (since 1999) Saltara, ITA (since 2006)