Bad Cannstatt

Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt
Stadtbezirk of Stuttgart
Coat of arms
Location in Stuttgart
Country	Germany
State	Baden-Württemberg
Admin. region	Stuttgart
District	Stuttgart
City	Stuttgart
Subdivisions	19 Boroughs
Government
• Direktor	Bernd-Marcel Loeffler (SPD)
Area
• Stadtbezirk of Stuttgart	15.713 km2 (6.067 sq mi)
Elevation	205 m (673 ft)
Population  (2014)
• Metro	69,543
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	70331-70378
Dialling codes	0711
Vehicle registration	S
Website	www.stuttgart.de/item/show/13826/1

Bad Cannstatt, formerly just "Cannstatt" or "Kannstadt" (until 1900), is one of the outer stadtbezirke, or city districts, of Stuttgart in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Bad Cannstatt is the oldest and most populous of Stuttgart's districts, and one of the most historically significant towns in the area of Stuttgart. The town is home to the Cannstatter Wasen and Cannstatter Volksfest beer festivals, the Mercedes-Benz Arena (VfB Stuttgart), the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle, and the Porsche-Arena.

Etymology

In the past, Bad Cannstatt has been known as simply Cannstatt or Kannstatt, Cannstadt, Canstatt, Kanstatt, and Condistat. Its name was changed to mention the town's spas on 23 July 1933. Cannstatt's name originates from a Castra stativa, Cannstatt Castrum, the massive Roman Castra that was erected on the hilly ridge in 90 AD to protect the valuable river crossing and local trade.

History

Bad Cannstatt lies on the Neckar at the convergence of various regional trails. It was founded during the Roman period, although the area was inhabited by the Seelberg mammoth hunters during the last glacial period. The nearby Sielberg is notable for its caverns and fossils.

Records survive of Roman knowledge of the area's springs. The present name first appeared as the seat of a court held by Charlemagne in the 8th century while trying the rebellious dukes of Alemannia and Bavaria. Cannstatt was the capital of the county of Württemberg into the 14th or 15th century; the Rotenberg was the location of the ruling house's ancestral castle. Cannstatt subsequently formed part of the duchy, electorate, and kingdom of Württemberg. It lay about 2.5 miles (4 km) from Stuttgart proper, although it has since grown to include Bad Cannstatt. In the 13th or 14th century, Louis the Bavarian expanded its rights and privileges to equality with Esslingen. Its 15th-century cathedral was dedicated to St Uffo. In 1755, the Great Lisbon Earthquake caused the town hall to subside about 3 feet (1 m). Amid the Napoleonic Wars, the town was the site of a French victory over the Austrians on 21 July 1796.

In the 19th century, it boasted an attractive town hall, a royal theater, a market house, the Wilhelma and Rosenstein palaces, and extensive industry including wool-spinning, dyeing, steelmaking, and construction of machinery. There were then about 40 mineral springs, which were considered beneficial for "dyspepsia and weakness of the nervous system", as well as "diseases of the throat". Cannstatt was the site of Gottlieb Daimler's invention of the motorcycle and housed an automobile factory before the First World War. Around that time, it also had notable railway and chemical works and a brewery. It was incorporated into Stuttgart in 1904.

Of the 19 surviving mineral springs, 11 are recognized as state wells. In the world, it is now second to only Újbuda in Budapest, Hungary, in scale. The Mombach spring is the only one that releases its water without pressure in large quantities; its outflow is used in the adjacent baths and the Wilhelma spa.

Famous Residents

Famous people associated with Bad-Cannstatt include:

• Gottlieb Daimler, inventor of the motorcycle and part-founder of Daimler-Benz.

References

Bibliography

• "Canstatt" , Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th ed., Vol. V, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1878, pp. 26–27.
• "Cannstatt" , Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed., Vol. V, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1911, p. 189.