Baden-Württemberg is the third-biggest of the 16 German Länder, in terms of both surface area (35,752 square km) and its current population of 10.6 million (of whom almost 1.3 million are foreigners). It borders on France to the west, and Switzerland and Austria – across Lake Constance – to the south. The state capital is Stuttgart (587,000 inhabitants), and other major cities include Mannheim, Karlsruhe and Freiburg. The Land government is a coalition of the CDU and the FDP/DVP. Günther Oettinger (CDU) has headed the state government since 2005.
www.baden-wuerttemberg.de
There were three states in the area of today’s Baden-Württemberg up until 1945: Württemberg, Baden and Württemberg-Hohenzollern. Each had its own history and its own identity. Three years after the creation of the Federal Republic of Germany, the inhabitants decided to create a joint Land – by plebiscite. In 1952 a majority of 70 percent was in favour of merging the three states into one: Baden-Württemberg. The regional museum – the „Haus der Geschichte Baden-Württemberg“ in Stuttgart, which opened in December 2002 – is a mine of information on the history of south-west Germany.
www.hdgbw.de
Baden-Württemberg has very few natural resources, but a lot of ideas – it is a state full of inventors. Names like Gottlieb Daimler, Carl Benz or Robert Bosch speak for themselves. In addition to its traditional strengths in car and machine manufacturing, Baden-Württemberg is also tops in the swiftly growing TIME branches: telecommunications, information technology, media and electronics. The creativity of its inhabitants has made this federal state Europe’s number one hightech location. Today, its economic power exceeds that of Belgium, Sweden or Austria, while its export figures are higher than those of Switzerland.
www.bw-invest.de
The list of companies reads like a Who’s Who in the German economy: Bosch, Boss, DaimlerChrysler, Dornier, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen, Porsche, SAP, Stihl, Trumpf, Voith, Würth and Zeiss are all at home in BadenWürttemberg.
Of all the federal states, BadenWürttemberg invests the most in research and development. No other state has a denser network of research institutes, and nowhere in Germany are more patents applied for per head of the population than in BadenWürttemberg.
The people of Baden-Württemberg are proud of having the highest density of museums in Germany: 1,000 local and private institutions. Often, not just the, to an extent, unique collections are worth visiting, but also the buildings themselves: the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein was designed by the star US-architect Frank O. Gehry (above), the Neue Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart is the work of James Stirling, from Great Britain. The Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie in Karlsruhe took a highly original approach by uniting artistic expression and information technology. The Museum Würth (below) is an example of felicitous patronage: sponsored by the screw manufacturer Würth, the museum shows modern and contemporary art of the highest quality. Three state art academies ensure the necessary supply of creative new blood.
The Staatstheater Stuttgart (photograph) seems to have a special subscription: in 2002, and for the fourth time in five years, critics chose it as the „Opera House of the Year.“ The Stuttgart Ballet – founded by John Cranko – and the International Bach Academy have an outstanding reputation worldwide. All in all, Baden-Württemberg has two national theatres, three state theatres, nine local theatres, 42 small private theatres, 100 free theatres, 15 theatre festivals, eight orchestras and 14 music festivals on offer. Of course, culture can look back on a long tradition here: Friedrich Schiller (photo below), Friedrich Hölderlin, Wilhelm Hauff, and Hermann Hesse came from Baden-Württemberg.
