Almost undiscovered by travelers, Stuttgart is one of the leading
economic centers in Europe and offers a mixture of the old, the new,
the exciting and the relaxing.
Have you ever taken a look at the Porsche logo? Notice the yellow
coat of arms with a horse in the middle? That didn’t just happen
by chance. Porsche (pronounced Por-shey by the Germans) took its
symbol from the town it is located in, Stuttgart.
Stuttgart dates back to the 10th century when it was founded by Duke
Heryoz Luidolf (only son of Otto I, king of Germany). The hilly
town was used as a breeding ground for the Duke’s and his father’s
horses. That is where the name comes from. Stuttgart
literally means “Stuotgarten” or garden of horses.
It wasn’t until the 13th century that Stuttgart officially became a
city when it was inhabited by the counts of Wurttemberg. Later
the counts were promoted to Dukes by the Holy Roman Empire and when the
empire was broken up by Napoleon they became kings and Stuttgart became
a royal residence.
The most famous of Stuttgart’s royalty is King Wilhelm. He not
only began the Volksfest (Stuttgart’s version of Oktoberfest) in
celebration of opening the Hohenheim University, he also built the zoo
and botanical gardens that are named after him, the Wilhelma.
In 1871 Wurttemberg joined the German Empire headed up by the Prussian Kings in Berlin.
In the early 19th century, Stuttgart was the home to industrial men
like Gottlieb Daimler and Robert Bosch who transformed Stuttgart into
an industrial town. Not only do Porsche, Bosch and Daimler
Chryster call Stuttgart home but IBM and Hewlett-Packard have their
German headquarters here as well.
During WWII Stuttgart produced many tools of war and was heavily bombed. To
this day, they still discover bombs that did not detonate (however,this
is not a reason not to go to Stuttgart).
One hill that overlooks the city, Birkenkopf, is quite a bit taller
than before the war. The citizens used it as a dumping pile for
all of the old concrete and bricks from fallen buildings. You can
climb it today and still see parts of the old walls.
In 1952 a referendum was held to determine whether or not to meld the
two states, Baden (the Black Forest region) and Wurttemberg into one
state. Baden was overly against the proposition and Wurttemberg
for it. Because Wurttemberg had the higher population and
out-voted Baden, the two where merged into today’s Baden-Wurttemberg,
the 3rd largest state in Germany.
Today Stuttgart still has remnants of its past royal history and
continues to be an industrial center with the lowest unemployment rate
in Germany. It was voted “Best Shopping City” by visitors during
the 2006 World Cup and because of the many hills, it is known for its
many stairs.
[photo of Neues Schloss by to.wi]
