Landau
| Landau | ||
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Courthouse
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 Landau
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| Coordinates: 49°12′N 8°7′E / 49.200°N 8.117°ECoordinates: 49°12′N 8°7′E / 49.200°N 8.117°E | ||
| Country | Germany | |
| State | Rhineland-Palatinate | |
| District | Urban district | |
| Government | ||
| • Lord Mayor | Thomas Hirsch (CDU) | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 82.94 km2 (32.02 sq mi) | |
| Population (2015-12-31) | ||
| • Total | 45,362 | |
| • Density | 550/km2 (1,400/sq mi) | |
| Time zone | CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) | |
| Postal codes | 76829 | |
| Dialling codes | 06341 | |
| Vehicle registration | LD | |
| Website | www.landau.de | |
Landau, or Landau in der Pfalz, is an autonomous (kreisfrei) town surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße ("Southern Wine Route") 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 of the Palatinate wine region. Landau lies east of the Palatinate forest, Europe's largest contiguous forest, on the German Wine Route.
It contains the districts (Stadtteile) of Arzheim, Dammheim, Godramstein, Mörlheim, Mörzheim, Nussdorf, Queichheim, and Wollmesheim.
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 until 1955 [1]. The town was granted a charter in 1274 by King Rudolf I of Germany, who declared the town a Free Imperial Town in 1291; nevertheless Prince-Bishop Emich of Speyer, a major landowner in the district, seized the town in 1324. The town did not regain its ancient rights until 1511 from Maximilian I. An Augustinian monastery was founded in 1276.
Landau was later part of France from 1680 to 1815, during which it was one of the Décapole, the ten free cities of Alsace, and received its modern fortifications by Louis XIV's military architect Vauban in 1688–99, making the little town (population in 1789 was still only approximately 5,000) one of Europe's strongest citadels. It was part of Bas-Rhin department between 1789 and 1815. After Napoleon's Hundred Days following his escape from Elba, Landau, which had remained French, was granted to the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1815 and became the capital of one of the thirteen Bezirksämter (counties) of the Bavarian Rheinkreis, later renamed Pfalz.
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Wikipedia