Aalen

Aalen

Infobox German Location
name = Aalen
name_local =
image_coa = Wappen Aalen.png
state = Baden-Württemberg
image_photo = Aalen.jpg
imagesize = 240px
image_caption =

regbzk = Stuttgart
district = Ostalbkreis
population = 66252
population_as_of = 2007-08-01
population_ref = [http://www.schwaebische-post.de/369580/]
area = 146.624
elevation = 430
lat_deg = 48 | lat_min = 50 | lat_sec=0 | lat_hem = N
lon_deg = 10 | lon_min = 6 | lon_sec=0 | lon_hem = E
postal_code = 73430–73434
area_code = 07361/-66/-67
licence = AA
mayor = Martin Gerlach
website = [http://www.aalen.de/ www.aalen.de] Infobox Former Country
native_name = "Reichsstadt Aalen"
conventional_long_name = Imperial City of Aalen
common_name = Aalen
continent = Europe
region = Central Europe
country = Germany
era = Middle Ages
status = City-state
empire = Holy Roman Empire
government_type = Republic
year_start = 1360
year_end = 1803
event_pre = City founded
date_pre = 13th century
event_start = Gained "Reichsfreiheit"
date_start =
event1 = Protestant Reformation
date_event1 = 1575
event2 = Returned to Catholicism
date_event2 = 1628–32
event3 = Devastated by fire
date_event3 = 1634
event_end = Mediatised to
spaces|4Württemberg
date_end =
1803
p1 = House of Hohenstaufen
image_p1 =
p2 = Oettingen in Bayern
image_p2 =
s1 = Duchy of Württemberg
flag_s1 = Flagge Königreich Württemberg.svg
capital = Aalen
footnotes = It's uncertain whether or not the city previous belonged to one of the Hohenstaufen duchies of Swabia or to the Counts of Oettingen

Aalen (pronounced IPA| [ˈaːlən] ) is a town in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is the seat of the Ostalbkreis district, and its largest town.

Geography

Aalen is situated on the upper reaches of the river Kocher, at the foot of the Swabian Alb to the south and south east and close to the hilly landscape of the Ellwanger Berge to the north. The "Aal" is a small river stretching only on the town's territory. [ [http://www.gisserver.de/aalen/start.html Geographical information system of the town of Aalen] ] Aalen is at about 70 kilometres east of Stuttgart and 48 kilometres [http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9003199 Aalen] , "Encyclopædia Britannica"; retrieved December 12, 2006, from "Encyclopædia Britannica Online"] (30 miles) north of Ulm.

History

From about 150 / 160 AD a Roman fort housed the cavalry unit "Ala II Flavia milliaria" at the site of present-day Aalen. The location was strategically important at the time, in the direct vicinity of the Rhaetian Limes. The unit being 1000 soldiers strong, the fort was the greatest fort of auxiliaries along the border to unoccupied Germania. A civilian settlement was adjacent on the south and the east. Around 260, the Romans gave up the fort as they withdrew their frontier to Germania back to the Rhine and Danube rivers, and the Alamanni took over the region.cite_book|editor= Diethelm Winter |title= Der Ostalbkreis |publisher= Theiss, Stuttgart, Germany |isbn= 3-8062-0891-3 | edition= 2nd edition |year= 1992 |pages= pp. 315–320 |language= German] It has been suggested that the name of Aalen traces back to the Roman fort, but this was disproved by later research.Fact|date=October 2007

The first time Aalen was mentioned in the Middle Ages was in an inventory list of Ellwangen, dated ca. 1136, as the village "Alon". Aalen was probably granted town privileges in the 13th century, though it is not certain whether by the Staufians or by the counts of Oettingen. It was first mentioned in written records in the 14th century when it was subject to the counts of Oettingen. Aalen was an Imperial City (often misreferred to as Imperial Free City) from 1360 to 1803, when it was annexed to Württemberg. It suffered a severe fire in 1634. It then became the seat of an Oberamt from which the district ("Kreis") Aalen emerged in 1938. The latter merged with the district of Schwäbisch Gmünd to the newly formed Ostalbkreis in 1973, though Aalen remained the district seat. In 1975, Wasseralfingen, a town with a third of the population of Aalen, was merged into Aalen.

Economy

In the early 20th century the population was 10,000. Wool and linen goods were manufactured, there were ribbon looms and tanneries in the town, and a large iron works in the neighbourhood. The economy of Aalen is today dominated by metal processing. Besides machine construction, the optical sector plays an important role, as well as the textile and paper industries. There are several microbreweries, of which the one in Wasseralfingen is the most popular with a beer called "Wasseralfinger".

Its church of Saint Nicholas dates back to 1765; the town hall dates back even further, to 1636. In addition to its historical sites, Aalen's Limesmuseum of Roman relics was opened in 1964.

Aalen is a health resort, with the "Limes-Thermen (German: “Limes Thermae”)" hot springs. The "Tiefer Stollen (German: “deep adit”)" mine, where ore was once mined for the iron works in Wasseralfingen, now offers therapy for asthma and has a mining museum open for visitors. A mine railway takes visitors deep into the Braunenberg mountain.

Transport

Aalen is located directly on the Autobahn A7 and is also well connected to the network of federal roads ("Bundesstraßen").

The Aalen train station is a regional railway hub, with InterCity trains running Karlsruhe–Stuttgart–Aalen–Nürnberg, and regional trains connecting with Stuttgart, Ulm, Crailsheim and Donauwörth.

The local bus system is of high quality; its double-decker buses are among the few in use in Germany.

Sport

Aalen has several sport teams.The Scholz Arena is the home stadium of the VfR Aalen football club.Aalen's wrestling team "KSV Aalen" is one of the top clubs in all of Germany, so is the wrestling division of the "TSV Dewangen", resident in Aalen's borough of Dewangen.

Boroughs of Aalen

* Dewangen
* Ebnat
* Fachsenfeld
* Unterkochen
* Waldhausen
* Wasseralfingen

Twin towns

Aalen is twinned with:
* Saint-Lô, France (since 1978)
* Christchurch, England (since 1981)
* Tatabánya, Hungary (since 1987)
* Antakya, Turkey (since 1995)

Image gallery

References

*

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Aalen — Escudo …   Wikipedia Español

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  • Aalen — Aalen, Oberamtsstadt im württemb. Jagstkreis, am Kocher, Knotenpunkt der Staatsbahnlinien Kannstatt Nördlingen und A. Ulm, 429 m ü. M., hat eine evangelische und eine kath. Kirche, eine Realschule, Lateinschule, ein Denkmal des Dichters Schubart …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Aalen — Aalen, Oberamtsst. im württemb. Jaxtkreise, am Kocher; 3000 E., früher schwäb. Reichsstadt. (»Der Spion von Aalen«.) …   Herders Conversations-Lexikon

  • aalen — Vswrefl std. stil. (19. Jh.) Stammwort. Vermutlich, wie sich rekeln zu Rekel großer Hund , zu Aal als sich wohlig dehnen, winden nach den Bewegungen des Aals; vgl. ndn. slange sik sich aalen (zu Schlange), nnorw. åle robben , refl. sich… …   Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen sprache

  • Aalen — Aalen, 1) Oberamt im württemberg. Jaxtkreise, 5 QM., 21,900 Ew.; 2) Stadt am Kocher, Sitz des Oberamtes, seit 1630 (wo Graf Eberhard III. von Württemberg, wegen Empörung, A. an das Reich abtreten mußte) Reichsstadt, kam 1802 an Württemberg;… …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Aalen — Aalen, Oberamtsstadt im württemb. Jagstkreis, am Zusammenfluß von Aal und Kocher, (1900) 9058 E., Amtsgericht; 1360 1802 Freie Reichsstadt …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • Aalen — † Aalen, Aale fangen, ist nur in gemeinen Sprecharten üblich …   Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart

  • Aalen — Wappen Deutschlandkarte …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • aalen — (sich) räkeln * * * aa|len [ a:lən] <+ sich> (ugs.): sich wohlig strecken, sich behaglich ausgestreckt ausruhen: sie aalte sich in der Sonne. * * * aa|len 〈V.; hat〉 I 〈V. intr.〉 Aale fangen II 〈V. refl.; umg.〉 sich aalen 1. sich faulenzend… …   Universal-Lexikon

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