Karlsruhe Maps

Karlsruhe is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, with approximately 309,000 inhabitants, located near the Rhine River. Founded in 1715 by Margrave Karl Wilhelm of Baden-Durlach, the city features a unique fan-shaped street layout radiating from the palace. Karlsruhe serves as the seat of Germany's Federal Constitutional Court and Federal Court of Justice, earning it the designation as the nation's legal capital.

The Karlsruhe Palace, positioned at the center of the city's radial design, houses the Baden State Museum with collections covering regional history, archaeology, and applied arts. The palace tower offers panoramic views of the symmetrical city layout. The Federal Constitutional Court building, though not generally open to the public, represents Germany's highest judicial authority for constitutional matters.

The State Art Gallery (Staatliche Kunsthalle) possesses one of Germany's oldest and finest public art collections, particularly strong in German Renaissance and French art. The ZKM Center for Art and Media is a leading institution for digital and interactive art, housed in a converted munitions factory. The Botanical Garden, established in 1808, contains extensive greenhouses and outdoor displays.

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), formed by merging the university and a national research center, is one of Germany's leading technical universities with particular strengths in engineering, computer science, and natural sciences. The city claims to be the "cradle of mobility," as Karl Drais invented the early bicycle here in 1817, and Bertha Benz completed the world's first long-distance automobile journey from Mannheim to Pforzheim via Karlsruhe in 1888.

The city's economy emphasizes information technology, with major IT companies and startups, engineering, and scientific research. Karlsruhe's regular street grid and bicycle infrastructure make it exceptionally bicycle-friendly. The city maintains extensive tram networks, including the Karlsruhe model combining tram and regional rail services that has been adopted worldwide. The Christmas market around the palace illuminates the city center annually.