Heilbronn (German pronunciation: [haɪlˈbʁɔn]) is a city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is surrounded by Heilbronn County and, with approximately 123,000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state.

The city on the Neckar is a former Imperial Free City and is the seat of Heilbronn County. Heilbronn is also the economic center of the Heilbronn-Franken region that includes most of northeast Baden-Württemberg.

Heilbronn is known for its wine industry and is nicknamed Käthchenstadt, after Heinrich von Kleist's Das Käthchen von Heilbronn.

Geography

Heilbronn is located in the northern corner of the Neckar basin at the bottom of the Wartberg (308 m). It occupies both banks of the Neckar, and the highest spot inside city limits is the Schweinsberg with a height of 372 meters. Heilbronn is adjacent to Swabian-Franconian Forest Nature Park and is surrounded by vineyards.

Heilbronn and its surroundings are located in the northern part of the larger Stuttgart metropolitan area. The city is the economic center of the Heilbronn-Franken region and is one of fourteen such cities in the Baden-Württemberg master plan of 2002. It also serves Abstatt, Bad Rappenau, Bad Wimpfen, Beilstein, Brackenheim, Cleebronn, Eberstatt, Ellhofen, Eppingen, Flein, Gemmingen, Güglingen, Ilsfeld, Ittlingen, Kirchardt, Lauffen am Neckar, Lehrensteinsfeld, Leingarten, Löwenstein, Massenbachhausen, Neckarwestheim, Nordheim, Obersulm, Pfaffenhofen, Schwaigern, Siegelsbach, Talheim, Untergruppenbach, Weinsberg, Wüstenrot, and Zaberfeld as a regional economic centre.

Landkreis Heilbronn (German pronunciation: [haɪlˈbʁɔn]) is a district (Kreis) in the north of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from north clockwise) Neckar-Odenwald, Hohenlohe, Schwäbisch Hall, Rems-Murr, Ludwigsburg, Enz, Karlsruhe and Rhein-Neckar. In the centre of it is the free-city of Heilbronn, which is its own separate administrative area.

History

The predecessor to the district is the Oberamt Heilbronn, which was created in 1803 when the previously Free Imperial City of Heilbronn was incorporated into the Electorate of Württemberg. In 1926, about half of the Oberamt (old district) of Weinsberg was added. In 1938, it was recognized as a district, and in addition to the previous Oberamt, parts of the dissolved Oberämter Neckarsulm, Brackenheim, Marbach and Besigheim were added. The city of Heilbronn was not included into the district. In 1973, the Landkreise (districts) were reorganized, and part of the dissolved districts of Sinsheim, Mosbach, Buchen and Schwäbisch Hall were added. Within the following two years 5 municipalities were incorporated into the city and therefore left the district, which got its current borders in 1975.

Heilbronn is a city in Germany but may also refer to:

Heilbronn is a variation of the Jewish surname Heilprin and may refer to:

See also