Backnang is a town in Germany in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, roughly 30 km (19 mi) northeast of Stuttgart. Its population has increased greatly over the past century, from 7,650 in 1900 to 35,761 in 2005.
Backnang
Stiftshof, the local court, on the right
Christmas market 2010
Stuttgart is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the Stuttgarter Kessel and lies an hour from the Swabian Jura and the Black Forest. Stuttgart has a population of 632,865 as of 2022, making it the sixth largest city in Germany, while over 2.8 million people live in the city's administrative region and nearly 5.5 million people in its metropolitan area, making it the fourth largest metropolitan area in Germany. The city and metropolitan area are consistently ranked among the top 4 European metropolitan areas by GDP; Mercer listed Stuttgart as 21st on its 2015 list of cities by quality of living; innovation agency 2thinknow ranked the city 24th globally out of 442 cities in its Innovation Cities Index; and the Globalization and World Cities Research Network ranked the city as a Beta-status global city in their 2020 survey. Stuttgart was one of the host cities for the official tournaments of the 1974 and 2006 FIFA World Cups.
Image: Neues Schloss Schlossplatzspringbrunnen Schlossplatz Stuttgart 2015 01
Image: Heslach und Karlshöhe
Image: Altes Schloss Stuttgart
Image: Marquardtbau 2013 blue