Freudenstadt is a town in Baden-Württemberg

Baden-Württemberg

Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...

 in southern Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. It is capital of the district Freudenstadt

Freudenstadt (district)

Freudenstadt is a district in the middle of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Rastatt, Calw, Tübingen, Zollernalbkreis, Rottweil and the Ortenaukreis.-History:...

. The closest population centres are Offenburg

Offenburg

Offenburg is a city located in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With about 60,000 inhabitants, it is the largest city and the capital of the Ortenaukreis.Offenburg also houses University of Applied Sciences Offenburg...

 to the west (approx. 36 km away) and Tübingen

Tübingen

Tübingen is a traditional university town in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, on a ridge between the Neckar and Ammer rivers.-Geography:...

 to the east (approx. 47 km away).

The city lies on a high plateau at the east edge of the north Black Forest

Black Forest

The Black Forest is a wooded mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It is bordered by the Rhine valley to the west and south. The highest peak is the Feldberg with an elevation of 1,493 metres ....

, and is well-known for its fresh air. Its city centre is famous as the largest market place in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. After Horb, it is the second largest city of the Freudenstadt district. The city has an administration partnership with the communities Bad Rippoldsau-Schapbach

Bad Rippoldsau-Schapbach

Bad Rippoldsau-Schapbach is a municipality in the district of Freudenstadt in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany.-Geography:The Municipality is located in the black forest in the Wolftal valley, 15 km away from Freudenstadt....

 and Seewald

Seewald

Seewald is a municipality in the Freudenstadt district in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It lies in the Black Forest area.In Erzgrube, it has a dam over the Nagold and has a lake named Nagoldsee. It lies above sea level. Other subdivisions lie between above sea level in the midst of...

.

Freudenstadt is a climatic health resort of international renown. In the 19th and 20th centuries, visitors of note included George V of the United Kingdom

George V of the United Kingdom

George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....

, the Queen of Sweden, John D. Rockefeller

John D. Rockefeller

John Davison Rockefeller was an American oil industrialist, investor, and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of...

, and even the American writer Mark Twain

Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...

. With its many hotels and guest houses, and its high-class cuisine, Freudenstadt remains a popular vacation spot for Germans from every part of the country. Among the many Germans of note who considered Freudenstadt a second home was the justice inspector Friedrich Kellner

Friedrich Kellner

August Friedrich Kellner was a mid-level official in Germany who worked as a justice inspector in Mainz and Laubach. During the First World War, Kellner was an infantryman in a Hessian regiment...

 whose WWII diary is the subject of a Canadian documentary

My Opposition: the Diaries of Friedrich Kellner

My Opposition - The Diaries of Friedrich Kellner is a 2007 documentary film about an orphaned American who went in search of his German grandfather and discovered a secret diary written during the time of the Third Reich. The film is a production of Abella Entertainment Ltd...

.

History

The building of Freudenstadt was ordered by duke Frederick

Frederick I, Duke of Württemberg

Friedrich I of Württemberg was the son of Georg of Mömpelgard and his wife Barbara of Hesse, daughter of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse....

 of Württemberg

Württemberg

Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....

 in 1599. The designer was architect Heinrich Schickhardt.

Main sights

• The market places, sided by arcaded houses, is the largest in Germany.
• The Gothic
  Gothic architecture
  Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
  
  /Renaissance
  Renaissance
  The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
  
   Evangelical Lutheran Church, with its green tower roofs, is on the south side of the market place. It dates back to the beginning of the 17th century, built between 1601 and 1608, and is considered Freudenstadt's most significant building. It was built in the gothic renaissance style.
• The Rathaus (Town Hall), which includes the museum of local history, is also located at the market place.
• Bärenschlössle, built in 1627.

International relations

Freudenstadt is twinned

Town twinning

Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...

 with: Courbevoie

Courbevoie

Courbevoie is a commune located very close to the centre of Paris, France. The centre of Courbevoie is situated 2 kilometres from the outer limits of Paris and 8.2 km...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...