1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Stuttgart

STUTTGART, a city of Germany, capital of the kingdom of Württemberg. It lies in a basin watered by the Nesenbach just above its confluence with the Neckar, 115 m. N.W. from Munich, and at the centre of a network of railways placing it in direct communication with all the principal towns of south Germany. Pop. (1905), 249,443, of whom about one-half reside in the suburbs of Cannstatt, Berg, Gaisburg, Gablenburg and others. Charmingly situated among vine-clad and wooded hills, Stuttgart stands at a height of nearly 900 ft. above the sea and enjoys a healthy climate. It is intersected from south-west to north-east by the long and handsome Königsstrasse, dividing it into an upper and a lower town. In all its main features it is essentially a modern town, and few of its principal buildings are older than the 19th century. Many of them, however, are of considerable architectural importance and the revival of the Renaissance style is perhaps illustrated nowhere better than in Stuttgart. The lower, or south-eastern, part contains both the small group of streets belonging to old Stuttgart, and also the most important part of the new town. Of the numerous churches in the city the most interesting are the Stiftskirche, with two towers, a fine specimen of 15th-century Gothic; the Leonhardskirche, also a Gothic building of the 15th century; the Hospitalkirche, restored in 1841, the cloisters of which contain the tomb of Johann Reuchlin; the fine modern Gothic church of St John; the new Roman Catholic church of St Nicholas; the Friedenskirche; and the English church. A large proportion of the most prominent buildings are clustered round the spacious Schlossplatz, with its fine promenades. Among these are the new palace, an imposing structure of the 18th century, finished in 1807; the old palace, a 16th-century building, with a picturesque arcaded court; the Königsbau, a huge modern building with a fine colonnade, containing ball and concert rooms; the so-called Akademie, formerly the seat of the Karlschule, where Schiller received part of his education, and now containing the royal library; and the court theatre, destroyed by fire in 1902, and subsequently rebuilt. In the centre of the Schlossplatz is the lofty jubilee column, erected in 1841 in memory of the king of Württemberg, William I., and in the courtyard of the old palace is a bronze equestrian statue of Duke Eberhard the Bearded. On or near the Schlossplatz also are the new courts of justice; the Wilhelmspalast and the palace of the crown prince; the large royal stables; the new post office; and the central railway station, one of the handsomest structures of the kind in Germany. The city contains a fine statue of Schiller, designed by Thorvaldsen; a bronze statue of Christopher, duke of Württemberg; a monument to the emperor William I.; an equestrian statue of King William I. in the court of the museum of the plastic arts; and a large monumental fountain in the Eugensplatte. Other prominent buildings are: the Queen Olga buildings, erected in 1893-1895 in the Renaissance style; the national industrial museum (1890-1896) in the late Renaissance style, flanked by two cupola-crowned towers and decorated with medallions of famous Swabians; the magnificent new town-hall; and the railway viaduct across the valley of the Neckar, 740 yds. long.

The art collections of Stuttgart are numerous and valuable. The museum of art comprises a picture gallery, a collection of casts of Thorvaldsen's works and a cabinet of engravings. The royal library contains about 400,000 printed volumes, including one of the largest collections of Bibles in the world, and also about 20,000 MSS., many of great rarity. To these may be added the industrial museum, the cabinet of coins, the museum of natural history, the collection of majolica vases in the new palace, and the Württemberg museum of antiquities. The city also contains numerous excellent educational establishments, although the state university is not here but at Tübingen, and its conservatorium of music has long been renowned. The technical high school, which since 1899 has possessed the right to confer the degree of doctor of engineering, practically enjoys academic status and so do the veterinary high school and the school of art.

Stuttgart is the centre of the publishing trade of south Germany, and it has busy industries in everything connected with the production of books. Its other manufactures include machinery, pianos and other musical instruments, cotton goods, cigars, furniture, leather, paper, colours and chemicals. Its trade also in books, hops, horses, and cloth is considerable, and a large banking and exchange business is done here. The beauty of its situation and its educational advantages attract numerous foreign residents, especially English and American. Stuttgart is the headquarters of the XIII. corps of the German army, and contains a fairly large garrison for which accommodation is provided in the extensive barracks in and around the city.

To the north-east of the new palace lies the beautiful palace park, embellished with statuary and artificial sheets of water, and extending nearly all the way to Cannstatt, a distance of over two miles. Cannstatt, which was incorporated with Stuttgart in 1903, attracts numerous visitors owing to its beautiful situation on the Neckar and its saline and chalybeate springs. In the environs of Stuttgart and Cannstatt lie Rosenstein, Wilhelma and other residences of the royal family of Württemberg.

Stuttgart seems to have originated in a stud (Stuten Garten) of the early counts of Württemberg, and is first mentioned in a document of 1229. Its importance, however, is of comparatively modern growth and in the early history of Württemberg it was overshadowed by Cannstatt, the central situation of which on the Neckar seemed to mark it out as the natural capital of the country. After the destruction of the castle of Württemberg early in the 14th century, Count Eberhard transferred his residence to Stuttgart, which about 1500 became the recognized capital of Württemberg. But even as capital its growth was slow. At the beginning of the 19th century it did not contain 20,000 inhabitants, and its real advance began with the reigns of Kings Frederick and William I., who exerted themselves in every way to improve and beautify it. In 1849 Stuttgart was the place of meeting of the assembly called the Rumpfparlament.

See Pfaff, Geschichte der Stadt Stuttgart (2 vols., Stuttgart, 1845–1847); Wochner, Stuttgart seit 25 Jahren (Stuttgart, 1871); Seytter, Unser Stuttgart, Geschichte, Sage und Kultur (Stuttgart, 1903); J. Hartmann, Chronik der Stadt Stuttgart (Stuttgart, 1886); Barth, Stuttgarter Handel in alter Zeit (Stuttgart, 1896); Widmann, Wanderung durch Stuttgart und Umgebung (Stuttgart, 1896); M. Bach, Stuttgarter Kunst 1794–1860 (Stuttgart, 1900); Weinberg, Führer durch die Haupt- und Residenzstadt Stuttgart (Stuttgart, 1906); M. Bach and C. Lotter, Bilder aus Alt-Stuttgart (Stuttgart, 1896); and the official Chronik der Haupt- und Residenzstadt Stuttgart (1898, seq.).