Landau
Landau (), officially Landau in der Pfalz, is an autonomous ("kreisfrei") town surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße ("Southern Wine Route") district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town (since 1990), a long-standing cultural centre, and a market and shopping town, surrounded by vineyards and wine-growing villages of the Palatinate wine region. Landau lies east of the Palatinate forest, on the German Wine Route. It contains the districts ("Ortsteile") of Arzheim, Dammheim, Godramstein, Mörlheim, Mörzheim, Nussdorf, Queichheim, and Wollmesheim. History. Landau was first mentioned as a settlement in 1106. It was in the possession of the  counts of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Landeck, whose arms, differenced by an escutcheon of the Imperial eagle, served as the arms of Landau until 1955 . The town was granted a charter in 1274 by King Rudolf I of Germany, who declared the town a Free Imperial Town in 1291; nevertheless Prince-Bishop Emich of Speyer, a major landowner in the district, seized the town in 1324. The town did not regain its ancient rights until 1511 from Maximilian I. An Augustinian monastery was founded in 1276. After the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, control of Landau was ceded to France, although with  certain ill-defined reservations. Landau was later part of France from 1680 to 1815, during which it was one of the "Décapole", the ten free cities of Alsace, and received its modern fortifications by Louis XIV's military architect Vauban in 1688–99, making the little town (its 1789 population was approximately 5,000) one of Europe's strongest citadels. In the War of the Spanish Succession it had four sieges. After the siege of 1702 lost by the French, an Imperial garrison was installed in Landau. In a subsequent siege from 13 October to 15 November 1703 the French regained the  town, following their victory in the Battle of Speyerbach. A third siege, begun on 12 September 1704 by Louis, Margrave of Baden-Baden, ended on 23 November 1704 with a French defeat. During this siege King Joseph I arrived at Landau coming from Vienna in a newly developed convertible carriage. This carriage would become very popular and became named the landau in English, or in German. The French recaptured Landau once more in a final siege which lasted from 6 June to 20 August 1713 by Marshal General Villars. Landau was part of Bas-Rhin department between 1789 and 1815 . After Napoleon's Hundred Days following his escape from Elba, Landau, which had remained French, was granted to the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1815 and became the capital of one of the thirteen "Bezirksämter" (counties) of the Bavarian Rheinkreis, later renamed Pfalz. In 1840 famous political cartoonist Thomas Nast was born in Landau. Following World War II, Landau was an important barracks town for the French occupation. Main sights. Landau's large main square ("Rathausplatz") is dominated by the town hall ("Rathaus") and the market hall ("Altes Kaufhaus"). In the 19th century, the former fortifications gave way to a ring  road that encircles the old town centre, from which the old industrial buildings have been excluded. A convention hall, the "Festhalle", was built in Art Nouveau style, 1905–07 on a rise overlooking the town park and facing the modernist "Bundesamt", the regional government building. The Protestant Collegiate Church () in Landau in der Pfalz is one of the oldest buildings in the town. With the construction of the church started in the 14th century, was completed in the mid-16th century. The zoo is located close to the center of Landau alongside the historical fortifications. Animals are held in natural enclosures. The  zoo contains numerous exotic species such as tigers and cheetahs, but also seals, penguins, kangaroos and flamingos and many more. Economy. Wine-making continues to be an important industry of Landau. Culture. The "landau," a luxury open carriage with a pair of folding tops, was invented in the town during the War of the Spanish Succession. A frequent Ashkenazi surname originates in this town. Probably its most famous bearer was Yechezkel Landau, an 18th-century talmudist and halakhist and the chief rabbi of Prague. Twin towns – sister cities. Landau in der Pfalz is twinned with: