Bietigheim-Bissingen

Bietigheim-Bissingen
Bietigheim Altstadt
Coat of arms
Bietigheim-Bissingen
Coordinates: 48°58′N 9°8′E / 48.967°N 9.133°ECoordinates: 48°58′N 9°8′E / 48.967°N 9.133°E
Country	Germany
State	Baden-Württemberg
Admin. region	Stuttgart
District	Ludwigsburg
Government
• Mayor	Jürgen Kessing (SPD)
Area
• Total	31.29 km^2 (12.08 sq mi)
Population (2013-12-31)[1]
• Total	42,210
• Density	1,300/km^2 (3,500/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	74301–74321
Dialling codes	07142
Vehicle registration	LB
Website	www.bietigheim-bissingen.de

Bietigheim-Bissingen is the second-largest town in the district of Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany with 42,515 inhabitants in 2007. It is situated on the river Enz and the river Metter, close to its confluence with the Neckar, about 19 km north of Stuttgart, and 20 km south of Heilbronn.

Buildings and sights

Bietigheim Old Gate

• 287 m long Bietigheim Enz Valley Bridge (German: "Bietigheimer Enzviadukt") (built in 1853)
• Old gate (only one still present, built in the 14th century)
• (Protestant) church in Downtown Bietigheim (built in 1401)
• Town hall (built in 1506)
• "Hornmoldhaus" (built in 1536)
• Castle of Bietigheim (built in 1546, renovated between 2000 and 2002), nowadays home to the Bietigheim-Bissingen music school

Infrastructure

Bietigheim-Bissingen station is located on an important railway junction on the Western Railway (connecting Stuttgart with Karlsruhe and Heidelberg) and the Franconia Railway to Heilbronn. Line 5 of the Stuttgart S-Bahn and line 5 of the Stadtbahn Karlsruhe both start here.

People

• Ottmar Mergenthaler, inventor of the Linotype typesetting machine spent four years in Bietigheim during his apprenticeship to a watchmaker
• Heiko Maile, Marcus Meyn and Oliver Kreyssig, members of the German pop group Camouflage
• Matthias Ettrich, founder of KDE
• Mike S.-Chris-Maico Schmidt (* 1966), Techno-DJ and -Produzent
• Roland Bless and Ingo Reidl, members of the German pop group Pur
• Namosh, a German musician and singer
• Bernd Leno, a football goalkeeper

Events

• Bietigheim Horse Market
• Music Exchange with Shawnee Mission South High School symphonic band every 4 years^[2]
• Music Exchange with Shawnee Mission South High School string orchestra every 4 years^[3]
• Music Exchange with Community High School District 99 Honors Band and Orchestra (Downers Grove, IL) every 2 years.

Business and industry

• Elbe & Sohn

International relations

Bietigheim-Bissingen is twinned with:

• Kusatsu (Japan) (since 1962)
• Sucy-en-Brie (France) (since 1967)
• Surrey Heath (United Kingdom) (since 1971)
• Szekszárd (Hungary) (since 1989)
• Overland Park, USA (since 1999)
• Saltara, ITA (since 2006)

References

1. "Gemeinden in Deutschland mit Bevölkerung am 31. Dezember 2013 (Einwohnerzahlen auf Grundlage des Zensus 2011)". Statistisches Bundesamt (in German). 2014.
2. teacherweb.com/KS/ShawneeMissionSouth/MrSteveAdamsBandDirector/h3.stm - 14k -
3. http://southorchestras.org/bostonnyc/