The Rhine, one of the world's most important shipping routes, forms the western limits of the city, beyond which lie the towns of Maximiliansau and WГ¶rth am Rhein in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It contains the Turmberg in the east, and also lies on the borders of the Kraichgau leading to the Northern Black Forest. Karlsruhe lies completely to the east of the Rhine, and almost completely on the Upper Rhine Plain.

The 49th parallel north in the Karlsruhe Stadtgarten Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden Airport ( Flughafen Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden) is the second-busiest airport of Baden-WГјrttemberg after Stuttgart Airport, and the 17th-busiest airport of Germany. There are nine institutions of higher education in the city, most notably the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology ( Karlsruher Institut fГјr Technologie). Its most remarkable building is Karlsruhe Palace, which was built in 1715. Karlsruhe was the capital of the Margraviate of Baden-Durlach ( Durlach: 1565вЂ“1718 Karlsruhe: 1718вЂ“1771), the Margraviate of Baden (1771вЂ“1803), the Electorate of Baden (1803вЂ“1806), the Grand Duchy of Baden (1806вЂ“1918), and the Republic of Baden (1918вЂ“1945). Located on the right bank of the Rhine near the French border, between the Mannheim/ Ludwigshafen conurbation to the north and Strasbourg/ Kehl to the south, Karlsruhe is Germany's legal center, being home to no fewer than three top federal courts: the Federal Constitutional Court ( Bundesverfassungsgericht), the Federal Court of Justice ( Bundesgerichtshof) and the Public Prosecutor General of the Federal Court of Justice ( Generalbundesanwalt beim Bundesgerichtshof). It is also the largest city in Baden, a historic region named after Hohenbaden Castle in the city of Baden-Baden. Karlsruhe ( / Л€ k Й‘Лђr l z r uЛђ Й™/ KARLZ-roo-Й™, US also / Л€ k Й‘Лђr l s-/ KARLSS-, German: ( listen)) is the third-largest city of the German state of Baden-WГјrttemberg after its capital of Stuttgart, and Mannheim, and the 21st-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants.

Wetter mannhheim