Aalen

{{Infobox German Location 
| name = Aalen
| name_local =
| image_coa = Wappen Aalen.png
| 
| state = Baden-Württemberg
|image_photo = Aalen.jpg
|imagesize = 240px
|image_caption =

| regbzk = [[Stuttgart (region)|Stuttgart]]
| district = [[Ostalbkreis]]
| population = 66339
| population_as_of = 2007-03-01
| population_ref = [http://www.aalen.de/sixcms/detail.php?id=969&_bereich=6]
| area = 146.624
| elevation = 430
| lat_deg = 48 | lat_min = 50 | lat_hem = N
| lon_deg = 10 | lon_min = 6 | lon_hem = E
| postal_code = 73430–73434
| area_code = 07361/-66/-67
| licence = AA
| mayor = Martin Gerlach
| website = [http://www.aalen.de/ www.aalen.de]
}}
{{Infobox Former Country
|native_name = ''Reichsstadt Aalen''
|conventional_long_name = Imperial City of Aalen
|common_name = Aalen
|continent = Europe
|region = Central Europe
|country = Germany
|era = Middle Ages
|status = City-state
|empire = Holy Roman Empire
|government_type = Republic
|
|year_start = 1360
|year_end = 1803
|
|event_pre = City founded
|date_pre = 13th century
|event_start = Gained ''[[Reichsfrei]]heit''
|date_start = 
|event1 = [[Protestant Reformation]]
|date_event1 = 1575
|event2 = [[Counter-reformation|Returned to Catholicism]]
|date_event2 = 1628–32
|event3 = Devastated by fire
|date_event3 = 1634
|event_end = [[German Mediatisation|Mediatised]] to<br>    [[Duchy of Württemberg|Württemberg]]
|date_end =  <br>1803
|
|p1 = House of Hohenstaufen
|image_p1 = [[Image:Hohenstaufen family arms.svg|20px|Hohenstaufen]]
|p2 = Oettingen in Bayern
|image_p2 = [[Image:Wappen Oettingen i Bay.png|20px|Oettingen]]
|s1 = Duchy of Württemberg
|flag_s1 = Flagge Königreich Württemberg.svg
|
|capital = Aalen
|
|footnotes = It's uncertain whether or not the city previous belonged to one of the [[Hohenstaufen]] [[Duchy of Swabia|duchies of Swabia]] or to the [[Oettingen|Counts of Oettingen]]
}}
</div>
'''Aalen''' ([[German phonology|pronounced]] {{IPA|[ˈaːlən]}}) is a [[town]] in the [[Germany|German]] state of [[Baden-Württemberg]]. It is the seat of the [[Ostalbkreis]] district, and its largest town.

==Geography==
Aalen is situated on the upper reaches of the river [[Kocher]], at the foot of the [[Swabian Alb]] to the south and south east and close to the hilly landscape of the [[Ellwanger Berge]] to the north. The ''Aal'' is a small river stretching only on the town's territory.<ref>[http://www.gisserver.de/aalen/start.html Geographical information system of the town of Aalen]</ref> Aalen is at about 70 kilometres east of [[Stuttgart]] and 48 kilometres<ref name="eb">[http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9003199 Aalen], ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''; retrieved [[December 12]], [[2006]], from ''Encyclopædia Britannica Online''</ref> (30 miles) north of [[Ulm]].

==History==
From about 150 / 160 [[Anno Domini|AD]] a [[Roman Empire|Roman]] fort housed the [[cavalry]] unit ''[[Ala (Roman military)|Ala]] II Flavia milliaria'' at the site of present-day Aalen. The location was strategically important at the time, in the direct vicinity of the [[Limes Germanicus|Rhaetian Limes]]. The unit being 1000 soldiers strong, the fort was the greatest fort of [[auxiliaries (Roman military)|auxiliaries]] along the border to unoccupied [[Germania]]. A civilian settlement was adjacent on the south and the east. Around 260, the Romans gave up the fort as they withdrew their frontier to Germania back to the [[Rhine]] and [[Danube]] rivers, and the [[Alamanni]] took over the region.<ref name="ostalbkreis_315">{{cite_book| editor= Diethelm Winter | title= Der Ostalbkreis | publisher= Theiss, Stuttgart, Germany | isbn= 3-8062-0891-3 | edition= 2nd edition | year= 1992 | pages= pp. 315–320 | language= German}}</ref> It has been suggested that the name of Aalen traces back to the Roman fort, but this was disproved by later research.{{Fact|date=October 2007}}

The first time Aalen was mentioned in the [[Middle Ages]] was in an inventory list of [[Ellwangen]], dated ca. 1136, as the village ''Alon''<ref name="ostalbkreis_315"/>. Aalen was probably granted [[German town law|town privileges]] in the 13th century, though it is not certain whether by the [[Staufian]]s or by the counts of [[Oettingen]]. It was first mentioned in written records in the 14th century when it was subject to the counts of Oettingen. Aalen was an [[Imperial City]] (often misreferred to as [[Imperial Free City]]) from 1360 to 1803, when it was annexed to [[Württemberg]]. It suffered a severe fire in 1634.<ref name="eb"/> It then became the seat of an [[Oberamt]] from which the district (''Kreis'') Aalen emerged in 1938. The latter merged with the district of [[Schwäbisch Gmünd]] to the newly formed [[Ostalbkreis]] in 1973, though Aalen remained the district seat. In 1975, [[Wasseralfingen]], a town with a third of the population of Aalen, was merged into Aalen.<ref name="eb"/>

== Economy ==
In the early 20th century the population was 10,000. Wool and linen goods were manufactured, there were ribbon looms and tanneries in the town, and a large iron works in the neighbourhood. The economy of Aalen is today dominated by metal processing. Besides machine construction, the optical sector plays an important role, as well as the textile and paper industries. There are several [[microbrew]]eries, of which the one in Wasseralfingen is the most popular with a beer called ''Wasseralfinger''.

Its church of [[Saint Nicholas]] dates back to 1765; the town hall dates back even further, to 1636. In addition to its historical sites, Aalen's Limesmuseum of Roman relics was opened in 1964.<ref name="eb"/>

Aalen is a health resort, with the ''Limes-Thermen (German: “Limes [[Thermae]]”)'' [[hot spring]]s. The ''Tiefer Stollen (German: “deep [[adit]]”)'' mine, where ore was once mined for the iron works in Wasseralfingen, now offers therapy for [[asthma]] and has a mining museum open for visitors. A mine railway takes visitors deep into the [[Braunenberg]] mountain.

=== Transportation ===
[[Image:Aalen Gleise.jpg|thumb|left|Aalen train station]]
Aalen is located directly on the [[Autobahn]] [[Bundesautobahn 7|A7]] and is also well connected to the network of federal roads (''[[Bundesstraße]]n'').

The Aalen train station is a regional railway hub, with [[InterCity]] trains running [[Karlsruhe]]–[[Stuttgart]]–Aalen–[[Nürnberg]], and [[Regionalexpress|regional trains]] connecting with Stuttgart, [[Ulm]], [[Crailsheim]] and [[Donauwörth]].

The local bus system is of high quality; its [[double-decker bus]]es are among the few in use in Germany.

== Sports ==
Aalen has several sports teams.
The [[Städtisches Waldstadion]] is the home stadium of the [[VfR Aalen]] football club.
Aalen's wrestling team ''KSV Aalen'' is one of the top clubs in all of Germany, so is the wrestling division of the ''TSV Dewangen'', resident in Aalen's borough of Dewangen.

==Boroughs of Aalen==
* [[Dewangen]]
* [[Ebnat]]
* [[Fachsenfeld]]
* [[Hofen (Aalen)|Hofen]]
* [[Unterkochen]]
* [[Unterrombach]]
* [[Hofherrnweiler]]
* [[Waldhausen]]
* [[Wasseralfingen]]

== Twin towns ==
Aalen is [[Town twinning|twinned]] with:
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Saint-Lô]], [[France]]
* {{flagicon|England}} [[Christchurch, Dorset|Christchurch]], [[England]]
* {{flagicon|Hungary}} [[Tatabánya]], [[Hungary]]
* {{flagicon|Turkey}} [[Antakya]], [[Turkey]]

== Image gallery ==
<gallery>
Image:CIMG0451.JPG|
Image:aalen2.JPG|
</gallery>

==References==
{{Wikisource1911Enc|Aalen}}
{{reflist}}
* {{1911}}

{{Swabian League}}
{{Circlesw}}
{{Cities and towns in Ostalb (district)}}

[[Category:Towns in Baden-Württemberg]]
[[Category:Ostalbkreis]]

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