BACKNANG

'Backnang' is a town in Germany, in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg (formerly the kingdom of Württemberg), roughly 30 kilometers northeast of Stuttgart. Its population has increased greatly over the past century or so, from 7,650 (1900) to 35,761 (2005).
It has an interesting church named ''Stiftskirche'', formerly the church of Backnang Abbey, dating from the 12th century. Backnang was known as ''Gerberstadt'' due to several tanneries and leather factories, and woollen and cloth mills. These have vanished nowadys, and telecommunication companies like Ericsson (formerly AEG, Telefunken, ANT, Bosch and Marconi) and Tesat-Spacecom followed.
In 1325, Backnang was ceded to Württemberg by the Baden (Zähringer family).
In the vicinity is the Wilhelmsheim sanatorium for consumptives.
The cultural highlight is the annual "Strassenfest" during the last weekend in June. Founded as a street festival, in which the local sports and cultural clubs offered drinks and foods it became more and more commercialized over the last decade. The traditional opening starts with cannonshots from the pictoresque city tower at 6 p.m. on Friday and ends with the "Zapfenstreich" Monday at 11 p.m. Usually the Strassenfest attracts more than 100 000 spectators over its four-day duration.
Another cultural highlight is the annual Murr-Regatta organized by the Jugendzentrum and usually held two weeks after the street festival. The Regatta is a race down the river with self-made boats. Besides the prize for the fastest boat, an environmental prize is awarded to the crew that collects the most rubbish, an originality prize is given to the most creative crew, and a drunkeness prize to the most inebriated crew.
Remarkable is the local Jugendzentrum (youth centre). Self administrated for more than 30 years it hosts numerous concerts and contributes with events to the cultural life of the city.

Contents

Twin towns

External links

References

Twin towns

Backnang's twin towns include:

★ - Chelmsford (Great Britain) ★ - Annonay (France) ★ - Bácsalmás (Hungary)

External links

★ http://www.backnang.de - Official homepage

★ http://www.juzebacknang.com

★ http://www.backnang24.de/murr-regatta

References

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