If you happen to watch German TV or read German newspapers or simply follow German news, you know that more often than not, notices either begin or end with words along the lines of “Karlsruhe will give an answer by the end of next week” or “meanwhile Karlsruhe will evaluate the proposal for the next three months” and so on.

What is “Karlsruhe” and why is it always on the news? Why does all of Germany await the decisions that will come from “Karlsruhe” at all? Is not Berlin the capital? What did I miss?

Well, as it happens to be, Karlsruhe, a very southern city located some 50 minutes away from Stuttgart (the capital of Baden-Württemberg, much to the displeasure of the good people of Karlsruhe) with roughly 300,000 inhabitants is what Germany calls die Stadt des Rechts (the city of law/justice).

In Karlsruhe are located both the Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court), which is the highest court in Germany and also a constitutional body; and the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Court of Justice) that preserves the unity of law and deals with legal errors. These are the top two of the most important courts in Germany.

As if that were not enough, the Generalbundesanwaltschaft (Office of the Attorney General) is located in Karlsruhe as well. This office deals with state security matters, that’s to say that the crimes threatening the internal and external security of the country (like cyber espionage and the like) are prosecuted here.

So I guess now it’s less of a surprise that Karslruhe is always on the news, right? They even have a Platz der Grundrechte, a very artsy street filled with quotes about “right and wrong”. And yes, it is funny to see the signs totally crammed with super small text that’s almost impossible to read. Because German language, that’s why.

The highest court in Germany, the Bundesverfassungsgericht. Foto: LauraV

Strangely enough, it’s way more probable that you will meet engineers rather than lawyers when making the rounds in Karlsruhe – because of the city’s technological institute (KIT for googling purposes) a massive school that attracts wannabe-engineers from all corners of the world.

But it turns out there’s more to Karlsruhe than law and courts. It’s also home to a very nice yellow castle with acres and acres of green forest right at the heart of the city, a small botanic garden, an impressive natural history museum, a majestic art museum and one of the prettiest libraries in the region, the Badische Landesbibliothek Karlsruhe.

Karlsruhe’s castle. Contains the museum of the whole Baden region inside. Those Ferris wheels are not always there, by the way. Foto: LauraV

Last but not least, Karlsruhe is also the birthplace of people with last names that will sound familiar to you, like George Bayer and Karl Benz. Good ol’ Karl Drais was also born here, and while his name may not be known worldwide, the bicycle, the product of his genius, definitely is! Of course the people in Karlsruhe are big fans of bicycles. They’re everywhere and there are kilometers and kilometers of bike lanes all around and through the city.

Due to what I am going to call “extremely lucky and pleasant experiences”, I personally recommend you give this boring-at-first-sight city a second chance if you happen to have the opportunity.