Weil der Stadt

Weil der Stadt is a small town of about 19,000 inhabitants, located in the Stuttgart Region of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is about 30km west of Stuttgart city center, and is often called "Gate to the Black Forest". The town is located in the beautiful valley of the river Würm.EtymologyThe original settlement was named Vila, from the Latin villa, which meant "estate, manor" and in late antiquity came to mean "small town". This evolved into Weil. Later the suffix "die Stadt" (the town) was added to distinguish the town from villages of the same name, such as Weil im Dorf and Weil im Schönbuch. The current name is unusual in that it contains the German dative case (the word Stadt is feminine). It arose because the place of issue in official documents was usually given as "gegeben zu Weil, der Stadt" ("issued in Weil, the town"). The Roman origins of the city are immortalized in the coat-of-arms which feature the SPQR motto ("Senatus Populusque Romanus", i. e. Senate and People of Rome).HistoryIn 1075 A.D., the village "Wile" was first mentioned in a document as the property of the famous monastery Hirsau. Weil der Stadt became a Free Imperial City in the 13th century, but had existed for centuries before as an important trading place.It was completely destroyed during the Thirty Years' War in 1648 but was subsequently rebuilt, and the center is still dominated by buildings from this period. The city fortifications are still nearly intact with city walls, gates, and several towers called "Red Tower" or "Thief's Tower", "Rope-Maker's Tower", and "Raven's Tower".