Schwetzingen
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Schwetzingen

Schwetzingen (German pronunciation: [ˈʃvɛtsɪŋən] ; Palatine German: Schwetzinge) is a German town in northwest Baden-Württemberg, around 10 km (6.2 mi) southwest of Heidelberg and 15 km (9.3 mi) southeast of Mannheim. Schwetzingen is one of the five biggest cities of the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis district and a medium-sized centre between Heidelberg and Mannheim.

The city is most famous for Schwetzingen Palace and the Schlosstheater. The palace grounds also feature a mosque, the oldest in Germany. Although not functional, it was used by Muslim prisoners in the Franco-Prussian War.

Schwetzingen is located in the Rhine-Neckar-triangle in the plain of the Rhine river, lying west of the Odenwald and in the east of the Rhine. A small stream, the Leimbach, runs through the city before joining the Rhine.

Schwetzingen is located in Germany's warmest summer region, the "Rhine shift". In summer, temperatures sometimes rise up to 35 °C (95 °F) and higher. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Cfb" (Marine West Coast Climate/Oceanic climate), bordering closely on a humid subtropical climate (Cfa), with summer months often averaging above 21 degrees (71 F).

The following municipalities, listed clockwise beginning in the north, border on the city limits of Schwetzingen: Mannheim, Plankstadt, Oftersheim, Hockenheim, Ketsch and Brühl. The municipal area of Schwetzingen is completely consolidated with Oftersheim. The limits of Plankstadt are only separated by one street from the limits of Schwetzingen.

Schwetzingen was mentioned as "Suezzingen" for the first time in 766, recorded in the late twelfth-century Codex Aureus of Lorsch, but there are already traces of settlement from the Stone Age. Originally it consisted of two settlements, Ober- and Unterschwetzingen, that grew together in the course of the 17th and 18th century. Originally the town belonged to the diocese of Worms, but later passed to the Counts of the Palatinate in the 12th century.

The moated castle of Schwetzingen is mentioned for the first time in 1350. It was destroyed in the Thirty Years' War and in the following War of the Palatinate Succession; it was rebuilt by count Johann Wilhelm and his predecessor. From 1720 it served temporarily as the residence of the Elector Karl III Philip (1716–1742) after he moved away from Heidelberg. Later on it served as a summer residence of the Elector of the Palatinate and their court.

Schwetzingen Castle began as a simple aristocratic fishing retreat (much like Versailles and Karlsruhe which began as hunting lodges) and had an eventful architectural history, in several phases of construction, especially during the reigns of the Elector Karl III Philip and Karl IV Theodor (1742–1799) who, as their answer to Versailles, embellished the castle gardens with some of the finest and most elaborate formal water parterres in Germany gardens.

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