Ladenburg

Ladenburg is a town in northwestern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It lies on the right bank of the river Neckar, northwest of Heidelberg and east of Mannheim. The town's history goes back to the Celtic and Roman Ages, when it was called Lopodunum. Emperor Trajan elevated it to city status ('civitas') in 98 AD. The historic old town and its Fachwerkhäuser date back to the Late Middle Ages when Ladenburg was the capital of the Prince-Bishopric of Worms. Famous residents include Carl Benz, inventor of the first automobile. The Bertha Benz Memorial Route, named after Carl's wife Bertha, runs through the town. Ladenburg lies on the Neckar alluvial cone at an altitude of 96 to 106 metres in the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region in the Upper Rhine Plain. South of the built-up area the Kandelbach flows into the Neckar. The district extends over 1900 hectares. Of these, 24.7 percent are settlement and transport areas, 71.8 percent are used for agriculture and 2.8 percent are water areas. The nearest major cities are each about eleven kilometres away, Heidelberg in the southeast and Mannheim in the northwest, with which there is no direct border. Ladenburg Kandelbach 2011.JPG|Kandelbach in Ladenburg Ladenburg Schwan.jpg|Swan on the Neckar File:2013.08.04.-05-Ladenburg-Hauhechel-Blaeuling-Maennchen.jpg|Male [[Polyommatus icarus]] File:2013.08.04.-18-Ladenburg-Graureiher.jpg|[[Grey heron]] File:Fields in Ladenburg.jpg|Much of Ladenburg is surrounded by fields The hamlets of Neubotzheim and Neuzeilsheim and the Rosenhof district belong to the town of Ladenburg. In the town area are the Wüstungen of Botzheim, Meerhof and Zeilsheim. Ladenburg's city area borders on Ilvesheim in the west down the Neckar river, Heddesheim in the north, the town of Leutershausen in Hirschberg follows in the northeast towards the Odenwald, south of Leutershausen lies the Bergstrasse town of Schriesheim followed by Dossenheim in the southeast. The course of the river Neckar forms the border to Edingen-Neckarhausen. Ladenburg, like Heidelberg, belongs to the warmest area in Germany.