Located between the Black Forest and the Swabian Alps, Rottweil has about 25,000 inhabitants. The old city is famous for its medieval center and for its traditional carnival, (called "Fasnet" in the local Swabian dialect). The oldest town in Baden-Württemberg,[2] its appearance has changed very little from the 16th century.
Rottweil was founded by the Romans in AD 73 as Arae Flaviae and became a municipium, but there are traces of human settlement going back to 2000 BC. Roman baths and a mosaic of Orpheus (c. AD 180) date from the time of Roman settlement. The present town became a ducal and a royal court before 771 and in the Middle Ages it became a Free Imperial City in 1268.
In 1463 the city joined the Swiss Confederacy, with which it was closely aligned for several centuries. Both its status as free city and its alliance with the Swiss Confederacy were eventually lost with the conquest of the region by Napoleon in 1803.
The late-Romanesque and Gothic-era Münster Heiliges Kreuz ("Minster of the Holy Cross"), built over a pre-existing church from 1270. It features a crucifix by Veit Stoss and noteworthy Gothic sculptures.
Kapellenkirche (1330–40), a Gothic church with a tower and with three statue-decorated portals.
Lorenzkapelle ("Church of St. Lawrence", 16th century), in late Gothic style. It houses some two hundred works by Swabian masters and Gothic altarpieces from the 14th and 5th centuries.
The City museum, including a notable Roman mosaic with the legend of Orpheus.
The late-Gothic Town Hall (1521).
St. Pelagius, a Romanesque church from the 12th century. Excavations have brought to light Roman baths in the same site.
ThyssenKrupp is constructing a $45 million, 807-foot tower in the city. The tower is a research facility for the company and will be used to test new elevator cars and technologies. At 807-feet, it will be the tallest structure in the country. The windowless building will have 12 elevator shafts.[3]
^Website of Dominikaner Museum Rottweil (retrieved May 22, 2014), on permanent display is a wooden table from August 4, AD 186 naming arae flaviae as municipium thus making Rottweil the oldest town in Baden-Württemberg [1]