Karlsruhe [key], city (1994 pop. 278,000), Baden-Württemberg, SW Germany, on the northern fringes of the Black Forest, connected by canal with a port on the nearby Rhine River. It is a transportation, industrial, and cultural center and is the seat of the federal constitutional court and the federal court of justice. Manufactures include electrical products, building equipment, bicycles and motorcycles, perfumes, jewelry, pharmaceuticals, machinery, and refined oil. Pipelines have been constructed leading to Marseille and Strasbourg, France, and to Ingolstadt on the Danube in Germany. Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 by Karl Wilhelm, margrave of Baden-Durlach, to replace nearby Durlach (incorporated into Karlsruhe in 1938) as the margravial residence. After 1771 it was the capital of the duchy (later grand duchy and, after 1919, state) of Baden. The old part of Karlsruhe, badly damaged in World War II, was laid out as a vast semicircle with the streets converging radially upon the ducal palace (1752–85; restored after 1945). The city has a university (founded as a technical academy in 1825), a school of fine arts, a school of music, a center for atomic research, well-known theaters and art galleries, and a large conference center, the Schwarzwaldhalle (1953–54). It is sometimes spelled Carlsruhe.
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