Description & Facts: Karlsruhe is a city in the south west of Germany, in the Bundesland Baden-Wurttemberg, located near the French-German border. Founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, the surrounding town became the seat of two of the highest courts in Germany, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany (Bundesverfassungsgericht) whose decisions have the force of a law, and the Federal Court of Justice of Germany (Bundesgerichtshof) , the highest court of appeals in matters of civil law and criminal law. It therefore considers itself the home of justice in Germany, a role taken over from Leipzig after 1933. The city takes its name from Margrave Karl III Wilhelm, Margrave of Baden-Durlach, who founded the city on June 17, 1715 after a dispute with the citizens of his previous capital, Durlach. The founding of the city is closely linked to the construction of the palace. Karlsruhe became the capital of Baden-Durlach and in 1771 of the united Baden until 1945. Built in 1822, the "Stundehaus" was the first parliament building in a German State. In the aftermath of the democratic revolution, a republican government was elected here. Much of the central area, including the Schloss(castle), was reduced to rubble by Allied bombing during World War II but was rebuilt after the war. The city was planned with the tower of the palace (Schloss) at the center and 32 streets radiating out from it like spokes on a wheel, or ribs on a folding fan, so that a nickname for Karlsruhe in German is the "fan city" (Fcherstadt). Almost all of these streets survive today. The city center was the oldest part of town and lies south of the palace in the quadrant defined by nine of the streets. The central part of the palace runs east-west, and there are two wings of the palace, each at a 45deg angle to the center, so that they are pointing southeast and southwest (i.e. parallel with streets at the ends of the quadrant defining the city center). The market place is on the street running south from the palace to Ettlingen. The market place has the town hall (das Rathaus) to the west, the main Protestant church (Evangelische Stadtkirche) to the east, and the tomb of Margrave Karl Wilhelm in a pyramid in the center. The architect Friedrich Weinbrenner designed many of the most important buildings. That is why Karlsruhe is one of only three large German cities in which building ensembles exist in Neoclassicism style. The area north of the palace is a park and forest. East of the palace there originally were gardens and more forest, some of which remain, but the University, Wildparkstadion, and residential areas have since been built there. West of the palace is now mostly residential. The Durlacher Turmberg has a look-out tower (hence its name). It is a former keep dating back to the 13th century. The Stadtgarten is a recreational area near the Hauptbahnhof (main railway station) and was rebuilt during the Bundesgartenschau (Federal Garden Show) in 1967. It is also the site of the Karlsruhe Zoo. The city has two botanical gardens: the municipal Botanischer Garten Karlsruhe which forms part of the schloss complex, and the Botanischer Garten der Universitaet Karlsruhe which is maintained by the university. The Marktplatz with the stone pyramid marking the grave of the city's founding father. The pyramid, built in 1825, is the symbol of Karlsruhe.