The German States

Baden-Württemburg - Stuttgart: This state is in the southwest of Germany. Most of its major cities lie along the Neckar River. It is the third largest state in population.
Bavaria (Bayern) - München: This is the best state in Germany (I lived there for five months, I'm not impartial). It is by far the largest state in landmass and the second most populous. It is also the oldest state in Germany, and is known for its annual beer-drinking festival, Oktoberfest, and breathtaking scenery.
Berlin - Berlin: This is the largest city in Germany, and also its capital. It was successively the capital of the Kingdom of Prussia (1701-1918), the German Empire (1871-1918) the Wiemar Republic (1919-1933), and the Third Reich (1933-1945).
Brandenburg: Potsdam: This state was one of the new federal states creaed after the unification of the East and West. It surrounds, but does not include, Berlin.
Bremen - Bremen: This is the smallest of Germany's states. It is located on the River Wesen, and serves as a North Sea Harbor.
Hamburg - Hamburg: Hamburg is the second largest city in Germany (1.8 million people), and the third largest port in Europe. It is a major tourist destination, with over 7.7 million overnight stays in 2008.
Hesse (Hessen) - Wiesbaden: The largest city in this state is Frankfurt. This state has one of the best transportation networks in Europe.
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern - Schwerin: It is the least densely populated state. It is on the Baltic Sea, and has several hundred nature conservation areas that attract large tourist populations.
Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen) - Hanover: This state includes seven islands, known as the East Frisian Islands. It was created by the merger of Hanover and several smaller states.
North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhine-Westfalen) - Düsseldorf: This state is both the most populous and the most economically powerful in Germany. Its largest city in Köln. It is especially known as the "land of coal and steel."
Rhineland-Palatinate (Rhineland-Pflaz) - Mainz: This state takes part of its name from the Rhine, the largest river within it. It is especially famous for the Rhine Valley, which besides being picturesque, produces the famous and delicious Riesling wine.
Saarland - Saarbrücken: This is the smallest state of Germany, excluding the city-states. It is located on the border of France and Germany.
Saxony (Sachsen) - Dresden: The history of Saxony spans more than a millenium. It has been a medieval duchy, electorate of the Holy Roman Empire, a kingdom, and is currently a republic.
Saxony-Anhalt (Sachsen-Anhalt) - Magdeburg: This state contains the UNESCO World Heritage Site Wörlitzer Park in Dessau. It is famous for its good soil.
Schleswig-Holstein - Kiel: This is the northernmost state. It borders Denmakr to the north, and combines the cultures of Denmark and Germany.
Thuringia (Thüringer) - Erfurt: This state is known as the Green Heart of Germany for the dense forest that covers it.

Maulbronn Monastery, District of Enz, Baden-Württemberg

The name Maulbronn literally means “mule fountain.” This comes from the legend of how the monastery was set there: “during their search from a place that was more suitable than Eckenweiher, the monks loaded up a mule with a sack of money, gave it a blessing and a stroke of the whip and sent it on its way…where the Eselsbrunnen (“mule fountain”) stands today is where the mule was reputed to have stopped and quenched its thirst at a stream. The monks saw this a sign from God and it was there that they decided to build the monastery.” The coat of arms of the town, as well as a plaque on the actual fountain inside the Maulbronn complex, is of a mule drinking from the fountain,

The idea for the Maulbronn Monastery probably started in about the year 1138, in Eckenweiher near Mühlaker. The knight Walter of Lomersheim, inspired by the reformation ideas of Bernhard of Clairvaux, decided to dedicate his life to God by living in the seclusion of the monastic life. He founded a Cistercian monastery at his home in Eckenweiher. The Abbot Ulrich of Neuburg sent 12 monks and a few lay brothers to help. The original location was unsuited for the role of a monastery complex, however, and in 1147, it was moved to the nearby town of Maulbronn.

For the next 400 years, the monks at Maulbronn contributed to building up the monastery that greatly influenced medieval religion and culture, in addition to the economic and political landscape of the day. Even as early as the 12th century, they had built up massive agriculture empires. As one abbot put it, “our wine barrels are bigger than the living quarters of the Egyptian monks and our fruit stores more spacious than their monasteries.” It was a flourishing time for the monks at Maulbronn.

In the year 1504, the monastery was captured by the Duke Ulrich of Württemberg, following a 7-day siege. From that point on, the monastery enjoyed the special privileges of the protection of the King. When Ulrich’s son, Duke Christoph, came to power, he made Maulbronn into a school to train clergymen for the state’s Protestant church, which was just starting. In 1806, it turned into a Protestant Theological college and has been ever since.

In 1993, UNESCO made it into a cultural heritage site. According to UNESCO, it is “the most complete and best-preserved monastic complex north of the Alps.” The water management system, made up of a network of drains, irrigation canals, and reservoirs, is “exceptionally interesting” and played a very large part in its listing. The main buildings were constructed between the 12th and 16th centuries, and it is surrounded by fortified walls. The monastery’s church, built in a Transitional Gothic style, highly influenced the spread of Gothic architecture in the north and central Europe.