21 Facts About Kiel

Kiel has been one of the traditional homes of the German Navy's Baltic fleet, and continues to be a major high-tech shipbuilding centre.

Kiel was one of the founding cities of the original European Green Capital Award in 2006.

The city of Kiel was founded in 1233 as Holstenstadt tom Kyle by Count Adolf IV of Holstein, and granted Lubeck city rights in 1242 by Adolf's eldest son, John I of Schauenburg.

Capital of the county of Holstein, Kiel was a member of the Hanseatic League from 1284 until it was expelled in 1518 for harbouring pirates.

When Schleswig and Holstein rebelled against Denmark in 1848, Kiel became the capital of Schleswig-Holstein until the Danish victory in 1850.

Related searches

Kiel was the site of the sailors' mutiny which sparked the German Revolution in late 1918.

Just before the end of the First World War, the German fleet stationed at Kiel was ordered to be sent out on a last great battle with the Royal Navy.

In 1946, Kiel was named the seat of government for Schleswig-Holstein, and it officially became the state's capital in 1952.

Today, Kiel is an important maritime centre of Germany, with high-tech shipbuilding, submarine construction and one of the three leading institutions in the field of marine sciences in Europe, the IFM-GEOMAR.

Kiel is home to a large service sector and a number of research institutions including the University of Kiel, which is the oldest, largest, and most prestigious university in the state.

Kiel is Schleswig-Holstein's largest city, and therefore Kiel's shopping district is a major attraction, and will see further improvement and renovation efforts in the upcoming years.

Kiel's Holstenstraße is one of the longest shopping streets in Germany.

Kiel Week is a festival, Volksfest and fair as well as a maritime event.

The state capital Kiel is a corporative sponsoring member of the Max Planck Society.

Kiel's economy is dominated by the service sector, transport and maritime industries.

Kiel is one of the major ports of the German Navy, and a leading centre of German high-tech military and civil shipbuilding.

Kiel is the home of Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft, a shipyard founded in 1838 famed for its construction of submarines.

Kiel is situated near an important pan-European motorway, the A7, which connects northern Europe with central and southern Europe.

Central railway station, Kiel Hauptbahnhof, has hourly trains to Hamburg, Lubeck, Flensburg, and Husum.

Autokraft and Verkehrsbetriebe Kreis Plon providing regional bus service, and the Schlepp- und Fahrgesellschaft Kiel provides public transport on the fjord with ferries.

Port of Kiel is a significant port for passenger and cargo shipping from Germany to Scandinavia, the Baltic States and Russia.