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24-523: The European Archaeological Park at Bliesbruck-Reinheim , in the German municipality of Gersheim ( Saarland ) and the French municipality of Bliesbruck ( Département Moselle ), is a cross-border project which combines excavations and reconstructions of Celtic and Roman finds with exhibition and educational facilities. It was created in 1989 as a result of the archaeological work being done on both sides of

48-748: A district, but take on district responsibilities themselves, similar to the concept of independent cities . These are known as "urban districts" (German: kreisfreie Städte or Stadtkreise )—cities which constitute a district in their own right—and there are 106 of them, bringing the total number of districts to 400. As of 2016 , approximately 26 million people live in these 107 urban districts. In North Rhine-Westphalia , there are some cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants which are not urban districts, these being Recklinghausen , Gütersloh , Siegen , Paderborn , Bergisch Gladbach , Neuss and Moers . Nevertheless, these cities take over many district responsibilities themselves, although they are still part of

72-670: A fusion of a district-free town with its adjacent rural district: besides the Regionalverband Saarbrücken ( Saarbrücken regional association ), from 1974 until 2007 called "Stadtverband Saarbrücken" ( Saarbrücken town association ), there is the Hanover Region since 2001 and the Städteregion Aachen ( Aachen region of towns ) since 2009. Aachen, Hanover and Göttingen retain certain rights of an urban district ( Kreisfreie Stadt ); Saarbrücken has not explicitly determined

96-423: A larger rural district. Midsize towns can perform particular administrative functions of the district as well, especially to provide common services to the local citizens. The classification as "midsize" town is usually based on a town's registered population, but varies from state to state. A special type of rural districts includes the three Kommunalverbände besonderer Art ( Municipal unions of special kind ),

120-593: A mayor, in most greater cities usually by the Lord Mayor . Rural districts in some German states have an additional administrative committee called Kreisausschuss . This committee is generally led by the Landrat and includes a number of additional voluntary members. It takes over certain administrative functions for the district, following decisions of the district council. However, the exact role and regulations of this panel vary greatly between different states. The city where

144-418: A municipal association. Mayors are elected for a specific term, which is different in every state. Since mayoral elections also have to be held when a mayor resigns from office, these do not take place at the same time for all municipalities in a state. The terms for mayors are: Districts of Germany In 13 German states , the primary administrative subdivision higher than a Gemeinde (municipality)

168-459: A need to increase the efficiency and reduce costs of administration. At the same time, many districts and also urban districts were merged into larger districts. There are several types of municipalities in Germany, with different levels of autonomy. Each federal state has its own administrative laws, and its own local government structure. The main types of municipalities are: In all municipalities,

192-498: A similar provision in its legislation. According to common federal and state laws, the districts are responsible for the following tasks: Districts can perform additional functions, based on varying local laws in each region: All these tasks are carried out by local (municipal) authorities operating together. Urban districts have these responsibilities and also those of the municipalities. The district council (German: Kreistag , pronounced [ˈkʁaɪ̯sˌtaːk] )

216-575: Is a garden containing plants that were typically considered useful at the time. The entire park lies in the picturesque Blies Valley and provides a beautiful setting for walks. In collaboration with the experts and the park authorities, a group of citizens calling themselves " Taranis " has been endeavouring since 2002 to recreate the Celtic way of life with its accoutrements from the early La Tène Period (La Tène A, c. 475 to 370 BC). They feature demonstrations of ancient crafts ranging from tablet weaving to

240-419: Is an officer known as Landrat or Landrätin , who is responsible for the district's day-to-day administration and acts as its representative for official purposes. In parts of northern Germany, Landrat is also the name of the entire district administration, which in southern Germany is known as Kreisverwaltung or Landratsamt . In urban districts similar administrative functions are performed by

264-504: Is the Landkreis or Kreis . Most major cities in Germany are not part of any Kreis , but instead combine the functions of a municipality and a Kreis ; such a city is referred to as a kreisfreie Stadt or Stadtkreis . (Land-)Kreise stand at an intermediate level of administration between each state ( Länder ) and the municipalities ( Gemeinden ) within it. These correspond to level-3 administrative units in

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288-476: Is the highest institution of a rural district and is responsible for all fundamental guidelines of regional self-administration. This council is elected directly every five years, except in Bavaria where it is elected every six years. Usually the administrative seat of a rural district is located in one of its largest towns. However, district council and administrative seat of some rural districts are not situated within

312-595: The Gemeinden which are not part of a Kreis ("district"). These Gemeinden are referred to as Kreisfreie Städte or Stadtkreise , often translated as "urban district". In some states they retained a higher measure of autonomy than the other municipalities of the Kreis (e.g. Große Kreisstadt ). Municipalities titled Stadt (town or city) are urban municipalities while those titled Gemeinde are classified as rural municipalities. With more than 3,600,000 inhabitants,

336-718: The Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS 3). Previously, the similar title Imperial Circle ( Reichskreis ) referred to groups of states in the Holy Roman Empire . The related term Landeskommissariat was used for similar administrative divisions in some German territories until the 19th century. The majority of German districts are "rural districts" (German: Landkreise , pronounced [ˈlantˌkʁaɪ̯zə] ), of which there are 294 as of 2017 . Cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants (and smaller towns in some states) do not usually belong to

360-563: The mayor and the members of the municipal council are appointed by local elections that take place on a regular basis. Elections for the municipal councils ( Kommunalwahlen ) take place every 4 years in Bremen, every 6 years in Bavaria and every 5 years in all other states. The office of mayor is full-time ( hauptamtlich ) in larger municipalities, and voluntary ( ehrenamtlich ) in smaller municipalities, for instance those that are part of

384-728: The Franco-German border. Together with archaeological evidence from the Mesolithic Period, the Bronze Age , and the period of the Germanic migrations , the Celtic and Roman finds from the Iron Age bear witness to a history of continuous settlement in the Blies Valley that spans a period of 10,000 years. This European Archaeological Park is jointly operated by the conseil général of

408-604: The French département of Moselle and the German district of Saarpfalz . The project receives additional funding from the French Ministry of Culture and Communication , the German state of Saarland , and the municipality of Gersheim . The founder of the European Archaeological Park was the late Jean Schaub (1927–2000), an entrepreneur who used private assets to buy up the first tracts of land belonging to

432-515: The French side are the partially reconstructed thermal baths of the Gallo-Roman town, now sheltered by a roof and accompanied by helpful information plaques. The shop-lined town street is easily recognizable from its exposed foundations and cellars, as well as a portion of the street, with clear information displayed in French, German and English. There are reconstructions of a grist mill and baking oven, used for educational purposes. A recent addition

456-540: The area to the west there are reconstructions of a few Celtic-style dwellings. From a viewing mound it is easy to make out the partially reconstructed foundations of the large Roman villa, while the main gatehouse and one of the outbuildings of the villa have been completely reconstructed. Most of the original artefacts are now in the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte (Museum of Prehistory and Protohistory) in Saarbrücken . On

480-412: The district proper, but in an adjacent district-free city. Most of those rural districts are named after this central city as well (e.g. Bamberg and Karlsruhe ). Moers is the biggest city in Germany (and at present time the only one with more than 100,000 inhabitants) that is neither an urban district, nor the district seat of its rural district. The highest administrative position of a rural district

504-697: The forging of Celtic utilitarian objects. Basing their activity on scientific research, the members then provide a graphic presentation of these crafts and ways of life. Every year at the park, this group offers a re-enactment of its knowledge of Celtic life and receives invitations to participate in events at other venues as well. The park covers an area of approximately 1200 by 600 metres. Its archaeological sites attract about 40,000 visitors per year, including 20,000 schoolchildren. 49°07′46″N 7°10′52″E  /  49.12944°N 7.18111°E  / 49.12944; 7.18111 Municipalities of Germany The highest degree of autonomy may be found in

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528-801: The most populous municipality of Germany is the city of Berlin ; and the least populous is Gröde in Schleswig-Holstein . Status as of January 2024. The number of municipalities of Germany has decreased strongly over the years: in 1968 there were 24,282 municipalities in West Germany , and in 1980 there were 8,409. The same trend occurred in the New states of Germany after the German reunification: from 7,612 municipalities in 1990 to 2,380 as of 1 January 2024. While in some cases growing cities absorbed neighbouring municipalities, most of these mergers were driven by

552-423: The office of the district's administration is located is called Kreisstadt ("district city"), or Kreishauptort ("district main community") if it is not a city. Often the district is named after its district city. Linguistically, any city within a district could be called a "Kreisstadt", especially those that aren't district-free to distinguish them from district-free cities. This term has to be distinguished from

576-576: The park, thus protecting them from development and saving the relics of the Roman past for posterity. On the German side there is a small museum which exhibits a selection of artefacts and replicas representing the whole range of periods from which finds have been made. In addition, there is a very impressive walk-in reconstruction of the Tomb of the Celtic Princess, including the most valuable funerary artefacts. In

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