DEUTSCHLAND	GERMANY
Bundesland: Baden-Württemberg
Regierungsbezirk: Tübingen
Landkreis: Zollernalbkreis

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Albstadt is situated at an elevation of 861 m on the river Schmiecha in the southwestern Alb region about 35 km south of Tübingen. The settlement was founded in the 4th or 5th century. The first mention of Ebingen in a document dates from 793. During the early Middle Ages the village became a regional centre and the seat of a church chapter or deanery. The counts of Hohenberg granted Ebingen the status of a town around 1260; the first document to this effect dates from 1285. In 1367 Ebingen came in possession of Württemberg, at first as a pawn, and 1468 as a definite property. Textile manufactures existed here at least since the 17th century, but when the first steam engines were introduced in 1834 the textile industry boomed and became a major factor for the town's economy. In 1956 Ebingen reached a population of 20,000 and thus received the status of a 'major district town'. In 1971/1972 Margrethausen, Lautlingen, and Laufen were incorporated into Ebingen. The towns of Ebingen and Tailfingen (with Truchtelfingen), and the communities of Onstmettingen and Pfeffingen were merged in 1975 into a single municipality which took the new name, Albstadt. With 49,000 inhabitants Albstadt is the largest town in the Zollernalb district.

The bottom left picture shows the Marktbrunnen (fountain in Market Square). The labeling identifies the statue on the fountain as Count Eberhard. Unfortunately, I could not find and information about which of the five counts of Württemberg of this name is honoured by the fountain.

The Schlossfelsenturm [bottom right] is located at an elevation of 952 m on the Schlossfels mountain near Ebingen. The lookout tower was built in 1899 marks the site of a medieval castle of the 12th/13th century.

Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg (1907–1944), leading figure of the failed assassination of Adolf Hitler in 1944, spent his youth at his family's estate in Albstadt-Lautlingen.