DEUTSCHLAND	GERMANY
Bundesland: Rheinland-Pfalz	Rhineland-Palatinate
Stadt: Landau in der Pfalz

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Landau in der Pfalz is situated at an elevation of 142 m in the southern Weinstraße (Wine Route) area of southern Rhineland-Palatinate. The municipality has a population of about 46,000 (2016) and also includes the town districts Arzheim, Dammheim, Godramstein, Mörlheim, Mörzheim, Nußdorf, Queichheim and Wollmesheim. Although itself independent from the sourrounding district, it is the seat of the administration of the district Südliche Weinstraße (Southern Wine Route).

Landau was first mentioned in 1268, founded by the counts of Leiningen-Landeck. The town was granted a charter in 1274 by German King Rudolf I who declared the town a Free Imperial Town in 1291. Nevertheless the Prince-Bishop of Speyer seized the town in 1324. The town did not regain its ancient rights until 1511. From 1680 until 1815, Landau was part of France, during which it was one of the Décapole, an alliance of ten towns of the Holy Roman Empire in Alsace (Haguenau, Colmar, Wissembourg, Turckheim, Obernai, Kaysersberg, Rosheim, Munster, Sélestat and Mulhouse, later also Seltz and Landau) that had been founded in 1354. In 1688–1699 it received its modern fortifications by Louis XIV's military architect Vauban, making the little town one of Europe's strongest citadels. In 1815 Landau, which had remained French, was granted to the Kingdom of Bavaria and became the capital of one of the thirteen counties of the Bavarian Rheinkreis, later renamed Pfalz, which in 1946 became part of Germany's state of Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatine).

The equestrian monument for Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria in Market Square (today Rathausplatz) [left, no. 3428: centre] was created in 1892 by the sculptor Wilhelm von Rümann.

The Festhalle (festival hall) [right, no. 3594] was built in 1905–1907 in Art Nouveau style. The architect was hermann Goerke, the portals were created by the sculptor Gustav Adolf Bernd. The building is listed as an architectural monument and is one of the most important Art Nouveau buildings in Germany.

Glass no. 3708 [near right] shows a view of the infantery barracks with casino. Following the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/1871 and the ensuing annexation of Alsace and Lorraine, the fortress of Landau was demolished. Nevertheless, Landau became an important site of the Bavarian army, and extensive barracks were built for the 5th and 12th Bavarian Feld Artillery Regiments and the 18th and 23rd Infantery Regiments (the building depicted on this glass is identified on old postcards either as 'Infanterie-Kaserne' or as barracks and casino of the 18th infantery regiment. After both world wars, Landau became a garrison town of the French Army (1918–1930 during the French occupation of the Rhineland, and after 1945 as part of the French allied-occupied zone. After the German Federal Republic became sovereign again following the Bonn–Paris Conventions of 1955, the NATO Status of Forces Agreement of 1951 secured the stationing of French troops also in Landau. Most of the military objects used by France were finally returned in 1997–1999. Glass no. 3708 [near right] is labeled in French: Souvenir de Landau / Caserne.

[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landau_in_der_Pfalz, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landau, https://www.landau.de/Leben-Wohnen/Stadtportrait/Stadtgeschichte/Zeittafel; https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jugendstil-Festhalle]