Esslingen

The town of Esslingen is located on the Neckar River in the district of Stuttgart in southwestern Germany at a site of commanding, strategic height. It lies at the center of a fertile wine-producing and fruit-growing area. Documented in 777 as Cella and in 866 as Hetsilinga, it was fortified and chartered about 1219. It was a free imperial city until it passed to Württemberg in 1802. Historic architecture includes three town halls, the old citadel standing upon a high crest, and the Church of Our Lady, built between 1321 and 1516, the first structure to be designed in the Swabian gothic style. The 2004 estimated population was 91,600.