Wikipedia:WikiProject Germany/Portal:Baden-Württemberg/Selected article/2

Stuttgart Schlossplatz at night

Stuttgart (/ˈʃtʊtɡɑːrt/; German pronunciation: [ˈʃtʊtɡaʁt] , Swabian: Schduagert [ˈʃd̥ua̯ɡ̊ɛʕt]) is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,068 (October 2014). Retrieved 17 Feb 2015 while the greater Stuttgart Metropolitan Region has a population of 5.3 million (2008), being the fourth-biggest in Germany after the Rhine-Ruhr area, Berlin/Brandenburg and Frankfurt/Rhine-Main. The city lies at the centre of a densely populated area, surrounded by a ring of smaller towns. This area called Stuttgart Region has a population of 2.7 million.

Stuttgart is spread across a variety of hills (many of them vineyards), valleys and parks – unusual for a German city and often a source of surprise to visitors who primarily associate the city with its industrial reputation as the 'cradle of the automobile'. Stuttgart has the status of Stadtkreis, a type of self-administrating urban county. It is also the seat of the State Parliament and State Government of Baden-Württemberg, the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg as well as one of the two co-seats of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart.