417. The state capital of Rhineland-Palatinate is …

Answer options

1. Mainz
2. Kaiserslautern
3. Ludwigshafen
4. Koblenz

Explanation

The term “Landeshauptstadt” denotes the seat of a Land’s constitutional organs—above all the Landtag and the state government—and is typically the administrative center. Under the federal order of the Basic Law (Art. 20(1), Art. 30 GG), each Land determines its internal organization, including the capital; the homogeneity clause in Art. 28 GG imposes no requirements as to location. Rhineland-Palatinate was created in 1946 in the French occupation zone; after a transitional period with Koblenz as the seat of government, the Landtag designated Mainz as the state capital in 1950, drawing on the city’s role as the seat of the Archbishop-Elector of Mainz and as a site of early democratic experiments (the Mainz Republic of 1793). Some state authorities remain in Koblenz, reflecting the Land’s historically polycentric structure.