Nuremberg (; German: Nürnberg; pronounced [ˈnʏɐ̯nbɛɐ̯k] ( listen); Nuremberg dialect: Närmberch; East Franconian: Närrnberch or Nämberch) is the second-largest city of the German federal state of Bavaria after its capital of Munich, and its 511,628 (2016) inhabitants make it the 14th largest city of Germany. On the Pegnitz River (from its confluence with the Rednitz in Fürth onwards: Regnitz, a tributary of the River Main) and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it lies in the Bavarian administrative region of Middle Franconia, and is the largest city and the unofficial capital of Franconia. Nuremberg forms a continuous conurbation with the neighbouring cities of Fürth, Erlangen and Schwabach with a total population of 787,976 (2016), while the larger Nuremberg Metropolitan Region has approximately 3.5 million inhabitants. The city lies about 170 kilometres (110 mi) north of Munich. It is the largest city in the East Franconian dialect area (colloquially: "Franconian"; German: "Fränkisch").
There are many institutions of higher education in the city, most notably the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg), with 39,780 students (2017) Bavaria's third and Germany's 11th largest university with campuses in Erlangen and Nuremberg and a university hospital in Erlangen (Universitätsklinikum Erlangen), Technische Hochschule Nürnberg Georg Simon Ohm, and Hochschule für Musik Nürnberg. Nuremberg Airport (Flughafen Nürnberg „Albrecht Dürer“) is the second-busiest airport of Bavaria after Munich Airport, and the tenth-busiest airport of Germany.
Staatstheater Nürnberg is one of the five Bavarian state theatres, showing operas, operettas, musicals, and ballets (main venue: Nuremberg Opera House), plays (main venue: Schauspielhaus Nürnberg), as well as concerts (main venue: Meistersingerhalle). Its orchestra, Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg, is Bavaria's second-largest opera orchestra after the Bavarian State Opera's Bavarian State Orchestra in