Constance

Location

The city is located in the state of Baden-Württemberg and situated at the banks of Lake Constance (Bodensee), on the Constance Hopper. The river Rhine, which rises in the Swiss Alps, passes through Upper Lake Constance (Obersee) and leaves it, considerably larger, by flowing under the Old Rhine Bridge connecting the two parts of the city (this part of the river is also called the Seerhein). North of the river, on the Bodanrück peninsula, lies the larger part of the city with residential areas, industrial estates, and the University of Konstanz; while south of the river is the old town (Altstadt, including the Dominicans Island), which houses the administrative centre and shopping facilities in addition to the Hochschule (University of Applied Sciences) as well as the port and main railway station.

The Germany–Switzerland border runs along the southwestern and southern edge of the city, demarcating it from the Swiss town of Kreuzlingen. To the west, Konstanz borders the municipalities of Allensbach and Reichenau and the Hegau region.

Subdivisions

Konstanz is subdivided into 15 wards or districts (Stadtteile):

The island of Mainau belonged to the ward of Litzelstetten, a separate municipality, until its incorporation into Konstanz on 1 December 1971. Altstadt and Paradies are the only territories of Germany located south of the Rhine.

History

The first traces of civilization in Konstanz date back to the late Stone Age.

During the reign of Augustus, the Celts living south of the Danube were conquered by the Romans. Around 40 AD, the first Romans settled on the site. This small town on the left bank of the Rhine was probably first called Drusomagus and belonged to the Roman province of Raetia. Its later name, originally Constantia, comes either from the Roman emperor Constantius Chlorus, who fought the Alemanni in the region and built a strong fortress around 300 AD, or from his grandson Constantius II, who visited the region in 354. The remains of the late Roman fortress Constantia were discovered in 2003.

Around 585 the first bishop took up residence in Konstanz and this marked the beginning of the city's importance as a spiritual center. By the late Middle Ages, about one quarter of Konstanz's 6,000 inhabitants were exempt from taxation on account of clerical rights.

Trade thrived during the Middle Ages. Konstanz owned the only bridge in the region, which crossed the Rhine, making it a strategic location in the Duchy of Swabia. Its linen production had made an international name for the city and it was prosperous. In 1192, Konstanz gained the status of Imperial City so it was henceforth subject only to the Holy Roman Emperor.

In 1414 to 1418, the Council of Constance took place, during which, on 6 July 1415, Jan Hus (Czech religious thinker, philosopher and reformer), who was seen as a threat to Christianity by the Roman Catholic Church, was burned at the stake. It was here that the Papal Schism was ended and Pope Martin V was elected during the only conclave ever held north of the Alps. Ulrich von Richental's illustrated chronicle of the Council of Constance testifies to all the major happenings during the council as well as showing the everyday life of medieval Konstanz. The Konzilgebäude where the conclave was held can still be seen standing by the harbour. Close by stands the Imperia, a statue that was erected in 1993 to satirically commemorate the council.

In 1460, the Swiss Confederacy conquered Thurgau, Konstanz's natural hinterland. Konstanz then made an attempt to get admitted to the Swiss Confederacy, but the forest cantons voted against its entry, fearing overbearing city states; Konstanz then joined the Swabian League instead. In the Swabian War of 1499, Konstanz lost its last privileges over Thurgau to the Confederation.

Main sights

Konstanz was also home to a large synagogue, destroyed by the Nazi government in 1938.

World Heritage Site

It is home to one or more prehistoric pile-dwelling (or stilt house) settlements that are part of the Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Transport

The city is situated on the Lake Constance Belt Railway. Konstanz station is the eastern terminus of the High Rhine Railway line, running westwards to Singen, with connections to all parts of Germany and the Swiss cities of Schaffhausen and Basel. There are three other stations in Konstanz along this line: Konstanz-Fürstenberg, Konstanz-Petershausen and Konstanz-Wollmatingen. In addition, Konstanz station is linked via two connectors (in both directions) to the Lake Line, which runs along the Swiss shore of Lake Constance and the High Rhine. It is indirectly also linked to the Wil–Kreuzlingen railway line to Weinfelden, with connections to long-distance trains in Switzerland. Regional trains (S-Bahn) operate for Bodensee S-Bahn and St. Gallen S-Bahn. Services are provided by the Deutsche Bahn and also the Swiss Federal Railways and its subsidiaries Thurbo and SBB GmbH.

Bus services within the city are provided by Stadtwerke Konstanz GmbH.

Additionally, a car ferry provides access across Lake Überlingen to Meersburg. Since 2005, Konstanz and Friedrichshafen have been connected by the two catamarans Constance and Fridolin, and since 2008 by a third one, Ferdinand. Konstanz is also served by URh boat lines to Kreuzlingen and Schaffhausen.

The nearest airport is Friedrichshafen Airport, which can be reached by a fast ferry service. This airport mainly hosts domestic flights, but flights to Austria and Turkey are also available. The nearest international airports are in Stuttgart, Basel, and Zurich, of which the latter has a direct train from Konstanz station.

Climate

Its location in south-west Germany gives Konstanz a degraded oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb) with warm and humid summers (moderated by the lake) as well as cold and snowy winters.

Notable people

Public service and commerce

Ulrich Zasius (1461–1536), jurist

Ernst Vögelin (1529–1589), pioneer book printer

Wacker von Wackenfels (1550–1619), diplomat, scholar and author

Johann Friedrich Cotta (1764–1832) a publisher, industrial pioneer and politician; in 1825 he started steamboats on Lake Constance.

Johann Leonhard Hug (1765–1846) a Catholic theologian, orientalist and biblical scholar.

Guillaume Henri Dufour (1787–1875) a Swiss military officer, structural engineer and topographer.

Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin (1838–1917), a German general and inventor of the Zeppelin rigid airships.

Josef Albert Amann (junior) (1866–1919), gynecologist

Conrad Grober (1872–1948), priest and archbishop, teacher and pastor in Konstanz

Friedrich Flick (1883–1972), entrepreneur and convicted Nazi war criminal

Michaela von Neipperg (1885–1957), countess and Benedictine nun, religious superior at the Municipal Women's Clinic Konstanz

Siegfried Adolf Handloser (1885–1954), doctor of the German Armed Forces Medical Services

Melanie Risch (1887–1944), victim of Nazism

Werner Berger (1901–1964), SS-Oberscharführer, member of commando 99 in Buchenwald concentration camp

The arts

Tobias Pock (1609–1683), Austrian Baroque painter of Swabian descent, a pioneer of sacral art

Marie Ellenrieder (1791–1863), painter

Ida Maier-Müller (1821–1904) landscape painter and self-portraitist

Jacob Picard (1883–1967), writer

Anne Winterer (1894–1938), photographer

François Stahly (1911–2006), French sculptor

Hans Maria Wingler (1920–1984), art historian and founder of Bauhaus-Archive

Rosemarie Banholzer (born 1925), dialect author

Martin Gotthard Schneider (1930–2017), church musician, songwriter and theologian

Uli Trepte (1941–2009), musician

Helmut-Ulrich Weiss (born 1947), filmmaker and educator

Beate Honsell-Weiss (born 1952), visual artist

Carola Zwick (born 1966), product designer

Twin towns – sister cities

Konstanz is twinned with:

Fontainebleau, France (1960)

Richmond upon Thames, England, United Kingdom (1983)

Tábor, Czech Republic (1984)

Lodi, Italy (1986)

Suzhou, China (2007)