Konstanz or Constance is the largest city on Lake Constance and the district town of the district of Konstanz. The former free and imperial city belongs to the Federal Republic of Germany and lies on the border with Switzerland. Constance has been a major district town since April 1, 1956 and forms a regional center within the Hochrhein-Bodensee region in the Freiburg administrative region of the state of Baden-Württemberg. There are two universities in Konstanz, the University of Konstanz and the University of Konstanz Technology, Business and Design (HTWG). The history of the place goes back to Roman times.
Constance is the largest city on Lake Constance and is part of
Baden. The city lies at the point where the Rhine flows out of the
Obersee of Lake Constance, the so-called Konstanzer funnel, and
flows west of the city into the Untersee. The 30 km long headland of
Bodanrück ends in the northwest, separating the Untersee and
Gnadensee from the Überlinger See in the north.
The old town
of Konstanz is located south of the Konstanz funnel, i.e. on the
actually Swiss side, while younger districts are located on the tip
of the Bodanrück. This particular geographic location alone explains
why Konstanz has a strong traditional relationship with its Swiss
environs. Zurich is easier to reach than the state capital
Stuttgart. Visitors who are not familiar with the area should not
make the mistake of calling Constance residents Swabians. Constance
is part of Baden, and that is sometimes taken very seriously.
Day tourists like to visit Constance in summer, not least
because of the nearby island of Mainau, which is known for its
well-tended and flower-rich park. Because of the lake, it usually
doesn't get too hot in summer. The winters are rather mild, but
notorious for long periods of fog. The allemannische Fasnet
(carnival) is traditionally strongly cultivated in Constance. On the
Thursday before Carnival (Schmotzige Dunschtig), public life comes
to a complete standstill. The streets then belong to the fools. In a
somewhat weaker form, this also applies to the following three days,
while normality returns on Rose Monday and Shrove Tuesday.
На самолете
Ближайшие пассажирские аэропорты — это аэропорт
Фридрихсхафена (IATA: FDH) и аэропорт Цюриха (IATA: ZRH).
В самом
Констанце есть аэродром, но он не используется для общественного
транспорта.
Поездом
Железнодорожная станция находится прямо на
берегу озера рядом со старым городом.
Из Германии
Констанц —
конечная станция Шварцвальдской железной дороги из Карлсруэ.
Региональный поезд Seehas обеспечивает хорошее сообщение с Зингеном и
Радольфцеллем.
Из Швейцарии
Прямые поезда InterRegio
отправляются в Цюрих и из Цюриха каждый час, а также S-Bahn до
Вайнфельдена. Есть также прямые рейсы в Санкт-Галлен несколько раз в
день.
До Констанции можно добраться на местном транспорте из
Вайнфельдена и Кройцлингена. До Кройцлингена можно добраться из
Шаффхаузена или Санкт-Галлена и Роршаха (оба через Романсхорн). Оттуда
всего несколько минут езды до Констанца.
На автобусе
Остановки
автобусов дальнего следования:
Döbeleplatz, примерно в 1 км от
железнодорожного вокзала, 78462 Констанц
Allmannsdorf, Mainaustrasse,
78464 Констанц
см. также автобусы дальнего следования в Германии
На улице
Из Германии в Зинген по федеральному автобану 81, затем
по скоростной автомагистрали до Констанца за несколько километров.
Остальное – проселочные дороги, на которых часто бывают пробки, особенно
в туристический сезон.
Из Швейцарии доехать прямо до национальной
границы по автобану № 7. Оттуда до старого города около километра
(осторожно: высокий риск пробок!). Совет для тех, кто прибывает из
Швейцарии: припаркуйте свой автомобиль на большой автостоянке на
Зеештрассе в Кройцлингене (недалеко от арены Бодензее, хоккейного
стадиона прямо на озере, прямо перед национальной границей). Оттуда
всего в нескольких минутах ходьбы через государственную границу (зеленая
граница) до железнодорожного вокзала Констанца (около 10 минут), где
начинается старый город.
На лодке
Автомобильный паром между
Констанцем/Альмансдорфом и Меерсбургом курсирует днем и ежечасно
ночью. Время в пути 15 минут. В течение дня между паромным портом и
старым городом Констанца курсирует автобусный маршрут 1. Есть и другие
маршруты для пешеходов и велосипедистов из городской гавани возле
старого города (прямо рядом с железнодорожной станцией) до
Фридрихсхафена и до острова Райхенау с Шаффхаузеном. С 2005 года также
можно использовать быструю и удобную связь с катамараном до
Фридрихсхафена. Катамаран едет по озеру и с него открывается прекрасный
вид на воду и горный пейзаж. Также можно взять с собой велосипеды.
На велосипеде
За швейцарской границей в Кройцлингене велосипедная
дорожка Рейна в Швейцарии обозначена как Рейнский маршрут 2 и обозначена
указателями. Обозначенная альтернатива также проходит параллельно на
северной стороне Унтерзее через Радольфцелль.
Дорога Бодензее-Радвег
проходит вокруг всего Боденского озера, но обозначена как
Бодензее-Радвег только в Германии и Австрии, а в Швейцарии как
Рейн-Маршрут 2.
Пешком
Hus-Museum Konstanz является конечной
точкой Hus-Weg, которая ведет из Праги через Бернау, Нюрнберг и Ульм к
Боденскому озеру.
Старый город Констанца страдает от нехватки парковочных мест. Цены на
многоэтажных парковках довольно высокие (например, на многоэтажной
парковке Fischmarkt 7 евро за 5 часов). С велосипедами и мотоциклами
здесь немного проще.
Старый город можно прекрасно осмотреть
пешком, так что моторизация здесь не обязательна. Благодаря
непосредственной близости от железнодорожного вокзала и порта до него
легко добраться.
Все автобусные линии имеют только одну конечную
остановку. Оттуда они идут в старый город, обходят его по петле и
возвращаются на конечную остановку. Это означает, что до любой точки
старого города можно легко добраться. Поскольку коммунальные службы
имеют хороший источник дохода от автомобильного парома, поездки на
автобусе довольно дешевы. Билеты на одну и несколько поездок можно
приобрести в автоматах на каждой автобусной остановке.
Важные
автобусные маршруты:
1: Паромный порт.
4: Остров Майнау.
5:
Хорнл.
9: Университет.
908: Кройцлинген (CH) в Ландшлахт (CH).
Munster Our Lady : In the center of the old town. Magnificent view of
the city and the lake from the tower, which can be climbed over 193
steps (open from March 17, Mon-Sat 10:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m., Sun 12:30
p.m. - 6:00 p.m., admission €2, reduced €1, children up to 14 years
free). The carvings on the main portal and the pulpit are particularly
impressive. The Romanesque building was built in 1089. In the 14th-16th
In the 19th century they were provided with towers and Gothic side
chapels. The neo-Gothic spire was added in the 19th century. From 1414
to 1418 the minster served as the meeting room of the Council of
Constance.
Stephen's Church in the old town.
Roman fort on Münsterplatz
Council Building from 1388 originally
used as a grain storehouse, in which the Constance Council took place.
Today it is used as an event hall and restaurant and can only be viewed
from the outside.
Historic old town from the 12th-15th century
City hall
In the Middle Ages, Obermarkt was the city's place of
justice.
Rheintor Tower
Schnetztor
University It dates from the
1970s and has an idiosyncratic architecture made of concrete, glass,
metal and wood. You only notice some of the playful jokes of this
architecture at second glance. Also worth seeing for non-academics.
Imperia : Provocative oversized statue on the quay of the city port.
Built by Peter Lenk in the late 1980s. Meanwhile secret symbol of the
city.
Lenkbrunnen Larger fountain with many provocative figures by
Peter Lenk.
Husenstein: Supposedly built on the spot where Jan Hus
was burned at the stake.
Johann Georg Elser commemorative plaque: A
very hidden memorial plaque in the Schwedenschanze in the Stadelhofen
district commemorates the Hitler assassin and his arrest in Constance.
Johann Georg Elser lived and worked in the region from 1925-1932. On
November 8, 1939, the bomb exploded in the Munich Bürgerbräukeller and
at around 8:45 p.m. Johann Georg Elser was arrested in Konstanz by the
customs border guard when he tried to cross the border. He was executed
on April 9, 1945 in the Dachau concentration camp.
Kaiserbrunnen
Stadttheater the only theater company on the lake (established in the
Jesuit grammar school in 1607); Website of the City Theater of Constance
Southwest German Philharmonic; Website of the Southwest German
Philharmonic
The city's cultural center with the city library, art
association and Wessenberg gallery. Website Kulturzentrum Konstanz
cultural center K9; Website Cultural Center K9
Kulturladen Konstanz;
Website Kulturladen Konstanz
Archaeological State Museum in the Petershausen district, near the
Old Rhine Bridge. Benediktinerplatz 5, 78467 Constance;
http://www.konstanz.alm-bw.de/
town Wessenberg Gallery in the
Cultural Center, Wessenbergstr. 41, 78462 Constance;
http://www.konstanz.de/wessenberg/index.html
BildungsTURM cultural
center at the Münster - inner courtyard, Wessenbergstraße 43, 78462
Konstanz; http://www.konstanz.de/wirtschaft/00915/00918/index.html
Hus Museum Jan Hus House, Hussenstr. 64, 78462 Constance;
http://www.konstanz.de/tourismus/01434/01435/01648/index.html
Rosgarten Museum Rosgartenstr. 3-5, 78462 Constance;
http://www.konstanz.de/rosgartenmuseum/index.html
Aquarium "Sea Life
Center" Hafenstr. 9, 78462 Constance; Large aquariums displaying a wide
variety of fish and other aquatic life. An aquarium spectacle for the
appropriate entrance fee. Admission: €17.50, children 3-14 years:
€12.95. Near the train station right on the lake at the Swiss border.
Bodensee-Naturmuseum in the Sea-Life-Centre, Hafenstr. 9, 78462
Constance;
https://www.konstanz.de/kultur+_+freizeit/museen+_+ausstellungshaeuser/bodensee-naturmuseum
Art border between Germany and Switzerland, Hafenstrasse / Klein Venice,
78462 Constance;
http://www.konstanz.de/ti/01328/01329/index.htm
Market place: There is no weekly market here, but beautiful house
facades and a lot of hustle and bustle.
Stephansplatz: Here is the
weekly market, every Tuesday and Friday.
Gebhardsplatz: This is the
other weekly market, every Wednesday and Saturday.
Stadtgarten: In 1863 Konstanz was connected to the
Mannheim-Basel-Konstanz main line of the Baden State Railways. This,
together with the freedom of trade announced in Baden in 1862, triggered
an economic upswing and large population growth and led to the decision
to tear down the city wall. The city park of Constance, called
Stadtgarten, is an artificially heaped up area immediately south of the
Dominican Island. The embankment took place from 1863 with rubble of the
city wall. The area is around 2.7 hectares. The site of the Stadtgarten
was originally intended to be developed according to the wishes of the
Mayor at the time, Max Stromeyer. After his resignation, however, this
plan was discarded. The city garden was opened in 1879.
Herosé Park:
On the other side of the Rhine, in Petershausen am Seerhein, is the
Herosé Park, which was laid out on the eastern part of the site of the
former Herosé textile factory.
Hoerlé-Park: Located in the Staad
district of Konstanz. It extends over a length of about 600 meters along
the shore of Lake Constance and has a size of about 0.5 km². There are
i.a. a playground, a lawn and the opportunity to swim in Lake Constance.
The park was donated by a Huguenot family. After the death of the
entrepreneur Eugène Hoerlé (1861-1941), the park area was incorporated
into the non-profit "Hoerlé-Pahud-Foundation", one of the aims of which
is to preserve the park for the general public. The foundation has
leased the park to the city of Constance.
Bismarckturm: On the vine-covered, sunny and warm Raiteberg in the
Petershausen district.
Bus stops: "Bismarcksteig" (steep path from
the south) or "Königsbau" (less steep and shorter path from the east).
The tower can be climbed. At the top, the cranky but friendly
tower keeper lends you binoculars. But even from the forecourt you have
a very good view of the city, Obersee, Untersee, Reichenau, Seerücken
and the Alps (on good days from Glärnisch via Churfirsten and Alpstein
to Graubünden, Vorarlberg and Allgäu). A funny Bismarck collection in
the entrance area of the tower. The Bismarck sideburns on the tower
facades - in Warholian repetition - are simply stunning.
From the
tower there is a nice path to the west to the main cemetery or to the
woods on the outskirts.
Chinese bus stop: Since May 30th, 2007,
Konstanz has gained an unusual bus stop. The bus stop, the
Suzhou-Konstanz Pavilion, was built by craftsmen from the partner city
of Suzhou in traditional Chinese architecture on Konzilstrasse. All
materials for this also come from China.
Baden am Hörnle: On the extreme tip of the Bodanrück, the so-called
Hörnle, is the open-air swimming pool with a nudist section. Admission
is free, but there is a car parking fee. Bus line 5 connects the old
town with the Hörnle.
Swimming in the lake: Due to its special
location, Konstanz has several kilometers of lake shore. There are
various places where you can swim. Be careful near the ferry! Bathing is
prohibited there for safety reasons.
Schwaketenbad:
Especially when the weather is bad, the Schwaketenbad is a great way to
spend an eventful day. It offers an interesting offer for active
swimmers as well as for families. With its five pools and over 820
square meters of water, it is the largest indoor pool in the Lake
Constance region. After the Schwaketenbad was completely destroyed by
fire in 2015, a new building was built in 2017, which opened in autumn
2021 and on April 1, 2022.
Bodensee-Therme Konstanz: The oasis of
well-being is located directly on the lake shore. The Bodensee-Therme
invites you to relax with its sauna landscape, the thermal and leisure
area. A special experience is the large wellness offer. The thermal
baths are particularly family-friendly in the parent-child area. · Open
daily 9am - 10pm. Admission thermal bath + outdoor pool 1.5 h: €7, 3 h:
€9, day ticket €10.50, reduced: €5 / €6.50 / €7.50, family day ticket
€28; · with sauna from 6 years 3½ h: €16. Day ticket: €20; · Outdoor
pool only: €5, reduced: €3.50. Tel.: 07531 - 363 070
Wilhelm-von-Scholz-Weg 2 Bus 5
On the Minster opposite the south side with benches and trees (next
to a very nice sculpture of the Holy Family).
At the parking lot at
the Stephanskirche on the school grounds.
In Petershausen Park
at
the Petershausen meeting point, near the Archaeological State Museum
Stone playground in front of Sea Life
directly at the lake at the
Stadtgarten.
The playground in neighboring Kreuzlingen (Kreuzlinger
Park) is also very nice: just walk past the pedestrian toll at Sea Life
and walk straight ahead for a few minutes - there is also an animal
enclosure here.
absolute world class: Large adventure playground
(climbing, rafting, pony riding) on the island of Mainau.
Way of St. James: Constance is on the Way of St. James. The Nuremberg
- Ulm - Constance section ends here and merges into the Constance -
Einsiedeln section.
Planet Trail: The Planet Trail North begins at
the Bodensee-Therme in Constance (bus line 5) and leads across the
Seerhein through the cities of Constance and Kreuzlingen up to the
Kreuzlingen observatory and planetarium (Swiss train station Bernrain)
and is well signposted.
Fastnacht (Fasnet) is celebrated annually in January/February. The
Blätzlebuebe Fountain on Blätzleplatz near Hussenstrasse is a reminder
of a distinctive Fasnetshäs of the "Konschdanzer Fasnet" throughout the
year. Traditional Konschdanz carnival songs are sung in Alemannic
dialect.
On a Tuesday in January or February, the carnival
session (Konstanzer Fasnacht from the council) takes place with up to
800 costumed spectators. It will be broadcast by SWR/SR television on
the third channel. The text contributions are more or less in Konstanz
Alemannic, but are seen all over Germany.
On the Wednesday before
Shrove Sunday at 8:00 p.m., the Butzenlauf of the "Association of
mask-wearing clubs and guilds in Constance" will be held between
Schnetztor and Obermarkt. This is also the start of the Konstanz street
carnival. The train route runs via the streets Hussenstraße,
Kanzleistraße, Tirolergasse, Münzgasse, Wessenbergstraße to the
Obermarkt. About 2500 mask wearers from Constance, Allensbach, Reichenau
and Überlingen take part. It is a show of the mask wearers of the guilds
with distorted wooden face masks. "Butze" is the Middle High German word
for horror.
Since 1994, the Jakobiner-Tribunal of the Jakobiner
Konstanz with around 1500 spectators has been taking place on the
Schmotzige Dunschtig at 1:00 p.m. outdoors on the Obermarkt. The
respective “defendant” comes from the region. The delinquent is dragged
onto the stage. Judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys and witnesses
exercise their office. It is a foolish trial in the tradition of the
Jacobins. After that, at 3:00 p.m., the fool’s tree will be set up on
the Obermarkt by the “Laugelegumperzunft Konstanz”. At 7:00 p.m., the
shirt glonker parade starts in the Niederburg from Inselgasse/corner of
Schreibergasse and court alley. The procession leads via Konradigasse,
Klostergasse, Rheingasse, Münsterplatz, Wessenbergstraße and ends at
Stephansplatz. The participants are around 3,000 students from eleven
schools in Konstanz. All are dressed in white (night) shirts. Six
fanfare trains bring atmosphere to the procession. Four to eight
larger-than-life white shirt Glonkerpuppen (Gole von Goliath) are
carried along. During the parade, the student groups show around 52
banners depicting typical teacher-student conflicts in satirical verses.
Then comes the big parade on Fasnet Sunday at 1:00 p.m., lasting
around two hours, with around 4,000 participants divided into around 75
groups and with up to 25,000 visitors. The route leads from Lutherplatz
via the Laube, Stephansplatz, Fischmarkt, Marktstätte, Rosgartenstrasse
to the Trinity Church.
At the beginning of June 2009, the water
sports event International Lake Constance Week was held in Constance for
the first time after decades of interruption. Building on its more than
100-year tradition, the Bodenseewoche is a social platform where, in
addition to the exhibition mile with presentations of new developments
in water sports and propulsion, there is also a harbor festival with
cultural and sporting events - sailing regattas, rowing competitions,
water ski cups, vintage pit stops, harbor concerts and shows.
A
large two-day cross-border flea market takes place on the second weekend
in June. It stretches across Kreuzlinger Strasse, Laube, and the banks
of the Rhine to the new Rhine bridge. 1,000 dealers present and 80,000
visitors come. As a special feature, a night flea market takes place
from Saturday to Sunday.
On the second weekend in August, the
Seenachtfest (called Fantastical in Kreuzlingen) is held at the same
time as the neighboring Swiss town of Kreuzlingen. The crowning glory is
a large firework display, which is fired from gravel ships on the lake –
alternately from both cities and usually together in the finale. In
addition, there are regularly tens of thousands of visitors from further
afield.
In addition, there is a wine festival in July and many
district festivals in the summer months.
Oktoberfest in late
September to early October, Constance Jazz Autumn in mid to late October
and the Rock am See open-air festival.
The Christmas market and
the New Year's Eve swim take place in December. The DLRG New Year's Eve
swim for sports and rescue divers and swimmers in neoprene suits takes
place at the end of December in around 5 degrees Celsius cold water over
1.5 kilometers from the Konstanz gondola port under the old Rhine bridge
to the Rheinstrandbad. About 200 swimmers take part.
Lago, Bodanstrasse 1. Located between the train station and the Swiss
border on the lake. A large shopping center that sells almost
everything.Edit info
Very worth seeing: The Voglhaus in a central
location in the pedestrian zone. In a personal atmosphere, the
beautiful, superfluous, but precisely for that reason so important
things of beautiful living are offered. There are two places to have tea
by the open fireplace. There is something! Further in the direction of
St. Stephen's Church is the Seetroll on the same street, which offers
games and comics and also allows you to play.
Near the star square,
in the Theodor-Heuss-Str. 3, comes with Second Heaven. a very nice
second-hand shop that offers funky things at affordable prices. In
addition to a large selection of clothes and shoes, including exclusive
brand labels, you will also find unusual pieces of furniture and
upcycling accessories. A small 'Coffee & More' area with comfortable
seating invites you to linger.
The pub scene is in the old town and on the adjacent lake shore.
However, since the prices are sometimes quite high, it is also worth
looking for alternatives. If you are looking for clubs or pubs in
Konstanz that are off the beaten track, you might find them here:
Schnetztor Stüble, Obere Laube 66, 78462 Constance. A pub with a
colorful mix of guests, good for partying and swamping
Culture Shop
(KULA). Not exactly cheap, but good concerts and "alternative" music. In
the Cherisy area, get off with the 12 or 2 at Fürstenberg.
contrast
Right next to the Kula. Punk, Metal crypt and similar depending on the
day. Cheaper than Kula, but a bit scratchy.
casba In the city center
between the restaurant Akropolis at the arbor. One-room scrap bar with
semi-legendary status. It doesn't get any cheaper in Constance.
new
work. In the meantime, a renovated industrial building with changing
electronic parties. In the industrial area.
Cheap
RV parking space Döbele, Döbeleplatz Grenzbachstraße.
Centrally located, public toilet, supply and disposal available, parking
ticket machine. Open: Mon - Sun Paid parking time for RVs. Price: all
day 18.00.
Youth hostel Otto-Moericke-Turm, Zur Allmannshöhe 16.
Tel.: +49 (0)7531 32260. In the district of Allmannsdorf, near the Lake
Constance ferry to Meersburg. Accessible from the city center by bus
line 4. Open: 7:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. Check-in: 3:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Check-out: 8:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Price: from €32.20.
There are also
two idyllic campsites in Konstanz-Allmansdorf in the immediate vicinity
of Lake Constance.
Middle
A good and inexpensive alternative
to hotels and even youth hostels are holiday apartments or private
rooms, e.g. B. with "Bed & Breakfast" offer. You can find them at the
tourist office of the city of Constance, sometimes with occupancy
information.
Konstanz has two universities: The University of Konstanz, which is currently one of the so-called elite universities in Germany. It is located a bit outside of Egg on a hill, but has a very good bus connection, which ensures that you can come home from the university library, which is open around the clock, even late at night. There is also a technical college, the HTWG Konstanz. It is centrally located in the district of Paradies, directly on the banks of the Seerhein.
Tourist-Information Konstanz GmbH, Bahnhofplatz 43 (inside the train station), 78462 Konstanz on Lake Constance. Tel.: (0)7531 1330 30, fax: (0)7531 1330 60, e-mail: info@konstanz-tourismus.de
Already at the end of the 2nd century B.C. Celts,
presumably from the Helvetii tribe, settled in the area of today's
Niederburg. Under Emperor Augustus, the area around Lake Constance was
conquered by the Roman Empire shortly before the turn of the century and
from then on belonged to the province of Raetia.
The Celtic
oppidum was destroyed. A little later a small settlement arose in the
area of the cathedral hill, even though the imperial troops under
Claudius were initially withdrawn.
There are also some
indications of Roman settlement north of the Rhine in today's urban
area. The name of the village on the cathedral hill is not known for
certain. In the Geographike Hyphegesis of Claudius Ptolemy (around 160
AD), however, a settlement called Drusomagus is mentioned (Ptolem.
Geogr. 2,12,3), which a research group identified in 2010 as today's
Constance. The first stone buildings were built here in the 2nd century,
and the settlement was fortified twice in the 3rd century.
There
was a turning point in the city's history around the year 300: in late
antiquity, after the Romans had given up the Dekumatland, Constance was
the site of a border fortification on the left bank of the Rhine (see
Donau-Iller-Rhein-Limes). Traces of a mighty late Roman fortification,
Constantia Castle, with a wall and an octagonal intermediate tower from
the 4th century, have been excavated on Münsterplatz since 2003. Today,
a small part of them can be viewed through a one meter high glass
pyramid and (as part of a guided tour) walked underground. This late
Roman stone fort of Constantia was primarily used to defend against
plundering Alemanni and to control the crossing of the Rhine.
Apparently, the civilian settlement flourished under the protection of
this military installation – as it usually did. Constantia does not seem
to have played an insignificant role in this. The Roman baths not far
from the fortress, which also date from the 4th century, are unusually
large for that time.
The name of the late antique complex also
testifies to its importance, because the place, which belonged to the
newly formed province of Raetia prima in the course of the Diocletian
imperial reforms in 297 AD, was named after a Roman emperor. On the one
hand, Constantius I comes into question, who won victories over the
Alamanni around the year 300 and once again secured the borders of the
Roman Empire on the Rhine and Danube. Since the late Roman fort
Tasgetium, not far from Konstanz near today's Stein am Rhein, can be
dated to between 293 and 305 by a building inscription, there is much to
suggest that Constantia was also built around this time. According to
other researchers, however, Constance bears the name of his grandson,
Emperor Constantius II, who also fought against the Alamanni on the
Rhine and in Raetia in 354 and 355 and who probably also stayed in
Constance, which may have been named after him for this reason .
Emperor Gratian is believed to have visited Constantia in 378 when he
was moving east along the southern shore of Lake Constance. According to
the Notitia dignitatum written around 420, a list of troops from late
antiquity, the Roman troops stationed in Constance and Bregenz were
subject to a praefectus numeri Barcariorum (Not. Dig. occ. 35, 32).
The first sure surviving mention of the place name Constantia dates
from around 525 and can be found in the Latin travel guide of the
Romanized Ostrogoth Anarid.
After the end of
the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD, the former Roman province of Raetia
prima and with it Constance came under the rule of Odoacer. After his
death in 493, the Ostrogothic kingdom gained control of the Raetia prima
until 536, which continued to be ruled from Ravenna during this time. In
537 the Ostrogothic king Witichis had to cede the area to the Frankish
king Theudebert I in return for his support against the Eastern Roman
Empire (Gothic War (535-554)). This made Constance part of the
Merovingian Empire.
Probably around 585, Bishop Maximus moved
from Vindonissa (today Windisch), which was somewhat troubled during the
Migration Period, to the more sheltered Constance and became the city
lord. It was probably around this time that the first building that
preceded today's Minster was built, partly on the foundations of the
late antique fortress.
Constance was on the way from medieval
Germany via the Graubünden Alpine passes to Italy, so it benefited from
the ever-growing long-distance trade in the Middle Ages. As a result,
the city was expanded several times to the south, and the port was also
relocated several times. Constance was at the center of the linen trade
("Tela di Costanza").
Konrad von Konstanz, also Konrad I von
Altdorf (* around 900; † November 26, 975) was a bishop in the diocese
of Konstanz from 934 to 975 and has been venerated as a Roman Catholic
saint since 1123. Stays in Rome made him decide to adapt the urban
topography of Constance to that of Rome. Under the influence of the
patriarchal basilicas in Rome, Konrad had a Paulskirche built, for
example, analogous to San Paolo fuori le mura. The church of St. John
was built in the immediate vicinity, corresponding to San Giovanni in
Laterano. He also had the Laurentius Church (later the Council Chapel of
St. Lorenz; no longer in existence) in front of the town renewed. Under
the impression of his Jerusalem pilgrimages, he then had the Mauritius
Rotunda built as a replica of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which
now served as a regional pilgrimage destination. For this chapel, which
is located directly by the choir of the cathedral church, he set up a
community of twelve canons, which was the third community of canons next
to the Constance Minster and that of his predecessor Solomon III.
However, the monastery set up at St. Stephen's Church only lasted for a
short time.
In 1192 and 1213, the
increasingly autonomous citizens of the city fought for an independent
position, independent of the previous city ruler - the bishop - and
finally received - according to some historians - the status of a free
city or imperial city. An imperial city is defined by its imperial
immediacy, which means specifically that it did not have to pay taxes to
the respective sovereign, but all taxes directly to the emperor, i.e.
the empire. Since the city of Constance demonstrably paid half of its
taxes to the emperor and half to the bishop,[30] it may not be
classified as a pure free city or imperial city. Constance also belonged
to the Duchy of Swabia from the beginning of the 10th century until the
fall of the Staufers in the 13th century.
The Constance pfennig
was minted from silver in the episcopal mint from 1250-1270. Within the
round bead and round beaded rim was depicted the bust of a bishop with
miter and stole and holding a crosier and lily scepter. It was embossed
on one side with a diameter of 21 mm and a weight of 0.56 g. In 1295,
Constance bought the right to mint coins and minted the so-called
Eternal Pfennig, which was no longer subject to the annual minting
decree.
On May 24, 1312, the four cities of Zurich, Constance,
Schaffhausen and St. Gallen merged to form a league of cities. Constance
was also a founding member of the Swabian Cities League, in which
fourteen important Upper Swabian cities (in addition to Constance also
Ulm, Lindau, St. Gallen, etc.) joined together to form a powerful
alliance on July 4, 1376.
At the peak of its economic and
political power, the city built a department store at the port in 1388
as a goods warehouse and transshipment center, today's council building.
With the opening of the Gotthard Pass, trade flows increasingly shifted
to the route via Zurich–Basel, so that the city’s development stagnated
in the late Middle Ages. As a result, the city's Gothic building fabric
was largely spared from later remodeling. The most important trade and
export good was raw, bleached linen, which was widely known under the
name of Constance linen (tela di Costanza).
The Council of Constance took place from 1414 to 1418. The council
building, in which the conclave for the papal election took place (but
not the sessions of the council), still stands today on the shore of
Lake Constance, right next to the port and train station of Constance.
The actual meeting room was the bishop's cathedral, today's Münster. The
election of Martin V on November 11, 1417 was the only papal election
north of the Alps. At the same time, the occidental schism of 1378 ended
here when the anti-popes were deposed and the Czech reformer Jan Hus was
executed. Rome was confirmed and established as the seat of the Pope. In
1417, King Sigismund gave the Burgrave of Nuremberg the Mark Brandenburg
as a fief on the Obermarkt.
Jan Hus was imprisoned in the round
tower of the island monastery facing the sea (today the Inselhotel on
the Dominican Island) and later in the castle of the Bishop of Constance
in Gottlieben. On July 6, 1415, on the occasion of the Council, the
reformer was burned at the stake as a heretic, and his ashes were
scattered in the Rhine. The trial took place in Constance Cathedral. The
execution was carried out by the secular powers after a last appeal from
the king's emissary for recantation.
Adéla Kacabová designed the
Hus monument on the Laube in Constance, opposite the Lutheran Church. It
was installed and inaugurated in 2015. It is a gift from the
Czechoslovak Hussite Church to the city of Konstanz. The three meter
high stone monument has the year 1415 engraved on its base and shows
blazing flames in the middle. The head of the monument is a symbolic
chalice as a symbol of truth and reconciliation. The silhouette of the
monument is reminiscent of the figure rook in chess, which symbolizes
justice and truth.
A black erratic boulder with the golden
inscription Johannes Hus on the presumed medieval place of execution (in
the street Zum Hussenstein named after it today, on the Brühl, west of
the old town, near the Swiss border) reminds of this. The boulder known
as Hussenstein is also a reminder of Hieronymus of Prague, who was also
executed at the Council of Constance on May 30, 1416. Therefore, on the
other side of the stone, Jerome of Prague is engraved.
The Hus
Museum in the Hussenstraße named after Hus near the Schnetztor with
documents on Hus and the Hussite movement was long considered one of the
whereabouts of Jan Hus at the beginning of the Council of Constance and
was set up in 1923 by the Prague Museum Society to commemorate the
reformer. The name of the Jan-Hus-Haus (student dormitory) is also
reminiscent of Jan Hus' reformatory theses and his fate in Konstanz.
In the 13th century, the city was no longer just called Constantia,
but sometimes also Costanze and Kostinz. In the 15th century, the latter
became the name Costnitz due to a reading error, which meant that the
Council of Constance is often referred to in literature as the Council
of Costnitz. From 1895 onwards there was a Kostnitzer Strasse in
Berlin-Wilmersdorf before its name was changed to Konstanzer Strasse in
1908. In Czech, the place is still called Kostnice.
Constance would have liked to join the Confederation in the 15th century, but the country towns of today's Switzerland did not allow this because they feared that the cities would dominate. The consequence of this is the fact that the Konstanz district of Tägermoos is on Swiss territory, which was last contractually stipulated in 1831. In 1529 the city belonged to the representatives of the Protestant minority (Protestation) at the Speyer Reichstag. Their citizenship demanded the unhindered spread of the evangelical faith. In 1527, Constance was reformed under Ambrosius Blarer and Johannes Zwick and subsequently joined the Schmalkaldic League. The bishops of Constance moved to Meersburg Castle.
Emperor Charles V started a war against the Protestants in 1546, which he won in 1547. Constance did not want to accept the defeat of the Protestants in the Schmalkaldic War, but negotiated until 1548 for its freedom of the empire and freedom of religion. On August 6, 1548, the Emperor declared Constance a lawless city by imperial ban in a document that was printed and issued in Augsburg. Spanish troops tried to take Konstanz, but only got as far as Petershausen. On August 6, 1548, the citizens of Constance successfully fended off Spanish troops of Emperor Charles V in front of the Rhine Gate. After the siege by the Austrians a few weeks later, Konstanz capitulated on September 13, 1548 and thereby fell to Austria. It lost its status as a free city.
In 1439 more than 4000 people died in Konstanz from an illness. The plague epidemics of the 16th century in the Lake Constance area also affected Constance in the years 1518, 1519, 1529 and 1541/1542. Margarete Blarer cared for plague patients in the hospital on the Dominican Island and died of the plague herself in 1541. In the years 1611/1612, a third of the population of Konstanz died of the plague.
When, after the discovery of America, transalpine trade,
to which the city owes its wealth, slowly lost importance because the
international trade routes shifted, this also affected Constance.
After the capitulation in 1548, Constance was incorporated into
Habsburg Anterior Austria as a gift from Emperor Charles V to his
brother Ferdinand and was re-catholicized in the course of the
Counter-Reformation. It lost its importance and became an Austrian
country town. However, the prince-bishops retained Meersburg as their
seat of residence. From the beginning of the 16th century to the
beginning of the 19th century, the Bishopric of Constance belonged to
the Swabian Empire; the prince-bishop of Constance even held the highest
office in this imperial circle, together with the duke of Württemberg.
Until 1806 Konstanz belonged to Anterior Austria. The city served
the Habsburgs as a bulwark against further northward expansion of the
Confederation. To strengthen Roman Catholic awareness, a Jesuit college
was founded in 1604 against resistance in the city with a papal bull.
This grammar school, which Franz Anton Mesmer also attended from 1746 to
1750, still exists today as the humanistic Heinrich-Suso-Gymnasium.
In the Thirty Years' War, Konstanz was besieged by the Swedes in
1633, but the main town was not taken (see Naval War on Lake Constance
1632–1648). To commemorate the stuck advance of the Swedes, the "Swedish
Cross" mounted on a Swedish cannon barrel can be seen in Lake Constance
next to the bridge from the mainland to Mainau. Throughout the war,
Konstanz was one of the most important fortresses on Lake Constance.
In 1785, Emperor Joseph II settled émigré revolutionaries from
Calvinist Geneva to promote the economically depressed Constance. Among
these was Jacques-Louis Macaire de L'Or (1740-1824) and his family. In
addition to the city's first bank, he set up an indigo dye factory in
the secularized monastery on the Dominican Island. In doing so, he laid
the foundation for the most important branch of industry in Constance in
the 19th and 20th centuries.
In the course of the First Coalition
War, French revolutionary troops under General Jean-Victor Moreau
(1763–1813) occupied Constance for two months in 1796. During the Second
and Third Coalition Wars, French troops recaptured Constance in 1799 and
1805 respectively. As a result of the repeated occupations of the city,
Konstanz became impoverished and its population fell. This happened less
because of direct combat operations than because of the high costs of
billeting, equipping and feeding French and Austrian soldiers
alternately.
In 1806 Konstanz was incorporated into the newly founded Grand Duchy of
Baden and became the capital of the Seekreis.
During the
Austro-French War, Konstanz was besieged from the lake in May 1809
during the fighting of the Vorarlbergs against the Bavarians, who were
allied with the French.
The attacks and the siege were led by
Captain Bernhard Riedmiller from Bludenz. However, this survey collapsed
again in July of the same year.
In 1816 there was a famine in
Constance and in the Lake Constance area. In 1817, the Tägermoos, the
Briel, the district of Paradies and more than half of the market town
were inundated by the flooding of Lake Constance.
On March 28,
1831, the Grand Duchy of Baden and the Canton of Thurgau concluded an
agreement regarding the correction of the border in Tägermoos, so that
since then it has (again) been a district of the city of Constance.
In the Baden revolution, the Hecker campaign started with a moderate
response from Constance. The German Republic is said to have been
proclaimed on April 12, 1848, although this is not mentioned by any of
the three Constance-based newspapers that reported on the relevant
speech.
In 1863 Konstanz was connected to the
Mannheim-Basel-Konstanz main line of the Baden State Railways. This,
together with the freedom of trade announced in Baden in 1862, triggered
an economic boom, the population grew rapidly, and most of the medieval
city wall was torn down. The trenches were filled in with the rubble,
and the city park – known as the city garden – was filled up towards the
lake with excavated material from the enlarged harbor basin.
Modernization measures were initiated and carried out between 1866 and
1877 by the Mayor of Constance, Max Stromeyer, such as the construction
of the Seestraße, the port, the railway connection to Switzerland and
the school reform.
Remnants of the last city wall can still be
seen at the Untere Laube (at the district court as a reconstruction), at
the Schnetztor and since it was uncovered in 2008 also along the newly
created Schlachttorgasse. On the banks of the Rhine near the Rhine
bridge there is the Rheintorturm (see picture) and at the level of the
Unteren Laube the Pulverturm - in the south-west corner of the city the
Schnetztor has been preserved.
During the First World War, the
German Reich's external border with Switzerland was sealed off, severely
restricting the city's still lively relationships with its traditional
Thurgau hinterland. Constance commuters no longer came to Kreuzlingen,
Thurgau farmers no longer went to the weekly markets in Constance, and
smuggling arose. The upswing since the founding days came to an end.
On August 5th and 6th, 1914, around 6,000 Italians were stranded in
Constance. After the outbreak of the First World War and Italy's
declaration of neutrality on August 2nd, 1914, they wanted to return
from Germany to Italy via Switzerland. Switzerland then opened the
border for rail travel to Italy. From March 1915, around 180,000
seriously injured prisoners of war from the First World War were
exchanged between Constance and Lyon.
After the First World War,
the population of Konstanz also suffered from inflation, one of the most
radical currency devaluations, which reached its peak in the
hyperinflation of 1923.
In 1935
Konstanz became a municipal district within the meaning of the German
municipal code and four years later an independent town by being spun
off from the district of Konstanz. However, the city remained the seat
of the district administration of the district of Constance.
Following the resolution passed by the German Reichstag on the Enabling
Act of March 24, 1933, Jews were excluded from public service,
associations and professions. SA men prevented visitors from entering
Jewish shops and practices as early as 1933. Signs on benches, shops,
inns and at the Horn outdoor pool excluded Jews from using and visiting.
The systematic persecution of the Jews began in 1935 with the Nuremberg
Laws. As a result, Jews sold their residential and commercial buildings
for less than their value and emigrated. From 1938, "Aryanization sales"
were only possible with state approval; after the deportation in 1940,
the property was subsequently expropriated and auctioned off.
A
Reich flight tax of 25% was levied. In the first arson attack on the
Konstanz synagogue in 1936, the building was saved by the volunteer fire
brigade. The damaged seven Torah scrolls were buried in the Jewish
cemetery. During the Night of Broken Glass in 1938, the Konstanz
synagogue was set on fire by members of the Allgemeine SS, Section XIX
Konstanz, under SS Oberfuhrer Walter Stein. The fire brigade was not
allowed to fight the fire this time. On the contrary, attempts were made
to open the roof hatches of the synagogue in order to give the fire
better traction. The synagogue was then blown up by the
SS-Verfugungstruppe III./SS-Standard Germania from Radolfzell. 16 male
Jews were taken to the Dachau concentration camp. From 1938, a Jewish
property tax was levied. A few Konstanz families managed to flee to
Switzerland, Palestine, England, the USA, Argentina and Asian countries
up until 1939. The Swiss Lake Constance cantons sealed themselves off.
There were 433 Jews living in Constance in 1933, and 120 in 1940. Of
these, 112 were taken to Camp de Gurs in southern France.
On the
evening of November 8, 1939, Georg Elser was arrested in Konstanz as he
tried to flee to Switzerland. Elser had previously planted a bomb in
Munich to kill Adolf Hitler, but Hitler escaped the assassination by
accident.
Jews, prisoners of war, forced laborers and German
deserters tried to escape at the Saubach. Escape by jumping over the
Saubach was possible until 1938. Refugees who had made it to Thurgau
were extradited to Germany.
From the outbreak of the Second World
War, the Grenzbachweg was closed. From the Swiss side, a border fence
was erected from the end of 1939 from the Kreuzlingen customs to the
Wiesenstraße crossing and from the railway line to the lake to keep
refugees away. From the end of 1939, the German side erected a three
meter high fence from the Emmishofer Zoll to the mouth of the Saubach in
the Seerhein in order to interrupt the flow of information to France via
Switzerland. Now the official border crossings had to be used. On May
10, 1940, the day of the German invasion of the Netherlands, Belgium and
Luxembourg, the border to Switzerland and also to Tägermoos was closed.
The paradise vegetable farmers were no longer allowed to cultivate their
fields in the Tägermoos.
On October 22, 1940, 110 Jews from
Constance were deported to the Camp de Gurs in southern France, the last
eight to Riga, Izbica and Theresienstadt between 1941 and 1944. Most of
them were murdered in the camps.
Contrary to other cities on Lake
Constance, such as Friedrichshafen, Konstanz was spared Allied bombing
raids during the Second World War, although it was also an industrial
location. In the so-called "Bomber's Baedeker", the industry of Konstanz
was described as "insignificant" - apart from a few exceptions.
Switzerland had also ordered a blackout obligation from November 7, 1940
to September 12, 1944. The blackout there was lifted by the Federal
Council on September 12, 1944 because of the risk of accidental attacks
on Swiss cities. This was also the result of the erroneous bombing of
Schaffhausen on April 1, 1944, according to Allied announcements. As a
result, the darkening of the old town of Constance on the left bank of
the Rhine was lifted by the German side. Thus, the non-obvious boundary
line between the old town of Constance and Kreuzlingen was further
blurred. Now the Swiss government vehemently campaigned for the German
city to be spared. The districts on the right bank of the Rhine, which
are clearly separated from Swiss areas by the Seerhein, continued to be
blacked out, but were not attacked despite companies such as Degussa and
Stromeyer.
The soldiers died in World War II: 1,701 from
Constance, 21 from Litzelstetten, 24 from Dingelsdorf and 33 from
Dettingen-Wallhausen, 370 are listed as missing. In addition, there were
prisoners of war and the crippled.
Constance was taken on April 26, 1945 almost without a fight. Only a few
machine gun shots were fired at the last remnants of the German garrison
fleeing to internment in Switzerland, but they did not cause any damage.
SS formations flooding into the city were shipped to Bregenz via the
port by ship. The occupation without a fight goes back to negotiations
that took place in the night of April 25, 1945 on Swiss territory in the
Trompeterschlössle in Tägermoos between the envoys, the NS mayor Leopold
Mager (1895-1966), city councilor Franz Knapp and police chief Petersen
from Constance and French and Swiss officials, in particular Otto
Raggenbass. The 5th French Armored Division of the 1st French Army
reached Constance via Radolfzell and Allensbach and drove from the
Spanierstraße over the Old Rhine Bridge to the Marktstätte. For their
own protection, on May 6, 1945, the French occupying forces took four
hundred men from Constance hostage in the monastery barracks at the
Rhine bridge. School classes were suspended for several months. Soldiers
gave children chocolate and biscuits. From November 1945, ferries were
available again, and from June 1946 the “Roter Arnold” bus ran again
between Konstanz train station and Konstanz-Staad. This connection was
used for hamster trips across the lake.
In the post-war period,
Constance initially belonged to the state of southern Baden within the
French occupation zone. French troops were stationed in three barracks -
the monastery barracks right by the Rhine bridge, the Jäger barracks and
the Chérisy barracks. On July 18, 1978, the last French unit was
adopted.
In 1952,
Konstanz became a city in the new state of Baden-Württemberg through the
unification of the states of Baden, Württemberg-Baden and
Württemberg-Hohenzollern. From then on it belonged to the government
district of South Baden. In 1953 it was reintegrated into the district
of Konstanz at its own request and when the Baden-Württemberg municipal
code came into force on April 1, 1956, it was declared a major district
town by operation of law.
Students and scientists have changed
the city noticeably.
With the district reform in 1973, Konstanz
became the center of the enlarged district of Konstanz, which was also
assigned to the new regional association Hochrhein-Bodensee.
In
1978 the first home days of Baden-Württemberg took place in Constance.
In 2015, Konstanz was awarded the honorary title of "European City
of Reformation" by the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe.
In the Middle Ages and early modern times, Constance had only a
few thousand inhabitants. Only during the Council of 1414-1418 was
an estimated 10,000-40,000 people housed in the city. The population
grew only slowly and fell again and again due to the numerous wars,
epidemics and famines. Plague epidemics in 1348 and 1518 and a
famine in 1513 claimed numerous lives. Only with the beginning of
industrialization in the 19th century did the population grow very
quickly. In 1806 only 4,400 people lived in the city, by 1900 there
were already 21,000. By 1950, that number had doubled to 42,000.
Several incorporations in the early and mid-1970s brought an
increase from around 10,000 people to 70,000 inhabitants in 1975. On
June 30, 2005, the official number of inhabitants for Konstanz was
80,980 according to the update of the Baden-Württemberg State
Statistical Office (only main residences and after comparison with
the other state offices). This was a historic high. According to the
2011 CENSUS, Constance is no longer one of the 100 largest
communities in Germany after the significant “population decline”.
The following overview shows the population according to the
respective territorial status. Up to 1833 these are mostly
estimates, after that they are census results (¹) or official
updates from the State Statistical Office. From 1871, the
information relates to the "local population", from 1925 to the
resident population and since 1987 to the "population at the place
of main residence". Before 1871, the number of inhabitants was
determined according to inconsistent survey procedures.
Konstanz is located on Lake Constance, at the outflow of the Rhine
from the upper part of the lake directly on the border with Switzerland
(Canton Thurgau). The neighboring Swiss town of Kreuzlingen has grown
together with Constance, so that the national border runs right through
the middle between individual houses and streets, but also towards the
Tägermoos along the Grenzbach or Saubach. In good weather you can see
the Alps, especially when there is a foehn.
The old town and the
district of Paradies are on the left (southern) side of the Rhine; the
newer parts of the city, on the other hand, are on the right (northern)
side of the Rhine, on the Bodanrück peninsula between Untersee and
Überlinger See. The old town of Constance and the parts of town
adjoining it to the west are the only areas in Germany that lie south of
the Seerhein, on the “Swiss side”. Alongside the Kollerinsel near Brühl,
this area is also one of the two federal states on the left bank of the
Rhine in Baden-Württemberg.
The urban area has 34 kilometers of
shoreline and covers 1.31 km² of water. The lowest point is the lake
level at 395 m above sea level. NN (mean water level), the highest point
at 570 m above sea level. NN is at the Rohnhauser Hof in Dettingen.
Neighboring communities, i.e. communities immediately adjacent to the urban area of Constance, are the communities of Reichenau (mainland areas) and Allensbach in the district of Constance as well as Kreuzlingen, Gottlieben (no land border, border runs in the middle of the Seerhein) and Tägerwilen (district of Tägermoos) in the canton of Thurgau (Switzerland). Although Meersburg (Bodenseekreis) is separated from Konstanz by Lake Constance, it is connected to Konstanz by a 24-hour car ferry with a 15-minute crossing.
The urban area is divided into 15 districts. Some of these are formerly independent communities that were incorporated into Konstanz, and on the other hand districts whose names arose in the course of development or were named after a special reference point.
According to the classification by the city administration, the old
town district goes far beyond the historic old town within the former
city walls, it also includes a large part of what the people of
Constance count as paradise. The district of Altstadt, as defined by the
administration, therefore has significantly more area and inhabitants
than the district of Paradies, which is also on the left bank of the
Rhine. Constance has repeatedly gained land through embankments in the
shallow water area of Lake Constance. Examples are the market town and
the former fish market in the 13th and 14th centuries. The old town of
Konstanz is better preserved than that of many other cities in Germany,
partly because it was not significantly damaged in either the Thirty
Years' War or the Second World War. The number of preserved buildings
from the Middle Ages, when the city flourished, is large.
The
Niederburg within the old town is the oldest part. The area extends
between Münster, Konzilstraße, Seerhein and Unterer Laube, the former
moat. The canons' courts settled here near the minster. The Niederburg
is home to the Niederburg Fools' Society. Today, the winding streets are
home to wine taverns, bookbinders, art glaziers, other craftsmen,
authorities, the Zoffingen Dominican convent, the district court, the
notary’s office, the Constance theater and the Constance hospital
cellars.
The suburb of Stadelhofen within the old town is
bordered by Bodanstrasse, the Swiss border, the station area and
Döbeleplatz. The Swedes were prevented from conquering Constance at the
Schwedenschanze during the Thirty Years' War. With the connection of
Baden to the German Customs Union, Stadelhofen temporarily became a
duty-exempt area. Georg Elser, whose assassination attempt on Adolf
Hitler failed, was arrested while escaping from the Schwedenschanze - a
bust commemorates him. The LAGO shopping center with a supra-regional
catchment area (also far into Switzerland) was built on Bodanstrasse.
Petershausen probably arose together with the monastery of the same
name and was also an independent village community, which was integrated
into the city of Konstanz as a suburb as early as 1417, included in the
city wall in the 15th century and administered by a captain. The
associated imperial monastery of Petershausen was dissolved in 1802 in
the course of secularisation.
The district of Wollmatingen was
first mentioned in 724 as "VValamotinga" and in 811 as "Walmütingen".
The district of Staad, a former fishing village directly on the lake,
has long been connected to Meersburg on the other side of Lake
Überlingen by the car ferry Konstanz-Meersburg.
The Allmannsdorf
district was first mentioned in 722 as "Alamantiscurt". It is above
Staad. Landmarks are the former town hall on Mainaustraße, the former
water tower on Allmannshöhe (today a youth hostel) and the Loretto
chapel on Lorettohöhe, the Kreuzkirche was designed by Bauhaus student
Hermann Blomeier.
From August 1947 until it was demolished in
December 1961, there was a barracks camp for East German expellees and
refugees at Mainaustrasse 252 in Egg, with the aim of integrating them
into Constance.
The Litzelstetten district was first mentioned in
839 as "Luzzilonssteti". In the 14th century, the two towns "Oberdorf"
and "Unterdorf" were distinguished.
The part of Dingelsdorf was
first mentioned in 947 as "Thingoltesdorf", and Wallhausen, which is
behind it from Constance, was first mentioned in 1187 as "villa
Walarhusin".
The district of Dettingen was first mentioned in 811
as "Tettingen". 839 came the place to the monastery of Reichenau. In the
12th century Reichenau ministeriales ruled in the town. There were two
castles, Alt-Dettingen and Neu-Dettingen, which were abandoned no later
than the 14th century. Until well into the 18th century, Reichenau held
the high court over the town. Since the 15th century, the lower court
has been under the command of the Mainau Teutonic Order.
The former municipalities of Dettingen (today known as Dettingen-Wallhausen), Dingelsdorf and Litzelstetten are also localities within the meaning of the Baden-Württemberg municipal code, each with a local council and a local administration.
According to the state development plan for Baden-Württemberg, Konstanz is designated as a regional center. This also takes over the tasks of the central area for the communities of Allensbach and Reichenau. In addition, there are links with the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland.
Due to its location on Lake Constance, Konstanz has a typical Lake Constance climate, which means that it is somewhat milder in winter than in most regions of Germany. In summer, however, high temperatures and little wind can easily lead to muggy conditions. Since Lake Constance acts as a heat store, there are relatively few frost days in winter (approx. 62), but there are often extensive layers of fog and high fog, which often do not dissipate for days or even weeks. 95 of the average 160 cloudy days are in the months October to February. There is snow cover about 23 days a year, mainly in January and February. These two months are also the coldest at 2.1/4.3 and 2.9/5.8 °C. The warmest months are July and August with 20.0/27.5 °C and 19.5/26.7 °C respectively. With 946 mm of precipitation, Constance is one of the rainy cities in Germany.
On December 31, 2022, 30.0% of the residents of Konstanz were Catholic, 18.5% were Protestant and 51.6% did not belong to a public religious community or did not state anything. In 2000, the proportions were 44.1% Catholic, 25.4% Protestant and 30.4% other/non-denominational.
At the end of the 6th century, Constance became the seat of a diocese
(Bishopric of Constance), which belonged to the ecclesiastical province
of Mainz. The city was the seat of an archdeaconate. From 1522 the
Reformation initially found a few followers. The council even closed
several monasteries in 1526 and in 1529 Catholic services were banned.
However, after the transition to Austria in 1548, Konstanz had to return
to the old faith (re-Catholicization). Most of the Protestants went to
Switzerland. However, a small minority remained in the city.
Nevertheless, Konstanz remained predominantly Catholic until the 19th
century. In 1785 another Protestant community was founded by immigrants
from Switzerland, but was dissolved again in 1796. In 1820 a Protestant
community was established again.
The Catholic residents belonged
to the Diocese of Constance until 1821 and then came to the newly
established Archdiocese of Freiburg. This was created in the course of a
state-sponsored church regiment, in order to allow the diocese borders
to coincide with the political borders of the Grand Duchy of Baden. The
fact that the Vicar General Ignaz Heinrich von Wessenberg, who had been
elected bishop, was not accepted by the Vatican because of his liberal
views, also contributed to the dissolution of the diocese of Constance,
whose historical area extended far beyond Baden. Constance became the
seat of a deanery (see Archdiocese of Freiburg#diocesan structure).
In addition to the parish of the Minster, several Catholic
communities emerged over the course of history, some of which also go
back to earlier monasteries. Today there are the following Catholic
parishes or communities in the city area:
Together with the parish of
St. Stephen and the parish of Holy Trinity, the minster parish forms the
pastoral care unit of Konstanz-Altstadt.
The parish of St. Gebhard
Petershausen, together with the parishes of St. Suso and Brother Klaus,
form the Konstanz-Petershausen pastoral care unit.
The parishes of
St. Martin and St. Gallus together form the pastoral unit of St. Martin
and St. Gallus.
The communities of St. Peter and Paul Litzelstetten,
St. Verena Dettingen (with St. Leonhard Wallhausen) and St. Nikolaus
Dingelsdorf (with Holy Cross Oberndorf) also form a common pastoral unit
(Bodanrück).
Some of these congregations or churches have a very
old tradition. The Church of St. Stephen was first mentioned in 615. At
that time it was south of the city and was possibly a cemetery church.
In the 10th century it became the parish church of the civic community.
The pillar basilica was redesigned in baroque style in 1770. The Trinity
Church was the church of an Augustinian hermit monastery that was
dissolved in 1797. Then the church belonged to the hospital. In 1813 the
parish was united with St. Jodok and Paul. At that time the church
received a small tower. The former Jesuit church between the minster and
the city theater has been the parish church of the old Catholic
community founded in 1873 as the Christ Church since 1904.
More
recent are the Catholic Church of St. Gebhard, which was built in
1928/30 north of the former monastery of the same name, but was already
a parish in 1920, the Church of St. Suso, built in 1937/38 and raised to
the status of a parish in 1957 (1975 new construction of the church),
the Brother Klaus Church, built in 1955 as the first church after the
Second World War in Konstanz and in 1962 to the parish of St. Nikolaus
von Flüe, the Maria-Hilf church, built in 1967 (since 1970 a parish) and
the St. Gallus church, built in 1971.
There are other Catholic
parishes in the districts of Konstanz, which also belong to the Deanery
of Konstanz. The parish of St. Martin Wollmatingen has a church that was
rebuilt in 1960. It still has Gothic elements. Allmannsdorf used to
belong to Wollmatingen. However, the local church of St. George, Our
Lady, Peter and Paul, Pancratius and Martin was raised to the status of
a parish in the 16th century. The Catholic Church of St. Verena
Dettingen was initially a branch of Dingelsdorf and was raised to a
parish in 1740. The late Gothic church was redesigned in Baroque style
in 1779. The St. Leonhard Wallhausen chapel belonging to the parish was
built in 1714. The Catholic Church of St. Nikolaus Dingelsdorf is a late
Gothic hall church with a later added west tower. The Catholic Church of
St. Peter and Paul Litzelstetten was initially also a branch of
Dingelsdorf and was raised to a parish in 1826. The late Gothic church
was redesigned in the Baroque style in the 18th century, but the nave
was demolished in 1978 and then rebuilt. The Mariae Assumption Church on
the island of Mainau, which formerly belonged politically to
Litzelstetten, was built between 1732 and 1739.
There are also
other smaller churches and chapels. The Schottenkapelle on Schottenplatz
served as a cemetery chapel in the Schottenfriedhof, which was
Constance's main cemetery from May 1785 to April 30, 1870. Also the
chapel of St. Martin in Paradise (built in 1922). The St. Lorenz chapel
on the Obermarkt, which was probably built in the 13th century, was
later converted into the council chapel and profaned in 1839. For the
numerous monasteries and monastery complexes, see the Buildings section.
Constance is a node in the network of the Way of St. James, which
has its destination in Santiago de Compostela in Spain, where according
to legend James the Elder is said to be buried. The place is considered
one of the most important pilgrimage destinations in Christianity.
The Upper Swabian Way of St. James leading from Ulm and the Via
Beuronensis leading from Tübingen end in Konstanz. As the Swabian Way,
the Way of St. James runs across the Swiss border into Thurgau and other
Swiss cantons. The distance from Konstanz to Santiago de Compostela is
2340 kilometers.
The Protestant community in Konstanz, founded in 1820, named itself
after Martin Luther. The congregation first celebrated their services in
the former Capuchin Church, then in the former Jesuit Church, before the
Luther Church was built in 1873. In 1918 the Paulus parish was
established. In the 1930s, a wooden church was built in this parish,
initially intended as a temporary structure. After the successful
renovation and redesign of the interior, the Pauluskirche (wooden
church) was once again ceremoniously handed over to its purpose on the
1st of Advent 2007, with great sympathy from the people of Konstanz. The
Ambrosius Blarer parish split off from the Luther parish in 1947. From
the three parishes further parishes arose.
A separate parish was
established in Allmannsdorf in 1957. Previously, the Protestants were
cared for by the Paulus parish in Constance. In 1958 Allmannsdorf
received its own church (Kreuzkirche). In 1974, the Peters parish split
off from the Paulus parish for the Petershausen-West district, for which
a separate church with a community center was built next to the main
cemetery. On the 1st of Advent 2006, the two parishes Paulus and Petrus
are reunited to form a joint congregation, which bears the name
"Protestant Petrus and Paulus Congregation Konstanz". The Protestants in
Wollmatingen were also initially cared for by the Paulus parish. In 1935
a separate parish was formed after the own church had been built in
1934. The parish is divided into the parish of Christ and the parish of
St. John, which was separated from it in 1976. Both parishes have been
united again in a group office since 2010. Litzelstetten was also
supplied by Wollmatingen; In 1969/70 the town received its own church
(Church of the Resurrection), on which its own parish was built in 1971.
The Protestants of Dettingen and Dingelsdorf are looked after by the
neighboring parish of Allensbach. All of the above-mentioned Protestant
parishes in the city of Constance belong to the Dean's Office in
Constance of the Evangelical Church in Baden, with the seat of the
Dean's Office in the Wollmatingen community.
The Association of Evangelical Free Churches has four congregations in Constance. It includes the Evangelical Free Church Baptist Church on Lorettosteig, the Adventist Church on Schottenstraße, the Evangelical Methodist Church in Am Briel, and the Hillsong Church Germany e. V. on the snail castle road.
In addition to the churches and free churches mentioned, there is
also an old Catholic parish in Constance in the Christ Church. In the
first years after it was founded (1874), it comprised around 60% of the
population of Konstanz.
The church of the independent
Evangelical-Lutheran congregation is the Schottenkapelle in
Schottenstraße, the congregation is called Evangelical-Lutheran St.
Mark's Congregation.
Jehovah's Witnesses, the New Apostolic Church and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are also represented in Constance.
In medieval Constance, Jews were at times very welcome, but at times
they were also the target of persecution. From around 1200 to around
1450 they received civil rights and took part in the daily life of the
city of Konstanz. Many Jews lived in the Münzgasse, where traces of a
mikveh can still be seen today. The synagogue was also in the old town.
The Powder Tower on the Seerhein was also formerly known as the
"Jewish Tower" because the city's Jewish population was captured several
times and sometimes had to live in this tower for years. In 1537, during
the Reformation, the Jewish community was completely expelled. A Jewish
settlement in Constance was only approved again in 1847; In 1862 the
Emancipation Act came into force in Baden, after which the Israelite
religious community was re-established in Constance in 1863. In 1875 it
had 251 members, in 1895 already 528, about 2.5% of the city's
population. In 1882/83 a synagogue was built in the city on today's
Sigismundstrasse. In 1936 an arson attack was carried out on the
synagogue; during the Reichspogromnacht in 1938 it was set on fire and
finally destroyed by the SS-Verfugungstruppe III./SS-VT "Germania"
stationed in Radolfzell. Diagonally opposite the former synagogue,
directly behind the Trinity Church, there is a memorial for the 108
citizens of Constance who were deported to the Gurs internment camp in
southern France and murdered in the Auschwitz-Birkenau or Sobibor death
camps because of their Jewish faith on October 20, 1940 as part of the
so-called Wagner-Bürckel Action.
In the 1960s, the Jewish
businessman and founder of the Israelite community in Konstanz, Sigmund
Nissenbaum (1926–2001), built a residential and office building on the
site of the synagogue, which also contained a prayer room. The Jewish
community became independent in 1986 and had around 50 members in 1989.
Due to the growing Jewish life in Konstanz after the immigration of Jews
from the former Soviet Union in the 1990s, the number of members
increased to 320 in 2018.
The prayer room was expanded into a
small synagogue in 1999, which, like this one, has belonged to today's
Jewish community in Konstanz K.d.ö.R. (IKG) is available. Services are
held every Shabbat and every Jewish holiday. The community office and
community center of the IKG are also located here at Sigismundstraße 19,
as is the Dr. Erich Bloch and Lebenheim library (Judaica) of the Jewish
religious community.
For a number of years, the prayer room of
the liberal Jewish community, which was also supported by the Oberrat
der Israeliten Badens, was located in the Obere Laube.
The
disagreement between the two organizations (the Israeli religious
community and the Jewish community in the process of being founded)
(among other things about the role of women in the community) has long
delayed the construction of a new synagogue on a piece of land provided
by the city.
The synagogue community offers its members a wide
range of learning opportunities in Torah and tradition, conducts
services on Shabbat and all Jewish holidays and offers programs for
children, students and seniors. The Morasha Konstanz university group at
the university is affiliated with the community and represents students
and young professionals in Konstanz. Morasha Konstanz belongs to Morasha
Germany and is part of the Association of Jewish Students Baden (BJSB).
On November 9, 2016, construction work began on a new synagogue and
mikvah at Sigismundstrasse 8, not far from the site of the synagogue at
Sigimsundstrasse 19 that was destroyed in 1938. The client was the
Israelite religious community in Baden. The city of Constance provided
the building site free of charge and contributed 155,000 euros to the
construction costs of 5 million euros. On November 10, 2019, the 81st
anniversary of the destruction of the Old Synagogue in 1938, the New
Synagogue in Konstanz was inaugurated in the presence of numerous guests
of honor. Speakers included the Vice President of the Central Council of
Jews in Germany, Abraham Lehrer and Baden-Württemberg's Minister
President Winfried Kretschmann. During a procession of joy, the Torah
scrolls were symbolically carried from the site of the former synagogue
to the new building on Sigismundstrasse, around 50 meters away.
In October 2001, the Mevlana Mosque of the Turkish-Islamic Community (Ditib) was opened in the Petershausen district. The approximately 3,000 Muslims in Constance thus have their own prayer house with a 225 square meter prayer room, a dome with a diameter of ten meters and a 35 meter high minaret, one of the highest in Germany.
The Buddhist Diamond Way Center of the Karma Kagyu has existed in Konstanz since 1984. It was founded by Ole Nydahl and is under the spiritual patronage of the 17th Karmapa Thaye Dorje. There are also groups of other Buddhist directions.
There are several Masonic lodges in Constance. The Constantia Confidence Lodge is subordinate to the Grand Lodge of the Old Free and Accepted Masons of Germany. It has been a registered association at Schottenstraße 69 since 1909 with 40 members and is open to a principle of a higher order. The Perfection Lodge Jan Amos Comenius and the Sovereign Chapter Pons Libertatis operate under the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. The women's lodge Drei Lichter zum See is the first and so far only women's lodge on Lake Constance. The Swedish Rite is represented on the island of Mainau by the Bernadotte family. The Constance lodges maintain particularly close ties to Switzerland.
The Loge Imperia zu Constance of the Druids in the Constance district of Paradies is linked to brotherhood, charity, human rights, tolerance and charity, i.e. humanity.
The Giordano Bruno Foundation, which represents evolutionary humanism, is associated with gbs-Bodensee e. V. and would like to form “a counterweight to religious, especially fundamentalist, organizations and movements”.
For a long time Konstanz was - as is usual in southern Baden - traditionally politically conservative-liberal. The founding of the university in 1966 added a strong social-liberal impact, which was expanded around 1990 by a stronger green orientation (see also the current composition of the municipal council). In 1996, Horst Frank, Germany's first green mayor, was elected in Konstanz and re-elected in 2004. Since September 10, 2012, Uli Burchardt, a Christian Democrat, has been mayor of Konstanz.
In the Middle Ages, the court and council in Constance were in one
hand, presided over by the bailiff. After the transition to Austria in
1548, the city bailiff managed official business. In some cases, he also
took over the duties of the city governor. The municipal court consisted
of a judge elected by the small council and twelve assessors from the
small and large councils. In 1785 Austria replaced the city government
with a magistrate with a mayor and five salaried councillors.
After the annexation to Baden in 1805, judicial matters were transferred
to the state. The city was then headed by the mayor, who worked
full-time from 1818, a city council and a 32-strong citizens' committee.
From 1870 the mayor and council were directly elected. In 1874 the mayor
was elected by the citizens' committee, which consisted of 96 city
councillors. He served a nine-year tenure. He was assisted by a mayor
and a 14-member city council. From 1933 the mayor, mayor, deputies and
city council were appointed by the Reich governor. After the Second
World War, the French occupying power installed several mayors in a row.
In 1946, the population elected a city council for the first time, which
elected the mayor.
Today, the Lord Mayor is directly elected by
eligible voters for a term of eight years. He is the chairman of the
municipal council. His general deputies are the first and second
deputies, each with the official title of mayor.
The Lord Mayor
Horst Frank (GRÜNE) was last re-elected on July 25, 2004 in the second
ballot for a second eight-year term. The deputies are Andreas Osner
(SPD), until June 2013: Claus Boldt (CDU) and Karl
Langensteiner-Schönborn (since February 2014, mayor; previously Kurt
Werner (independent)). In 2012, Frank decided not to run again. Uli
Burchardt (CDU) was elected Mayor of Constance in the second ballot and
was sworn in on September 10, 2012. He was re-elected in 2020 in the
second ballot with 49.5%.
1810-1832: Johann Anton Burkart
1832–1849: Karl Huetlin
1849-1851: As a result of the Baden Revolution, the government of the
Grand Duchy of Baden appointed various “mayor officials”.
1851-1861:
Karl Steiner
1861-1861: Karl Huetlin
1861-1866: Jacob Stadler
1866-1877: Max Stromeyer
1877-1888: Otto Winterer
1888-1914:
Franz Weber
1914–1919: Hermann Dietrich (National Liberal Party, from
1918: DDP)
1919-1933: Otto Moericke
1933-1945: Albert Herrmann
1945: Josef Benz, Vinzenz Kerrle, Hans Schneider, acting mayors
1946:
Fritz Arnold (SPD), acting
1946-1957: Franz Knapp (CDU)
1957-1959:
Alfred Diesbach (SPD)
1959-1980: Bruno Helmle (CDU)
1980-1996:
Horst Eickmeyer (FWG)
1996-2012: Horst Frank (Greens)
since
September 10, 2012: Ulrich Burchardt (CDU) (re-elected for a second term
on October 18, 2020)
Blazon: "Under the red shield head in silver, a continuous black
cross."
Justification for the coat of arms: The black cross is
derived from the red bishop's cross (of the original lord of the city,
the prince-bishop of Constance). The red band (Zagel) at the top edge is
the so-called blood band, which symbolizes the blood jurisdiction of the
former free imperial city. Death sentences were carried out by drowning,
beheading, burning, hanging, impaling and burying alive. Places of
execution were the Obermarkt, Frauenpfahl in front of the Stadtgarten,
Rheinbrücke, Schnetztor, at the Hussenstein, the Tägermoos in front of
Gottlieben and for the period of jurisdiction in Thurgau the Sandbreite
near Kreuzlingen.
The right to own trumpeters, the sealing with
the red wax of the emperor, the kings and cardinals as well as the red
bar over the city coat of arms were donated by King Sigismund in 1417.
Konstanz is project coordinator in the city network Learning Administrations, which connects eight cities from Germany, Austria and Switzerland (D-A-CH) around Lake Constance across borders. In November 2014, the authorities of the district of Konstanz and the canton of Thurgau carried out a cross-border security exercise to identify the consequences of a long-term, widespread power failure.
Since February 2019, protests by the Germany-wide Fridays for Future
movement have been taking place in the city on Lake Constance. At their
suggestion, the Konstanz municipal council unanimously passed a
resolution on May 2, 2019 to declare a climate emergency.
Linked
to this are further measures to limit the causes of man-made climate
change at the municipal level. Since then z. B. the question of whether
there should be fireworks at the Konstanz Lake Night Festival. Mayor Uli
Burchardt (CDU) decided as an immediate measure to do without a company
car in the future. In the future, local council decisions will have to
be checked for their climate impact.
On July 23, 2020, the
climate target "Constance climate positive 2030" was rejected with a
narrow majority of one vote in the municipal council. The decision was
criticized by Fridays for Future.
Since the mid-1990s, HSG Konstanz has consistently played at least in
the third-highest division of German handball and draws an average of
over 1,300 fans to the Schänzle sports hall. From 2000 she was in the
second Bundesliga for several years and returned there after promotion
in 2022 in front of 1800 fans. The HSG Konstanz maintains unique
nationwide cooperation with the Excellence University of Konstanz and
the HTWG Konstanz to promote top-class sport, within the framework of
which exclusive scholarships are awarded to young, motivated talents.
Already three times, in 2018, 2020 and 2021, she was awarded the youth
certificate for excellent promotion of young talent by the Handball
Bundesliga (HBL) and is thus one of the top junior trainers in Germany.
The youth teams consistently play in the top divisions and have a large
number of successes to show for themselves. These include southern Baden
and southern German championships. Successes were also achieved at
national level, such as the German vice championship in 1998 with the
male B youth and the unofficial German championship in the E youth. The
male A youth qualified in 2011/12 for the first season of the youth
Bundesliga of the DHB and is one of the founding members of the elite
class of German youth handball. With a total of eleven participations,
including ten in a row since the 2013/14 season, the HSG Konstanz is one
of the most successful clubs in southern Germany in the youth
Bundesliga.
One of the oldest sports clubs in Constance is the
Constance section of the German Alpine Club, founded on March 21, 1874.
With (as of December 31, 2021) 10,648 members it is probably the largest
club in Constance. The section operates the Gauenhütte (Vorarlberg) at
1235 m and the Konstanzer Hütte (Verwall) at 1688 m, as well as two
climbing facilities, the "uniBloc" Hochschulsport Konstanz, and the
climbing facility Radolfzell DAV-Kletterzentrum Bodensee with an area of
2500 m² and a height of 18 meters.
17 Konstanz football teams
from eight clubs take part in association matches. The footballers of
the DJK Konstanz, which is the oldest football club in the city, were
among the founding members of the Oberliga Baden-Württemberg in 1978 and
belonged to the league until 1981. SC Konstanz-Wollmatingen and SG
Dettingen-Dingelsdorf play in the Landesliga Südbaden.
The men's
basketball team of TV Konstanz was promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga Pro B
in 2010 under the name HolidayCheck Baskets after several years of
membership in the 1st Regionalliga Südwest. After the immediate
relegation in 2011, the rise again succeeded with the championship in
the Regionalliga Südwest in 2012. The basketball players, now with the
name ifm BASKETS, were again only able to stay in the league for one
season.
Rugby has been played in Constance since the mid-1990s.
Rugby Club Konstanz (RCK) plays in the regional league of
Baden-Württemberg. The student team from the two Konstanz universities
is very successful, with two of Germany's most successful teams in
recent years at the annual German University Sports Championships (DHM).
The greatest success for the men was the German championship title in
2004 and the runner-up title in 2005 and a third place in 2007. The
women's team was able to win the German championship in 2011 after the
runner-up title in 2004.
Since 1955, the rink of the Konstanzer
Roll- und Eissportclub e. V. (KREC). The training of figure skating and
roller hockey, which is played on roller skates, takes place there. The
figure skaters train in cooperation with the Kreuzlingen ice skating
club in the Bodensee Arena ice rink.
The rowing club "Neptun"
Konstanz is also successful, which has already produced three athletes
who have gone to the Olympic Games - two of them came back with a gold
medal. Medals can be won almost every year at the German championships
and the German youth championships, and the rowers of the Neptun are
also regularly represented at world championships.
In addition,
the city of Konstanz is home to the Lacrosse Club Konstanz e. V., one of
the few lacrosse teams in Germany. The club was founded in early 2009
and established itself in the Second Bundesliga South.
Konstanz belongs to the Hegau-Bodensee transport association and, due
to its location on the border, is a terminus in long-distance traffic
for Deutsche Bahn and the Swiss Federal Railways. Cross-border local
rail transport is provided by the Swiss company Thurbo, a subcontractor
of SBB. Thanks to the motorway connection completed on the Swiss side,
Constance is well connected to Switzerland in terms of car traffic. On
the German side, a corresponding connection is under construction with
the widening of the B33 to four lanes. Constance is connected to the
northern shore of Lake Constance by a frequent ferry. This connection
mainly serves local commuters and tourists.
In the old town of
Konstanz, access to the lake in the inner city is impeded by the
historically conditioned railway line between the old town and the lake
and by a heavily trafficked ring road surrounding the old town.
Konstanz has a commercial airfield, the nearest passenger airports
are the German airport Friedrichshafen (30 km via ferry), the Swiss
airport St. Gallen-Altenrhein (40 km), the Swiss airport Zurich-Kloten
(75 km), the airport Memmingen (85 km), the airport Stuttgart (115 km)
and the airport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg (150 km) (in the border triangle
Germany-Switzerland-France).
In 1910 a Konstanz airport was
founded. In 1919, Constance was the first southern German city with
regular public passenger flights to Berlin, and later also to Munich and
Stuttgart. In 1923 the number of passengers was twelve times as high as
two years earlier. Constance developed into a "main traffic base" of the
future air traffic network. From 1925 to 1940, Deutsche Lufthansa
operated a scheduled flight between Konstanz and Frankfurt am Main.
The federal highway 33 connects Constance with Radolfzell and on to
Singen, from there connection to the German autobahn network via the
federal autobahn 81 in the direction of Stuttgart. Constance is
connected to Meersburg, the northern shore of the lake and by the B 33 /
B 30 to Ravensburg and Ulm via the Constance–Meersburg car ferry.
Following the B 33, the Swiss Autobahn A7 leads in the direction of
Frauenfeld, Zurich and the main road 13 in the direction of Rorschach,
Chur in Ticino and in the other direction in the direction of
Schaffhausen. The Swiss main road 1 leads via Zurich and Bern to Geneva,
the main road 16 starting at Gottlieber Zoll leads via Wil and Wildhaus
to Buchs.
In order to reduce road traffic noise in the city of
Constance, some 30 km/h zones were set up in spring 2019.
Constance is on the holiday route Deutsche Alleenstraße, which leads
from Meersburg to Reichenau.
There are several long-distance bus lines to and from Constance, including to Berlin via Munich, Nuremberg and Leipzig.
In local rail transport, the “Seehas” train service, which is similar
to the S-Bahn, connects Konstanz with Radolfzell, Singen and Engen. In
Konstanz itself, Konstanz train station and the stops at Petershausen,
Fürstenberg and Wollmatingen are served. In the foreseeable future, an
additional Seehas stop is planned at the “Star Square” bus junction.
Constance train station is the end point of the Hochrheinbahn. The
station is served by regional trains (IRE and RE) from Karlsruhe, which
are operated by DB REGIO AG and run under the names "Schwarzwaldexpress"
and "Schwarzwaldbahn". A daily intercity train pair to Hamburg and in
the summer months also to Stralsund was discontinued in December 2014;
Since then, only one Intercity train has been running from the direction
of Cologne/Emden to Constance on Fridays and Saturdays, and in the
opposite direction on Saturdays and Sundays. In Singen there is a
connection to Intercity trains to Zurich and Stuttgart. Since December
2017 there have been direct IC connections between Konstanz and
Stuttgart twice a day. There is also a direct connection from and to
Stuttgart all year round, once a day on Saturdays, Sundays and public
holidays through the Bodensee leisure express.
The station also
offers direct access to the Swiss railway network. In long-distance
traffic, the SBB-InterRegio 75 connects Constance with Zurich and
Lucerne every hour without having to change trains. In regional traffic,
there has been a direct RegioExpress connection to Romanshorn and St.
Gallen since 2015, which will run every hour in 2018; In addition, there
are regular trains from the St. Gallen S-Bahn to Weinfelden (line S14).
By changing trains in Kreuzlingen (or in German Singen), further
destinations in the direction of Stein am Rhein and Schaffhausen or
Rorschach can be reached.
In order to relieve the binational
Konstanz-Kreuzlingen agglomeration of motorized private transport, the
construction of a Konstanz-Kreuzlingen S-Bahn is being investigated. A
tram or light rail would provide the greatest benefit, but the high cost
of infrastructure calls into question their viability.
The city belongs to the transport association Hegau-Bodensee. There are express bus lines to Friedrichshafen (city center and airport) and Ravensburg several times a week. The bus line network of Stadtwerke Konstanz connects the parts of the city on the left and right banks of the Rhine every 15 or 30 minutes during the day. It is also a feeder to the Staad-Meersburg ferry and to the ship connections to Überlingen from Wallhausen. The neighboring town of Kreuzlingen is also connected by a cross-border bus line.
Catamaran ships travel hourly to Friedrichshafen all year round
during the day (52 min). In summer and to a limited extent in winter,
there are regular boat connections (courses), which today are mainly
used for tourism. These connect Konstanz with Meersburg,
Friedrichshafen, Lindau, Bregenz, Überlingen, Schaffhausen, Radolfzell,
Kreuzlingen and the island of Mainau. Like the port facilities, these
scheduled trips were previously operated by the railway companies of the
countries bordering on the sea.
From the port of Constance, there
is a private passenger boat trip in summer to Konstanz-Seestraße,
Bodensee-Therme, the Swiss Bottighofen and back to Constance-Port.
The former Baden-Württemberg Minister of Transport, Ulrich Müller,
stated in May 2004 that Stadtwerke Konstanz, thanks to the purchase of
Bodensee-Schiffsbetriebe from Deutsche Bahn, was the most efficient and
most lucrative inland shipping company in Central Europe and offered a
range of local public transport that was better than that of the state
capital. In addition, Konstanz can be reached via Staad by the car
ferries to/from Meersburg. Passenger ships operate from/to Wallhausen
with Überlingen.
More than 3,300 companies with more than 33,500 employees form the
science and business location of Konstanz. There are 10,000 employees in
the manufacturing sector, while there are around 23,500 in the service
sector. Many Swiss companies set up a branch or subsidiary in Konstanz
due to the proximity to the border.
Large employers in Constance
are:
The city of Konstanz has its own companies Bodenseeforum, waste
disposal companies, technical companies, cultural sector. Stadtwerke
Konstanz GmbH operates buses, ferries, drinking water supply, energy
supply and the Bodensee-Schiffsbetriebe (BSB). The Konstanz waterworks
are located in Konstanz-Staad. The drinking water is taken from Lake
Constance from a depth of 40 meters and has a temperature of 6 °C. It
goes through three micro filters and a sand filter. Small amounts of
iron and ozone are also required for cleaning, and a small amount of
chlorine dioxide for network protection. The cleaned water is pumped
into three elevated tanks. In an emergency, Kreuzlingen can also be
taken care of. Constance consumes 17 million liters a day.
The
science sector with the University of Konstanz and the University of
Konstanz Technology, Economics and Design are based in Konstanz.
In Constance, the chemical-pharmaceutical factory Dr. Winzer founded by
Robert Winzer.
The Konstanz health association operates the
clinic and the Vincentius orthopedic specialist clinic.
Communication and information technology. Siemens is represented by
Siemens Logistics with the areas of logistics for mail sorting systems,
parcels, air freight and flight luggage.
The media industry with
the Südkurier and the district office are located in Constance.
Biotechnology (GATC Biotech), semiconductor technology (Hyperstone
GmbH), mechanical engineering and regenerative and alternative energies
(Sunways, 1993-2014) are also represented.
An important economic
factor is also tourism as well as conferences and congresses. In 2011
almost 280,000 travelers visited Konstanz with an average length of stay
of 2.3 days. The number of day visitors in 2009 was 6.1 million.
The Hotel Barbarossa became a hotel and restaurant at the beginning of the 20th century and is located on the Obermarkt. The council restaurants are in the council building at the port.
Konstanz is the seat of the district of Konstanz, the Chamber of Industry and Commerce and the Chamber of Crafts Hochrhein-Bodensee. The city also has a district court, a district court, a social court and a public prosecutor's office. Konstanz is the seat of a Federal Employment Agency, which has been responsible for the Bodenseekreis, Ravensburg and Konstanz districts since 2012. Constance is also the seat of the Dean's Office of the Archdiocese of Freiburg and of the church district of Constance of the Evangelical Church in Baden.
Constance on the left and right bank of the Rhine are connected by
several bridges over the Seerhein. These are in order down the Rhine:
Constance Rhine Bridge, also known as the Old Rhine Bridge, which
directs road and rail traffic to the city center on the right bank of
the Rhine.
Fahrradbrücke (Konstanz), a bridge for pedestrians and
cyclists.
Schänzlebrücke, also Neue Rheinbrücke or Europabrücke, a
bridge for long-distance traffic in the course of the federal highway 33
in the direction of the Swiss A7 motorway.
The Konstanz-Kreuzlingen agglomeration has a good 115,000 inhabitants (2005). Many people from Konstanz have their jobs in the neighboring Swiss town or in the surrounding area. Conversely, the people of Kreuzlingen often get their daily needs in Constance. Kreuzlingen and Constance work together on some occasions, such as the Seenachtfest, the GEWA trade fair, and the two-day flea market.
In 1831, the border was defined in the Tägermoos Treaty as following the former outer moat. The border was later recognizable by boundary stones and garden fences. According to the border treaty of September 21, 1938, a high fence, the border fence (Constance), was erected by the Swiss side in autumn 1939 from the main customs to Wiesenstraße and from the port customs to the shore of Lake Constance. In addition, in the winter of 1939/1940, the German Wehrmacht built a three meter high fence with a slope and barbed wire (Wehrmacht fence) from the Seerhein via the Gottlieber Zoll to the Emmishofer Zoll. From May 1940, the beginning of the invasion of France, the border was closed. After the war, the Wehrmacht fence was removed by a meter. The fence was removed during the construction of the motorway toll and is only preserved as a memorial at the border crossing to Tägermoos. The fence to the lake was also dismantled and the course of the border was marked by works of art by Johannes Dörflinger.
Since Switzerland is not part of the European Monetary Union, the two
cities still have different currencies, the euro (€, EUR) and the Swiss
franc (Fr., CHF). There is also a border fence (partially dismantled),
border crossings, customs controls and restrictions on the movement of
goods and money. Since Switzerland joined the Schengen area in December
2008, identity checks have only been carried out in exceptional cases.
However, valid identification papers must be carried with you when
crossing the border. The border fences were abolished.
In the
post-war period, Kreuzlingen was a shopping town for the people of
Konstanz. Today Konstanz is the shopping city for the Swiss border
region.
In the course of combating the corona pandemic, the art border was
closed by a construction fence from the evening of March 16 to May 15,
2020. This was supplemented by the Swiss side with a second fence
running parallel at a distance of two meters in order to make physical
contact and thus the spread of the pandemic between people on both sides
more difficult. A section of the fence was brought to the House of
History Baden-Württemberg Museum in Stuttgart as a contemporary
document.
At the Little Venice border crossing, couples and
families met every day to keep in touch over high fences. After protests
against the border closures in April 2020 grew louder, border controls
were discontinued on June 15.
Kreuzlingen and Constance built the Bodensee Arena together, an ice
rink. There are also common utilities (electricity grid, gas supply,
sewage system, bus transport).
Kreuzlingen has its waste water
cleaned in the Konstanz sewage treatment plant and participated in its
construction. Both cities have their own waterworks (Constance within
the scope of the Konstanz municipal works), which are connected to each
other by an emergency water pipe. Constance city buses drive into
Kreuzlingen and are connected to the city bus network. The Konstanz and
Kreuzlingen fire brigades carry out joint exercises and, if necessary,
joint operations. Constance supplied gas to Kreuzlingen from 1869 to
1937 and since 1982, with an interruption in between.
The main border crossing and continuously open is the continuation of
the B 33 customs on the Swiss Autobahn 7 to Zurich.
Customs
Emmishofer Tor only carries out customs formalities during limited
opening hours. It connects the two cities of Constance and Kreuzlingen.
The Gottlieber Zoll is used in regional traffic between
Konstanz-Paradies, Tägermoos and Gottlieben. A section of the border
fence 2.5 meters high has been left here as a reminder. This border
fence was erected by the Germans in the winter of 1939/40 to seal off
Germany (to prevent the flow of information via Switzerland to France
and to prevent the Jews and the politically persecuted from fleeing).
The Swiss area of Tägermoos, which historically and fundamentally
belongs to Constance, is still co-administered in cooperation with the
Swiss authorities of Constance.
To calm traffic in the
surrounding residential areas, Zoll Kreuzlinger Tor has been closed to
motorized traffic since the end of 2013 on a trial basis and since
Easter 2014.
The Klein-Venedig border crossing is located directly on the lake
shore and is only open to pedestrians and cyclists: In the area of the
approximately 280-metre-long section of the German-Swiss state border on
the Constance Bay (Klein-Venedig) between Constance and Kreuzlingen, the
border fence was torn down in autumn 2006, but the border is monitored
by cameras and patrols. Instead of the fence, on April 22, 2007, the
Konstanz/Kreuzlingen art border directly on the border (one half on
German, the other half on Swiss national territory) was inaugurated with
22 eight-meter-high sculptures by the artist Johannes Dörflinger.
The Wiesenstrasse border crossing is only open to pedestrians and
cyclists. The street bears the same name in the Constance and
Kreuzlingen areas.
The Südkurier is a regional daily newspaper based in Constance for the north-western regions of Lake Constance, the High Rhine and the Black Forest.
seemoz - online magazine on Lake Constance: critical - rebellious - informative. Worth reading from culture and politics for the Lake Constance area and friendly countries. Appears on weekdays.
Constance Gazette, published by: Gazette Southwest GmbH (Südkurier)
Biweekly sheets
Official Journal: since January 2018, published
by the City of Konstanz[
akzent – The magazine for the big city of Lake Constance. Publisher:
akzent Verlags GmbH (belongs to the publishing house of the Schwäbische
Zeitung, Schwäbischer Verlag).
Neue Zeiten - Russian-German newspaper
in Constance for all groups of Russian-speaking population, current news
from the cultural life of the Lake Constance region, integration issues,
religion and education. Publisher: Tatjana Reichert/Verein Neue Zeiten
e. V./Association Russian School "Znaika" e. V. in Constance.
Russian
newspaper – newspaper of the Lake Constance region for German-Russian
cultural understanding, maintenance of the Russian language and culture,
forum for Russian speakers. Editor: Alina Titova/Russian Club e. V.
Konstanz, Russian newspaper.
QLT. say: [cult]. Cult newspaper since
1979. Ed.: Qlt media UG (limited liability)
Publications formerly
based in Constance
The football magazine kicker was founded in
Konstanz by Walther Bensemann and initially published there.
Constance city magazine, ed.: Südkurier (discontinued in March 2007)
E1NS – The borderless magazine for Konstanz | Kreuzlingen appeared
2010-2012 in Konstanz and neighboring Kreuzlingen as a fortnightly
magazine.
Constance is the headquarters of the local radio station Radio
Seefunk, and the broadcasting studios of SWR Bodenseeradio and Radio 7
are also on site. Since 2005 there is the free radio radio wave breaker.
The student body is represented by the university radio station
Knatterton and the student television station Campus TV and
Fischersbraut with their own media. The regional television station
Regio TV Bodensee also has a studio in Constance.
Consistency in
films
Eva Mattes and Sebastian Bezzel investigated as Klara Blum and
Kai Perlmann in the ARD crime series Tatort from 2002 to 2016 in
Konstanz and the Lake Constance region.
Founded in 1966, the University of Konstanz is the youngest and
smallest of the nine so-called elite universities with the subjects
natural sciences, humanities, law, economics and administration. The
University of Konstanz and the Swiss University of Education Thurgau in
Kreuzlingen work together; the cooperation includes three cross-border
courses (secondary level I, secondary level II, Master Early Childhood),
bridge professorships and since 2016 the jointly run "Binational School
of Education". The University of Konstanz is a member of the
International Lake Constance University (IBH).
As early as 1906,
the "Technikum Konstanz", a classic engineering school, was founded. The
Konstanz University of Applied Sciences developed from this in 1971. As
a result of the reformed Baden-Württemberg Higher Education Act, the
University of Applied Sciences has officially been called Konstanz
University of Applied Sciences for Technology, Economics and Design
(HTWG) since 2006, or the official international name Konstanz
University of Applied Sciences. The Technische Akademie Konstanz gGmbH
TAK is affiliated with the HTWG. In a nationwide competition, the
Institute for Scientific Continuing Education was honored by the
Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft as the “Best German
University for Continuing Education”. The Technische Akademie Konstanz
is based in the seminar and conference center "Villa Rheinburg" in the
immediate vicinity of the HTWG campus. The HTWG is a member of the
International Lake Constance University (IBH).
Since 2012, the
Nürtingen-Geislingen University of Applied Sciences has had a location
in Konstanz with the Bodensee Campus.
Allensbach University
(successor of the Lahr University of Applied Sciences (WHL)) has been
based in Constance since 2015. With the study model of distance
learning, it offers part-time bachelor's and master's programs in the
field of economics.
For school education, the city maintains seven elementary schools
(Allmannsdorf, Dingelsdorf, elementary school in Haidelmoos, elementary
school in Wallgut, Litzelstetten, Wollmatingen and Sonnenhalde
elementary school), four elementary and secondary schools (Berchenschule
Wollmatingen, Gebhard elementary and secondary school, elementary and
secondary school on Stephansplatz and primary and secondary school with
Werkrealschule Dettingen).
A Hauptschule and Realschule (girls'
Hauptschule and Realschule Zoffingen), another Realschule
(Theodor-Heuss-Realschule) and the Geschwister-Scholl-School, founded in
1976, a school association that includes the school types Hauptschule,
Realschule, Gymnasium, as well as an orientation level covering all
school types (grades 5/6). The three schools agree on the content of the
lessons. It is also possible to switch between trains in the first few
years.
There are five grammar schools, the
Heinrich-Suso-Gymnasium (old language) founded in 1604, the
Alexander-von-Humboldt-Gymnasium (mathematics-scientific, modern
language-literary-artistic, social science) founded in 1830 and the
Ellenrieder-Gymnasium (modern language), the business school and since
1970 the technical high school on the Ze ppelin trade school.
There is also a music school. The district of Konstanz is responsible
for the Wessenberg school - commercial school (with vocational school,
vocational school, vocational college, BVJ and business high school) and
the Zeppelin trade school (with vocational schools, vocational schools,
technical schools and technical high school) as well as the rainbow
school for the physically and mentally handicapped, the school for the
sick and the school kindergarten for the speech impaired Konstanz. There
is also a special needs school (Comenius School).
Several private
schools round off the range of schools in Konstanz. There is an evening
secondary school, a nursing school for the elderly run by the vocational
training center and the workers' welfare organization, the organic
cosmetics school Dr. Gümbel Konstanz-Meersburg, the free active school
for living learning (primary school), the free Waldorf school in
Konstanz, the Humboldt Institute for German as a foreign language, the
Inlingua language school, the art school Academy for Graphics and
Design, the school for physiotherapy in Konstanz GmbH, a special school
kindergarten for the physically handicapped, the Säntis school for
educational assistance and the schools for nursing and pediatric nursing
at the Konstanz clinic. Konstanz is the seat of a main office of the
Volkshochschule Konstanz-Singen e. V
There are 43 children's day-care centers in Constance, including
kindergartens, day-care centers, houses, after-school care centers and
crèches.
sports and leisure facilities
Constance with its districts has seven baths.
The
Bodensee-Therme Konstanz is a thermal bath that opened on July 22, 2007.
The construction costs amounted to over 25 million euros. It has a
thermal bath with a children's adventure world, sauna world, wellness
facilities and an outdoor sports pool (only in summer). With 384,752
visitors in 2014, it is the city's most visited pool.
The indoor pool
on the Seerhein is used for school and club sports. The Rheinstrandbad
is a paid outdoor pool and had 17,168 visitors in 2014. It was opened in
1937.
Schwaketenbad (visitors 179,782 in 2014 - burnt down July 4,
2015, start of reconstruction (new building with larger offer) in
December 2017, reopening April 1, 2022)
Strandbad Dingelsdorf
(approx. 45,600 visitors in 2014). Admission is free.
Strandbad Horn
(approx. 140,800 visitors in 2014): It was officially established by a
municipal council decision on July 22, 1920. Admission is free. It has a
shore length of 600 meters and a sunbathing area of 50,000 square
meters.
Strandbad Litzelstetten (approx. 22,700 visitors in 2014).
Admission is free.
Strandbad Wallhausen (approx. 73,700 visitors in
2014). Admission is free.
The following locations allow a view over the city and the Alps when
visibility is good. There is good visibility when the air humidity is
low and the air pollution is low, e.g. B. with a hair dryer.
Tower of Konstanz Minster (April to October)
Furstenberg in the
district of Furstenberg
Tower of the youth hostel in Allmannsdorf
(open to the public only a few days a year)
Raiteberg, on certain
days also from the Bismarck tower standing on this drumlin
Purren,
the highest point of Litzelststetten
Constance also includes the "flower island" of Mainau in the
Überlinger See, which is visited by more than a million tourists every
year.
Konstanz is the first city in Germany with an innovative
street lighting system. Citizens in the Allmannsdorf district can switch
on the street lamps after 11 p.m. with the push of a button. After 15
minutes, the LED lighting goes off again automatically.
The
Haltnau winery between Meersburg and Hagnau belongs to the
Spitalkeellerei Konstanz, so that a wine from Meersburg is produced in
Konstanz. The Haltnau vineyard passed into the possession of the
Heilig-Geist-Foundation in 1272 through a donation from a citizen of
Constance, which is documented. According to a historical legend first
published in 1861, the Haltnau winery came into the possession of the
Constance hospital through a gift from the Meersburg Countess Wendelgard
vonhalten, the “pig-snouted” countess. A wine bar in Constance is called
"Zur Wendelgard" and is based on the legend.
In the border area
of the Central Asian mountains Hindukush, Pamir and Karakorum there is a
5902 m high mountain called "Constancia Sar" (Constance Peak).
The patron saint of the city is Pelagius of Aemona.
An asteroid
discovered by the Czech Kleť Observatory was named after the city.