Tourist Attractions in Konstanz

In Konstanz's Münsterplatz, with its handsome old canons' houses, stands the Minster (11th, 15th and 17th C.; R.C.), with a beautiful main doorway (relief decoration of 1470) and a fine interior (choir-stalls of 1460; gold discs of 11th-13th C.). In St Maurice's Chapel is a 13th century Holy Sepulcher. From the tower (1850-57) there are fine views.

To the north of the Konstanz Stadtgarten (Municipal Park), on an island in Lake Constance, is a former Dominican monastery (dissolved 1785), with a beautiful cloister. It is now a hotel. Count Zeppelin, inventor of the rigid airship, was born here in 1838.

Southeast of Konstanz's old town is the Harbor (built 1839-42), the base of the German Railroads fleet of ships on Lake Constance and of a number of private shipping companies. At its northwestern corner is the Kaufhaus (1388), a warehouse for the trade with Italy, also known as the Council Building (Konzilsgebäude), having been the meeting-place of the conclave of cardinals which elected Pope Martin V in 1417. It is now used for concerts and congresses.

To the south of the Konstanz Minster, in the Obermarkt, can be found the Hohenzollernhaus, in front of which Burgrave Friedrich of Nürnberg was invested with the fief of Mark Brandenburg in 1417. Nearby is the Town Hall (Rathaus; 1593), with frescoes of 1864 on the outside walls.

To the west of the Trinity Church in Konstanz is the Hushaus, wrongly thought to have been the house of the Bohemian Reformer John Huss, and the 14th C. Schnetztor, a relic of the medieval fortifications.

To the west of the Konstanz Minster, in Katzgasse, are the Lake Constance Nature Museum (Bodensee-Naturmuseum; prehistory and early historical period, ecology) and the Wessenberg Picture Gallery (German, Dutch and Italian painting of the 15th-18th centuries).

Between the Minster and the Rhine in Konstanz is the Niederburg, the oldest part of the town, originally inhabited by craftsmen and fishermen - a maze of narrow streets and lanes with many burghers' houses of the 13th-16th centuries. In Brückengasse are the Haus zur Inful (or Haus am Tümpfel; 15th-16th C.; cellars of an old hospice) and the Zoffingen monastery (founded 1257; 14th C. church, with frescoes). Between Rheingasse and Konzilstrasse stands the Regierungsgebäude (government offices, formerly the Cathedral Deanery; 1609).

A little way north of the Niederberg rises the massive Rheintorturm (14th-15th C.). West of this, on the wall flanking the Rhine, are statues (19th C.) of Bishops Conrad I (d. 975) and Gebhard II (d. 995) and Dukes Berthold of Zähringen (d. 1077) and Leopold of Baden (d. 1852). Beyond these is the Pulverturm (Powder Tower; 14th C.).

Southeast of the Konstanz Town Hall, in Rosgartenstrasse, is the "Haus zum Rosgarten", the medieval butchers' guild-house, now occupied by the Rosgarten Museum. This has a rich collection of local and regional interest, covering geology, paleontology, the history of the town and the art and culture of the whole Lake Constance area. Of particular interest are the exhibits on the pile-dwelling culture and the collection of pictures.

South of this stands the Trinity Church (Dreifaltigkeitskirche), which has fine frescoes of 1407.

To the west of Konstanz extends the Wollmatinger Ried (435 hectares/1,074 acres), a marshy area overgrown with reeds that is now a nature reserve (nesting area for birds).