Current Time in Konstanz, Germany

Konstanz, known in English as Constance, is a historic city in the state of Baden-Württemberg in the far south of Germany, situated at the western end of Lake Constance (Bodensee) where the Rhine exits the lake and forms the German-Swiss border. The city occupies both banks of the Rhine at this point and shares borders with Switzerland on three sides, giving it a distinctive character as a truly bi-national city where the customs and culture of Germany and Switzerland intermingle. Konstanz is historically significant as the site of the Council of Constance (1414-1418), one of the most important events in the history of the Catholic Church.

With a population of approximately 85,000, Konstanz is the largest city on the German shore of Lake Constance and an important university city and tourism destination. The University of Konstanz, founded in 1966 and consistently ranked among the top German research universities, contributes a significant student population of approximately 12,000 and gives the city a youthful intellectual energy that complements its medieval heritage. The city benefits from its position on the lake, which provides a beautiful recreational landscape and moderates the local climate to create one of the mildest regions in Germany.

The history of Konstanz is shaped above all by the Council of Constance, the ecumenical council that met here from 1414 to 1418 to resolve the Western Schism, the crisis in which there were simultaneously two and then three rival claimants to the papal throne. The council succeeded in ending the schism by electing Martin V as the undisputed pope in 1417, but it also condemned and burned the Czech reformer Jan Hus as a heretic in 1415, an act that provoked the Hussite Wars and made Hus a martyr for religious reform a century before Luther. The council was the largest gathering in medieval Europe, with tens of thousands of prelates, princes, scholars, merchants, and entertainers converging on the city.

The Konstanz Minster (Münster), a Romanesque and Gothic basilica begun in the 11th century and completed over several centuries, is the most important architectural monument of the city and the site of several sessions of the Council of Constance. The Konzilgebäude (Council Building), a massive medieval building on the lake shore originally built as a warehouse but used for sessions of the council including the election of Martin V in 1417, is the most historically significant building in the city and now serves as a concert hall. A bronze figure of the female allegory Imperia, representing the power of women over worldly power, rotates on a pedestal at the harbor entrance as a striking contemporary commentary on the council's proceedings.

The old town of Konstanz, built on the Rhine peninsula, preserves an exceptionally complete medieval and Renaissance townscape with colorful half-timbered houses, Gothic churches, and the remains of the city walls. Because Konstanz was occupied by French forces at the end of World War II rather than bombed by the Allies (the city was too close to the neutral Swiss border to risk confusion), it escaped the destruction that claimed many other German cities.

Lake Constance provides exceptional recreational opportunities including sailing, windsurfing, cycling along the lake circumference, and ferry connections to the beautiful Flower Island of Mainau and to Austrian and Swiss shores. The Bodensee is shared by Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, creating an unusually harmonious tri-national recreational landscape of great beauty.

Konstanz is connected by rail to Stuttgart and Zürich and has ferry connections across the lake. The combination of its extraordinary Council of Constance history, beautiful medieval old town, exceptional lake setting, and unique German-Swiss border character make Konstanz one of the most historically significant and scenically rewarding cities in southern Germany.