Bregenz

Bregenz

Coat of arms
Bregenz

Location within Austria

Coordinates: 47°30′18″N 09°44′57″E / 47.50500°N 9.74917°E / 47.50500; 9.74917Coordinates: 47°30′18″N 09°44′57″E / 47.50500°N 9.74917°E / 47.50500; 9.74917
Country Austria
State Vorarlberg
District Bregenz
Government
 • Mayor Markus Linhart (ÖVP)
Area
 • Total 29.51 km2 (11.39 sq mi)
Elevation 427 m (1,401 ft)
Population (1 January 2016)[1]
 • Total 29,139
 • Density 990/km2 (2,600/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 6900
Area code 05574
Vehicle registration B
Website www.bregenz.at

Bregenz (German pronunciation: [ˈbʁeːgɛnt͡s]) is the capital of Vorarlberg, the westernmost federal state of Austria. The city is located on the eastern shores of Lake Constance, the third-largest freshwater lake in Central Europe, between Switzerland in the west and Germany in the northwest.

The city is situated on a plateau falling in a series of terraces to the lake at the foot of Pfänder mountain. It is a junction of the arterial roads from the Rhine valley to the German Alpine foothills, with cruise ship services on Lake Constance.

It is especially famous for the annual summer music festival Bregenzer Festspiele as well as the dance festival Bregenzer Spring.

History

Bregenz, Chalcography by Caspar Merian, about 1650

The first settlements date from 1500 BC. Celtic tribe named Brigantii is mentioned by Strabo as a sub-tribe in these region of the Alps.[2] In the 5th century BC, the Celts settled at Brigantion, which was one of their most heavily fortified locations. After battles in 15 BC, the Romans conquered Brigantion and the city became a Roman camp. It was conferred the status of a municipality (Brigantium) around 50 AD and was the seat of the Roman admiralty for Lake Constance. In 259/60 Brigantium was destroyed by the Alemanni, a Germanic people who settled in the area in around 450.

From 610 to 612 St. Columbanus and Saint Gall worked as missionaries in Bregenz. From 917 the castle served as a residence of the Udalrichinger (ruling dynasty of Vorarlberg), who called themselves Counts of Bregenz. The house died out around 1150. The son of the first Ulrich was Saint Gebhard, born in 947. He became Bishop of Konstanz. In around 1170 Hugo of Tübingen (Montfort) founded a town settlement (first documented mention in 1249), enlarged in the 13th and 14th century and from 1650 to 1652.[3]

The city was sold in 1451 and in 1523 to the Habsburgs and continued under Austrian rule, with a brief occupation by Swedish forces under Carl Gustaf Wrangel during the 30 Years' War, until the 19th century. Bregenz was under Bavarian rule from 1805 to 1814. From 1842 to 1850, the harbour on Lake Constance was built. In 1883 and from 1889–1891 the harbour was enlarged, and Austrian ship service was set up in 1884. Rail communication has existed since 1872 and since 1884 across the Arlberg massif. Since then, the town has extended to the surrounding countryside.

Since 1726, Bregenz has been the main seat of Austrian administration in Vorarlberg (Obervogtei, in 1786 Kreisamt, since 1861 seat of the Landtag, since 1918 seat of the Landeshauptmann). Rieden-Vorkloster and Fluh were incorporated into Bregenz in 1919 and in 1946, respectively. The town was bombarded in 1945, and 72 houses were destroyed.

Largest groups of foreign residents[4]
Nationality Population
 Turkey 1,329
 Germany 1,035
 Russia 422
 Bosnia & Herzegovina 396
 Croatia 223

Population

Sights

Landmarks buildings of Bregenz include Martins Tower, St. Gallus Church, the Art House, the Post Office Building, and the Lake Promenade. A well known meeting point for local philosophers, politicians, writers and musicians.

Upper town: (oldest part, remains from the 13th and 16th centuries, town walls still standing), old town hall (1662); the Martinsturm is considered the landmark of Bregenz (late Roman core, chapel with frescos from 1362, from 1599 to 1601 a storey was added, biggest Baroque bulb-shaped steeple in Central Europe, houses the Museum of Military History); Gothic parish church of St. Gall (the Roman-Romanesque foundations date from before 1380, rebuilt around 1480, from 1737 to 1938 altered by F. A. Beer in Baroque style); Herz-Jesu parish church (1905–1908).

Lower town: town hall built in 1686 (façade from 1898) Gothic Seekapelle, Landhaus (built from 1973 to 1982 by W. Holzbauer), the former Kornhausmarkt (built from 1838 to 1940, altered from 1951 to 1955) now houses a theatre, Protestant church of the Sacred Cross (1862–1864), Parish church, church of St. Kolumban (1962–1966), Kunsthaus Bregenz (1991–1997), Tourismushaus tourist centre (1994–1998). District of Vorkloster: Maria Hilf parish church (1925–1931, C. Holzmeister, interior from 1980) and Cistercian monastery of Mehrerau. On the Gebhardsberg rock, remains of the fortress of Hohenbregenz (destroyed by the Swedes in 1647).

Businesses and services

Bregenz
Climate chart (explanation)
JFMAMJJASOND
 
 
79
 
 
3
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5
 
 
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21
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24
15
 
 
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23
14
 
 
138
 
 
19
11
 
 
109
 
 
13
7
 
 
120
 
 
8
2
 
 
95
 
 
5
0
Average max. and min. temperatures in °C
Precipitation totals in mm
Source: ZAMG

Culture

Bregenz has a wide culture offer for citizens and tourists. The biggest cultural event is the Bregenzer Festspiele.

Bregenzer Festspiele

The annual summer music festival Bregenzer Festspiele is a world-famous festival which takes place on and around a stage on Lake Constance. This festival attracts more than 150,000 people every year to Bregenz (2011: 166.453, 2016: 159.172) with a budget of around EUR 20 million.[7] The program changes every two years and always runs from July to August. In 2016 the main opera performed is Turandot by Giacomo Puccini.

In addition to playing on the lake stage, orchestral concerts and operas are also played in the adjacent festival theater. With crossculture there is also a children's and youth program during and before the beginning of the festival. The lake stage (Seebühne) is the largest open-air theater in the world, with an audience capacity of around 7,000.[8]

Bregenz Jazz Festival

Since 2014, the Bregenz Jazz Festival has been held every year in June at the Kornmarktplatz. It is the successor of the New Orleans Festival, which took place from 1999 to 2013 several days in the early summer in the inner city of Bregenz which was no longer supported by the initiator Markus Linder. In addition to the change of name, there was also a musical genre change from blues to jazz. The location and the timing stayed roughly the same.[9]

Bregenzer Spring (Bregenzer Frühling)

Since 1987, the Bregenzer Spring, a dance festival, has been held every year between March and May in the Festival Hall of Bregenz. Dance ensembles from all over the world perform their new productions as well as Austrian premieres. With a budget of around EUR 500,000 and up to 10,000 visitors, the Bregenzer Spring is one of the most important dance festivals in Austria.[10]

Sport

Notable people

Johann Conrad Dorner's painting of Patriarch Tarasios
Max Sick 1910
Karl-Michael Vogler
Roman Rafreider

older times

modern times

Twin towns

Bregenz is twinned with:

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Statistik Austria - Bevölkerung zu Jahresbeginn 2002-2016 nach Gemeinden (Gebietsstand 1.1.2016) for Bregenz.
  2. ↑ Strabo, Geographia Book IV Chap. 6
  3. ↑ B. Bilgeri, Bregenz, Geschichte der Stadt, Bd. 1, Wien-München, 1980
  4. ↑ "Ergebnisse der Registerzählung 2011". Statistik - Landesstatistik Vorarlberg. Retrieved 2014-09-26.
  5. ↑ "Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Bregenz Başkonsolosluğu". Bregenz.bk.mfa.gov.tr. 2013-02-25. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
  6. ↑ "Foreign representations in Austria". Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (Austria). Retrieved 27 January 2009.
  7. ↑ "Facts and Figures | Bregenzer Festspiele". pressefoyer.at (in German). Retrieved 2017-02-07.
  8. ↑ "Bregenzer Festspiele". Bregenz (in German). 2015-06-09. Retrieved 2017-02-07.
  9. ↑ "From Jazz to Blues - Article in the local newspaper". Vorarlberger Nachrichten (in German). Retrieved 2017-02-07.
  10. ↑ "Bregenzer Frühling". Bregenz (in German). 2015-07-15. Retrieved 2017-02-07.
  11. ↑ PaperMag website retrieved Jan 2017
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