Konstanz

Celts lived on the site of today's Niederburg before the Romans arrived around AD 40. The town's name, Constantia, comes either from the emperor Constantius Chlorus, who built a strong fortress here around 300 while fighting the Alemanni, or from his grandson Constantius II; the remains of the late Roman fort were found in 2003. Around 585 a bishop took up residence, beginning more than 1,200 years as a church centre. Konstanz owned the only bridge across the Rhine in the region, grew rich on linen and became an imperial city in 1192.

From 1414 to 1418 the Council of Constance met here. It burned the Czech reformer Jan Hus at the stake on 6 July 1415 and ended the Papal Schism by electing Martin V in the only conclave ever held north of the Alps. When the Swiss took the Thurgau in 1460, Konstanz lost its hinterland, and the Swiss cantons refused it membership. The town turned Protestant in the 1520s, but in 1548 Charles V placed it under the imperial ban and it passed to Habsburg Austria, which brought in the Jesuits; their theatre of 1610 is the oldest in Germany still performing regularly.

Konstanz became part of Baden in 1806, and the diocese was dissolved in 1821. Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the airship builder, was born here in 1838. In October 1940 the last Jewish residents were deported to Gurs. Lying almost within Switzerland, the city was not bombed in the Second World War, which is why its large old town survives. The university followed in 1966, and in recent years Swiss cross-border shoppers have reshaped the centre.

Konstanz is defined by water and borders. The Rhine leaves the lake through the middle of the city, and summer life moves to the shore, the Rhine banks and the boats; the harbour, with the slowly turning Imperia statue mocking the princes and prelates of the Council, is the city's best-known image. The old town keeps the medieval street plan, three towers of the old city wall and many guild and merchant houses.

Fasnacht is the great festival. In the weeks before Lent masked guilds parade through the old town, the Butzenlauf opens the street carnival, and the Hemdglonker parade of townspeople in nightshirts sets off from the Niederburg; the Rheintorturm holds a Fasnacht museum. In August the Seenachtfest, shared with Kreuzlingen, fills the lakeshore with stages and water shows.

The University of Konstanz, founded in 1966 and counted among Germany's most successful universities in the Excellence Initiative, gives the city a young population, and its library is open around the clock. The city theatre, founded in the Jesuit college, keeps a long stage tradition. Relations with Swiss neighbours are close and sometimes strained: shoppers from Switzerland bring trade, and some residents avoid the centre on Saturdays.

About 83,000 people live in Konstanz, the largest city on Lake Constance. The old town and Paradies lie south of the Rhine; the larger part of the city lies on the Bodanrück peninsula to the north, with districts such as Petershausen, Wollmatingen and Litzelstetten, alongside the university and industrial estates.

The economy rests on the university and other colleges, public administration as the seat of the district, tourism and retail. Cross-border shopping has become a major business since the late 2010s, with large chain stores built near the centre to serve Swiss customers who reclaim German VAT, and customs offices sit beside the shopping centres.

The rhythm of the year follows the lake: swimming in the Rhine and at the Hörnle beach, sailing from the yacht harbour and evenings by the water in summer; fog and quiet in late autumn; Fasnacht in the depths of winter. Crossing between Konstanz and Kreuzlingen is part of ordinary life on both sides of the border.

Konstanz eats from the lake and the surrounding farmland. Felchen, the whitefish that makes up most of the Lake Constance catch, is served whole or as a fillet in fish restaurants around the lake, and the old fish-market square, the Fischmarkt, still recalls the trade. The vegetable growers of Paradies long farmed the fields to its west, and a farmers' market brings regional produce into the old town.

The wider cooking is that of Baden and Swabia. Flammkuchen, a speciality shared with Alsace and Baden, is bread dough rolled very thin and covered with fromage blanc or crème fraîche, sliced onions and lardons, baked in a wood-fired oven; Maultaschen, large pasta pockets filled with minced and smoked meat, spinach and onion, are protected as a Swabian speciality; and Spätzle, an irregular egg pasta, come with many dishes.

The Marktstätte and the streets around it are the centre of the restaurant scene. A wine festival brings local wines and music outdoors, and in summer a beach bar on the Rhine shore sets out deckchairs on the sand.