Old City of Freiburg

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Altstadt
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Location of Altstadt within Freiburg im Breisgau
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Altstadt
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Altstadt
Coordinates: 47°59′41″N7°51′0″E / 47.99472°N 7.85000°E / 47.99472; 7.85000 Coordinates: 47°59′41″N7°51′0″E / 47.99472°N 7.85000°E / 47.99472; 7.85000
Country Germany
State Baden-Württemberg
City Freiburg im Breisgau
Subdivisions2 districts:
111 Altstadt-Mitte
112 Altstadt-Ring
Area
  Total1.19 km2 (0.46 sq mi)
Elevation
282 m (925 ft)
Population
 (2020-12-31) [1]
  Total7,571
  Density6,400/km2 (16,000/sq mi)
Time zone UTC+01:00 (CET)
  Summer (DST) UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes
79098
Dialling codes 0761

The Old City of Freiburg is part of the city and business centres of Freiburg im Breisgau and is the core of the original city. It is divided into the two districts 111 Altstadt-Mitte and 112 Altstadt-Ring. The Altstadt-Mitte district was the city's build-up area at the time of its foundation and therefore formed the old city. The district Altstadt-Ring is connected westwards to the railway line and south to the Dreisam.

Contents

At the end of 2020, about 7,500 people were reported as inhabitants of this district.

The district of Altstadt-Mitte was designed according to the pattern of all cities founded by the Zähringers. A street cross divides the city into four quarters, the church and the city hall are not located in the same district. The city centre is the Bertoldsbrunnen, where the Kaiser-Joseph-Straße and Salz- and Bertoldstraße intersect. The city administration is located in the Old and New city hall. In the late 1990s, however, the head of the administrative region of Freiburg moved its headquarters from the Old City into a new building in the district of Betzenhausen, but the seat of the government president remained in the Basler Hof in the Old City.

Neighbouring districts include Stühlinger to the west, Neuburg to the north, Oberau to the east and beyond the Dreisam the Wiehre to the south.

Tourist attractions

The Old City is dominated by the Freiburg Minster at the Minster Square. Also most of the other architectural sight of the city, like the Schwabentor, Martinstor, Augustiner Museum are located in the Old City. The Freiburger Bächle are at their highest in the Old City and flow from there across the entire city centre. The Schlossberg is directly adjacent to the Old City. From the Schlossbergturm, or Castle Hill Tower, you are about have a circular view of all the city's districts and surrounding areas.

Shopping

Apart from the Münstermarkt on Minster square, most department stores and shops as well as many restaurants are situated in the very heart of the Old City. The majority of mainstream shops can be found on Kaiser-Joseph-Straße.

Since 1979, the city hosts an annual outdoor art and design market called Kunst in der oberen Altstadt (English literally: Art in the upper old city) featuring many artists and designers of a number of different handicrafts. [2]

Culture and education

The Old City is the center for cultural life in Freiburg. The Theater Freiburg, the Konzerthaus Freiburg, most of the museums and cinemas, the headquarters of the city's library as well as the Planetarium located at the Freiburg's main train station are all located in the Old City.

Alternative culture is also accessible in the Old Town, mainly in the Viertel Im Grün (named after the street of the same name) between the Konzerthaus and the Dreisam. Two centers are the Sprecht Passage, the Jos Fritz shop, the cafe with the same name, the Harrys Depot, the Grether factory, a former foundry, which includes the Radio Dreyeckland studios, the Rosa Hilfe Freiburg and the Strandcafé.

The University of Freiburg is also located in the Old City, alongside the faculties of humanities and social sciences as well as the university library.

Transport

The district of Altstadt-Mitte has been a pedestrian zone since the mid-1870s. After the ring road was blocked between the two districts in 2012, the pedestrian zone was partially extended to the district Altstadt-Ring. The boundaries of the built-up old city form multi-lane streets as the main traffic arteries of individual traffic. Car parking is concentrated to several car parking areas on the main traffic axes, whilst in other streets residents have their own car parks.

On the two main axes of the Old City, the Kaiser-Joseph-Straße and Berrtoldstraße and Salzstraße (to the east of Bertoldsbrunnen) are now served by trams. The intersection of the lines at Bertoldsbrunnen is the most important hub of public transport in Freiburg, as the city center is located next to the main railway station on the edge of the Old City and the border to Stühlinger.

Literature

Related Research Articles

Freiburg im Breisgau City in Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Freiburg im Breisgau, commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000, Freiburg is the fourth largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, and Mannheim. The population of the Freiburg metropolitan area was 656,753 in 2018. In the south-west of the country, it straddles the Dreisam river, at the foot of the Schlossberg.

Wiehre

Wiehre is a residential district at the edge of Freiburg im Breisgau, located southwards and across the River Dreisam from the Old City. It is a desirable district, with comparatively quiet streets and many well-preserved commercial and residential buildings dating from the 18th century and earlier. Housing there is expensive relative to the rest of the city. The Wiehre is bordered on the west by the Rheintalbahn Karlsruhe-Basel, on the north by the Dreisam, on the east by the Waldsee, and on the south by a wood known as the Sternwald am Bromberg and the village of Günterstal. The Günterstal Landstrasse, which begins at the St. Martin's Gate in the ancient town wall, bisects the Wiehre.

Haslach, incorporated into the city on 1 January 1890, is one of the Western districts of Freiburg im Breisgau. After the demerging of Weingarten the district is made up out of the boroughs 611 Haslach-Egerten, 612 Haslach-Gartenstadt, 613 Haslach-Schildacker and 614 Haslach-Haid. Its population is 20,939 (2020).

Freiburg Hauptbahnhof German railway station

Freiburg Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station in the German city of Freiburg im Breisgau. The Rhine Valley Railway (Mannheim–Basel), Höllentalbahn and the Breisach Railway (Breisach–Freiburg) meet here.

The Martinstor, a former town fortification on Kaiser-Joseph-Straße, is the older of the two gates of Freiburg im Breisgau that have been preserved since medieval times. Both gates, the Martinstor and the Schwabentor, are located in the city centre. In medieval times the Martinstor was also known as Norsinger Tor.

Operation Tigerfish

Operation Tigerfish was the military code name in World War II for the air raid on Freiburg in the evening of 27 November 1944 by the Royal Air Force with about 2,800 dead.

Trams in Freiburg im Breisgau

The Freiburg im Breisgau tramway network (also known as Stadtbahn or formerly as Hoobl is a network of tramways forming part of the public transport system in Freiburg im Breisgau, a city in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Opened in 1901, the network has been operated since its foundation by the company now known as Freiburger Verkehrs and powered by electricity. Currently, the tramway network has five lines. The expansion of the tram network since 1980 has served as an example of the "renaissance of the trams" in Germany. At the start of 2017, 72 trams were available for regular use. Five of these were high-floored, 37 partial and 30 low-floored. Almost the entirety of the network is located within Freiburg's urban area, only a few metres of the balloon loop at Gundelfinger Straße are located outside the boundary of Gundelfingen to the north of Freiburg. In total, the trams serve 20 out of the 28 districts in Freiburg.

Kaiser-Joseph-Straße

The Kaiser-Joseph-Straße in Freiburg im Breisgau is a shopping street of about 900 meters, which runs through the center of Freiburg's historic downtown from north to south. It is one of the most expensive locations in Germany.

<i>Bertoldsbrunnen</i>

The Bertoldsbrunnen is a monument in the historic city of Freiburg im Breisgau. It is situated at the crossing of the Salz- and Bertoldsstraße with the Kaiser-Joseph-Straße. The fountain is one of the central locations of the city. A tram station with the same name is situated at the Bertoldsbrunnen where four of the five tramways of the Freiburger Verkehrs AG stop.

Minster Square (Freiburg im Breisgau)

The Minster Square in the centre district of Freiburg is a paved area surrounding the Freiburger Minster. The city library, the Historical Merchants' Hall, the Wentzinger House and also the Korn House are located on this square. The Freiburger streams run along the sides of the square.

Freiburg Stühlinger

Stühlinger is a district to the west of the historic city center of Freiburg im Breisgau. In December 2013, 18,300 residents lived in the neighborhood. There are three boroughs: Stühlinger-Beurbarung, Stühlinger-Eschholz and Alt-Stühlinger. Although historically correct, the railroad Freiburg-Colmar is the north end of the Stühlinger and therefore Stühlinger-Beurbarung is not part of the district anymore. The district borders the area of the central train station of the Deutsche Bahn AG to the east, the river Dreisam to the south, tracks of the railroad freight transportation to the west and the district Brühl to the north.

Green spaces in Freiburg

Freiburg im Breisgau's parks, green spaces, recreational facilities, playgrounds, roadside greeneries and the Mundenhof add up to an area of 397 ha (3.97 km2), which corresponds to 18.05 m2 of green space per Freiburg citizen. On average, major cities in Baden-Württemberg have 22.66 m2 green space/citizen. However, there is an area of 2600 ha (26 km2) of forest in the close proximity of Freiburg as well as additional recreational area like the Rieselfeld district. The majority of the green spaces came into existence from the 1960s on.

The Salzstraße in Freiburg im Breisgau is a significant part of the Freiburg city centre pedestrian area. It runs from Bertoldsbrunnen to Kaiser-Joseph-Straße, then eastward to Oberlinden square, where a fountain of the same name is located. It is probably the location of Freiburg's oldest houses. A stream, the Freiburg Bächle, runs along the street's northern side between the tramway tracks and the pavement.

Mooswald is a district in the western part of Freiburg im Breisgau, which consists of the two districts Mooswald West (521) and Mooswald East (522). Its population is 9,223 (2020). In the North East, Mooswald borders the district of Brühl, with its airfield, the University campus of the technical faculty and the exhibition centre. Mooswald further borders the district of Landwasser in the North West, the district of Stühlinger in the East and the district of Betzenhausen with the Seepark in the South West. Mooswald is separated from Brühl by the Breisgau S-Bahn, from Landwasser by the Westrandstraße (Paduaallee/Mooswaldallee) and from Stühlinger by the railway tracks of the freight railway.

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Wiwilíbrücke

Wiwilíbrücke is a bridge of the German city Freiburg im Breisgau which is also called Blaue Brücke because of its paint and it had formerly been called Stühlingerbücke before the new Stühlingerbücke was built for the tramway. The bridge connects the city’s district Stühlinger to the old town as it links the church square of Herz-Jesu-Kirche to Konrad-Adenauer-Platz in spanning the railway tracks of Freiburg Hauptbahnhof. Today, Wiwilíbrücke is a listed building and is used by up to 10,000 cyclists per day.

Stühlinger Bridge

The Stühlinger bridge was made of prestressed concrete for tramways, pedestrians and cyclists in Freiburg im Breisgau. It connects the Bertoldstraße with the Wannerstraße. In doing so, it crosses the Bismarckallee, the central bus station, the main railway station Hauptbahnhof, the Wetzingerstraße and the Stühlinger Church Square. The right short individual sections make it seem like an inner-city viaduct or an elevated highway in proportion to the whole length.

References

  1. "Anzahl Personen nach Stadtbezirk". Stadt Freiburg im Breisgau. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
  2. "Kunst zwischen Schwabentor und Münster - Freiburg - Badische Zeitung".