Send Gift Baskets to Konstanz, Germany

Ancient traces of civilization can be found in Konstanz, dating back to the late Stone Age. The Romans conquered the Celts south of the Danube during the reign of Augustus. Approximately 40 A.D. was the year when the first Romans settled there. Drusomagus, a small town on the left bank of the Rhine, probably belonged to the Roman province of Raetia. A strong fortress was built around 300 AD by the Roman emperor Constantius Chlorus, who fought the Alemanni in the region and named it Constantia, or by his grandson Constantius II, who visited the area in 354. In 2003, the remains of the late Roman fortress Constantia were discovered.

A bishop took up residence in Konstanz around 585, establishing the city’s importance as a spiritual center—clerical rights exempted about a quarter of Konstanz’s 6,000 inhabitants from taxation by the late Middle Ages.

The Middle Ages was a time of flourishing trade. Konstanz was strategically located in the Duchy of Swabia because it owned the only bridge that crossed the Rhine. Linen production had earned the city an international reputation and made it prosperous. Since Konstanz gained the status of Imperial City in 1192, it has been subject only to the Holy Roman Emperor.

During the Council of Constance in 1414-1418, Jan Hus (Czech religious thinker, philosopher, and reformer), seen by the Roman Catholic Church as a threat to Christianity, was burned at the stake on 6 July 1415. Pope Martin V was elected during the only conclave ever held north of the Alps here, ending the Papal Schism. It shows the everyday life of medieval Konstanz and all the significant events during the Council of Constance as chronicled by Ulrich von Richental. By the harbor, you can still see the Konzil building where the conclave was held. This statue was erected in 1993 as a satirical tribute to the Council.