Allgäu

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Map of the Allgäu (green) without districts and borders:
• Gates into the Allgäu (orange)
• Sub-areas of the Allgäu (white)
• Neighboring regions (gray)
Location of the Allgäu in the south of Upper Swabia
The Grünten , "Guardian of the Allgäu"
Allgäu pre-alpine landscape
Typical Allgäu pre-Alpine landscape: Siggenhauser Weiher near Amtzell
Hops at the lake as an example of a place shaped by tourism
Allgäu farmhouse in Christazhofen , district of Ravensburg

The Allgäu is a landscape name associated with the Alps with cultural and linguistic peculiarities. The Allgäu is often referred to as a region . It cannot be precisely delimited geographically, but in all cases it consists of the southernmost end of the Bavarian administrative district of Swabia . In addition to the alpine Allgäu, small parts of the foothills of the Alps also belong to the Allgäu. The Bavarian district of Oberallgäu and the southern parts of the Ostallgäu district form the core of the Allgäu. Parts of the district of Ravensburg in Baden-Württembergtogether with parts of the Bavarian district of Lindau belong to it as Westallgäu . The Kleinwalsertal border area, which belongs to Austria , is increasingly counted as part of the Allgäu due to the lack of direct transport links to the rest of Vorarlberg . The original Allgäu extends as a narrow strip south of Kempten between Scheidegg , Oberstaufen via Immenstadt , Sonthofen and Oberstdorf to Bad Hindelang .

While the Allgäu itself largely belongs to Germany, about half of the Allgäu Alps, the southern border of the Allgäu, are on Austrian territory. There is no official limitation for the Allgäu, rather there are different points of view for the assignment of various border towns to the Allgäu, which applies in particular to the districts of Unterallgäu (Bad Grönenbach), Ostallgäu (Kaufbeuren) and Ravensburg (Wangen). Since the 1970s, the name "Allgäu" with its good reputation has been used successively for marketing, which means that places not located in the region such as Bad Wörishofen , Ravensburg , Lindau (Lake Constance) or Kißlegg are advertised as "in the Allgäu". In part, the Allgäu is seen as a geographical sub-region of Upper Swabia .

etymology

According to one theory, the name Allgäu is derived from the Old High German alb (mountain, mountain meadow) and Middle High German göu , which means something like landscape, area, in a figurative sense, domain. Another thesis assumes that gäu does not mean the Gau , but that the second syllable comes from Ge-Äu , i.e. stands for several floodplains (analogous to how several mountains form a mountain range). In this case the meaning would be a mountainous landscape with a lot of water and meadows or floodplains . Allgovia or Algovia is the Latinized form of the word Allgäu. Newer names are the districts of Oberallgäu , Ostallgäu and Unterallgäu , which were named for administrative and tourist reasons.

geography

Expansion and delimitation of the Allgäu

Today's definition of tourism in the Allgäu holiday region

The Allgäu is partially seen as the landscape of Upper Swabia and has no strictly defined geographical limitation, it often flows smoothly into the neighboring landscapes. The meaning of the word Allgäu is subject to change up to the present day.

Historical development

The Urallgäu describes the area of ​​the former Alpgau. It was also the smallest expansion of the concept of landscape with the border towns Scheidegg , Lindenberg , Wolfertshofen in the west, Wiederhofen and Niedersonthofen in the north, Humminfurt , Greggenhofen and Hindelang in the east and Oberstdorf in the south.

The name Allgäu experienced the greatest expansion after the Peasants' War at the beginning of the 16th century, when the entire Upper Swabia was dubbed Allgäu and cities such as Ulm , Laupheim and Ehingen were viewed as the northern border of the Allgäu.

Today the Allgäu is mainly seen as the region that includes Allgäu GmbH as a company for tourism and business location. In the south, the Oberallgäu and Lindau (Bodensee) districts , the north through the Unterallgäu district in Bavaria and parts of the Ravensburg district in Baden-Württemberg, the east through the Ostallgäu district and the west through parts of the Lindau and Ravensburg districts viewed as a limit. Usually, for reasons of an assumed increase in tourist attractiveness with the designation Allgäu, membership is interpreted quite generously. The Allgäu is currently more of a brand for a large area than for a compact mountainous landscape.

Attempts at demarcation

In the south, the landscape is relatively clearly delimited by the main ridge of the Allgäu Alps . To the east, the course of the river Lech essentially represents the border, whereby in the southern district of Ostallgäu ( old district of Füssen ) the area is extended somewhat to the east towards the Ammergau Alps .

Occasionally there is disagreement about which places in the peripheral area are still part of the Allgäu. However, the concept of the Allgäu was never static in the course of history, but was subject to change.

Immenstadt, Rauhenzell in the Allgäu

Modern counties since 1972/1973: "Unterallgäu"

With the regional reform of 1972/73 the districts of Ostallgäu (formerly Kaufbeuren , Marktoberdorf and Füssen ), Oberallgäu (formerly Kempten (Allgäu) and Sonthofen ) and Unterallgäu (formerly Memmingen and Mindelheim as well as parts of the districts Illertissen , Krumbach (Swabia) were created and Kaufbeuren ). The extent of the Unterallgäu is not to be equated with the district of Unterallgäu. In the historical sense, the Unterland is meant as the area between Immenstadt and Dietmannsried , but the district extends far into the Central Swabian area. Only about 2 percent of the district area is in the Allgäu region. The term Unterallgäu was only invented for this region with the creation of the new Unterallgäu district.

The cities of Memmingen , Mindelheim and the Ottobeuren market have only been part of the Allgäu for a few decades, beyond the so-called locust border, by the home keeper Alfred Weitnauer . He pleaded for membership, while older literature and general researcher Otto Merkt made no mention of it. The places that formerly belonged to the Illergau , then to Upper Swabia, adorn themselves with the title in Allgäu , mainly for tourist reasons . This affiliation can be seen in the buildings typical of Upper Swabia (e.g. farms ) and the language.

In the Weingarten contract , the Lower Allgäu is used for the area around Wangen. On the other hand, towns from the Upper Bavarian district of Weilheim-Schongau can also be counted as part of the Ostallgäu , and areas from the neighboring Austrian states of Vorarlberg and Tyrol such as the Kleine Walsertal , the Tyrolean exclave Jungholz and the Tannheimer Valley are included in the Oberallgäu . However, the view that Austrian territories also belong to the Allgäu is controversial.

Often the sub-regions do not mean specific rural districts, but rather blurred, merging scenic areas. In this regard, Oberallgäu is understood to mean either only the area of ​​the Allgäu Alps with the immediate foreland, which is located in the former Sonthofen district, or extends to the area a little north of Kempten. The hill country to the north of Kempten is known today as the Unterallgäu. The Alpine foreland bordering Upper Bavaria in the east of the Allgäu , for example in the area of ​​the Wertach and Lech rivers , is called Ostallgäu.

The West Allgäu is part of the larger part to Baden-Wuerttemberg (Württembergisches Allgäu). It consists of parts of the Bavarian district of Lindau (Lake Constance) and that part of the Württemberg district of Ravensburg , which had formed the district of Wangen until the Baden-Württemberg regional reform .

geology

The Allgäu mountains and with them the entire mountains of the Alps are an expression of a process that began about 200 million years ago when, as a result of enormous plate tectonic forces in the earth's mantle, the mountains of the Alps began to unfold and the sea floor was pushed up from the primordial sea Tethys . The Allgäu Alps are made up of different sedimentary rocks that were mainly deposited during the Mesozoic . See Allgäu Alps, section geology .

The foothills of the Alps between Lech and Lake Constance, on the other hand , are mountainous and hilly areas that were shaped by the last ice age 20,000 years ago and consist of moraine walls . The moraine hills of the Lech glacier extend into the area of ​​today's Kaufbeuren, those of the Iller glacier to a line Legau – Bad Grönenbach – Obergünzburg and the sediment of the Rhine glacier as far as the area of ​​Leutkirch.

A feature of the moraine in the Allgäu are the remaining wells in lakes and fells and particularly in the West Allgäu encountered Tobel .

Waters

A European main watershed stretches through the Allgäu , which means that part of the flowing waters flow over Lake Constance and the Rhine to the North Sea and part over the river system of the Danube to the Black Sea. The latter part includes the rivers Iller and Lech as tributaries of the Danube and the Wertach as tributaries of the Lech . The Upper Argen and Lower Argen , which flow into Lake Constance, flow through the Westallgäu , as does the Leiblach, which forms the border between Germany and Austria in the lower part.

As a legacy of the last Ice Age, there are numerous small and large lakes in the Allgäu. The greater Alpsee near Immenstadt and the Hopfensee in Ostallgäu are among the more important . There are also some artificially created larger lakes, such as the Forggensee , which is dammed up by the water of the Lech , the Rottachsee and the Grüntensee .

Furthermore, there are countless smaller lakes and ponds , especially in the foothills of the Alps and occasionally in the mountains . The Weißensee , the Alatsee and the Niedersonthofener See , as well as the reservoirs of the Eschacher Weiher and the Schwaltenweiher, are particularly scenic .

mountains

Overview map of the Allgäu Alps

In the south, the Allgäu is shaped like an alpine region. It has the predominant part of the Allgäu Alps, in the south east a small part of the Ammer Mountains and in the west of the Bregenzerwald . The highest peaks of the Allgäu are in the central main ridge of the Allgäu Alps. In a side ridge, the Hornbach chain , which protrudes into the Tyrolean area, near the border with Bavaria, is the highest mountain in the Allgäu Alps, the Great Krottenkopf at 2657 meters. The second highest peak, also located in Tyrol, is the Hohe Licht at 2652 meters. Many of the mountains of the main ridge are located directly on the German-Austrian border. So also the third highest peak, the Hochfrottspitze , a 2649 meter high rock mountain, which is also the highest German peak in the Allgäu Alps and Swabia .

There are many particularly striking peaks in the Allgäu Alps. As the fourth highest mountain, they include the Mädelegabel and the Trettachspitze , which together with the Hochfrottspitze form the famous triumvirate on the Allgäu main ridge, as well as the Hochvogel , the Widderstein and the Hohe Ifen . This also includes the Höfats and the snail . Due to their geology, these two mountains are unique in the Eastern Alps. They are also known for their abundance of mountain flowers.

Due to the easy accessibility by cable car , the Nebelhorn is one of the famous mountains of the Allgäu. It is suitable as a starting point for many mountain tours. The Haldenwanger Eck near the Biberkopf marks the southernmost point of Germany. A large area of ​​the Allgäu Alps is part of the Allgäu High Alps and Hoher Ifen nature reserves .

The mountains of the Allgäu Pre-Alps are very popular with hikers. These include the mountains of the Allgäu Nagelfluh layer combs in the west and the Grünten and Wertacher Hörnle in the east . As foothills of the Alps or as moraine hills, there are numerous low mountain range mountains in the Allgäu foothills.

history

Early history to the 8th century AD

Around 7000 BC Stone Age people lived in the Allgäu, which is proven by finds in the Kleinwalsertal . Around 500 BC, Celtic settlement began in the area north of the Alps. The Celtic tribes (called Vindeliker - more precisely Estionen and Likatier - by the Romans ) immigrated from the west.

Roman provinces

Around 15 BC, the Roman generals Drusus and Tiberius subjugated the Celts as part of the Augustan Alpine campaigns, including in what is now the Allgäu. In addition, an open Roman market settlement was founded on the Lindenberg near Kempten (Cambodunum). Cambodunum became a garrison town. The Allgäu belonged to the Roman province of Raetia . In the year 18 AD, the Greek geographer Strabo mentioned the Celtic town "Kambódounon" (handwritten evidence: Kandobounon , probably a prescription) north of the Alps.

In 233 the Germanic Alemanni and Suebi broke through the Limes for the first time and occupied the land on both sides of the Rhine as far as the Alps. The Roman city of Cambodunum (Kempten) was destroyed. This city was destroyed again from 259 to 260. In 488 the last regular Roman troops left the region on the orders of Odoacer . Many Romanesque settlers emigrated to Italy with them. The Alemanni took their place and settled there. The area was in Alemannic and Suebian districts divided. In 536 the Alemanni were subjugated by the Franks .

In 752 the Kempten monastery was founded under the first abbot Audogar , from 773 the Alemannic duke's daughter Hildegard generously sponsored the monastery together with her husband, the Frankish king Charlemagne . The Benedictine monastery Ottobeuren was founded in 764 .

Middle Ages to 17th century

At the bottom right you can see the former Albigauge / Allpengau / Allgäu in the Duchy of Swabia

In the year 817 the Allgäu was mentioned for the first time in a St. Gallen document as "Albigauge" (later "Albigoi"). In 1079 the Hohenstaufen became the dukes of Swabia.

In the 13th century Memmingen , Kaufbeuren and Kempten became imperial cities . In 1268 Leutkirch also became an imperial city. At the same time, with the death of Konradin , the last Hohenstaufen, the territorial fragmentation began. The bishop of Augsburg, the prince abbot of Kempten, several imperial monasteries, imperial cities, counts and knights became lords in what is now the Allgäu.

In 1348 Wangen became an imperial city; 1365 also Isny . In 1488 the Swabian Federation was founded as an association of the Swabian imperial cities. In 1496 the first Reichstag took place in Lindau. In 1500 the Swabian Reichskreis , the seventh of the ten Reichskreis that existed until 1803, was created. In 1525 the Peasants' War broke out in the Kempten area, whose intellectual center was in Memmingen. There the demands of the peasants were coordinated, formulated and published as the Twelve Articles ; they are considered to be the first record of human rights in Europe. In 1527 the imperial cities of Kaufbeuren and Kempten committed to Luther's teaching .

In 1533 the Swabian Federation was dissolved. At the same time, Memmingen also acknowledged Lutheran teaching.

In 1543 the monks of Ottobeuren founded their own university (Academia Ottemburana) at the instigation of the Kempten prince abbot Wolfgang von Grünenstein . The Augsburg Religious Peace was concluded in 1555 . From 1618 to 1648 the Thirty Years War brought misery, plunder and destruction to the Allgäu as well. In 1632 Swedish troops occupied the Princely Monastery of Kempten and destroyed the monastery and church. The Swedes suffered the decisive defeat in the Battle of Nördlingen in 1634 . From 1651 to 1673, the St. Lorenz Church and the monastery buildings ( prince abbot's residence ) were built in Kempten after lengthy questions about the location.

18th century to World War II

Old Westallgäu house in Lindenberg with the typical wooden shingles

From 1701 to 1713/14 the War of the Spanish Succession brought sieges and devastation. During this time, the St. Mang monastery church was built in Füssen, which was completed in 1717. In 1704 Bavaria acquired the rule of Mindelheim . Construction work began on the Ottobeuren monastery complex in 1711, and on its monastery church in 1737 . In 1742 the state rooms in the Residenz zu Kempten were completed. At the end of the 18th century, the desertification in the Allgäu reached its peak.

In 1796 the French revolutionary army entered Memmingen and Kempten. 1802 and 1803 took place the secularization .

Flax field, as it was common in the 19th century, during the flowering period

From 1803 to 1810 the territory was restructured by Napoleon . The Bavarian Elector received the Swabian property from the Danube to Lake Constance. The Allgäu was divided into a Württemberg and a Bavarian part. Except-Vorarlberg, today's Bavarian West Allgäu , was allocated to Bavaria in 1806 by the Peace of Pressburg . In 1808, Bavarian Swabia was divided into three districts, with the capitals being Ulm , Augsburg and Kempten. In 1818 the imperial and collegiate cities of Kempten, which until then had formed an administrative municipality, were finally merged into one city. In 1837 Augsburg became the seat of the administrative district of Swabia .

In 1847 the Allgäu was connected to the railway network with the Augsburg – Kaufbeuren railway line. The rail route was extended to Kempten in 1852 and to Lindau a year later.

In the same year Caspar Honegger built a mechanical spinning and weaving mill powered by water power. In the second half of the 19th century, more textile and mechanical engineering factories were built . In the middle of the 19th century, the “blue” Allgäu of flax cultivation became the “green” Allgäu of the dairy industry . Construction work on Neuschwanstein Castle began in 1869 . The first summer visitors came to the Allgäu around 1877, and tourism began . In 1921 the Allgäu butter and cheese exchange was set up in Kempten.

In 1943, which formed Nazis in districts of today's communities Kempten and Durach the satellite camp Kottern-Weidach the Dachau concentration camp with 750, max. 1,500 prisoners. Other satellite camps were located in Kempten from 1943 with 500–600 prisoners, Bad Oberdorf from 1945 with one, Blaichach from 1944 with approx. 700 prisoners, Fischen from 1944 with approx. 300, Kaufbeuren from 1944 with 300–600, Riederloh II in Mauerstetten-Steinholz near Kaufbeuren with 1,300, Oberstdorf-Birgsau from 1943 with 25–30 and Schlachters-Biesings near Sigmarszell from 1944 with 6–8 prisoners.

1945 until today

In 1945, at the end of the Second World War, the Allgäu was occupied by French and American troops. In 1950 the South German Butter and Cheese Exchange took place. From around 1960, the mechanization of agriculture and the agricultural policy framework were strengthened by the EC . In 1972 a regional reform took place. Districts and municipalities in the Bavarian part of the Allgäu were restructured. In 1978 the Kempten University of Applied Sciences was opened.

Infrastructure

Road network

The new construction of the A 7 near Füssen

The Allgäu road network is mainly characterized by the A 7 , A 96 and the short A 980 motorways . Since 1992, the A 7 has been extended in several construction phases through the Ostallgäu district to Füssen, where it flows into the two-lane border tunnel Füssen and merges into the Fernpassstraße in Austria . Another main traffic artery is the B 19 , which is developed as a motorway-like road between Kempten and Sonthofen and leads via Oberstdorf into the Austrian Kleinwalsertal . The B 12 is to be expanded like a motorway between Buchloe via Kaufbeuren and Kempten and can already be driven on longer stretches in three lanes (as of 2017).

Railway lines

The most important Allgäu railway line is Buchloe – Lindau , from which the lines Biessenhofen – Marktoberdorf (with continuation to Füssen ), Neu-Ulm – Kempten , Kempten – Pfronten-Steinach , Immenstadt – Oberstdorf and Kißlegg – Hergatz branch off.

Air travel

The Allgäu is connected to the air transport network via Memmingen Airport , also known as "Allgäu Airport". The airport, also marketed as “Munich West Airport”, is around 110 km from the Bavarian capital . The airport had almost 1.5 million passengers in 2018. According to a study by the Ifo Institute , 294,700 passengers entered Memmingen Airport in 2018. Of the incoming passengers, 21% stated the Allgäu as their destination and 40% of them named a private holiday trip as the reason. With almost 4 million guest arrivals in the Allgäu in 2018, 0.6% of Allgäu holidaymakers entered via Allgäu Airport. The airport is served by Corendon Airlines , Fly Egypt , People's Viennaline , Pobeda , Ryanair and Wizz Air .

economy

Dairy cow at Ermengerst

The Allgäu is one of the most important and largest contiguous holiday regions in Germany. Tourism is an economic factor whose importance has steadily increased. With over two billion euros in added value and an income equivalent of over 46,000 full-time employees, it generates over 10 percent of the gross domestic product in the Allgäu. Day tourism is also of great economic importance.

Another economic factor is agriculture, with grassland farming with milk production making up the main share today. Flax cultivation was widespread in the Allgäu until the middle of the 19th century . The expression “blue Allgäu” can be traced back to the blue blooming flax, which was processed into textiles by the linen weavers. In the course of industrialization, the textile processing industry developed from this in the second half of the 19th century, which lost its importance again at the end of the 20th century. In contrast to the textile industry, mechanical engineering still plays an important role today. In some places special crafts developed, for example the lute and violin making in Füssen or the hat making in Lindenberg, which today is only of historical importance. The glass jewelry industry settled in the Neugablonz district of Kaufbeur after the Second World War .

At present there is a predominantly medium-sized economy in the Allgäu in various branches and large companies in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and food processing.

The tractor manufacturer Fendt in Marktoberdorf has been part of the American AGCO group since 1997 . It is the largest employer in the Ostallgäu region and the structurally weak independent city of Kaufbeuren.

tourism

The Allgäu is one of the most popular holiday regions in Germany all year round. The natural and cultural landscape attracts several million guests every year. In the Allgäu, more than 13 million overnight stays and almost 4 million guest arrivals were counted in 2018. Above all, the diversity of the region is appreciated. Countless activities are possible, from alpine sports to water sports. The Allgäu is Germany's largest winter sports center. In addition to alpine skiing and ice skating, cross-country skiing is also possible on an extensive network of trails. The Allgäu also offers numerous opportunities for ski mountaineering , cycling and mountain biking , hiking and sport climbing . In contrast to neighboring Tyrol , the tourist potential was hardly used or even advertised for a long time, since recreational sport in the Allgäu is sometimes seen as a problem for hunting reasons.

On the other hand, there are regions in the Allgäu, for example the Füssen region with the royal castles, which already border on mass tourism in the high season and represent a considerable burden for the local population.

landscape

The landscape of the Allgäu with its mountains, lakes and natural monuments plays an essential role for tourism. The Upper and West Allgäu are particularly rich with it. Examples from the Oberallgäu are the Grünten , also known as the “Guardian of the Allgäu”, the Blender near Kempten, the Iller origin and the Breitachklamm near Oberstdorf, the Starzlachklamm near Burgberg, the Sturmannshöhle near Obermaiselstein and the Gottesacker plateau in the Kleiner Walsertal. In the Westallgäu there are, among others, the Schwarze Grat , the Scheidegger waterfalls , the Eistobel near Isny ​​and the Wurzacher Ried .

One has a comprehensive view of the Ostallgäu from the Auerberg . Other geotopes in the Allgäu are the Lechfall near Füssen and the Iller breakthrough near Altusried .

In the Allgäu mountains, many types of mountain and winter sports are practiced both in the summer months and in winter. Mountain railways open up the high alpine areas also for non-alpinists, e.g. B. on Tegelberg , Breitenberg , Nebelhorn , Fellhorn and Hochgrat .

Scenic routes

Falkenstein castle ruins in Ostallgäu

The following holiday routes lead partly through the Allgäu:

Travel reports occasionally use the praiseworthy phrase “like in the Allgäu”. It appears in landscape descriptions of Iceland, Chile, South Africa and Hesse and many other areas.

Mild tourism

The Allgäu also has special offers in terms of gentle tourism . Particular attention is paid to sustainability and the protection and preservation of nature. There are popular cycling and hiking trails in the Allgäu .

Cycle paths

The Iller cycle path as an example of cycle paths that originate in the Allgäu
The HW 5 as an example of hiking trails in the Allgäu

Transalp routes starting in the Allgäu

Various Transalp routes start from the Allgäu, but these are reserved for mountain bikers :

Long-distance hiking trails through the Allgäu

The most important long-distance hiking trails in the Allgäu are:

Pilgrimage routes in the Allgäu

Pilgrimage routes also lead through the Allgäu as Jakobswegen :

Other tourist destinations

Culture

Dialects

In the Allgäu, dialect is spoken in many places , especially by the middle and older generation and especially in the villages. Even if all the dialects spoken in the Allgäu belong to the Alemannic language area and are therefore linguistically close, one cannot actually speak of a common "Allgäu". Because while the dialects in the West Allgäu and southern Oberallgäu are Lower Alemannic and thus resemble the neighboring Lower Alemannic part of Vorarlberg in particular , the dialects in the middle, east and north of the Allgäu are Swabian .

Allgäu cuisine

The traditional Allgäu cuisine is characterized by the ingredients that were available in sufficient quantities in earlier, rather poor times in the region. That was mainly eggs, flour, milk, fat and sauerkraut and all the herbs and vegetables that grew in the farm garden . Accordingly, there is a wide range of pastries and other simple dishes that have low material costs and high nutritional value. Other specialties include Allgäu mountain cheese , Allgäu Emmentaler and white varnish .

Cabbage sparrows

Some examples:

  • Pastries:
    • Kässpatzen
    • Cabbage spaetzle
    • Scratch
    • Grinder nudla (similar to potato noodles, but made from wheat flour)
    • Tamper
  • Desserts:
    • Nonnafürzle (small dumplings baked in hot fat until golden brown)
    • Boiled maidens (pieces of dough fried in floating fat, which are then poured over with hot must or wine)
  • Various:
    • Brandy tar or black mus ( Habermus with roasted potatoes)
    • Katzegschrei (beef roast)

Regional customs

The Allgäu is known for its regional customs. It is shaped by both its Swabian and Bavarian influences. Cultural peculiarities are particularly evident in the Allgäu costume , regional specialties as well as in the different dialects and handicrafts.

The tradition of cattle shedding , the transfer of cattle from the mountain pastures into the valley, where they overwinter in the stables of the farms, is also well-known nationwide. A special Allgäu custom is the bonfire on the first Sunday after Carnival.

architecture

Castle Hohenschwangau

There are numerous cultural and art-historical sights. The world-famous Neuschwanstein Castle and the neighboring Hohenschwangau Castle are located in this region, even if for the most part, especially internationally, it is not the landscape of the Allgäu but the state of Bavaria that is associated with it. Furthermore, the historical old town of Wangen , which is still largely preserved, is of touristic importance, but the medieval towns of Isny , Füssen , Kaufbeuren and Kempten with its residence and 2000 years of history as well as Ottobeuren with its baroque monastery church are also worth seeing. The important Roman legacies in the rural regions include the Roman road Via Claudia Augusta , one of the most important trade and supply routes between Füssen and Augsburg, some uncovered manors ( Villae rusticae ) and the remains of the settlement on Tegelberg .

Significant personalities

  • Johann Jakob Herkomer (* 1652 in Sameister near Roßhaupten, † 1717 in Füssen), builder, painter, sculptor and plasterer of the Baroque era
  • Johann Georg Fischer (* 1673 in Marktoberdorf, † 1747 in Füssen), Baroque builder
  • Johann Georg Specht (* 1721 in Lindenberg im Allgäu; † 1803), builder and architect
  • Johann Althaus (* 1798 in Lauperswil in the Emmental / Switzerland; † 1876 in Sonthofen), master dairyman and cheese pioneer
  • Carl Hirnbein (* 1807 in Wilhams; † 1871), large farmer, politician and founder of the dairy industry in the Allgäu
  • Ludwig Ganghofer (born July 7, 1855 in Kaufbeuren; † July 24, 1920 in Tegernsee), writer and inventor
  • Otto Merkt (* 1877 in Kempten (Allgäu), † 1951 in Kempten (Allgäu)), local politician and local researcher
  • Peter Dörfler (* 1878 in Untergermaringen, † 1955 in Munich), priest and local poet
  • Otto Forster (* 1881 in Kempten (Allgäu); † 1930), painter
  • Ernst Walter Mayr (born July 5, 1904 in Kempten (Allgäu), † February 3, 2005 in Bedford (Massachusetts)), German-American biologist and the main proponent of the modern synthetic theory of evolution
  • Alfred Weitnauer (* 1905 in Kempten (Allgäu), † 1974 in Obergünzburg), writer, home curator, historian and folklorist
  • Michael Bredl (* 1915; † 1999 in Hindelang), folk musician
  • Helmut Maucher (born December 9, 1927 in Argenbühl-Eisenharz; † March 5, 2018 in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe), manager and general director of Nestle
  • Hans Magnus Enzensberger (born November 11, 1929 in Kaufbeuren), poet, writer, publisher, translator and editor
  • Klaus Nomi (born January 24, 1944 in Immenstadt; † August 6, 1983 in New York), pop music countertenor
  • Herbert Knaup (born March 23, 1956 in Sonthofen, Oberallgäu district), German actor
  • Alexander Hold (born March 11, 1962 in Kempten (Allgäu)), television lawyer and local politician
  • Karl-Heinz Riedle (born September 16, 1965 in Weiler im Allgäu) is a former German soccer world champion (striker)
  • Maximilian Mechler (born January 3, 1984 in Isny ​​im Allgäu), German ski jumper & Vice Ski Flying World Champion (team)

For other people connected to the Allgäu, see category: Person (Allgäu)

Surroundings

In terms of landscape and language, parts of the neighboring Austrian Vorarlberg ( Kleinwalsertal ) and Tyrol ( Ausserfern / Reutte district ) can also be counted as part of the Allgäu. Other neighboring landscapes are the Bregenzerwald , the Lake Constance region , Central Swabia and the Bavarian Oberland with the Pfaffenwinkel .

See also

Web links

Wiktionary: Allgäu  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Commons : Allgäu  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikivoyage: Allgäu  - travel guide

literature

  • Franz Ludwig Baumann : History of the Allgäu , 3 volumes. Kempten (Allgäu) 1883 ff., Reprint Aalen 1971 f. (Volume 4: The 19th Century by Josef Rottenkolber, Kempten (Allgäu) 1938, reprint Aalen 1973)
  • Franz X. Bogner: Allgäu and Iller from the air. Theiss-Verlag, Stuttgart 2009. ISBN 978-3-8062-2236-4 .
  • Ulrich Crämer: The Allgäu - becoming and essence of a landscape concept, research on German regional studies . Publishing house of the Federal Institute for Regional Studies, Remagen 1954.
  • Lydia L. Dewiel: The Allgäu: cities, monasteries and pilgrimage churches between Lake Constance and Lech , DuMont, Cologne 1985.
  • Walter Jahn: Structural change and demarcation of the pre-alpine Allgäu cultural landscape . Kempten (Allgäu) 1954 (= Allgäuer Heimatbücher, Verlag für Heimatpflege; also in the communications of the Geographical Society in Munich, Volume 39, 1954)
  • Alfred Schädler: Allgäu ( German Land - German Art ). Munich / Berlin 1959
  • Herbert Scholz: Building and Becoming the Allgäu Landscape , Schweizerbart'sche Verlagbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 1995.
  • Wolfgang Wüst: Salt and Wine. Transalpine elixir of life for the Allgäu and its neighboring region , in: Otto Kettemann (ed.), "Up in the Allgäu, where bread has an end". On the cultural history of a region. Volume accompanying the special exhibition, Kronburg-Illerbeuren 2000, pp. 139–150, pp. 472–474.
  • Alfred Weitnauer : Here in the Allgäu , Verlag für Heimatpflege, Kempten (Allgäu)
  • Alfred Weitnauer : Allgäuer Chronik , 3 text volumes and 1 illustrated volume, Verlag für Heimatpflege, Kempten (Allgäu) 1964–1972

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Walter Jahn: The Allgäu. Materials and instructions for analytical and synoptic spatial observation. Blutenburg-Verlag, Munich 1979. p. 4.
  2. ^ Alfred Weitnauer: Bei uns im Allgäu , Verlag für Heimatpflege, 5th edition, Kempten (Allgäu) 1965, page 38
  3. ^ Crämer, map 2. The original Allgäu
  4. Cosmographia Universalis by Sebastian Münster, published by Heinrich Petri, Basel 1550
  5. Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen , Volume 99, 1955, p. 25.
  6. ^ Crämer, page 124
  7. Ferdinand Eggman: The story of the Illerthales . JF Ling, Ulm 1862.
  8. Joachim Jahn and others: The history of the city of Memmingen - From the beginnings to the end of the imperial city . Konrad Theiss Verlag , Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-8062-1315-1 .
  9. Josef Hofmiller : Attempts. Memmingen (1927) in the Gutenberg-DE project
  10. Memminger Zeitung of January 27, 2009 - page 30 "Dialect creates identity"
  11. ^ Göppinger Academic Contributions, Eds. Ulrich Müller, Franz Hundsnurscher, K. Werner Jauss, No. 77 The landscape names Allgäu and Upper Swabia in a geographical and historical perspective by Günther Bradler, Verlag Alfred Kummerle, Göppingen 1973
  12. ^ The first university in Bavarian Swabia was not in Augsburg . University of Augsburg. October 30, 2007. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
  13. ^ Office for Agriculture and Forests, Kempten (Allgäu) ( Memento from January 11, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  14. http://www.illerschorsch.de/SULjezisches.html
  15. Wolfgang Benz, Barbara Distel, The Place of Terror: Place of Terror: History of the National Socialist Concentration Camps. Volume 2 Early Camps Dachau, Emslandlager , CH Beck, Munich 2005, 607 pages, ISBN 3-406-52962-3 , pp. 292, 298, 322f, 358f, 373f, 376f, 458f, 470, 481, 491
  16. GENESIS database of the Federal Statistical Office , accessed on September 21, 2019
  17. Passenger survey at Memmingen Airport 2018 , accessed on September 21, 2019
  18. Bavarian State Office for Statistics: Tourism in Bavaria in December 2018 and in 2018 , accessed on September 21, 2019
  19. Airlines at Allgäu Airport Memmingen on allgaeu-airport.de, accessed on February 24, 2018
  20. ^ Allgäu GmbH, Destination Strategy
  21. Bavarian State Office for Statistics: Tourism in Bavaria in December 2018 and in 2018 , accessed on May 15, 2019
  22. Allgäuer Zeitung, local section Bad Hindelang / Oberallgäu "Recreational athletes are the problem" Alfons Zeller, former chairman of the Allgäu / Bavarian Swabian Tourist Association, in the Allgäuer Zeitung of May 31, 2010, accessed on May 15, 2019
  23. Allgäu cycle tour