Lake Constance

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lake Constance
Outline of Lake Constance.png
Outline of Lake Constance
GKZ DE: 215 (Obersee), 217 (Untersee)
A: 15001
CH: 1 (GEWISS no. Of the Rhine)
Geographical location Germany ( Baden-Württemberg , Bavaria )
Austria ( Vorarlberg )
Switzerland ( St. Gallen , Thurgau , Schaffhausen )
Tributaries Obersee: Alpine Rhine (main tributary), Old Rhine , Goldach , Steinach , Stockacher Aach , Seefelder Aach , Rotach , Schussen , Argen , Leiblach , Bregenzer Ach , Dornbirner Ach
Untersee: Seerhein , Radolfzeller Aach
Drain Obersee: Seerhein
Untersee: Upper Rhine
Islands Lindau , Mainau , Reichenau , Dominicans Island , Expectant , six uninhabited islands
Places on the shore Obersee: Bregenz , Rorschach , Arbon , Romanshorn , Kreuzlingen , Konstanz , Überlingen , Meersburg , Friedrichshafen , Lindau .
Untersee: Steckborn , Stein am Rhein , Radolfzell am Bodensee , Allensbach
Location close to the shore Dornbirn , Feldkirch , St. Gallen , Schaffhausen , Singen , Stockach , Ravensburg , Wangen im Allgäu
Data
Coordinates , ( CH ) 47 ° 38 '  N , 9 ° 22'  O ( 744 895  /  277 632 ) coordinates: 47 ° 38 '  N , 9 ° 22'  O ; CH1903:  seven hundred forty-four thousand eight hundred and ninety-five  /  two hundred seventy-seven thousand six hundred thirty-two
Altitude above sea level 395.23  m
surface Obersee: 473 km², Untersee: 63 km², together 536 km² (without Seerhein)dep1
length 63 km (Bregenz - Bodman )dep1
width 14 km (Friedrichshafen - Romanshorn)dep1
volume 48 km³
scope 273 km
Maximum depth 251.14 m
Middle deep 90 m
Catchment area 11,487 km²

particularities

No recognized demarcation between the neighboring countries in the Obersee; largest, deepest, most water-rich lake in Germany

Template: Coordinate / Maintenance / POSKARTE inappropriate

The name Bodensee stands for two lakes and a connecting river section of the Rhine , namely the Obersee (also called Lake Constance alone ), the Seerhein and the Untersee . Lake Constance is located in the Lake Constance basin , which is part of the northern Alpine foothills . It is traversed by the Rhine, the tributary is called the Alpenrhein , the outflow is called the Upper Rhine .

In addition to Lake Constance itself, this article also deals with the surrounding Lake Constance region , which, depending on the spatial definition, extends far into the hinterland .

Three countries have a share in Lake Constance and the Lake Constance region: Germany , Austria and Switzerland . While there is a recognized demarcation between Germany and Switzerland in the Untersee, the states bordering the Obersee never set a limit by mutual agreement.

history

After the end of the last glacial period around 10,000 years ago, the upper and lower seas were still connected in one lake. The deep erosion of the High Rhine caused the lake level to gradually sink and the Konstanz threshold to emerge. In ancient times , the two lakes still had different names, after which the common name developed for unknown reasons.

Name story

The Roman geographer Pomponius Mela was the first to mention the Lacus Venetus and the Lacus Acronius around the year 43 AD , both of which are traversed by the Rhine. It is believed that these are the names for the Obersee (after the Rhaetian tribe of the Vennonetes ) and the Untersee. Otherwise, both names no longer appear in ancient literature. The natural scientist Pliny the Elder referred to the entire Lake Constance around 75 AD as Lacus Raetiae Brigantinus after the then Roman capital on the lake, Brigantium (Bregenz). This name is associated with the Celtic Brigantines who lived here, although it is unclear whether the place was named after the tribe or whether the inhabitants of the region named themselves after their main town. In Ammianus Marcellinus the form Lacus Brigantiae can be found later .

The current German name "Bodensee" is derived from the place name Bodman , which means "Lake near Bodman". This place, located at the western end of the Überlinger See, was of great importance in the early Middle Ages , as it was first an Alemannic ducal seat and then a Franconian royal palace and also a mint . It is first attested to as Bodungo (a misspelling for Bodumo ) 496/506 (13th / 14th century copy after a copy around 700); further early mentions are Bodomo (839) and Podoma (887). This place name goes back to the Old High German bodam , which as a generic word means “soil, earth, ground area” and as a place name means “deep settlement area” or “place on a level”. The name of the lake was first mentioned in 840 in Latinized form as in lacum Potamicum , followed by 890 (more recent copy) ad lacum Podamicum , 902 and 905 prope lacum Potamicum and 1087 German Bodinse, Bodemse . * Bodamsē or with the second sound shift * Potamsē is to be used as the Old High German original wording . In the Middle Ages, the name of the royal palace superseded all names attested to parts of Lake Constance since Roman times. The Latinized name was wrongly traced back to the Greek word potamos for "river" by monastic scholars like Walahfrid Strabo and interpreted as river-lake . The thought of the Rhine flowing through the lake may also have played a role. The German name Bodensee was adopted from numerous other languages, especially from Northern and Eastern Europe.

Location of Lake Constance in the Duchy of Swabia (yellow), 911–1268

After the Council of Constance 1414–1418, the alternative name Lacus Constantinus spread in the (Catholic-) Romance-speaking area , a form attested as Lacus Constantiensis as early as 1187 , which refers to the city of Constance at the outflow of the Rhine from the Obersee . This owes its name - in Latin Constantia - to the Roman emperor Constantius Chlorus (292–305 AD). Examples are Lac de Constance in French and Lago di Costanza in Italian .

The once poetic and now joking designation " Swabian Sea" was adopted by authors of the early modern period and the Enlightenment from ancient authors, possibly Tacitus . However, this takeover was based on an error (similar to, for example, the Teutoburg Forest and the Taunus ): The Romans did not call Lake Constance, but sometimes called the Baltic Sea Mare Suebicum , as they located the Suebi tribe near a sea had. The early modern authors adopted the name for the largest lake in the middle of the former Duchy of Swabia , which also included parts of what is now Switzerland.

Key facts about the story

No finds from the Paleolithic in the immediate vicinity of the lake are known, as the Lake Constance area was covered by the Rhine glacier for a long time . Findings of stone tools ( microliths ) prove that hunters and gatherers of the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age, 8000–5500 BC) visited the Lake Constance region without settling there. Only hunting camps are proven. The earliest Neolithic farmers who belonged to the band ceramics left no traces there either, because the foothills of the Alps lay off the paths on which they had spread in the 6th millennium BC. This only changed in the middle and late Neolithic with the bank settlements, the so-called pile dwellings and wetland settlements , which can now be found mainly on the Überlinger See, the Konstanzer Bucht and the Obersee. In Unteruhldingen such Lakeside Village has been reconstructed and now a museum accessible. Recently, an extensive series of artificially created stone mounds from that era have been discovered in the south-western shore zone of the lake , the cultural classification of which has not yet been clarified.

From the beginning of the Early Bronze Age grave finds from Singen am Hohentwiel should be mentioned. Settlements on the edge of the river bank were built with interruptions during the Neolithic and Bronze Age (up to 800 BC). They break off in the subsequent Iron Age . The settlement of the shores of Lake Constance in the Hallstatt period is more likely to be attested by burial mounds , which today are mostly under forest, as they were protected there from destruction by agriculture. The population on Lake Constance has been known as the Celts since the late Hallstatt period . In the Latène period from 450 BC. The density of sites decreases, which is partly due to the fact that no more burial mounds are built. At the end of it, written messages about the Lake Constance area were received for the first time. The Helvetii in the south, the Raetians in the area of ​​the Alpine Rhine Valley and the Vindelikers in the northeast are named as Lake Constance . The most important places on the lake were Bregenz (Celtic Brigantion ) and today's Constance .

In the course of the Roman Alpine campaign in 16/15 BC The Lake Constance area was incorporated into the Roman Empire . It should also have come to a sea ​​battle on Lake Constance . The geographer Pomponius Mela was the first to mention Lake Constance around 43 AD as Lacus Venetus (Obersee) and Lacus Acronius (Untersee), both of which were traversed by the Rhine. Pliny the Elder first referred to Lake Constance as Lacus Brigantinus . The most important Roman town was Bregenz, which soon received Roman town charter and later became the seat of the prefect of the Lake Constance fleet. The Romans were also in Lindau , but only populated the hills around Lindau there, as there was marshland on the shore . Other Roman cities were Constantia (Konstanz) and Arbor Felix ( Arbon ).

After the Roman Empire withdrew to the Rhine border in the 3rd century AD, the Alemanni gradually settled the northern shores of Lake Constance, and later also the southern shores. After their Christianization , the region's cultural significance grew through the establishment of the Reichenau Abbey and the Bishopric of Constance. Under the rule of the Hohenstaufen Reichstag was held on Lake Constance. In addition, there was a peace agreement between the Staufer Kaiser and the Lombards League in Constance . Lake Constance also played an important role as a transshipment point for goods in German-Italian trade.

During the Thirty Years' War , the naval war on Lake Constance from 1632 to 1648 led to various disputes over dominance over the Lake Constance area.

After the coalition wars (1798–1802), which also affected the Lake Constance region and both an Austrian and a French flotilla operated on Lake Constance , the state was reorganized.

Lake Constance on historical maps

Map of the Lake Constance region from 1540
Lacus Podamicus. The bottom lake. Colored copper engraving , around 1640

Maps of Lake Constance are known from 1540.

  • 1540: The map Lacus Constantiensis by Johannes Zwick and Thomas Blarer contains landscape names, cities and the Rhine.
  • around 1540: Sebastian Münster (1488–1552)
  • 1555: The Rhine river map of Caspar Vopelius contains a mapping of Lake Constance, with the larger cities, the tributaries and the course of the Rhine.
  • 1579: Leonhard Straub, St. Gallen printer.
  • 1633: The Swabian map by Johannes Janssonius , Amsterdam: Totius Sveviae novissima tabula contains Lake Constance with islands, tributaries, cities and towns.
  • 1649 Johann Christoph Hurter
  • 1675: The Lake Constance map Lacus Acronianus sive Bodamicus by Nikolaus David Hautt after Andreas Arzet SJ shows Lake Constance with the neighboring lands.
  • after 1749: "Lacus Bodamicus Vel Acronius cum regionibus circumjacentibus recens delineatus ..." Colored copper engraving by Matthäus Seutter (Augsburg) for Johann Michael Probst (Augsburg), after 1741. 48.5 × 56 cm

geography

structure

Complete lake from the Winterstaude (north of the Bregenzerwald)

The Bodensee is located in the foothills of the Alps. The shore length of both lakes is 273 km. 173 km of these are in Germany ( Baden-Württemberg 155 km, Bavaria 18 km), 28 km in Austria and 72 km in Switzerland. If you add Obersee and Untersee together, Lake Constance is the third largest in area after Lake Balaton (594 km²) and Lake Geneva (580 km²) after Lake Geneva (89 km³) and Lake Geneva (48.5 km³) Lake Garda (49.3 km³) the third largest lake in Central Europe . It stretches over 69.2 km between Bregenz and Stein am Rhein . Its catchment area is around 11,500 km² and extends in the south to the end of the Averstal .

The surface of the Obersee is 473 km². It extends 63.3 km between Bregenz and Bodman-Ludwigshafen and is 14 km wide between Friedrichshafen and Romanshorn ; at its deepest point between Fischbach and Uttwil it measures 251.14 m. It is currently the deepest lake in Germany.

Lake Constance with the island of Lindau from the Pfänder (2007)

The three small bays on the Vorarlberger Ufer have their own names: in front of Bregenz is the Bregenz Bay, in front of Hard and Fußach the Fußacher Bay and to the west of it the Wetterwinkel. Further west, already in Switzerland, is the Rorschacher Bucht. To the north, on the Bavarian side, is the Reutiner Bay. The railway embankment from the mainland to the island of Lindau in the west and the Landtorbrücke with the Chelles-Allee running over it in the east delimit the so-called Kleiner See , which lies between the Lindau district of Aeschach and the island , from Lake Constance .

The north-western, finger-shaped arm of the Obersee is called Überlinger See . In common parlance, the Überlinger See is seen as an independent part of the lake, the border between Obersee and Überlinger See runs roughly along the line between the southeastern tip of the Bodanrück (the " Hörnle " belonging to the city of Constance ) and Meersburg. To the east of Konstanz lies the so-called Konstanzer funnel between the German and Swiss banks.

Obersee and Untersee are connected by the Seerhein .

The Untersee , which is separated from the Obersee or its northwestern arm Überlinger See by the large Bodanrück peninsula , has an area of ​​63 km². It is characterized and strongly structured by the terminal moraines of various glacier tongues and central moraines . These parts of the lake have their own names. The Gnadensee is located north of the island of Reichenau . To the west of the island of Reichenau, between the Höri peninsula and the Mettnau peninsula, there is Lake Zell . The Markelfinger Winkel lies north of the Mettnau. The drumlins of the southern Bodanrück continue at the bottom of these northern parts of the lake. South of the Reichenau, the Rheinsee stretches from Gottlieben to Eschenz, with its partly pronounced Rhine current. This part of the lake used to be named after the place Berlingen Bernanger See . The name of the Rheinsee is not listed on most of the maps because this place is best suited for labeling the Untersee.

Origin and future

Lake Constance gained its shape through the interaction of several factors:

  • The tectonic Lake Constance basin between the Alps and the Jura was created in the Jura and Tertiary
  • Today's Alpine Rhine was initially a tributary of the Danube.
  • Over time, the basin was tapped from the Upper Rhine by backward erosion ( fluvial erosion ).
    • The tapping did not always take place through today's Rhine Valley; the Überlinger See marks part of an older valley course.
  • The river valleys were cold for several hours from Rhein glacial from the Rhine Valley übertieft ( glacial erosion).
  • Behind the today imposing traces of the Würm Ice Age , those of the older cold ages can no longer be explored in detail. Today, Lake Constance primarily represents a tongue basin or a glacier edge lake from the Würme Ice Age.
  • In a late phase of the Ice Age, only the Obersee was glaciated. With the further retreat of the glacier, the meltwater flowed from the emerging Überlinger See through the older northern part into today's High Rhine Valley.
  • As the retrograde deep erosion progressed, the current course of the High Rhine finally gained (again) connection to Lake Constance.
The confluence of the Alpine Rhine with Lake Constance

Like every glacial lake, Lake Constance will silt up due to sedimentation in the geologically near future. This process can best be observed at the mouths of larger rivers, especially that of the Alpine Rhine. The silting up is accelerated by the continually widening Rhenish erosion and the associated lowering of the lake level.

Tributaries

The main tributary of the Obersee is the Alpine Rhine . The Alpine Rhine and the Seerhein only mix with the lake waters to a limited extent and flow through the lakes in mostly constant channels. There are also numerous smaller tributaries (236). The main tributaries of the Obersee are (counterclockwise) Dornbirner Ach , Bregenzer Ach , Leiblach , Argen , Schussen , Rotach , Seefelder Aach , Stockacher Aach , Salmsacher Aach , Aach (near Arbon) , Steinach , Goldach and Alter Rhein . The outflow of the Obersee is the Seerhein , which in turn is the main inflow of the Untersee. The most important tributary of the Untersee is the Radolfzeller Aach .

The ten most water-rich tributaries of the Obersee with their catchment areas:
flow Mean discharge
[m³ / s] (1978–1990)
Inflow share
in%
Catchment area
[km²]
Share
in%
Alpine Rhine 233 61.1 6.119 56.1
Bregenz Oh 48 12.6 832 7.6
Bad 19th 5.3 656 6.0
Old Rhine
(Rhine Valley Inland Canal)
12 3.1 360 3.3
Shot 11 2.9 822 7.5
Dornbirn Oh 7.0 1.8 196 1.8
Leiblach 3.3 0.9 105 1.0
Seefeld Aach 3.2 0.8 280 2.6
Rotach 2.0 0.5 130 1.2
Stockacher Aach 1.6 0.4 221 2.0
Sum of the
10 main tributaries
340 89.6 9,721 89.2
Total inflow 381 100.0 10,903 100.0

Since the Alpine Rhine brings debris from the mountains and this material sediments there , the Bregenz Bay will silt up in a few centuries. It is estimated that it would take ten to twenty thousand years for the entire Lake Constance to silt up.

Drains, evaporation, water abstraction

The outflow of the Obersee and Überlinger See is limited by the Seerhein. In the Seerhein, the Swiss pondweed prevents water from draining into the Untersee when the tide is low. The outflow of the Untersee is the Upper Rhine with the Rhine Falls of Schaffhausen . Both the average rainfall of 0.45 km³ / a and the evaporation averaging 0.29 km³ / a change the level of Lake Constance little compared to the influence of the inflows and outflows. Further quantities of lake water are drawn from the 15 municipal waterworks around the lake and the Lake Constance water supply , see section Drinking water production .

Islands

Mainau Island

Ten islands larger than 2000 m² are located in Lake Constance .

By far the largest island is Reichenau in the Untersee, which belongs to the municipality of Reichenau . The former monastery Reichenau counts, also because of three early and high medieval churches, the World Heritage of UNESCO . The island is also known for its intensive cultivation of fruit and vegetables .

The island of Lindau in the very east of the Obersee is the second largest island. Both the old town and the main train station of Lindau are located on it.

The third largest island is Mainau in the southeast of the Überlinger See. The owners, the Bernadotte family , have set up the island as a tourist destination and created botanical facilities and animal enclosures for this purpose.

Relatively large, but unpopulated and inaccessible (as a nature reserve) are two islands in front of the Wollmatinger Ried : ( Triboldingerbohl with 13 ha and Mittler or Langbohl with 3 ha).

Smaller islands in the Obersee are:

  • the Dominican Island (separated from the old town of Konstanz by a six meter wide ditch ) with the Steigenberger Hotel (2 ha)
  • the tiny island of Hoy near Lindau
  • the ten artificially created islands on the Rheindamm on the Fußacher side
  • the Inseli at the port of Romanshorn
  • the Wollschweininsel (officially Wulesaueninsle ) at the Seepark in Kreuzlingen

In the Untersee

Peninsulas

Several peninsulas of different sizes protrude into Lake Constance.

  • The Bodanrück , the largest peninsula, separates the Obersee (part of the lake Überlinger See) from the Untersee. It extends over an area of ​​112 km².
  • The Mettnau in the Untersee, which stretches towards the island of Reichenau, separates the Zeller See in the south from the Markelfinger Winkel in the north. It has an area of ​​1.7 km².
  • The approximately 45 km² large Höri , which also extends towards the island of Reichenau, separates Lake Zell in the north from Lake Rhine in the south.
  • In the south-east, near the mouth of the new Rhine Canal , the Rohrspitz rises around 1.2 km into the lake with an area of ​​around 50 hectares and forms the western edge of the Fußacher Bay.
  • The Wasserburg peninsula with the Wasserburg Castle and the parish church of St. Georg in the northeastern Obersee lies between the Nonnenhorn Bay in the west and the Wasserburger Bay in the east. It has an area of ​​2.3 hectares and was an island until 1720, when the Fuggers dumped a dam. In March 2009 there were 27 residents on the peninsula.
  • The Gallows Island in Reutiner Bay is also a peninsula that used to be an island. It is only 0.16 hectares in size.

shore

Sandy beach at the Marienschlucht

The shore of Lake Constance consists mainly of gravel. In some places you can also find real sandy beaches, such as the Rohrspitz in the Austrian section of the lake, the DLRG beach in Langenargen and the Marienschlucht .

According to the information from the International Water Protection Commission for Lake Constance , the approximate shore length is 273 km. This value increases at will as the distance between the points used to approximate the shoreline decreases (see measurement of coastline lengths ). The water inflow is constantly changing, especially as a result of rain and the melting of snow in the Alps. The average surface is around 395  m above sea level. NN (in Switzerland the absolute figure is slightly higher in [m above sea level]). The more or less regular seasonal fluctuations in the water level also lead to banks of slightly different lengths and to differently populated bank zones (depending on the high and low tide).

In Germany, Lake Constance is a first-class body of water and therefore belongs to the country. The waterline is the limit, temporary changes to the waterline due to high or low water do not change the ownership structure.

Climate, effects of global warming

Summer storm - view of the Luitpold barracks in Lindau

The Lake Constance climate is characterized by mild temperatures with moderate courses (due to the balancing and retarding effect of the water volume). However, due to the year-round influence of the foehn , frequent fog in the winter half-year and the humidity in summer, it is considered a stressful climate .

Substantial changes are occurring as a result of global warming . In Konstanz, for example, the surface temperature of the lake rose by 0.9 degrees between 1990 and 2014 and the average air temperature by 1.3 degrees in the same period. The climate crisis has also led to a shortage of drinking water. Caused by these changes, Konstanz declared a climate emergency in 2019 .

Swell with foehn wind on the lake
Frozen water, ice skating in the Markelfinger Winkel

For water sports enthusiasts, Lake Constance is considered a not harmless and demanding inland area due to the risk of strong gusts of wind when the weather changes suddenly. The most dangerous wind is the foehn, a warm fall wind from the Alps, which spreads through the Rhine valley in particular to the water and can drive typical wave peaks several meters high in front of it with sometimes hurricane-like winds.

Similarly dangerous for those unfamiliar with the area are u. U. completely surprising gusts of wind during summer thunderstorms. Again and again they claim victims among the water sports enthusiasts. A storm in July 2006 during a thunderstorm reached a wave height of up to 3.50 meters.

An event of the century is the Seegfrörne of Lake Constance , when Untersee, Überlinger See and Obersee are completely frozen, so that you can cross the lake safely on foot everywhere. The last three so-called sea ​​frosts were in 1963, 1880 and 1830.

Certain parts of the Untersee freeze over more often, mainly due to the shallow water depth and the sheltered location. B. the so-called Markelfinger Winkel between Markelfingen and the Mettnau peninsula near Radolfzell.

Strong wind and storm warning system

Due to the sometimes surprising storms, the lake is divided into three warning regions (west, middle, east) for storm warnings . A strong wind or storm warning can be issued for each region . A strong wind warning is given if wind gusts between 25 and 33  knots or 6 to 8  wind strengths are expected on the Beaufort scale . A storm warning announces the danger of storm winds with speeds from 34 knots or 8 wind strengths on the Beaufort scale. To make these warnings known, 60 orange flashing lights have been installed around the lake, which flash at 40 times per minute when there is a strong wind warning and 90 times per minute when there is a storm warning. The warning service is operated jointly by the Federal Office for Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss , the German Weather Service (DWD), the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics in Austria and representatives of the maritime and water protection police. The storm warning lights cover all port entrances and some other exposed points, so that at least one warning light is visible from every point on the lake surface.

Water levels

Constance on Lake Constance, little gauge house at the harbor. Water level on July 6, 2016 4.78 meters. Analog displayed.

The water levels are determined in Constance, Romanshorn and Bregenz, among others. The water level house in Konstanz is located at the port exit directly below the statue of Imperia . Water levels or water level information are relative dimensions and refer to the respective zero point. The Romanshorn level (Switzerland) shows the height of the water level as meters above sea level in relation to the Repère Pierre du Niton , the level zero point in Bregenz (Austria) is 392.14  m above sea level. A. based on Molo Sartorio / Trieste 1875 (+ 7 cm compared to Switzerland) and the Konstanz level is defined at 391.89  m above sea level. NN (based on the sea level Amsterdam, + 32 cm compared to Switzerland). For example, the water levels in Konstanz and Bregenz each show 3.56 m at mean water levels, and the Romanshorner level 395.77 m. To convert the level, the following applies: "Romanshorn gauge" minus 392.21 = "Konstanz / Bregenz gauge" in meters .

Constance on Lake Constance, little gauge house at the harbor. Water level on October 6, 2017 3.82 meters. Displayed digitally.

The depth information in the official nautical charts of Lake Constance is based on the Konstanz gauge. Its level zero is 391.89  m above sea level. NN . The official high water mark is at a level of 4.80 meters.

The water levels are exposed to strong weather-related (wind drift) and seasonal fluctuations. Lake Constance has no dam and no sluice at the drain, so artificial regulation of the water level is not possible. The water levels show typical seasonal fluctuations over the course of the year. The mean water reaches approx. 3 meters in January, rises to approx. 4.2 meters in June / July / August and falls to approx. 3 meters in December. In the long term, the average water level in the first half of the 20th century was 10 cm higher than in the second half.

The water level of the Untersee is 18 to 30 centimeters lower than the water level of the Obersee. The water level of the Untersee is measured in Radolfzell and depends on the inflow via the Seerhein in Constance and the outflow at the Stiegener Enge (Eschenz / Öhningen). The inflow to the Untersee is hindered by the damming effect of aquatic plants on the Obersee and Seerhein.

The shoreline of Lake Constance at mean water level was last determined in 2006 by the International Water Protection Commission for Lake Constance .

The water levels have been measured daily since 1817. Since the late 1930s, water has been dammed up in the catchment area of ​​the Alpine Rhine to generate electricity, and this affects the water level. The State Institute for the Environment Baden-Württemberg (LUBW) operates the measuring station in the port of Constance. To be on the safe side, measurements are made in three ways: analogously on the level stick (mandatory); Digitization of data from a float on the water surface; pneumatic pressure in a line that flows into the lake.

Developments and trends

The average water level at the Konstanz gauge was 301.8 centimeters in the winter months (October – March) from 1910 to 2007. Between 1910 and 1941 the level rose to 311.7 centimeters and then fell slightly and evenly to 297.3 centimeters. The total negative level for this period is 4.5 centimeters. Since 2012 there have been stable or slightly increasing tendencies again for the winter half-years, which is mainly explained by the warmer winters and the resulting delayed snow binding of the runoffs. However, a uniform, significant trend has not yet been established.

The situation is different in the summer months: between 1910 and 2007 the average water level fell from 379.1 to 356.3 centimeters. So the total minus is 22.8 centimeters. However, since this timeline contains two periods of rupture with rising water levels (from 1910 to 1941 and from 1965 to 1988), the total minus is even more expressive at smaller time intervals. The average lake level fell by 25.6 centimeters in the summer from 1988 to 2007.

Flood

High water level of Lake Constance on July 7, 1817 in Bregenz
Stele in Lochau to commemorate the years with the flood of Lake Constance

The highest water levels of the season usually arise in spring / summer after the snow has melted over 3,000 m in the Alps. Additional heavy rainfall in summer in the catchment area of ​​the Alpine Rhine (Switzerland), the Bregenzer Ach (Bregenz Forest) and Schussen and Argen (Upper Swabia) can increase the water inflow and lead to flooding.

The authorities issue first warnings from a water level of 4.50 m in Constance. At 4.80 m water level, the flood warning level is reached and minor damage can occur. The critical limit is at water levels above 5 meters. The biennial high water level (HW 2) averages 4.62 meters, the ten-year (HW 10) at 5.12 meters, the 20-year (HW 20) at 5.31 meters, the 50-year (HW 50) at 5.53 meters and the 100-annual at 5.68 meters.

The absolute highest water levels at the Konstanz gauge were measured with

  • 6.36 m on July 7, 1817
  • 5.91 m on August 18, 1821
  • 5.76 m on September 3, 1890
  • 5.57 m on June 28, 1910
  • 5.55 m on June 26, 1926
  • 5.41 m on June 28, 1965
  • 5,38 m on July 28, 1987
  • 5.65 m on May 24, 1999

The flood of July 7, 1817 was due to the eruption of a volcano in 1809 in the tropics and Tambora in April 1815, which brought ash and sulfur particles into the atmosphere and thereby kept solar radiation off. In the year without summer 1816 this led to a lot of rain and snow. In 1817 the accumulated snow from the years 1810 to 1817 melted . In addition, there was a thunderstorm that lasted for days from July 4, 1817 and caused this extraordinary flood of Lake Constance. In Konstanz the Tägermoos , the Briel, the Paradies (Konstanz) and well over half of the market place were under water. The painter Nikolaus Hug recorded this in the picture Flood on the market place in the summer of 1817 . A black plaque on the wall of Marktstätte 16 in Konstanz at Wadenhöhe reminds of this flood.

During the flood of 1890 , the water in Constance overflowed the harbor basin and reached as far as the goods handling building on Hafenstrasse. The promenades were also flooded and a sharp easterly wind caused the flood to rise.

During the flood of June 1926, the population in Steckborn walked over flood bridges.

The floods of May / June 1999 were the strongest in the recent past. It was created when the snowmelt in the Alps and two heavy rainfalls came together. Within a day, the level rose by up to 47 cm. The Hagnau landing stage was destroyed by floating. In Stein am Rhein, wooden walkways were built for pedestrians in the streets near the shore. It was difficult to moor the ships in Bregenz and Konstanz. Underpasses, cellars and garages were flooded. On June 2, 1999, a force 11 storm added to the flood. This piled up waves up to 4 m high and deposited large amounts of driftwood on the Lindau Bodenseedamm , on which the train traffic temporarily came to a standstill.

Typical side effects of floods are the carpet-like accumulations of flotsam. Tree trunks and other flotsam from the Alps are washed into the lake through the Alpine Rhine, Bregenz Ach and Argen. Depending on the wind and water currents, the flotsam accumulates on the bank between Lindau and Langenargen, especially around Wasserburg, Nonnenhorn or in the Bregenz Bay. The deposited flotsam is interspersed with many stones and massive tree trunks. This makes recycling more difficult. The floating debris can seriously hinder shipping on Lake Constance and the use of the recreational boat harbors. There were floating debris carpets in 1999, 2005, 2016 and 2019. On lakeside paths, stones and gravel are washed up from the lake on the one hand, and the road surface on the other.

Low tide

Lake Constance at low water level in winter, Bottighofen , end of November 2005

The seasonally lowest water levels usually occur in winter in the months of January, February and March. The prerequisite for this is that December is characterized by low rainfall in the closer catchment area and that in the Alps the precipitation takes the form of snow. The consequences can also be seen in the low water level at the Rhine Falls in Schaffhausen, with rocks protruding far. The separation between the Überlinger See and Konstanzer funnel is then clearly visible on the Hörnle in Konstanz through an exposed gravel headland. The connection between the island of Werd (Lake Constance) and its two neighboring islands becomes visible.

The lowest water levels measured at the Konstanz gauge were:

  • 2.10 m at the beginning of 1823
  • 2.27 m on January 23, 1836
  • 2.38 m on January 30, 1848 and February 1, 1848
  • 2.28 m in 1854
  • 2.32 m on January 30, 1858
  • 2.26 m on February 17, 1858 and March 2, 1858
  • 2.42 m in 1891
  • 2.41 m in 1895
  • 2.38 m on March 10, 1909
  • 2.26 m in March 1923.
  • 2.38 m in 1963
  • 2.37 m on March 12, 1972
  • 2.33 m on January 16, 2006

When the tide was low in February 1858 , the Bay of Constance fell almost dry. A festival was celebrated for this event. Booths were set up on the dry ground.

When the water was low in the century in 1972 , a festival was celebrated on a sandbank several 100 meters off the island of Reichenau and a granite stone was set. The inscription reads: "On March 26th, 1972, the citizens' music played on this island at a water level of 2.37 meters." Two of these sandbanks, which are flooded when the water level is higher, are connected to the island of Reichenau by two dams below the water level. When the water is extremely low, a visible gravel bank, the so-called Kaiserstraße or Königsbrücke, forms a connection between Hornstaad on the Höri peninsula or the tip of the Mettnau peninsula and the island of Reichenau. This is also the border between Untersee and Gnadensee.

As a side effect of extremely low water levels, the fish have less space to spawn and the breeding areas for water birds are becoming scarce. Sandbanks and drying silt become visible around the Reichenau island dam. The ship moorings in Bad Schachen and Langenargen can no longer be approached by the ships of the Lake Constance shipping company.

Water temperature

The mean water temperature in July is 20 ° C, in October 15 ° C - but after several hot days it can rise to over 25 ° C. The average temperature of the lake increased by approx. 0.9 ° C due to global warming in the period 1990 to 2014 compared to the period 1962 to 1989; a further warming of 2 to 3 ° C is considered likely. This is accompanied by a poorer mixing of the water, which means that deeper water layers receive less oxygen , as well as a change in the species composition, with the benefit of non-native species. A study published in 2015 names various negative consequences of a rise in temperature in lakes. According to this, an increase in water temperatures can trigger more algal blooms, trigger an increase in methane emissions , lower the water level, which in turn can endanger the security of supply of drinking water, cause significant economic losses and have negative effects on the ecosystem that can even lead to its complete destruction.

The flood news service at the Bavarian State Office for the Environment publishes an hourly temperature curve on the Internet.

Depth ranges

Depth ranges

The depths of Lake Constance are divided into different sections from the surface of the water to the bottom of the lake. Seen from the bank, these are the slope , up to approx. 3–5 meters deep, formed by erosion caused by the impact of waves. In winter, when the water level is low, this area is mostly dry. The Wysse , derived from the color white , then follows up to approx. 20 meters . Clay and marl blown up by waves give the lake a whitish tint in this area. Halde is the name of the steeply sloping moraine flank that follows up to approx. 100 meters. At 150 meters of the lake bottom is Schweb called the sloping ground sections to 200 meters is known as low stockpile and the lowest lake bottom at around 250 meters is deeper Schweb . The current project depth focus aims to create a detailed 3D model of the lake basin using high-resolution measurements of Lake Constance.

Territorial Affiliation

Neighboring states are Switzerland (cantons Thurgau , St. Gallen and Schaffhausen ), Austria (federal state Vorarlberg ) and Germany (federal states Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria ). Since 1972, the countries and cantons bordering the lake have been cooperating in the bodies of the International Lake Constance Conference (IBK) . Its aim is to maintain and promote the Lake Constance region as an attractive living, natural, cultural and economic area and to strengthen regional solidarity.

In the western section of the Obersee between Konstanz and today's Kreuzlingen there has been a complicated demarcation since the 16th century. The Konstanzer funnel in the Obersee , the Seerhein and the Untersee are clearly divided by border treaties between Baden and Switzerland (20 and 31 October 1854 and 28 April 1878) and between the German Empire and Switzerland (24 June 1879). The Überlinger See belongs entirely to German territory .

The rest of the Obersee remains, besides the mouth of the Ems , the only area in Europe in which borders have never been defined between neighboring states. There are different legal conceptions here, all of which can be traced back to customary law . The boundary in the middle of the lake, which can often be seen on maps, is based on the so-called real division theory , according to which 32% of the lake area is in Switzerland and 9.7% in Austria. The other common view is the heap theory , according to which the area of ​​the Obersee outside the shore strip as a condominium is the common territory of all residents.

Morning mood at Lake Constance ( Arbon )

It was and is clear and undisputed that the corresponding state can also exercise sovereign rights in an area in the immediate vicinity of the bank. In the case of smaller bodies of water, this inevitably results in the real division with a boundary in the middle of the body of water, which is also generally practiced for larger bodies of water.

Autumn mood in front of Lindau (looking towards the Swiss bank)
Lake Constance near Konstanz in winter (view of the Säntis )

For Lake Constance, the national legal provisions of the neighboring states have in fact been closely coordinated since the 1890s and are usually enacted verbatim. In addition, international proxy conferences and international commissions ensure uniform application and, if necessary, updating. Depending on the subject of the regulations, this also applies to the federal states or cantons.

According to the view of the real division theory , which is essentially borne by Switzerland, such a voting practice does not contradict the generally accepted customary real division. On the other hand, from this practice, the view, particularly represented by Austria, can be derived from customary law that the water surface of the Obersee, with the exception of the area less than 25 m deep, referred to in this context as the high seas , is a condominium that is jointly administered by all three states. This view is called the heap theory because of its limitation to the lake area within the depth range known as the heap . In this respect, it is an extension of the so-called condominium theory without the exact definition of the bank.

Overall, the heap theory seems to slowly gain ground compared to the real division theory. For example, in a new version of its constitution in 1984, the state of Vorarlberg explicitly stipulated the high seas in Article 2 as part of the state territory, supplemented by the restriction "in the area of ​​the high lake the exercise of sovereign rights of the state is limited by the same rights of the other shore states" . Vorarlberg sees this only as a "clarification", and apparently this constitutional amendment was not contradicted by the other parties involved. The German states also proceed from the Haldentheorie, which is also referred to here as the condominium theory without a more precise distinction . The jurisprudence is inconsistent, however, also because a decision between the theories is rarely necessary in practice due to the close coordination of the neighbors.

Due to the lack of international treaty regulations on the borderline and the lack of customary law regulation or agreement on a common view, neither a condominium nor a real division can be assumed. The "Hohe See" (i.e. the Obersee with a water depth of more than 25 meters) should therefore be viewed more as a "state-free area" and as an "international community area" without clarification of sovereignty, whereby all questions that arise in practice are based on numerous intergovernmental agreements, including on the The division of executive responsibilities is adequately regulated and this intensive regional cooperation makes clarification of the question of sovereignty superfluous. All three countries are also signatories of the Schengen Agreement , which makes defining a clear boundary less urgent.

Curvature of the earth

View from an elevated point of view in Bregenz over the Obersee

Due to the curvature of the earth , Lake Constance in its (maximum) south-east-north-west extension (approx. 65 km) has a surface bulge of around 80 m.

Constance on the west bank of the Obersee and Bregenz in the far east are about 46 km apart as the crow flies. The bulge of the water surface in between is around 41.5 m. The eyes would have to be raised just as high above the water level on both sides in order to be able to look into each other's eyes alternately. So if you stand on the shore in Constance, you can see nothing of Bregenz from around 2 m high perspective, but the mountains towering behind it. Conversely, from Bregenz in the direction of Constance you can only see water up to the level of the horizon, as there are no sufficiently high mountains around Constance.

ecology

flora

Until the 19th century, Lake Constance was considered a natural body of water. Since then, nature has been strongly influenced by clearing and the development of numerous parts of the riverbank. Nevertheless, some near-natural areas, especially in the nature reserves, have been preserved or have been renatured . The Lake Constance region therefore has some special features. These include the large forest landscape on the Bodanrück , the occurrence of the lung gentian and the orchid species from the genera Dactylorhiza and Orchis in the Wollmatinger Ried and that of the Siberian iris (Iris sibirica) in the Eriskircher Ried , which is why it got its name. A special feature of the Bodensee flora is the Bodensee forget-me-not ( Myosotis rehsteineri ), whose occurrence is limited to undisturbed limestone gravel beaches.

fauna

Birds

The Mettnau peninsula

Lake Constance, with its nature reserves such as the Wollmatinger Ried or the Mettnau peninsula , is also home to many bird species. 412 species have been recorded so far. Between 1980 and 2012 the breeding pairs at Lake Constance decreased by around 25 percent from 465,000 to 345,000. The ground breeders were particularly hard hit by the decline.

Songbirds

According to a survey carried out between 2000 and 2003, the ten most common breeding bird species on Lake Constance are in descending order: blackbird , chaffinch , house sparrow , great tit , blackcap , starling , robin , chiffchaff , green finch and blue tit .

Waterfowl
Coot in Hard on Lake Constance
Formation of ducks on Lake Constance. To deter predators

In spring, Lake Constance is an important breeding area, especially for coots and great crested grebes . Due to the strongly fluctuating water levels, however, some species prefer other breeding areas. As typical waterfowl are Shoveler , Common Goldeneye , Common Merganser , Common Pochard , Gray Heron , pintail , tufted duck and mallard called.

The site conditions are favorable with the three-sided mussel introduced in the 1960s as a feed, the clean lake water and the designated quiet areas. The waterfowl rest on the lake together in a large structure in order to irritate predators and away from the reeds and banks so as to be inaccessible to foxes.

In December 2014, 1,389 cormorants were counted. The International Lake Constance Fisheries Association (IBF) estimates the food needs of the cormorants on Lake Constance at 150 tons of fish per year.

wintering

Lake Constance is an important wintering area for around 250,000 birds annually. Bird species such as the dunlin , the curlew and the lapwing overwinter on Lake Constance. In mid-December 2014 there were 56,798 tufted ducks, 51,713 coots and 43,938 pochards at the lake . In November / December there are around 10,000 to 15,000 red-crested ducks and 10,000 great crested grebes at Lake Constance.

Rest of the migratory birds

On the train in late autumn there are also numerous loons on the lake ( black-throated and red-throated divers , individual ice divers ). Lake Constance is also of great importance as a resting area during bird migration . The bird migration is often inconspicuous and is most likely to be recognized as a visible day migration in special weather conditions. It is not uncommon for a traffic jam with large gatherings of migratory birds to occur only in long-lasting, large-scale low pressure situations. This can often be seen in autumn at the Eriskircher Ried on northern Lake Constance. This is where the broad front migration hits the lake and birds try to move along the bank in a north-west direction. The importance of Lake Constance as an important resting and wintering area is underlined by the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology - Ornithology Radolfzell , which is the ringing center responsible for the German federal states of Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Berlin, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland as well as for Austria and researches bird migration.

fishes

Around 45 species of fish live in Lake Constance. The annual yield of fishing is 1.5 million kg. A special feature for the location of the lake is the occurrence of whitefish ( Coregonus spec.) And the arctic char ( Salvelinus alpinus ). Particularly noteworthy are the fish species:

The Bodenseefelchen ( Coregonus wartmanni ), which was named after it due to its large occurrence in Lake Constance, is often prepared whole or as fillet (according to Müllerin style) in the fish restaurants around Lake Constance similar to the otherwise well-known trout. Often it is also offered smoked.

The fish species Bodensee kilch ( Coregonus gutturosus ) and Bodensee deep char ( Salvelinus profundus ), which were formerly endemic to Lake Constance, are considered lost.

Neozoa

Neozoa have been settling in the Lake Constance ecosystem for years and endanger or partly displace native species. Neozoa are new animals or alien species that assert and multiply in a new environment. In Lake Constance the neozoa have been detected with more species since 1955 and from year to year. Some are brought in as stowaways on diving equipment , life jackets, anchor lines or the outside of boats from other waters. Others have worked their way from the Black Sea or the Danube since the Main-Danube Canal was opened . Others were suspended.

Better known neozoa

The rainbow trout ( Oncorhynchus mykiss ) is also one of this non-native fauna. It was used around 1880 to enrich the local fauna and for economic reasons in Lake Constance.

The alien animal species include the three-sided mussel ( Dreissena polymorpha ), which, starting from the Black Sea region, conquered almost all of Europe since the end of the 18th century and was introduced into Lake Constance between 1960 and 1965. After a mass increase in the Rhine during the 1980s and previously in larger lakes, the species is now on the decline again. Problems arose with the triangular or wandering mussel, among other things, because the stocking clogged water extraction pipes. In addition, the species can be fatal for the domestic large mussels because they compete for food. Today, according to the Institute for Lake Research (ISF), the three-sided mussel is also an important food source for wintering water birds. In fact, the number of hibernators has more than doubled in around 30 years. The quagga conch has been spreading en masse since 2016 .

The great humpback shrimp ( Dikerogammarus villosus ) has spread since 2002 starting from two bank sections near Hagnau and Immenstaad, over the banks of the Überlinger See (2004), that of the entire Obersee (2006) to almost the entire shores of Lake Constance and the Rhine lake (2007). As a “killer shrimp” he has a bad reputation as a voracious predator of fish larvae and fish eggs.

The most recent example is the only six to eleven millimeters small floating shrimp ( Limnomysis benedeni ), which was found in 2006 in Hard in Vorarlberg and can now be found almost all over Lake Constance. It comes from the waters around the Black Sea. It was probably first transported up the Danube by ships before it could spread in the Rhine system and reach Lake Constance. The hover shrimp, which occur in swarms of several million animals in some places in winter, are already an influential link in the food chain in Lake Constance. They consume dead animal and plant material as well as phytoplankton , but are also eaten by fish themselves.

Today, in the western part of Lake Constance, the North American crayfish ( Orconectes limosus ), which was used to increase yields in European waters in the middle of the 19th century, occasionally the Chinese woolly crab ( Eriocheir sinensis ) and in the tributaries of the lake the signal crayfish ( Pacifastacus) can be found leniusulus ). Since these large crustaceans themselves are immune to the cancer plague , but spread the pathogen, they pose a great danger to native species such as the noble crab , jackdaw and stone crayfish . The animals are often undemanding, multiply quickly and live in a predatory manner, so that they also pose a threat to various small fish species. Systematic research on the subject has been carried out at the ISF since 2003.

More neozoa

From 1956 to 2013, 19 neozoa were located:

  • Marsh snail (since 1956)
  • New Zealand dwarf snail (since 1971)
  • River flea (since 1971)
  • Bladder snail (since 1981)
  • Chinese mitten crab (since 1982)
  • Tiger planarie (since 1991)
  • American post squirrel (since 1996)
  • Freshwater jellyfish (since 1999)
  • Ribbed cup mussel (since around 2003) with massive reproduction
  • Gill worm (since 2003)
  • Mediterranean isopod (since 2005)
  • Upright flea cancer (since 2007)
  • Danube fish leech (since 2010)
  • Signal cancer (since 2011)
  • Largemouth bass (since 2015)
  • Upright flea cancer

Nature reserves

The then Constance District Administrator Ludwig Seiterich campaigned strongly for nature conservation in the 1960s, the Bodanrück and Höri conservation areas are due to him, he was also significantly involved in the designation of the Lake Constance shore nature reserve.

Obersee

The old Rhine in the Rhine delta
Nature reserve near the New Rhine
Eriskircher Ried

The largest nature reserve on Lake Constance is the Rhine delta , which stretches along the shores of Lake Constance between the mouth of the old course of the Rhine and the Dornbirner Ach near Hard . Since it has been of international importance since 1982, 340 species of birds have been observed there. The Altenrhein nature reserve is located on the Swiss side of the Old Rhine .

There are many other nature reserves on Lake Constance, some of which are listed here from the Rhine delta counterclockwise (corresponding to the direction of flow of the Rhine through Lake Constance).

The nature reserve Wasserburger Bucht between Nonnenhorn and Wasserburg has preserved a dense belt of reeds.

The area of ​​the Argen river between the confluence of the Upper and Lower Argen and the confluence with Lake Constance.

The Eriskircher Ried , which has been protected since 1939, is the largest nature reserve on the north bank and is located between the Rotach estuary near Friedrichshafen and the Schussen estuary near Eriskirch. The area is of particular importance for the great crested grebe , which prefers to nest there, and whooper swans. The upstream shallow water zone has also been under protection since 1983.

Between Fischbach and Immenstaad there is a very small nature reserve on the (formerly Baden) Grenzbach.

Überlinger See

Submarine

Reed in the Wollmatinger Ried

The Wollmatinger Ried near Konstanz has been a European reserve since 1973 and a wetland of international importance since 1976 . Due to its location on the Seerhein , it is an important breeding zone and may therefore only be entered during guided tours.

Natural areas on the Swiss shores of the Untersee are between Konstanz and Gottlieben, the "Espenriet" nature reserve between Gottlieben and Ermatingen and the "Untersee and Rhine water and migratory bird reserve" above the Rhine bridge in Stein am Rhein.

The nature reserve Bodenseeufer (Konstanz) also includes the nature reserves of the Untersee near Horn (Hornspitze) as well as around Gaienhofen, Wangen, Öhningen.

Lake Zell

The Mettnau peninsula with the Mettnau nature reserve and the mouth of the Radolfzeller Aach am Zeller See are of regional importance as a breeding zone for ducks . The large duck pond in the Mettnau was created by chance during backfill work. At the mouth there is a sleeping place for mountain pipit .

Mercy Lake

The strip between the railway line and the road between Radolfzell, Markelfingen and Allensbach has the character of a nature reserve.

Wrecks on the bottom of Lake Constance

After a collision with the city ​​of Zurich , the Jura wreck has been lying 45 meters below the Swiss bank since 1864. Four ships were sunk in the Obersee at the beginning of the 20th century after they were decommissioned: in 1931 the Baden , formerly Kaiser Wilhelm , in 1932 the Helvetia , in 1933 the Säntis and in 1934 the city ​​of Radolfzell . The hull of the burned-out Friedrichshafen was sunk in 1944 off the mouth of the Argen at a depth of 100 to 150 meters.

Water quality

Development of the total phosphorus concentration from 1951 to 2005 in mg P / m³.

Today Lake Constance has very good water quality. After the Second World War , increasing pollution of Lake Constance was noted, which led to concrete measures from 1959. The International Water Protection Commission for Lake Constance (IGKB) presented in 1963 the phosphate input as the main cause of an already recognizable eutrophication firmly. The causes of the phosphate input were fertilizer washouts and municipal sewage, which was contaminated with faeces and, increasingly, with phosphates from detergents. The relevant area is the entire 11,000 km² hydrological catchment area of ​​Lake Constance.

In the 1970s in particular, sewage treatment plants were built here on a large scale , and the phosphate cleaning performance of the existing plants was improved. In 1975, maximum quantities for phosphates were prescribed in Germany by the detergent and cleaning agent law, in 1986 the detergent industry brought completely phosphate-free detergents onto the market through the use of zeolites . The inputs from agriculture can only be reduced in the long term through an extensification in the catchment area; corresponding legal and support measures have been implemented. Despite these measures, the phosphorus concentration in Lake Constance reached ten times its natural value around 1980. In the early 1980s, dangerously low oxygen concentrations were measured at times near the bottom (if the lake bed was completely free of oxygen, a lake would tip over ).

The phosphorus concentration has been falling since 1979 and has now almost returned to its natural value. The nitrate concentration, which is not quite so important, has remained constant at around 4.4 g / m³ after a continuous increase until 1985. Due to the better water quality, the lake will once again become a nutrient-poor pre-alpine lake, which it originally was. However, this also has negative effects on fishing: the fish are no longer as large as they used to be due to the now prevailing nutrient poverty, which means lower yields. However, the existing fish populations are more stable. An indication of the recovery of the biological equilibrium in the lake is the resurgence of the lake trout, whose stocks have increased noticeably since the water quality improved.

Measurements in 2015 found microplastics in trace levels in Lake Constance .

Economy of the region

Nowadays, the functions of Lake Constance as a transport route, as a recreational area and as a drinking water reservoir are of particular importance for the economic structure of the neighbors.

In the primary sector , viticulture and fruit growing play a certain role. The fishing , however, has lost its leading role. The largest industrial locations are Friedrichshafen (metal processing) and Bregenz (textile industry). The most important service locations are Konstanz , Bregenz, Friedrichshafen and Lindau . The Lake Constance area benefits to a significant extent from the economic power of the adjacent Alpine Rhine Valley with the machine industry that predominates there .

The Lake Constance area is part of the Interregio Alpenrhein-Bodensee-Hochrein . The Interreg IV Alpenrhein-Bodensee-Hochrhein program received a total of € 23,871,170.00 in funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) for the funding period 2007 to 2013. Of this, around € 22,941,000.00 was actually paid out, so a payout rate of approx. 96% was achieved. On the Swiss side, the budget for subsidies was € 7,745,000.00, and around € 7,200,000.00 was actually paid out, ie approx. 93% of the total amount available. Project sponsors from the Principality of Liechtenstein contributed almost € 800,000 to the program.

Fruit and wine growing

Viticulture at Lake Constance ( Birnau )

The regional climate is balanced by the amount of water in Lake Constance (see article on Lake Constance climate ). In 2011 there were around 1,600 fruit growers around the lake. The Bodenseeobst market community expected a total of 280,000 tonnes of apples to be harvested this year. With a nationwide production of around 900,000 tons, this means that almost every third German apple comes from Lake Constance. “ Fruit from Lake Constance ” is not only a regional product name, but also the name of a company whose shareholders, organized in cooperatives or associations, cultivate around 8,000 hectares of cultivated land.

In addition to the cultivated apple , viticulture plays an important role in the Lake Constance fruit region : Wines of the grape varieties Pinot Noir , Müller-Thurgau and Pinot Blanc can be grown. Because of the regional political boundaries, these wines of the same variety belong to different wine-growing regions ; however, their similarities within the region are greater than those with the characteristics of the wines from the sometimes distant original growing areas. The region has the highest German wine-growing area with locations at an altitude of 400 to 560 m above sea level. NN on.

Designated by name wine regions around Lake Constance are the area Lake of the wine-growing region of Baden , the areas Württembergischer Bodensee and Bavarian Lake of the wine-growing region Württemberg , the regions Rhine Valley (in the canton of St. Gallen ) and Untersee (in Thurgau ) in the wine region Eastern Switzerland as well as for individual farms in Vorarlberg the smallest Austrian wine-growing region Bergland Austria .

fishing

International Lake Constance Fishing Association

Since 1909, professional and anglers from Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Liechtenstein, Austria and Switzerland have joined together in the International Lake Constance Fishing Association (IBF). The turnover of around 150 professional fishermen on Lake Constance, around 100 of them in Baden-Württemberg and 16 in Vorarlberg, should therefore be in the order of 3 million euros. The number of Fischer patents is declining: in the 1990s there were 175 Fischer patents, in the 2010s 116 Fischer patents. The International Lake Constance Fisheries Association represents the interests of its members towards the International Conference of Representatives for Lake Constance Fisheries (IBKF).

Fish species

The main species are the blue whitefish with 57%, other whitefish (gang fish and sandfish) with 19% and the river perch (regional Kretzer or Egli) with 17%. There are also 4% white fish such as bream and 3% others such as lake trout , eel , pike and arctic char .

Lake Constance fishermen at work (May 2012)

Fish yield

The importance of Lake Constance fisheries is now relatively low, although the long-term average has hardly changed since the mid-1950s. In the five-year period 1996–2000, an average of 1,130 t of fish was caught per year. With an annual consumption of 1.5 kg per person, this catch covers the freshwater fish requirements of around 750,000 people. The fishing in 2015 was the worst since 1954. The poor catch result is attributed to the combination of low nutrient content in the water, high water temperatures, diatom blooms and the invasion of sticklebacks .

Lake Constance Fishing Ordinance

The IBFK sets up uniform rules for fishing for Lake Constance with Obersee and Überlinger See up to the Constance Rhine Bridge . The representatives are sent by the respective government. The IBFK goes back to the Bregenz Agreement of July 5, 1893. between the neighboring states (on the German side, the federal states). The relevant ordinances prescribe closed seasons and minimum sizes for caught fish and specify permitted fishing gear e.g. B. through mesh sizes, network sizes and number, etc. In addition, there is an international plenipotentiary conference, which ensures uniform application and updating of the regulations.

Spawning and fish protection

In addition to the natural breeding in the lake, spawning fish are caught by fishermen and hatched in fish hatcheries. Between the end of November and the middle of December, the professional fishermen strip off the roe (eggs) and milk (seeds) from the fish caught, mix them and deliver them to one of the fish hatcheries. Stocking fish , for example for Lake Constance and its tributaries, are hatched by the neighboring countries and cantons in the seven fish hatcheries Reichenau, Konstanz, Langenargen , Nonnenhorn , Hard , Romanshorn and Ermatingen. The fish are released in the spring in Lake Constance.

The eutrophication of Lake Constance in the 1960s to 1990s had an impact on the occurrence of the individual species and the size of the fish. For example, with the minimum size remaining unchanged, little blue balls were fished that had not yet been able to reproduce, which led to considerable fluctuations in yield. The problem was initially resolved by increasing the minimum size. The catch for perch increased due to their reproduction, which on the other hand may have promoted the occurrence of pike tapeworm in perch and pike. The situation has now returned to normal overall. A further decline is expected for the perch population.

There were similar problems with the lake trout, whose population had meanwhile been decimated by construction work on the tributaries. In particular, the establishment of fish ladders and the stocking of the tributaries brought improvements.

Fish import

However, professional fishermen fear significant losses if the phosphate content in Lake Constance falls further to below 8 mg / m³ total phosphorus, as a decline in the yield of whitefish can then also be expected. The cormorant , which is becoming more common again on Lake Constance, is naturally seen by fishermen as a "nuisance". Furthermore, the economic situation of the Lake Constance fishermen is diminished by imports of whitefish from Vietnam, Russia and Canada.

traffic

overview

The German avenue road ends at the avenue leading to the island of Reichenau

The entirety of all providers in the public shipping traffic on Lake Constance is called the White Fleet . Scheduled shipping is characterized by the two car ferry routes Konstanz – Meersburg and Friedrichshafen – Romanshorn , the catamaran connection Friedrichshafen – Konstanz and the mostly seasonal passenger ships . There is also a wide range of special trips (brunch and dinner trips, dance and party trips, trips to specific events, themed trips, etc.).

Private shipping is shaped on the one hand by fishermen and on the other hand by private boats ( sailing ships , yachts, etc.) that operate in the warm season . In some harbors you can rent pedal boats and row boats .

Traffic routes of all types exist almost everywhere on the shores of Lake Constance. In addition to numerous footpaths and cycle paths , almost all of the bank areas are well connected to the public road and rail network. The places on the banks of the Höri, the south bank of the Überlinger See, the bank between Uhldingen and Friedrichshafen (with Meersburg) as well as the area between the two Rhine mouths of the Alpine Rhine cannot be reached directly by train . The banks of the Obersee and Untersee are almost everywhere accompanied by national roads. Exceptions are the Höri and the inaccessible south bank of the Überlinger See. The supraregional roads lead in many places through the riverside communities, as bypass roads are often not available. The shore of Lake Constance has so far been little affected by major road construction. Four-lane roads are currently only available at Radolfzell ( B 33 / A 81 ), Stockach ( A 98 ), Konstanz / Kreuzlingen ( A7 ), Rorschach ( A1 ), Bregenz ( A 14 ) and Lindau ( A 96 ). They all do not run directly along the bank, just like the larger structures for two-lane bypass roads ( A23 near Arbon, B 31 near Lindau and between Meersburg and Überlingen).

The Deutsche Alleenstraße , usable for racing bikes and motor vehicles, ends as a holiday route after 2,900 kilometers on Lake Constance.

Scheduled shipping

The Swabians in the course

In scheduled shipping, a distinction must be made between the year-round lines, which are more geared towards the needs of residents and commuters , and the seasonal "courses" (this is scheduled line service in contrast to round trips, usually from spring to late autumn ), whose numerically significant target group is more likely to be the excursion tourists of the summer half-year.

  • Car ferries and the White Fleet
The forerunners of today's car ferries were railway ferries ( Bodensee-Trajekte ), which were established between Romanshorn and Friedrichshafen - later also Lindau and Bregenz - in 1869. The ferry service - apart from war-related interruptions - was maintained between Romanshorn and Friedrichshafen until 1976, when it was finally stopped for cost reasons. For this reason, until recently, the Lake Constance fleets of the neighboring countries belonged to the respective state railways, which jointly operated the countless scheduled ships that form a good and functioning network.
For Germany the Bodensee-Schiffsbetriebe GmbH (BSB) , formerly Deutsche Bahn , today Stadtwerke Konstanz GmbH , for Switzerland the SBS Schifffahrt AG and for Austria the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) the Bodenseeeschifffahrt until 2005 . The red-white-red fleet has been operated by Vorarlberg Lines Bodenseeschifffahrt (VLB) since the 2006 season .
According to the will of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) , which owns the SBS, these should go to the Stadtwerke Konstanz , just like the German ships . However, resistance arose against this plan in Switzerland, which forced the SBB into a public bidding competition, in which a group of investors from Switzerland and Austria was awarded the contract at the end of 2006 - including the Austrian tourism entrepreneur Walter Klaus, who in 2005 already took over the Bodenseeschifffahrt of the ÖBB had taken over.
Catamaran Ferdinand in the evening in Constance

There are also several smaller providers of scheduled shipping. All of these providers transport people and bicycles. Most of these connections are only in operation during the summer months.

RD Hohentwiel , the steamship was formerly a royal yacht

A floating technical monument is the steamship RD Hohentwiel , which is no longer sailing , but makes many social trips and enriches the feeder traffic to Bregenz with a lot of nostalgia during the festival time. The Hohentwiel was launched in Friedrichshafen in 1913 as a yacht of the Württemberg kings, was retired by the Federal Railroad in 1962 and successfully restored in 1988. Today she is one of the last paddle steamers (RD) with original engines in Europe; Home port is the Austrian Hard .

railroad

The railway lines called Bodenseegürtelbahn on the north side of the lake, ie the Stahringen – Friedrichshafen and the Friedrichshafen – Lindau , were created between 1895 and 1901 from the connection of endpoints of the railway companies of the former states of Baden , Württemberg and Bavaria . Today they are served by two lines in local rail passenger transport, on which different trains are used. On the other hand, the entire route is only used by two pairs of trains a day.

On the east and south side of the lake include Austria , the railway Lindau-Bludenz and in Switzerland, the lake line Rorschach-Kreuzlingen / Konstanz-Schaffhausen on (1869-1895). The connections via Kreuzlingen to Switzerland and to the south are also important there . The start of electrical operation on the lake line took place in the post-war period.

A special technical feature before 1976 was the transport of entire loaded railway wagons (freight or passenger) on special ferries in the trajectory, especially between Lindau / Friedrichshafen and Romanshorn.

Leisure, tourism, sport

View from the Pfänder to the Obersee
View from the Pfänder to the Obersee
Lake Constance with sailing ship and Vorarlberg with the White Fleet
Sailing boats (near Lindau)
View of the island of Mainau with the castle of the same name

The tourism industry is an important economic factor for the region: the annual turnover is around 1.8 billion euros, with overnight guests and day visitors each contributing half of the tourism turnover.

The decisive factors are a well-developed tourist infrastructure and a network of attractions and excursion destinations. The cities of Constance , Überlingen , Meersburg , Friedrichshafen and Lindau , but also the Rhine Falls near Schaffhausen , the island of Mainau , the pilgrimage church of Birnau , castles and palaces such as Salem Castle or Meersburg Castle , the entire museum landscape, for example, are of primary importance the Zeppelin Museum , the Dornier Museum , the Seemuseum (Kreuzlingen) , the Jewish Museum Hohenems as well as the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Reichenau Island and the prehistoric pile dwellings in Unteruhldingen.

In the east, where the foothills of the Alps come very close to the Obersee, there are some cable cars whose valley stations are quite close to the shore. On the way up you have a view of the lake. The most famous cable car on Lake Constance is the Pfänderbahn , which has its valley station in Bregenz.

Zeppelins of new technology have been circling above the lake since 2001 on regular tours from Friedrichshafen Airport .

In cooperation with the touristic service providers, tourism organizations and the public institutions in Germany , Austria , Switzerland and Liechtenstein , the Internationale Bodensee Tourismus GmbH (IBT GmbH) takes over the touristic marketing of the Lake Constance area.

Hiking and pilgrimage routes

The Bodensee-Rundwanderweg , signposted as Bodensee-Rundweg , leads around Lake Constance through the national territories of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It is primarily intended for hiking , cyclists use the Lake Constance cycle path, which is somewhat different in places .

Lake Constance is also a hub for long-distance hikers and pilgrims . It has been a crucial reference point for important pilgrimage routes since ancient times :

The European long-distance hiking trails with their idea of ​​the European connection of peoples also seek the connection to the lake and partly run along the lake shore:

In the summer of 1972, the first European long-distance hiking trails were opened to the public in Konstanz. A bronze plaque in Constance still reminds of this birth of the long-distance hiking trails on Lake Constance.

Cycle paths and long-distance cycle paths

Lake Constance has a well-developed and signposted network of cycle paths that work across borders.

The Lake Constance cycle path runs around Lake Constance . Various long-distance cycle paths lead to the lake in a star shape , for example

In addition to these numerous cycle paths, the distinctive cycling culture on Lake Constance is also reflected in Eurobike , an internationally important trade fair for everything to do with bicycles . It has been held every year since 1991 at the end of August on the grounds of Messe Friedrichshafen .

Boating, pleasure boating

The legal basis for all shipping on the lake is the Ordinance on Shipping on Lake Constance , or Bodensee Shipping Regulations for short . It is monitored on Lake Constance and on the Upper Rhine by the German water police , the Swiss and Austrian maritime police.

There is a separate Lake Constance skipper's license for Lake Constance . It is awarded in Germany by the shipping authorities of the Konstanz district , the Lake Constance district and the Lindau district , in Switzerland by the cantonal authorities and in Austria by the Bregenz district administration . For sport boaters, categories A for motor boats over 4.4 kW and D for sailboats over 12 m² sail area as well as short-term guest licenses are of interest. Regardless of whether a boat requires a Lake Constance skipper's license, all boats with a machine drive (including electric motors) or with living, cooking or sanitary facilities must be approved by the responsible shipping authority for Lake Constance.

The importance of recreational boating is enormous. At the beginning of 2009, 57,000 so-called amusement vehicles were registered for Lake Constance. Because the approval is generally granted for three years, these numbers do not correspond to the number of boats actually located on Lake Constance. The great economic importance of water sports is shown by a study by the International Water Sports Association of Lake Constance, which estimates the employment resulting from water sports at 1,600 employees and the economic turnover at 270 million euros. In your free time, Lake Constance offers a wealth of opportunities for water sports. More than 100 clubs are connected to the sport of sailing and organize regattas in which the athletic competition on the water is indulged. The operation of personal watercraft has been banned with the revised Lake Constance Shipping Regulations that have been in force since January 2006 to protect flora, fauna and bathers.

Every year, as Assumption place since 1979, initiated by Ferdinand Andreatta, the largest procession of boats on Lake Constance Europe instead. Every year (early summer) the spectacular all-round sailing regatta starts from Lindau - via Meersburg, Überlingen, Romanshorn back to Lindau. Since 2009 the water sports and sailing festival Internationale Bodenseewoche has taken place in Konstanz every year . One of the most important water sports fairs in Europe, the Interboot, takes place in Friedrichshafen every year .

Surfing and kite surfing

Due to the rare occurrence of steady winds, these sports can only be used temporarily in special wind situations such as foehn or strong westerly winds and / or only in certain sections of the lake, e.g. B. the Bregenz Bay operated. The kite surfing is also allowed only in certain areas, also currently not only with a special permit by the shipping offices, the Austrian banks on the German shore. In recent years, the west bank of the island of Reichenau in the Untersee has established itself as a year-round surfing area due to winds that come mostly from the west or south-west. The average wind speeds fluctuate between four and seven knots or two and three Bft (in Bregenz and Friedrichshafen).

Diving

The diving in the lake is regarded as attractive and sophisticated. Most of the diving areas are in the northern part of the lake (Überlingen, Ludwigshafen, Marienschlucht and others), a few also in the south. The areas should only be dived by experienced divers under the guidance of one of the local diving schools or a diver with experience in the area. Diving is only allowed at the Teufelstisch in the lake in front of the Marienschlucht after approval by the Constance district office.

The most famous freshwater wreck in Europe is certainly the paddle steamer Jura , which lies 39 meters below the surface in front of Bottighofen . The canton of Thurgau, the department for archeology in Frauenfeld , has placed the Jura under protection as an underwater industrial monument.

All divers should note that the water in Lake Constance - even in summer - is already below 10 ° C from a depth of ten meters, which requires regulators that are suitable for cold water and that do not freeze at such temperatures. The Bodensee is therefore considered to be challenging for divers. In order to increase the safety of diving in Lake Constance and to ensure that Lake Constance is preserved as a diving body, a group of divers from various organizations has come together to form the Working Group Safe Diving in Lake Constance (AST eV).

Since 2006, diving has been permitted within the fairway marked for shipping , e.g. B. in the Upper Rhine or Seerhein , prohibited.

Since January 26, 2012, a restricted zone of around 400 m × 1800 m, within which driving, swimming and diving is prohibited, has been set up above the tapping point of the Lake Constance water supply near Sipplingen .

swim

Steep drop from shallow to deep water in Meersburg on the western corner of the lake promenade.

Swimming in the lake is usually possible from mid-June to mid-September. The water temperatures then reach 19 ° C to 25 ° C, depending on the weather. Depending on the sunshine, differences of up to 3 ° C are possible within a day, so that the lake invites you to swim, especially on mild summer evenings. The storms typical of Lake Constance mix the warmer surface water with the colder deeper water layers. As a result, the water temperature drops significantly during the bathing season.

A danger area when swimming is that the shallow water zone of the lakeshore area suddenly ends and drops off steeply at the so-called "rock" of the lakeshore area. This drop of rock is z. B. can be seen well from the lake promenade in Meersburg and can be recognized by the dividing line from the lighter to the darker color of the water.

Another danger area is the nets laid out by fishermen (also in shallow water) outside the officially designated bathing areas. Because of the danger to life when swimming over the nets, a safety distance of at least 30 meters must be maintained. Set nets are marked by orange buoys at the ends of the net and white floats between the orange end buoys. The entire course of large traps, also known as trap nets, is marked by several orange buoys.

Extreme swimming

On July 22, 2013, the extreme athlete Christof Wandratsch swam with an escort boat without a break along the 66 kilometers and 670 meters long route through Lake Constance from Bodman to Bregenz. It took him 20 hours and 41 minutes. During hours 12-15 he made little progress because of the strong current. Unpredictable forces of nature such as gusts of wind and high waves can force you to stop swimming on this long stretch and in this long time.

Accidental deaths

Since 1947, the police authorities of the states bordering Lake Constance have kept a joint list of the missing and dead after boat, ship and paddle boat accidents, plane crashes, work, surfing and swimming accidents and other unresolved cases. Fatal diving accidents occur in the Überlinger See with its steeply sloping banks. The report covers the whole of Lake Constance with the 21 km stretch of the Upper Rhine to Schaffhausen. Responsible water police in the three states are Lindau, Vorarlberg, St. Gallen, Thurgau, Schaffhausen and Baden-Württemberg (water police stations in Konstanz, Überlingen and Friedrichshafen).

Not all victims can be recovered. In the Obersee, the missing persons are more likely to be victims of accidents with watercraft, in the Untersee and Hochrhein they are more likely to be missing due to swimming accidents.

The number of accident fatalities was

  • 2011: 7
  • 2012: 12
  • 2013: 12
  • 2014: 9
  • 2015: 18
  • 2016: 14
  • 2017: 10
  • 2018: 13

Drinking water production

Every year around 180 million cubic meters of water are taken from Lake Constance by 17 waterworks to supply drinking water to a total of around 4.5 million people in the neighboring countries of Germany and Switzerland. It is noteworthy that, overall, more water naturally evaporates than is taken for drinking water production.

The largest water supplier is the Zweckverband Bodensee-Wasserversorgung (BWV) based in Stuttgart , whose water is drawn from the open water near Sipplingen . About 4 million citizens in large parts of Baden-Württemberg (as far as Bad Mergentheim in the very north-east of the state) are supplied by the BWV . With a withdrawal of around 135 million cubic meters per year, they make up around 75% of the total drinking water withdrawal. Other waterworks supply z. B. the residents of Friedrichshafen (D), Konstanz (D), St. Gallen (CH) and Romanshorn (CH; since 1894 and thus the oldest waterworks on Lake Constance).

Development or nature protection

The built-up area in the urban areas around Lake Constance expanded significantly from the 1920s to the beginning of 2000. Further encroachments on the Lake Constance landscape resulted from backfilling (e.g. the construction of the ferry port for the Konstanz – Meersburg car ferry , the Überlingen-Goldbach campground, etc.). On the other hand, in spite of industrialization, intensification of tourism and expansion of the transport infrastructure, nature protection zones were set up and water protection was promoted.

International bodies for the Lake Constance region

The extent of the use of Lake Constance and its shoreline is determined by the states of Switzerland and Austria as well as the German states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria on their own initiative. International bodies have been created for the Lake Constance region to coordinate the various interests:

  • The International Water Protection Commission for Lake Constance (igkb) was founded in 1959 in order to identify critical developments and impending pollution of the lake and to avert them through recommendations for action. The tasks include keeping the lake clean, renaturing the bank zones, observing the immigration of new animal and plant species, determining trace substances and weighing up the consequences of climate change. The commission includes the federal state of Vorarlberg of the Republic of Austria, the cantons of the Swiss Confederation Thurgau and St. Gallen (directly on the lake) and Graubünden (upper reaches of the Rhine) and the Principality of Liechtenstein. The cantons of Appenzell, Ausser- and Innerrhoden take part in the water protection measures. The Federal Republic of Germany participates with observers.
  • The Lake Constance Council of 1991, with members from Liechtenstein, the Swiss Lake Constance cantons, the Austrian state of Vorarlberg and the German neighboring districts, advises and gives recommendations to the responsible authorities and institutions.
  • The International Lake Constance Conference (IBK) is a cooperative association of the German states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg , the Swiss cantons of Schaffhausen , St. Gallen , Thurgau , Zurich , Appenzell Ausserrhoden and Appenzell Innerrhoden , the Austrian state of Vorarlberg and the Principality of Liechtenstein , which aims to preserve and promote living, natural, cultural and economic areas.
  • The Bodensee-Stiftung from 1994 coordinates the interests of nature conservation with the interests of industry and administrations on Lake Constance. The Bodensee-Stiftung supports the “Blooming Bodensee” network, so that flowering meadows are created for the insects by districts, cities, municipalities, farmers, beekeepers, nature conservation groups and private individuals on the roadside, in fields and in gardens. This complements the systematic cultivation of the areas through viticulture and fruit growing. The island of Mainau has also created an insect garden.
  • In Lake Constance Environment 20 conservation organizations from Switzerland, Austria and Germany are represented.
  • The Ornithological Working Group on Lake Constance (OAB) surveys the distribution of breeding bird species on the land around Lake Constance, the causes of danger and suggestions for protection.
  • The Internationale Bodensee Tourismus GmbH (IBT) represents the interests of the tourism industry for the Lake Constance region in the regions of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bavaria, Vorarlberg, cantons Thurgau, St Gallen Canton, Canton Schaffhausen and Liechtenstein.
  • The Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surrounding Area was founded in 1868 by history lovers from all of the then five shore states, making it the oldest continuously existing transnational organization on the lake. Its goals are scientific research into the history and natural history of the Lake Constance area and the communication of this knowledge to a wider audience. The association publishes the publications of the association for the history of Lake Constance and its surroundings .

Lake Constance cultural area

Prehistoric time

The shoreline settlements with moist soil conservation, in which parts of wooden structures, plant remains, textiles, etc. are exceptionally well preserved, are of supraregional cultural and historical significance. At Lake Constance they range from the early Neolithic (4th millennium BC) to the Urnfield period (up to 800 BC).

Stilt houses

Stilt house museum in Unteruhldingen, in the background the pilgrimage church Birnau (2005)

A selection of sites has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site along with other prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps since 2011 . Over 70 settlement sites are known on the German shore of Lake Constance, which are recorded and looked after by the Baden-Württemberg State Monuments Office , among others, through its permanent office in Hemmenhofen .

Listed remains of invisible pile dwellings under water can be found in Litzelstetten- Krähenhorn, Wollmatingen- Langenrain, Konstanz- Hinterhausen, Öhningen , Gaienhofen , Allensbach and Bodman-Ludwigshafen .

A reconstruction of such a pile dwelling settlement can be found in the Pfahlbaumuseum Unteruhldingen . This open-air museum, comprising 23 stilt houses, clearly shows everyday life in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. In four recreated villages, visitors can experience what it looked like for the first farmers, traders and fishermen on Lake Constance.

Neolithic and Bronze Age

In front of the bank of Wasserburg , the approximately 3,150 year old and around seven meters long “ Wasserburger Einbaum ”, the oldest watercraft on Lake Constance from the Bronze Age, was discovered in 2015 and recovered in 2018.

In the shallow water zone near Uttwil between Romanshorn and Bottighofen in the canton of Thurgau , a regular chain of around 170 cairns was discovered 300 meters from the bank in 2015 . The hills are about four and a half meters under water and have a diameter of 15 to 30 meters. The discovery was made by the State Institute for the Environment, Measurements and Nature Conservation Baden-Württemberg, Langenargen (LUBW) when evaluating the data from the high-precision depth measurement of Lake Constance carried out in 2015.

After the discovery of the cairns, it was initially unclear whether they were natural deposits from the Lake Constance glacier 18,000 years ago. In the meantime, however, the researchers agree that the mounds were heaped up by human hands. During the Bronze Age and the Neolithic Age, the water level was lower, so that the water went as far as the navel for people. Ash wood found in the stone mounds was dated by experts from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich as being felled between 3650 and 3350 BC. A direct connection between the woods and the cairns cannot be proven. The wood examined could also be building material from a neighboring pile dwelling that was washed ashore and wedged between the stones.

It was first assumed that the formations date from the Bronze Age , around 1000 BC. The exact time when the stone accumulations were created had not yet been conclusively clarified. The Office for Archeology of the Canton of Thurgau therefore carried out 5 sediment excavations on the hill in the summer of 2019 together with a team of geologists from the University of Bern . This was done with a floating excavator. It was hoped that organic material such as twigs, charcoal, seeds or fruits in the sediment layers could be dating using radiocarbon analysis (14C measurement). The excavations revealed that the stone mounds on the bottom of Lake Constance are much older than previously thought. The researchers found that the mounds were piled up in the Neolithic about 5500 years ago. It is possible that the stone mounds belonged to pile dwellings that are also deep under water and are still awaiting discovery.

The meaning of the hills is still completely unclear. According to various theories, it would be possible that they served as fortifications, burial mounds, burial platforms, memorials for the deceased or transport routes. The term “Stonehenge from Lake Constance” has already appeared in various media. However, the responsible office for archeology in the canton of Thurgau considers an astronomical reference to be unlikely.

Iron age

In the Iron Age, Lake Constance belonged to the Celtic cultural area, but was conquered by the Romans in the decades around the birth of Christ.

Roman time

Under the Romans there was a lakeside road "from Brigantium (Bregenz) via Arbor Felix (Arbon) to Constantia (Constance)" around 200 to 300 AD. From 260 AD the Alemanni settled the area up to the northern shore of the lake.

Time of Christianization

Founded as early as 724, the Reichenau Monastery was a lively educational and cultural center with a presence far beyond the Lake Constance area

The diocese of Constance came into being at the end of the 6th century when the bishopric was moved from Windisch to Constance. In its sphere of influence, the St. Gallen monastery endeavored to do theology and linguistics, medicine and history, poetry and music. What happened here had an impact on the entire Western world of spirit. Many cultural trends of that time can be traced back to the St. Gallen monastery.

The Reichenau Monastery on the island of the same name in Lake Constance was also important as a center of German learning until the 13th century.

Finally, the Mehrerau monastery should be mentioned: The Cistercian- run monastery on Lake Constance was considered a stronghold of Catholicism during the Reformation.

Cultural creation in modern times

Theater and music

Stage at the lake in Arbon at the SummerDays Festival

The only public ensemble theaters in the towns on the lake are the Stadttheater Konstanz , one of the oldest German town theaters, and the Vorarlberger Landestheater in Bregenz. However, the Swiss Theater St. Gallen also belongs to the Lake Constance theater landscape . Symphony orchestras of the Lake Constance region are the Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz, the Vorarlberg Symphony Orchestra based in Bregenz and the St. Gallen Symphony Orchestra .

The largest festivals in the Lake Constance region are the Lake Constance Festival , with a focus on Friedrichshafen, and the Bregenz Festival , which takes place in summer and attracts an international audience with its “play on the lake”. Other well-known festivals are Rock am See (Konstanz), Tent Festival Konstanz , Bregenz Spring , SummerDays Festival (Arbon) and the Tent Festival Kulturufer Friedrichshafen .

Visual arts

“Playing children on Lake Constance”, painting from the 19th century by Gustav Schönleber
“Am Bodensee”, painting by Paul Klimsch , who was visiting the von Gans family castle
Shore on Lake Constance, oil painting by Karl Schickhardt
Lake Constance before 1938, oil painting by Erwin Starker
View of Langenargen, painting by Theodor Schnitzer 1936
Winter twilight in Meersburg, oil painting 1931 by Waldemar Flaig

Some well-known painters had their residence on Lake Constance and depicted this in numerous works. In the 20th century, Otto Dix and Adolf Dietrich , both artists of the New Objectivity , should be mentioned in particular . A number of other artists settled on Lake Constance, for example. B. Max Ackermann , Waldemar Flaig , Erich Heckel and Rudolf Schmidt-Dethloff . Numerous well-known local artists such as Heinrich Hauber , Fritz Mühlenweg , Carl Roesch and Rudolf Wacker also shaped art in the region. The pictures of the Lake Constance painters as well as other paintings that depict Lake Constance are in numerous museums such as B. the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen and the New Castle in Meersburg.

The Bodman-based sculptor Peter Lenk made national headlines with scandalous sculptures. Large-format works by Lenk decorate the lakeshore in Konstanz, Überlingen and Meersburg.

Poet and writer

A number of well-known poets and writers lived and worked at least temporarily on Lake Constance, including Annette von Droste-Hülshoff in Meersburg , Joseph Victor von Scheffel in Radolfzell and Ludwig Finckh and Hermann Hesse in Gaienhofen .

Martin Walser is the most famous writer currently living on Lake Constance. Some of his books are set on Lake Constance, such as B. his novellas A fleeing horse or A jumping fountain (about his youth in Wasserburg ). The museum in the Malhaus in Wasserburg offers a permanent exhibition on the life and work of Martin Walser. In particular, these are memories of his childhood and youth in Wasserburg.

The Lake Constance Literature Prize of the city of Überlingen is awarded to writers related to the Lake Constance region.

Movie

See also

Portal: Lake Constance  - overview of Wikipedia content on Lake Constance

literature

  • Bodensee-Schiffsbetriebe Konstanz (Ed.): Description of the shore of Lake Constance with an overview map . Publisher Paula Büsing, Konstanz 1984.
  • Patrick Brauns : The Lake Constance ABC. From Aach to Zeppelin . Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2007, ISBN 978-3-7995-0181-1 .
  • Patrick Brauns: Lake Constance. 101 places to linger and discover , Konrad Theiss Verlag (WBG), Darmstadt, 2015, ISBN 978-3-8062-3048-2 .
  • Harald Derschka , Jürgen Klöckler (ed.): The Bodensee. Nature and history from 150 perspectives. Anniversary volume of the international association for the history of Lake Constance and its surroundings 1868–2018. Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2018, ISBN 978-3-7995-1724-9 .
  • Claudius Graf-Schelling : The sovereignty on Lake Constance with special consideration of shipping . Schulthess Polygraphischer Verlag, Zurich 1978, ISBN 3-7255-1914-5 .
  • Museums and castles Euregio Bodensee e. V. (Ed.): Discover museums . Friedrichshafen, approx. 2004.
  • Georg Poensgen: The Bodensee ( German country - German art ). 3. Edition. Munich / Berlin 1975.
  • Bernhard Tschofen (Ed.): GrenzRaumSee - An ethnographic journey through the Lake Constance region . TVV-Verlag, Tübingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-932512-49-0 .
  • Achim Walder: “Sights around Lake Constance” ; Culture, history, landscape around Lake Constance, Walder Verlag 2008, ISBN 978-3-936575-35-4 .
  • Rolf Zimmermann: At Lake Constance. Stadler Verlagsgesellschaft, Konstanz 2004, ISBN 3-7977-0504-2 . (Pictures and description of the cities around Lake Constance).

history

  • Karl Heinz Burmeister: Lake Constance. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  • Otto Feger : History of the Lake Constance area . 3 volumes. Thorbecke, Lindau 1956–1963.
  • Maria Schlandt (ed.): Lake Constance in old travel pictures. Travel reports and travel pictures from past times . Prisma Verlag, Gütersloh 1977, ISBN 3-570-09423-5 (travel reports from the 4th century BC to 1826).
  • Helmut Schlichtherle : pile dwellings: the early settlement of the Alpine foothills. In: Spectrum of Science (Ed.): Settlements of the Stone Age. Pp. 140-153. Spektrum der Wissenschaft-Verlagsges., Heidelberg 1989, ISBN 3-922508-48-0 .
  • Writings of the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings. (Journal published since 1869, ISSN  0342-2070 ; for digital copies and tables of contents see Wikisource ).
    • Lake Constance - landscape, history, culture (= writings of the association for the history of Lake Constance and its surroundings. Volume 99/100, year 1981/82). (Anniversary volume with overview images; digitized version ).

travel Guide

  • Andreas Balze, Gerhard Fischer: Bodensee (= DuMont travel paperbacks). DuMont, Cologne 1995, ISBN 3-7701-3213-0 .
  • Gertraud Gaßner, Rainald Schwarz-Gaßner: Rad travel book. Around Lake Constance. From Lindau to Constance . Droemer-Knaur, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-426-04635-0 (background reports; more than in popular travel guides).
  • Willy Küsters, Karlheinz Bischof (arr.): Bodensee primer. Vademecum of the landscape in the heart of Europe for sea hares and guests. 6th edition. Rosgarten Verlag, Konstanz 1984, ISBN 3-87685-059-2 .

nature and environment

  • Annette Bernauer, Harald Jacoby: Lake Constance. Natural wealth on the edge of the Alps . Naturerbe Verlag Jürgen Resch, Überlingen 1994, ISBN 3-9803350-1-1 .
  • International water protection commission for Lake Constance (ed.): Der Bodensee. State - facts - perspectives . IGKB, Bregenz 2004, ISBN 3-902290-04-8 ( online edition ).
  • Friedrich Kiefer : Natural history of Lake Constance. 2nd Edition. Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1972, ISBN 3-7995-5001-1 .
  • Oskar Keller: The geological history of Lake Constance. In: Writings of the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings. Issue 131, 2013, ISBN 978-3-7995-1719-5 , pp. 267-301.
  • Oskar Keller: The Rhine delta in Lake Constance since Roman times . In: Writings of the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings . 133th issue. Jan Thorbecke Verlag der Schwabenverlag AG, Ostfildern 2015, ISBN 978-3-7995-1721-8 , p. 267-285 .
  • Bodensee-Forschungen , 1893–1902, supplements to the publications of the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings .
  • Hans-Ulrich Wepfer: From the history of Lake Constance fishing . In: Thurgauer Jahrbuch , Vol. 50, 1975, pp. 12-27. ( e-periodica.ch )

Illustrated books

  • Franz X. Bogner: Lake Constance from the air . Stürtz, Würzburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-8003-4035-4 .
  • Albrecht Brugger, Erika Dillmann: Lake Constance - an aerial view of the country. Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 1983, ISBN 3-8062-0280-X .
  • Peter Flöge: Lake Constance landscape of longing. Weidling Verlag, Stockach am Bodensee, 2005. ISBN 3-922095-27-5 . (Landmarks and views of nature around Lake Constance in watercolors. Accompanying text in German, English, French).
  • Franz Thorbecke, Jürgen Resch: Lake Constance - world cultural landscape through the ages. A portrait in aerial photos from 80 years . Verlag Friedr. Stadler, Konstanz 2004, ISBN 3-7977-0494-1 . (Comparison of aerial photos of cities on Lake Constance from the mid-1920s and from the beginning of 2000: land reclamation through backfill, increased development, successful nature conservation in DA-CH).

Web links

Commons : Bodensee  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wikivoyage: Lake Constance  - travel guide
Wiktionary: Bodensee  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Wikisource: Bodensee  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. Institute for Water Quality: Atlas of Austria's natural lakes with an area ≥ 50 ha. (PDF; 8.62 MiB) In: bmlfuw.gv.at. Federal Office for Water Management, 2005, accessed on June 12, 2016 .
  2. Lake Constance in Swisstopo / FOEN Vektor25 water network. In: map.geo.admin.ch. Federal Office of Topography, accessed on December 18, 2016 .
  3. a b c d e f g h Lake Constance data. In: igkb.org. International Water Protection Commission for Lake Constance, June 2004, accessed on March 3, 2017 .
  4. Lake Constance - remeasured. In: Badische Zeitung online. dpa, September 12, 2015, accessed on September 25, 2015 .
  5. F. Naef: Article: Hydrology of Lake Constance and its tributaries. In: e-periodica.ch. ETH Library Zurich, January 1989, accessed on May 28, 2016 .
  6. ^ Arno Borst: Bodensee - history of a word. In: Writings of the Association for the History of the Lake Constance Region 99/100, 1982/82, p. 500.
  7. a b Wolf-Armin Freiherr von Reitzenstein: Lexicon of Swabian place names. Origin and meaning. C. H. Beck, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-406-65209-7 , p. 68 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  8. ^ Albrecht Greule : German water names book. Etymology of the water body names and the associated area, settlement and field names. With the collaboration of Sabine Hackl-Rößler. De Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2014, ISBN 978-3-11-019039-7 , p. 66; Arno Borst: Lake Constance - history of a word. In: Writings of the Association for the History of the Lake Constance Region 99/100, 1982/82, p. 500.
  9. ^ Arno Borst: Bodensee - history of a word. In: Writings of the Association for the History of the Lake Constance Region 99/100, 1982/82, p. 501 f.
  10. ^ Manfred Niemeyer (ed.): German book of place names. De Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2012, ISBN 978-3-11-018908-7 , p. 328.
  11. Klaus Zintz: Lake Constance not only invites you to swim. ( Memento from October 9, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Stuttgarter Zeitung from August 7, 2015 (PDF scan, accessed October 9, 2016)
  12. Cf. Karl Heinz Burmeister: Lake Constance in the 16th century. In: Montfort, quarterly magazine for the past and present of Vorarlberg. Year 2005, Issue 3, pp. 228–262. pdf ( Memento from January 31, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  13. Helmut Schlichtherle: pile dwellings: the early settlement of the Alpine foothills. In: Spectrum of Science (Ed.): Settlements of the Stone Age. Spectrum-der Wissenschaft-Verlagsges., Heidelberg 1989, ISBN 3-922508-48-0 , p. 140 ff.
  14. G. Wieland: The Lake Constance area in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC Chr. In: N. Hasler among others: Before the Romans came. Sulgen 2008, p. 18 f.
  15. Andreas Schwab: How maps show the region. In: Südkurier , August 14, 2018.
  16. ^ Rolf Zimmermann: At Lake Constance. Verlag Stadler, Konstanz 2004, intent and p. 112.
  17. Information about the map in the Europeana virtual library with an external link to the illustration; The correct designation in the title cartouche is Lacvs Acronianvs siue Bodamicvs , but the map and plan collection of the City Archives of Konstanz has this copper engraving under the modernized spelling
  18. Lake Constance data. In: International Water Protection Commission for Lake Constance (Ed.): Seespiegel. December 2011, p. 6.
  19. a b c Uta Mürle, Johannes Ortlepp, Peter Rey, International Commission for the Protection of Water for Lake Constance (ed.): The Lake of Constance: Condition - Facts - Perspectives. 2nd corrected edition. Bregenz 2004, ISBN 3-902290-04-8 , p. 10.
  20. www.hydra-institute.com ( Memento from May 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 1.2 MB)
  21. Lake Constance: three parts, one lake. In: Seespiegel. Edition 20.
  22. quaternary-science.publiss.net/articles/452/download Albert Schreiner: On the origin of the Lake Constance basin (Quaternary Science Journal, PDF)
  23. http://www.landeskunde-online.de/rhein/bodensee/geologie.htm
  24. State Institute for Environment, Measurements and Nature Conservation in Baden-Württemberg: Information on the flood of the century in 1999. ( Memento from October 23, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 24 kB)
  25. International Water Protection Commission for Lake Constance (ed.): Der Bodensee. State - facts - perspectives. IGKB, Bregenz 2004, ISBN 3-902290-04-8 , chapter 1.2 ( Memento from May 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 1.2 MB)
  26. ^ Franz Domgörgen: The special all-time high. In: "Südkurier", January 23, 2018, p. 27.
  27. Quibbles and facts about the low water . In: "Südkurier", October 27, 2018, p. 3.
  28. Quibbles and facts about the low water . In: "Südkurier", October 27, 2018, p. 3.
  29. a b c Soldt, R. (2020). Environmental policy in Constance: The "climate emergency" as an air number. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. 29th of July. https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/inland/konstanz-symbolpolitik-mit-dem-klimanotstand-16880279.html
  30. ↑ Water level at the Imperia measuring station in the port of Constance
  31. Angela Sieber, Peter Homagk, Clemens Mathis, Martin Pfaundler: Transnational operational high and low water forecast for Lake Constance . In: WasserWirtschaft . No. 7–8 , 2008, pp. 40–45 ( Online [PDF; 584 kB ; accessed on August 15, 2012]).
  32. Information board with a graphic of the seasonal course of the mean water at the gauge house in Constance
  33. Influence of the water level course on the development of the bank cane on selected bank sections of the western Lake Constance in the past 40 years. ( Memento from November 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) University of Konstanz (PDF; 3.6 MB)
  34. Franz Domgörgen: Something is accumulating here. In: Südkurier from January 18, 2017.
  35. Claudia Wagner: If the level continues to drop. In: Südkurier , August 13, 2018.
  36. Angelika Wohlfrom: Lots of soil, little lake. In: Südkurier , October 27, 2018.
  37. Franz Domgörgen: The kink in the curve. In: Südkurier , October 27, 2018.
  38. LUBW State Institute for Environment, Measurements and Nature Conservation Baden-Württemberg (Ed.): Long-term behavior of Lake Constance water levels. Evaluation period: 1888 to 2007. 2011, ISBN 978-3-88251-361-5 ( PDF; 21 MB ).
  39. a b Aurelia Scherrer: Lake Night Festival even at high water levels. In: Südkurier. August 6, 2014.
  40. Authorities expect the water level to rise. In: Südkurier. May 31, 2013.
  41. a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Flood forecast center Baden-Württemberg: Gauge Konstanz / Bodensee
  42. ^ Heinrich Hansjakob: Snow balls, third row. 1893. New edition 1911 published by Adolf Bonz & Comp. Stuttgart. New edition in 2002 by the Waldkircher Verlagsgesellschaft, Waldkirch, ISBN 3-87885-190-1 , p. 164. (Events during the time as pastor of Hagnau 1869-1884).
  43. Ralf Baumann: The year without a summer. Why the weather went crazy 200 years ago. In: Konstanzer Almanach 2016, pp. 75–77.
  44. Ralf Baumann: The rainy weather lasted two months without a nice day. In: Konstanzer Anzeiger. 17th August 2016.
  45. Carola Dudzik: In search of traces with the painter Nikolaus Hug. In: Südkurier. March 30, 2013.
  46. Heike Thissen: high water mark. Like a volcano fills the lake. In: Eva Maria Bast, Heike Thissen: Secrets of the homeland . Konstanz 2011, Edition Südkurier. ISBN 978-3-00-035899-9 , pp. 25-27.
  47. ^ Elisabeth Müller-Widmann: Stories from the old Constance. Verlag Gronenberg, Gummersbach 1983, ISBN 3-88265-083-4 , p. 25, photography.
  48. ^ Ralf Seuffert: Constance. 2000 years of history. UVK Verlagsgesellschaft, Konstanz, 2nd edition 2013, pp. 185–186.
  49. Dangerous Lake. In: Konstanz Official Gazette of June 12, 2019.
  50. The level rises - the floods come. In: Südkurier. June 18, 2016.
  51. The record flood 20 years ago. In: Südkurier , May 25, 2019, author abbreviation (mic).
  52. PressReader.com - Newspapers from around the world. Retrieved June 10, 2020 .
  53. ^ Franz Domgörgen: Driftwood and melt water. In: Südkurier. June 6, 2013, p. 23.
  54. Susanne Hogl: Rhine brings driftwood. In: Südkurier , June 14, 2019.
  55. Claudia Wagner: Cleaning up after the flood. In: Südkurier of July 23, 2016.
  56. "Lots of Driftwood" in Bodensee orf.at, June 19, 2019, accessed June 19, 2019.
  57. ^ Franz Domgörgen: View of islands and rocks. In: Südkurier from January 12, 2017.
  58. On dry land. In: Südkurier , August 22, 2018, p. 29.
  59. a b c Roland Dost: Emaciated to the skeleton. In: Südkurier. January 11, 2006, p. 24. (accessed December 3, 2011)
  60. a b c source www.bodensee-ufer.de given and listed under lowest water levels in Südkurier from July 3, 2014
  61. Alexander Pohle: The bath hut. In: 99 x Lake Constance as you haven't seen it yet. Bruckmann Verlag, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-7654-8303-5 , pp. 83-84.
  62. ^ Elisabeth Müller-Widmann: Stories from the old Constance. Verlag Gronenberg, Gummersbach 1983, ISBN 3-88265-083-4 , p. 9, image: In memory of February 15 and 16, 1858.
  63. Andreas Schuler: Picnic on the lake bottom: A historical experience. In: Südkurier , August 4, 2018, pp. 18–19.
  64. Drying colors. In: Südkurier , October 10, 2018. Author abbreviation (ebr).
  65. Fabiane Wieland: Low water makes shipping difficult. In: Südkurier , September 26, 2018, p. 29.
  66. Lake Constance data. In: Labhards Bodensee Magazin. 2013, p. 250.
  67. Energy from Lake Constance . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . August 6, 2015. Accessed August 6, 2015.
  68. O'Reiley et al., Rapid and highly variable warming of lake surface waters around the globe . In: Geophysical Research Letters (2015), doi: 10.1002 / 2015GL066235 .
  69. hnd.bayern.de ( Memento from December 15, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  70. Information on the depth of field project
  71. contract of 20./31. October 1854 between the Swiss Confederation and the Grand Duchy of Baden regarding border settlement
  72. ^ Agreement of April 28, 1878 between Switzerland and the Grand Duchy of Baden on the regulation of the border near Constance
  73. Agreement of June 24, 1879 between Switzerland and the German Empire to regulate the border at Constance
  74. State Office for Surveying and Geoinformation Bavaria (PDF)
  75. Federal Office for Geodesy and Cartography: GeoBasis-DE, administrative areas 1: 250 000, Appendix C Notes on border sections that are not mutually agreed, C.1 State border, C.1.2 Lake Constance
  76. a b Agreement of July 5, 1893 regarding the application of similar provisions for fishing in Lake Constance (Bregenz Agreement)
  77. Who owns Lake Constance? Despite the unclear sovereignty, the cooperation works smoothly. In: International Water Protection Commission for Lake Constance (Ed.): Seespiegel . Information about Lake Constance. No. 7 , June 1998, pp. 1 ( online [PDF; 12.0 MB ; accessed on December 23, 2013]).
  78. For further information on the territorial situation, see Graf-Schelling 1978.
  79. Daniel-Erasmus Khan: The lack of customary consolidation of border and sovereign relations since the 17th century, in: The German State Borders - legal historical bases and open legal questions. Mohr Siebeck 2004, pp. 254 ff. ISBN 978-3-16-148403-2 Preview at Google Books
  80. ^ Daniel-Erasmus Khan: The German State Borders - Legal-Historical Basics and Open Legal Issues. Mohr Siebeck 2004, p. 267f. ISBN 978-3-16-148403-2 ( preview on Google Books )
  81. Ingrid Nowel: DuMont Travel Guide. Travel guide to Lake Constance. 3rd, completely revised edition. DuMont Reiseverlag, Ostfildern 2015, ISBN 978-3-7701-7426-3 , p. 44 .
  82. Berthold Schuppar: Geometry on the sphere. Everyday phenomena around earth and sky. Springer-Verlag, Berlin / Heidelberg 2016, ISBN 978-3-662-52942-3 , p. 57 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  83. ^ Hans-Joachim Gögl: The Bodensee. Facts and figures about the lake. (PDF; 424 KiB) In: vorarlberg.at. Office of the Vorarlberg State Government, June 2011, p. 7 , accessed on November 9, 2016 .
  84. Planet Knowledge - Lake Constance
  85. Ornithological Working Group on Lake Constance: Observation Areas ( Memento from September 19, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  86. Dramatic bird decline on Lake Constance. In: bluewin.ch . September 3, 2019, accessed September 4, 2019 .
  87. ^ Hans-Günther Bauer, Markus Peintinger, Georg Heine, Ulrich Zeidler: Changes in the breeding bird population on Lake Constance . Results of the semi-quantitative grid field mapping 1980, 1990 and 2000. Ed .: Die Vogelwelt . tape 126 , 2005, pp. 141–160 ( semanticscholar.org [PDF; accessed November 9, 2019]).
  88. Listed. The 10 most common breeding birds ... In: Südkurier. October 22, 2010.
  89. Fluctuating water levels ( Memento from September 16, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  90. ↑ Information board on the Überlinger lake promenade.
  91. Corinna Raupach: Spring fever with duck and woodpecker. In: "Südkurier", January 16, 2018, p. 27.
  92. ^ A b Franz Domgörgen: Stable conditions in the bird paradise. In: Südkurier. January 3, 2015.
  93. Federal Veterinary Office: “Constanze” research project started on Lake Constance
  94. Curlew project
  95. ^ Franz Domgörgen: Water birds stay true to Lake Constance. In: Südkurier. August 8, 2014, p. 23.
  96. Ringing center ornithological station in Radolfzell ( Memento from March 5, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  97. Source: Who is Who Bodensee 2010/2011 Südkurier GmbH Medienhaus
  98. Charlotte Kurz: What is it that tickles our feet? In: Südkurier , August 9, 2019, p. 16.
  99. Charlotte Kurz: What is it that tickles our feet? In: Südkurier , August 9, 2019, p. 16.
  100. Fish of Lake Constance - IBKF. Accessed November 17, 2019 (German).
  101. Charlotte Kurz: What is it that tickles our feet? In: Südkurier , August 9, 2019, p. 16.
  102. ^ A b Environment theme park of the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of the Environment - BodenseeWeb: Fish
  103. ↑ Information board at the port of Ludwigshafen about particularly valued Lake Constance fish
  104. a b c Friedrich W. Strub: Animal newcomers in Lake Constance. In: Südkurier from April 20, 2016.
  105. ^ A b Anna-Maria Schneider: The secret invasion under water. In: Südkurier of September 8, 2015.
  106. a b c d e f Angela Schneider: Armored troops conquered Lake Constance. In: Südkurier. dated October 9, 2010.
  107. a b c Angela Schneider: Three of many who have already established themselves in Lake Constance. In: Südkurier. dated October 9, 2010.
  108. Lake Constance: Shell causes problems. In: schweizerbauer.ch. December 2, 2019, accessed December 2, 2019 .
  109. Jump up ↑ Humpback Shrimp Invasion. In: Südkurier. dated October 9, 2010.
  110. ^ Lui Summer: Bass in Lake Constance. In: angel-kniffe.com. December 2015, accessed February 12, 2016 .
  111. a b c nature reserves in the Lake Constance district. In: Südkurier. dated August 31, 2010, p. 25.
  112. Ute and Peter Freier: Bodensee. Hiking compact. Bruckmann Verlag, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-7654-4295-7 , pp. 63-64.
  113. Ute and Peter Freier: Bodensee. Hiking compact. Bruckmann Verlag, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-7654-4295-7 , pp. 39-40.
  114. Nature reserves of Lake Constance
  115. Katy Cuko: Two shipwrecks found in Lake Constance. Scrapped at a depth of 200 meters. 20th November 2013.
  116. Janina Raschdorf, Katy Cuko: At least 5 steamers are resting in the lake. In: Südkurier. 5th December 2013.
  117. Lake Constance Conference : Agriculture and Water Protection in the Lake Constance Area ( Memento from December 30, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 353 kB)
  118. Sabine Busse: Microplastics also swim in Lake Constance. In: Südkurier. March 28, 2018, accessed September 24, 2018 .
  119. a b Nils Köhler, Volker Geiling: Fruit blessing on Lake Constance. In: Südkurier. dated September 8, 2011.
  120. (tük): Plump and ripe - fruit growers are harvesting more Bodensee apples this autumn. In: Schwäbische Zeitung. 9 September 2011.
  121. ^ Association for Fisheries and Water Protection in Baden-Württemberg e. V .: Figures on fishing in Baden-Württemberg ( Memento from September 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  122. Vorarlberg Magazin No. 105/2002 ( Memento from November 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  123. Volker Geiling: Fewer and fewer professional fishermen. In: Südkurier. 3rd December 2013.
  124. ^ Gisela Keller: Gloomy prospects for fishermen. In: "Südkurier", November 28, 2017.
  125. a b Institute for Lake Research of the LUBW: Graphic Bodenseefangertorte ( Memento from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  126. Ingeborg Kunze: Escape to the whitefish breeding? In: Südkurier of November 26, 2015.
  127. Katy Cuko: 20 professional fishermen have their license withdrawn. In: "Südkurier", January 24, 2018.
  128. Lake Constance Fisheries Ordinance Baden-Württemberg (PDF; 61 kB)
  129. Sylvia Floetemeyer, Fabiane Wieland and Kerstin Steinert: whitefish get help in life. In: Südkurier , February 5, 2020.
  130. Birgit Hofmann: Fishermen on Lake Constance are worried about the future.
  131. Shipping & Boat Rental Harald Lang. Excursion and social trips.
  132. Editions of overnight and day guests: DWIF (2010) and (2006)
  133. ^ Sven Lewerentz: History of the E1. In: e1.hiking-europe.eu. February 7, 2016, accessed April 8, 2017 .
  134. Lake Constance ship statistics as of January 1, 2009 ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  135. International Water Sports Association Bodensee: Water sports on Lake Constance as an economic factor 2006 ( Memento from October 23, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 131 kB)
  136. bodenseekreis.de: Kitesurfing
  137. information for surfing in the Wiki of spotnetz.de
  138. Wind statistics for Bregenz
  139. Wind statistics for Friedrichshafen
  140. ↑ Diving sites at Lake Constance
  141. Mysterious Treasures of the Swiss Lakes , Jean-Claude Gerber , 20 Minuten AG, accessed: March 3, 2012.
  142. New restricted zone around the water supply point on Lake Constance. In: Schwäbische Zeitung from January 25, 2012
  143. Course of the Lake Constance water temperature
  144. ↑ Regional Council Tübingen, Fisheries Authority (ed.): Before swimming, watch out for the nets of professional fishermen! Leaflet, Tübingen May 2014.
  145. Sabine Vöckt: Finally someone can do it. In: Südkurier. July 24, 2013.
  146. Franz Domgören: Every sign a downfall. In: Südkurier. dated February 26, 2011.
  147. a b Georg Wex: More accidents on Lake Constance. In: Südkurier. February 24, 2014.
  148. Michael Buchholz: The lake keeps many of its victims. In: Südkurier. 22. July 2013.
  149. Katy Cuko: Emergency watering once, please. In: Südkurier. May 18, 2013.
  150. Statistics 2014 of all maritime and water protection police on Lake Constance, press free from February 27, 2015 via PDF from presseportal.de
  151. Katy Cuko: Many accidents on the lake in 2015. In: Südkurier. February 29, 2016
  152. Canton Thurgau accessed January 25, 2020
  153. Information from previous year = 2017 from source for 2018
  154. Statistics 2018 of all maritime and water protection police on Lake Constance, press free from February 15, 2019 via PDF from ibn-online.de
  155. ^ Franz Thorbecke, Jürgen Resch : Bodensee - world cultural landscape in the course of time. A portrait in aerial photos from 80 years. Verlag Friedr. Stadler, Konstanz 2004, ISBN 3-7977-0494-1 . (Comparison of aerial photos of cities on Lake Constance from the mid-1920s and from the beginning of 2000: land reclamation through backfill, increased development, successful nature conservation in DA-CH).
  156. International Water Protection Commission for Lake Constance (igkb)
  157. Gerd Ahrendt: The warming of the lake causes concern. In: Südkurier of April 25, 2016, p. 23.
  158. Daniel Kummetz: The knowledge stays here. In: Südkurier. dated December 1, 2009, Bodenseekreis regional section, p. 27.
  159. Award for flower meadows. In: Südkurier. February 2, 2013.
  160. Absurd management. In: Südkurier. August 16, 2013.
  161. Website of the Ornithological Working Group on Lake Constance (OAB)
  162. ^ Franz Domgörgen: Tourism continues to grow. In: Südkurier of March 5, 2016.
  163. Harald Derschka: The association for the history of Lake Constance and its surroundings. A look back at one hundred and fifty years of club history 1868–2018. In: Writings of the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings. Volume 136, 2018, pp. 1–302.
  164. Helmut Schlichtherle , State Monuments Office Baden-Württemberg: Archaeological cultural monuments and monument protection on Lake Constance
  165. Nikolaj Schutzbach: Showcase of archeology. In: Südkurier. April 29, 2013.
  166. Aurelia Scherrer: On the burden and pleasure of the world heritage. In: Südkurier. May 3, 2013, p. 27.
  167. Boat recovered from Lake Constance after 3100 years (April 12, 2018)
  168. ^ Canton of Thurgau, Office for Archeology, Dr. Urs Leuzinger: Mysterious stone structures in Lake Constance from April 24, 2018
  169. ^ Franz Domgörgen: wink with the wooden pole. In: "Südkurier", February 8, 2017, p. 27.
  170. Mystery solved - Lake Constance-Stonehenge dates from the Neolithic In: SRF from September 27, 2019
  171. Filled up 5500 years ago: The stone hills in Lake Constance are older than assumed In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of September 27, 2019
  172. Guesswork on Steinhügel in Lake Constance continues On: Swiss radio and television from June 7, 2019
  173. The enigmatic stone mounds in Lake Constance probably come from the Bronze Age. Auf: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of June 7, 2019
  174. ^ Albert am Zehnthoff: Bodensee. Hallwag Verlag, Bern / Stuttgart 1978, ISBN 3-444-10233-X , p. 14.
  175. ^ Karl Baas: On the history of the medieval healing arts in the Lake Constance area. In: Archives for cultural history. 4 (1906), pp. 129-158.
Muszla Jakuba.svg
Navigation bar Jakobsweg " Oberschwäbischer Jakobsweg "

← Previous location: Meersburg  | Lake Constance  | Next town: Staad  →

 
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on January 6, 2007 .