Kempten (, (
Swabian German
Swabian (german: Schwäbisch ) is one of the dialect groups of Alemannic German that belong to the High German dialect continuum. It is mainly spoken in Swabia, which is located in central and southeastern Baden-Württemberg (including its capita ...
: )) is the largest
town of
Allgäu, in
Swabia
Swabia ; german: Schwaben , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany.
The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of ...
,
Bavaria,
Germany. The population was about 68,000 in 2016. The area was possibly settled originally by
Celt
The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient ...
s, but was later taken over by the
Romans, who called the town ''Cambodunum''. Kempten is the oldest urban settlement (town) in Germany.
History
Pre-Roman
The Greek geographer
Strabo
Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could see ...
mentions in 50 BC a town of the Celtic Estiones named ''Kambodunon''. This is considered the oldest written reference of any German city. So far no archaeological evidence could be found that this Celtic settlement really existed.
Roman era
In 15 BC Roman troops led by
Nero Claudius Drusus and his brother
Tiberius conquered and destroyed an existing Celtic settlement. Later the settlement was named Cambodunum.
In the following years the city was rebuilt on a classical Roman city plan with baths, forum and temples. Initially in wood, the city was later rebuilt in stone after a devastating fire that destroyed almost the entire city in the year 69 AD. The city possibly served as provincial capital of
Raetia during the first century before
Augsburg took over this role. Extensive archaeological excavations at the end of the 19th century and again during the 1950s at what were then the outskirts of Kempten unearthed the extensive structural foundations.
The city was again destroyed in 233 AD by the
Alemanni
The Alemanni or Alamanni, were a confederation of Germanic tribes
*
*
*
on the Upper Rhine River. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Caracalla of 213, the Alemanni captured the in 260, and later expanded into pres ...
, a
Suebi
The Suebi (or Suebians, also spelled Suevi, Suavi) were a large group of Germanic peoples originally from the Elbe river region in what is now Germany and the Czech Republic. In the early Roman era they included many peoples with their own names ...
c tribe. The original site of Cambodunum was then abandoned and the settlement moved to a strategically safer location on the Burghalde hill overlooking the river
Iller.
In the middle of the 5th century the last Roman troops had left the area and the city was entirely taken over by the Alemanni.
Middle Ages
After the Romans abandoned the settlement, it was moved from the hill down to the plains located next to the river Iller. In written sources, the town appears as ''Cambidano''. Being still predominantly Alemannic, the town once more was destroyed by the
Franks in 683 as a consequence of the city's support of an uprising against the Frankish kingdom.
Around 700 a monastery —
Kempten Abbey — was built, the first in the Allgäu region, founded by two Benedictine monks from the
Abbey of Saint Gall, Magnus von Füssen and Theodor.
Audogar was the first abbot of the new Benedictine monastery. Through the financial and lobbyist support of
Charlemagne’s wife
Hildegard
Hildegard is a female name derived from the Old High German ''hild'' ('war' or 'battle') and ''gard'' ('enclosure' or 'yard'), and means 'battle enclosure'. Variant spellings include: Hildegarde; the Polish, Portuguese, Slovene and Spanish Hildeg ...
, an Allemannic princess, the monastery managed to become one of the most privileged of the
Frankish Empire.
After several ravages by the
Magyars
Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Uralic ...
,
Ulrich of Augsburg, bishop of
Augsburg and also abbot of
Kempten, began the rebuilding of the monastery and the city in 941.
In 1213,
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...
Frederick II declared the abbots members of the
Reichstag and granted the abbot the right to bear the title of Duke. However in 1289, King
Rudolf I of
Germany also granted special privileges to the urban settlement in the river valley, making it the
Free Imperial City of Kempten. In 1525 the last property rights of the abbots in the Imperial City were sold in the so-called "Great Purchase", marking the start of the co-existence of two independent cities bearing the same name next to each other. More conflict arose after the Imperial City converted to
Protestantism in direct opposition to the
Catholic monastery (and ''Free'' City) in 1527.
Renaissance and Baroque to Modern Age
During the turmoil of the
Thirty Years' War (1632–33), both cities were destroyed by the imperial forces and the Swedish troops respectively.
In 1652 Roman Giel of Gielsberg, the
Abbot of Kempten, commissioned the architects
Michael Beer and
Johann Serro from
Graubünden to build
St. Lorenz Basilica
St. Lorenz Basilica is a baroque minor Basilica in Kempten, Bavaria, named after the Christian martyr Lawrence of Rome. It is the former abbey church of the Benedictine Kempten Abbey. It is currently used as the parish church of the Roman Catholi ...
as a new church to serve the parish and monastery, including a representative residence for the Duke-Abbots. This is acknowledged as the first large church built in
Germany after the end of the
Thirty Years' War.
During the
Napoleonic Wars the Duke-Abbey and Imperial City came under Bavarian rule (1802–03). Finally, in 1819, the two rival cities were united into a single communal entity.
The city was the location of two subcamps of the
Dachau concentration camp
,
, commandant = List of commandants
, known for =
, location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany
, built by = Germany
, operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS)
, original use = Political prison
, construction ...
during
World War II, each with about 700 inmates.
Claude (Claudius) Honoré Desiré Dornier born in Kempten im Allgäu (May 14, 1884 - December 5, 1969) was a German aircraft engineer and founder of Dornier GmbH. His legacy remains in the few aircraft named after him, including the Dornier Do 18 and the 12-engine
Dornier Do X flying boat, for decades the world's largest and most powerful airplane.
Climate
Main sights
* The
St. Lorenz Basilica
St. Lorenz Basilica is a baroque minor Basilica in Kempten, Bavaria, named after the Christian martyr Lawrence of Rome. It is the former abbey church of the Benedictine Kempten Abbey. It is currently used as the parish church of the Roman Catholi ...
(
Basilica minor
In the Catholic Church, a basilica is a designation given by the Pope to a church building. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectural sense (a rectangular b ...
)
* The St. Mang Church
* The Burghalde, a ruin
* The Duke-Abbots' Residence
* The Archaeological Park Cambodunum
* The City Hall and Square
* The Erasmuskapelle (an underground chapel)
Transport
Kempten is well connected with the region through the
A 7 autobahn (
Würzburg–
Ulm–
Füssen).
Bundesstraßen
B 12 (partly as
A 980 autobahn),
B 19 and
B 309 also intersect in Kempten.
The city is on the
Buchloe–Lindau railway, opened as part of the
Ludwig South-North Railway in 1852, and
Kempten station currently boasts good
InterCity and
EuroCity
EuroCity, abbreviated as EC, is a cross-border train category within the European inter-city rail network. In contrast to trains allocated to the lower-level "IC" (InterCity) category, EC trains are international services that meet 20 criteri ...
rail connections.
The city bus system is operated by Kemptener Verkehrsbetriebe, which operates over 20 lines.
Education
The
Kempten University of Applied Sciences
The Kempten University of Applied Sciences or Hochschule Kempten is a university of applied sciences in Kempten im Allgäu, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the secon ...
started in the winter semester of 1978–79 with 89 students and since then expanded and now accommodates more than 2800 students in eight degree courses:
* Business Administration
* Computer Science
* Electrical Engineering
* Industrial Engineering – Electronic and Information Technology
* Industrial Engineering – Mechanical Engineering with Distribution Management or Information Technology
* Mechanical Engineering
* Social Management
* Tourism and Hospitality Management
There are also three college preparatory schools, called Gymnasium, (Allgäu-Gymnasium, Hildegardis-Gymnasium, Carl-von-Linde-Gymnasium) offering secondary education to the entire region of the Allgäu.
Notable people
*
Carl von Linde (1842–1934), scientist and inventor in cooling technology
*
Claude Dornier (1884–1969), aircraft designer
*
Ernst Mayr
Ernst Walter Mayr (; 5 July 1904 – 3 February 2005) was one of the 20th century's leading evolutionary biologists. He was also a renowned Taxonomy (biology), taxonomist, tropical explorer, ornithologist, Philosophy of biology, philosopher o ...
(1904–2005), German-American biologist
*
Søren Kam
Søren Kam (2 November 1921 – 23 March 2015) was a Danish junior officer in the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany during World War II. He was wanted for murder in Denmark and listed by the Simon Wiesenthal Center as one of the most wanted Nazi war cri ...
(1921–2015), Danish
SS-Obersturmführer, war criminal
*
Ignaz Kiechle
Ignaz Kiechle (23 February 1930 in Kempten im Allgäu, Bavaria – 2 December 2003 in Kempten) was a German politician of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU).
After the 1983 West German federal election, chancellor Helmut Kohl appointe ...
(1930–2003), politician (CSU), member of Bundestag 1969–1994, Minister for Food, Agriculture and Forestry 1983–1993
*
Heide Schmidt (born 1948), Austrian politician
*
Günther Dollinger (born 1960), physicist and professor
*Dieter Lohr (born 1965), writer and audiobook publishers
*
İlhan Mansız (born 1975), Turkish footballer
*
Peter Terting (born 1984), racing driver
*
Lisa Brennauer (born 1988), world champion cyclist
*
Daniel Abt (born 1992), racing driver
*
Friedrich Ferdinand Schnitzer, prominent United States architect who built a number of structures on the National Register of Historic Places
Twin towns – sister cities
Kempten is
twinned with:
*
Bad Dürkheim, Germany (2001)
*
Quiberon
Quiberon (; , ) is a commune in the French department of Morbihan, administrative region of Brittany, western France.
It is situated on the southern part of the Quiberon peninsula, the northern part being the commune of Saint-Pierre-Quiberon. It ...
, France (1971)
*
Sligo
Sligo ( ; ga, Sligeach , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of approximately 20,000 in 2016, it is the List of urban areas ...
, Ireland (1990)
*
Sopron, Hungary (1987)
*
Trento, Italy (1987)
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kempten Im Allgau
Carolingian architecture
Free imperial cities