The Old City of Freiburg is part of the city and business centres of
Freiburg im Breisgau
Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population o ...
and is the core of the original city. It is divided into the two districts 111 ''Altstadt-Mitte'' and 112 ''Altstadt-Ring''. The ''Altstadt-Mitte'' district was the city's build-up area at the time of its foundation and therefore formed the old city. The district ''Altstadt-Ring'' is connected westwards to the railway line and south to the Dreisam.
At the end of 2020, about 7,500 people were reported as inhabitants of this district.
The district of ''Altstadt-Mitte'' was designed according to the pattern of all cities founded by the Zähringers. A street cross divides the city into four quarters, the church and the city hall are not located in the same district. The city centre is the Bertoldsbrunnen, where the Kaiser-Joseph-Straße and
Salz
Salz is a German word meaning ''salt'' and may refer to:
__NOTOC__ Places
* Salzburg, a city in Austria
* Salzburg (state), Austria
* Salz, Rhineland-Palatinate, municipality in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
* Salz, Bavaria, town in the district o ...
- and Bertoldstraße intersect. The city administration is located in the Old and New city hall. In the late 1990s, however, the head of the administrative region of Freiburg moved its headquarters from the Old City into a new building in the district of Betzenhausen, but the seat of the government president remained in the ''Basler Hof'' in the Old City.
Neighbouring districts include Stühlinger to the west, Neuburg to the north, Oberau to the east and beyond the Dreisam the Wiehre to the south.
Tourist attractions
The Old City is dominated by the
Freiburg Minster
Freiburg Minster (german: Freiburger Münster or Münster Unserer Lieben Frau) is the cathedral of Freiburg im Breisgau, southwest Germany. The last duke of Zähringen had started the building around 1200 in romanesque style. The construction con ...
Augustiner Museum
The Augustiner Museum is a museum in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany located in the former Augustinian Monastery building. It is undergoing an extensive renovation and expansion, the first phase of which ended in 2010.Bächle are at their highest in the Old City and flow from there across the entire city centre. The Schlossberg is directly adjacent to the Old City. From the Schlossbergturm, or Castle Hill Tower, you are about have a circular view of all the city's districts and surrounding areas.
Shopping
Apart from the Münstermarkt on Minster square, most department stores and shops as well as many restaurants are situated in the very heart of the Old City. The majority of mainstream shops can be found on Kaiser-Joseph-Straße.
Since 1979, the city hosts an annual outdoor art and design market called ''Kunst in der oberen Altstadt'' (English literally: Art in the upper old city) featuring many artists and designers of a number of different handicrafts.
Culture and education
The Old City is the center for cultural life in Freiburg. The
Theater Freiburg
Theater Freiburg is a theatre in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
Freiburg Theatre, sometimes also referred to as Stadttheater Freiburg (Freiburg municipal theatre), formerly Städtische Bühnen (Municipal Stages) Freiburg, is the oldest and bigg ...
, the
Konzerthaus Freiburg
The Freiburg Konzerthaus is a concert hall in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, that was opened to the public in 1996. Based on plans by architect Dietrich Bangert, the building is used for concerts and performances, as well as conventions and mee ...
, most of the museums and cinemas, the headquarters of the city's library as well as the Planetarium located at the Freiburg's main train station are all located in the Old City.
Alternative culture is also accessible in the Old Town, mainly in the ''Viertel Im Grün'' (named after the street of the same name) between the Konzerthaus and the Dreisam. Two centers are the ''Sprecht Passage,'' the ''Jos Fritz'' shop, the cafe with the same name, the Harrys Depot, the ''Grether'' factory, a former foundry, which includes the Radio Dreyeckland studios, the ''Rosa Hilfe Freiburg'' and the ''Strandcafé''.
The
University of Freiburg
The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisg ...
is also located in the Old City, alongside the faculties of humanities and social sciences as well as the university library.
Transport
The district of ''Altstadt-Mitte'' has been a pedestrian zone since the mid-1870s. After the ring road was blocked between the two districts in 2012, the pedestrian zone was partially extended to the district ''Altstadt-Ring''. The boundaries of the built-up old city form multi-lane streets as the main traffic arteries of individual traffic. Car parking is concentrated to several car parking areas on the main traffic axes, whilst in other streets residents have their own car parks.
On the two main axes of the Old City, the Kaiser-Joseph-Straße and Berrtoldstraße and Salzstraße (to the east of Bertoldsbrunnen) are now served by
trams
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
. The intersection of the lines at Bertoldsbrunnen is the most important hub of public transport in Freiburg, as the city center is located next to the main railway station on the edge of the Old City and the border to Stühlinger.
Literature
* Official map = 1:25,000
* Leo Schmidt: ''Kulturdenkmale in der Freiburger Alstadt''. In: ''Denkmalpflege in Baden-Württemberg'', 12. 1983, Book 4, pg. 169-178 PDF; 8.5 MB (in German)