On the island of Lindau in the eastern

Lake Constance Lake Constance (german: Bodensee, ) refers to three Body of water, bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, ca ...

is the '' Altstadt'' of the

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

n county town of

Lindau Lindau (german: Lindau (Bodensee), ''Lindau am Bodensee''; ; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Lindou'') is a major Town#Germany, town and Lindau (island), island on the eastern side of Lake Constance (''Bodensee'' in German) in Bavaria, Ge ...

, which occupies the eastern part of the island. The island of Lindau, which forms 2% of the area and 12% of the population of the entire town, is one of the town's ten administrative districts. The district is just called ''Insel'' ("Island").

History

The present island of Lindau originally consisted of three separate islands, which were formed by the

moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice shee ...

of the

Rhine Glacier The Rhine Glacier was a glacier during the last glacial period and was responsible for the formation of the Lake Constance. References Glaciers of Switzerland Rhine {{switzerland-glacier-stub ...

: #''Vordere Insel'' or ''Hauptinsel'' ("Anterior Island" or "Main Island") with Lindau's ''Altstadt'' east of the historical town wall, separated from the ''Hintere Insel'' by the town ditch #''Hintere Insel'' ("Far Island") west of the old town ditch with the present-day station and tracks #''Römerschanze'' ("Roman

Schanze A ''schanze'' () is, according to the specialist terminology of German fortification construction, an independent fieldwork, that is frequently used in the construction of temporary (not permanent) field fortifications.Rüstow: ''Militärisches Han ...

") or ''Auf Burg'' ("On the Castle"), the smallest of the former islands, in front of the subsequent harbour on the south side On an 1822 map (long before the construction of the railway, which opened in 1854) the three individual islands can be made out: Lindau-St Lin 1822 l11.jpg, 1822 map of the island of Lindau Even in 1831 it was said that: ''the little town of Lindau lies on three islands in Lake Constance, linked by bridges…'' The remaining history of the island of Lindau is inextricably bound up with the history of the town of Lindau itself.

Geography

The island of Lindau currently has about 3,000 inhabitants on an area of 68

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...

s (0.68 km²). The last official figures from the

population census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

of 25 May 1987 gave the population as 2755, making Lindau the second-largest island in Lake Constance after Reichenau in terms of area and population. For centuries, Lindau was the most populous island and it was only after the decline in population in the old town in the late 1980s that it passed the baton to Reichenau at the other end of the lake, which was six times the size and more rural in character. In the 1970 census, the island's population was still 4,413, and in 1904 as much as 5,853. The island is separated from the Lindau quarter of

Aeschach Lindau (german: Lindau (Bodensee), ''Lindau am Bodensee''; ; Low Alemannic: ''Lindou'') is a major town and island on the eastern side of Lake Constance (''Bodensee'' in German) in Bavaria, Germany. It is the capital of the county (''Landkreis ...

on the mainland by the Kleiner See. The ''Kleiner See'' is bounded in the east by the 150-metre-long Landtor Bridge (''Landtorbrücke''), over which the ''Chelles Allee'' runs, and in the west by the 410-metre-long railway causeway and covers an area of around 20 hectares. There was a bridge at this spot as early as the 13th century; by contrast the railway embankment was built in the 19th century.Wolfgang Hartung: ''Die Anfänge des Damenstifts Lindau.'' In: Uwe Ludwig und Thomas Schilp (ed.): ''Nomen et Fraternitas.'' Berlin, 2008, , pp. 699–717, here p. 717. () The railway causeway carries four tracks and has a heavily used cycleway and footpath on its eastern side. It has two bridges under which boats may pass. The railway running over the causeway from Aeschach to the island of Lindau was the last section of the

Ludwig South-North Railway The Ludwig South-North railway (''Ludwig-Süd-Nord-Bahn''), built between 1843 and 1854, was the first railway line to be constructed by Royal Bavarian State Railways. It was named after the king, Ludwig I, whose infrastructure priorities had ear ...

, to be taken into operation. It was opened on 1 March 1854 as part of the

Buchloe–Lindau railway The Buchloe–Lindau railway is a double-track, largely non-electrified main line in the German state of Bavaria. It runs through the Allgäu from Buchloe to Lindau in Lake Constance via Kaufbeuren and Kempten. Together with the connecting Munich� ...

. The old town of Lindau, which is a listed monument, occupies the large eastern part of the island of Lindau, also known as the "main island" (''Hauptinsel''). In the centre is the main street of ''Maximilianstraße'' with the two gable fronts of the town hall on the ''Reichsplatz''. Parallel to ''Maximilianstraße'' there is the ''Ludwigstraße'' in the south and the ''Grub'' in the north. The curvature of both roads enables the line of the medieval fortifications of the island to be seen. The smaller formerly separate island of ''Hintere Insel'' is located west of the historical

town wall A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...

and the old moat. This rear part of the island was enlarged around 1970 by a good four hectares, by the reclamation of an area of the lake between the ''Pulverschanze'' and the ''Sternschanze''. It now covers an area of eleven hectares, about one sixth of the island and is dominated by the

Lake Constance Clinic A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

of ENT physician and cosmetic surgeon, Werner Mang. The westernmost point of the ''Hintere Insel'' and of the whole island is marked by the 1508

Powder Tower A powder tower (german: Pulverturm), occasionally also powder house (''Pulverhaus''), was a building used by the military or by mining companies, frequently a tower, to store gunpowder or, later, explosives. They were common until the 20th centu ...

and the former Luitpold-Kaserne built in 1902/03.

References

External links

* Hans Gasser
Großer Bahnhof
Artikel in der Süddeutschen Zeitung vom 30. September 2015 {{Authority control Islands of Bavaria Islands of Lake Constance in Germany Lindau (district) Upper Swabia