FREIBURG
General
Information
History I
Sightseeing I
Practical I Hotels in Freiburg
Freiburg im Breisgau is the gateway to the
Black Forest in the
southwestern part of Germany and lies close to France and Switzerland
and near to the Rhine river which is
only 3 km away from the town's western limit. The climate of the area is
very mild and has turned Freiburg into a centre of
wine production. Famous are the
vineyards on the slopes of Mount Kaiserstuhl. Freiburg is also a tourist
and conference center, and also a major trading center for timber. The
city has a population of about 200.000 inhabitants. Freiburg is among
the most popular university (founded
1457) towns in Germany and thus has a large student population of
24,000.
Freiburg was founded in
1120
and passed, with the rest of the Breisgau, to the Habsburgs in 1368. In
the Thirty Years War (1618–48) the Bavarians and Austrians were defeated
there (1644) by the French under Turenne and Louis II de Condé. The
French held Freiburg from 1677 to 1697 and again (1744–48) during the
War of the Austrian Succession. In 1805 the city passed to Baden.
Freiburg is famous as a
cultural center and presents a number of
fascinating museums. The city has been
an archiepiscopal seat since 1821 and has a splendid Gothic cathedral
(begun in the 13th cent.), with a high (380 ft/116 m) tower. Among the
other attractions are also the unique brooks running through the streets
of the Old Town in open channels decorated with Rhine pebble mosaics -
and the wild, romantic landscape of the Höllental valley just outside
the city.
