Friedrichshafen

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This article is about a German town. For the Danish town, see Frederikshavn.
Friedrichshafen
Friedrichshafen and the Bodensee.
Friedrichshafen and the Bodensee.
Coat of arms Location
Coat of arms of Friedrichshafen
Friedrichshafen (Germany)
Friedrichshafen
Administration
Country Flag of Germany Germany
State Baden-Württemberg
Admin. region Tübingen
District Bodenseekreis
Lord Mayor Josef Büchelmeier (SPD)
Basic statistics
Area 69.91 km² (27 sq mi)
Elevation 400 m  (1312 ft)
Population 58,068  (31/12/2005)
 - Density 831 /km² (2,151 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate FN
Postal codes 88045–88048
Area codes 07541, 07544
Website www.friedrichshafen.de
Location of the town of Friedrichshafen within Bodenseekreis district
Map

Coordinates: 47°39′15″N 09°28′45″E / 47.65417, 9.47917

Friedrichshafen is a town on the northern side of Lake Constance (Bodensee) in southern Germany, near the borders with Switzerland and Austria. It is the district capital (Kreisstadt) of the Bodensee district (Landeskreis) in the federal state (Bundesland) of Baden-Württemberg.

Church of St. Nicholas.
Church of St. Nicholas.

Friedrichshafen has a population of c. 58,000.


Contents

[edit] Zeppelin

Friedrichshafen is best known for having been home to the Zeppelin airship company and the Dornier Flugzeugwerke as well as ZF Friedrichshafen AG, manufacturer of transmission systems. Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, who was born in Konstanz (Constance), originally had his airships built in a floating airship hangar on the lake which could be aligned with the wind to support the difficult starting procedure.

Visitors can learn more about the history of Zeppelin airships in the large Zeppelin Museum sited near the lakeshore. In recent years a number of small Zeppelin airships have been constructed using modern technology (Zeppelin NT) and these can be booked for sightseeing tours.

[edit] Economy

Airship construction in the first third of the 20th century attracted considerable industry and contributed significantly to Friedrichshafen's relative prosperity, yet also exposed the town to air strikes (such as Operation Bellicose) by the Allied Forces in the latter part of World War II which almost completely destroyed its historical centre. During the war, a subcamp of the Dachau concentration camp was located in the town. It provided slave labour for local industry.[1]

Apart from industry and tourism, various regular commercial exhibitions, such as Aero (aviation technology), InterBoot (water sports) and EuroBike are important economical factors. Furthermore, the Graf-Zeppelin-Haus cultural centre has become a popular location for congresses, conferences, and other events.

[edit] Transport

Map of Friedrichshafen.
Map of Friedrichshafen.

The town enjoys regular-interval train services to Lindau and Ulm, as well as to Basel in Switzerland.

A car ferry service links Friedrichshafen to Romanshorn in Switzerland, and various other towns around the lake can also be reached by ferry. Since 2005 a fast ship connection has been in service between Friedrichshafen and Konstanz. [1]

The presence of an expanding local airport which offers, amongst other services, a daily international connection to London Stansted and Dublin operated by Ryanair, and acts as the hub for airline carrier Intersky is a factor which has recently contributed to new growth in the town.

The nearest big cities are Konstanz, St. Gallen, Ravensburg, Ulm, Munich, Zurich, and Dornbirn.

[edit] Ham (Amateur) Radio

Friedrichshafen is the location for Europe's largest Hamradio convention. http://www.hamradio-friedrichshafen.de/html/en/

[edit] Miscellaneous

[edit] Partner Cities

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ www.glosk.com/GM/Linde/17283/pages/List_of_subcamps_of_Dachau/84737_en.htm

[edit] External links


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Towns and municipalities in Bodensee
Coat of arms