In Konstanz, Flemming and I stayed in an appartment in this building, somewhere on the top floor:
The building was quite unique and has an eventful history. First it was a Roman fort on that hill, later – in the early Middle ages – a cemetery chapel was built there. In the 10th century, a parish church was founded in that place, dedicated to St. Johann. In 1266, a monastery was attached to the church, and it existed for 500 years.
The St. Johann church of Konstanz is known as one of the starting points of the Reformation. When the plaque raged in the city in 1519, Jakob Windner, the pastor of St. Johann, stayed in Konstanz and critisized the church authorities. He took up the theses of Martin Luther and contributed to establishing of Reformation in Konstanz.
In 1818 St Johann was sold to the master brewerer Nikolaus Barxel for demolition. He only partially fulfilled the order, had the tower demolished, but built there a new brewery and used a nave as a stable and barn. This less ceremonial use came to an end in 1889, when St. Johann was converted into a Catholic parish. Since 2021, St. Johann has had a new owner and has become a coworking space, cultural and innovation centre of Konstanz. The new owners refurbished a part of the building as apartments for rent, and we stayed in one of them.
Every time Flemming and I would go out of our “home”, the first thing we saw, was that magnificent Konstanz Cathedral:
On the square, there were restaurants, cafes, shops. The old town is permanently closed for traffic, we didn’t see even a single car during our stay in Altstadt Konstanz (except taxi). It was very pleasant to be a tourist there, but we wondered what the locals did when they had to carry heavy things.
It was our last full day in Konstanz, the weather was warm and sunny, and we enjoyed a cup of coffee on the square. I got my favourite Turkish coffee which was excellent:
The area where we stayed was called Niederburg, and was characterised by narrow, winding streets and houses from the Middle Ages. We walked through the maze of streets of Niederburg and admired the old houses that often had names and dates on. However, sometimes we questionned the dates. On the door on the photo below the date is 1322 – can that really be true? And if yes, how much is left from that time?
Nevertheless, Niederburg was charming, and we loved its narrow cobblestone streets.
In the afternoon, Flemming and I went to a concert, Stabat Mater by Dvořák in a local church.
The concert was outstanding, and there were long well-deserved standing ovations in the end.
It was warm and sunny, but misty – we didn’t really get the blue skies.
Many people were out on a stroll or having a glass of wine. It was very nice to have this time off and do nothing.
As the sun was setting down, it became cool, and we went home. The view from our bedroom with a bit of sunset light:
In the evening, there was time left to read a book – “The Archer” by Paulo Coelho:
Next morning Flemming and I were going to leave Konstanz. We had a very nice stay there and wanted to come back.