Freiburg im Breisgau

Sister cities

• Lviv
• Granada

History

Freiburg was founded by Konrad and Duke Berthold III of the House of Zähringen in 1120 as a free market town; hence its name, which translates to "free (or independent) town". Frei means "free", and Burg, like the modern English word "borough", was used in those days for an incorporated city or town, usually one with some degree of autonomy. The German word Burg also means "a fortified town", as in Hamburg. Thus, it is likely that the name of this place means a "fortified town of free citizens". This town was strategically located at a junction of trade routes between the Mediterranean Sea and the North Sea regions, and the Rhine and Danube rivers. In 1200, Freiburg's population numbered approximately 6,000 people. At about that time, under the rule of Bertold V, the last duke of Zähringen, the town began construction of its Freiburg Minster on the site of an older parish church. In August 1644, it was the site of the Battle of Freiburg, said to be the bloodiest battle of the war in terms of percentage of casualties. Between 1648 and 1805, when the town was not under French occupation, it was the administrative headquarters of Further Austria, the Habsburg territories in southwest Germany. In 1805 the town, together with the Breisgau and Ortenau areas, became part of Baden. In 1828, after the Archdiocese of Freiburg was founded, Freiburg became seat of a Catholic archbishop. Freiburg was heavily bombed during World War II. In May 1940, aircraft of the Luftwaffe mistakenly dropped approximately 60 bombs on Freiburg near the railway station, killing 57 people, most of them civilians and including 22 children. This was reported by the official German news agency as an attack by the Western Allies, and retaliation against them was threatened. The Freiburg police…

Geography

Freiburg is bordered by the Black Forest mountains Rosskopf and Bromberg to the east, Schönberg and Tuniberg to the south, with the Kaiserstuhl hill region to the west. The Köppen climate classification classifies Freiburg's climate as temperate oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb; Trewartha: Dobk). Thus, July and August are, along with Karlsruhe, the warmest within Germany. Winters are moderate but usually with some frosts at night. More year-round rain occurs here than in the Rhine plateau. The city is close to the Kaiserstuhl, a range of hills of volcanic origin located a few kilometers away, which is one of the warmest places in Germany and therefore considered as a viticultural area. The Freiburg im Breisgau weather station has recorded the following extreme values: | source 2 = Weatheronline.de, Meteociel.fr, weather-atlas, and wetterdienst | source = }}

Most-observed species

• Zoropsid spider

  Zoropsis spinimana (Dufour, 1820) · Arachnida
  4,722
• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  4,085
• Great Tit

  Parus major Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  3,525
• Carrion Crow

  Corvus corone Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  3,257
• Common Chaffinch

  Fringilla coelebs Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  2,968
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,867
• Eurasian Blue Tit

  Cyanistes caeruleus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,764
• Common Buzzard

  Buteo buteo (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,610

Most recent

• M 3.5 — 2024-06-27
  1 km SSW of Todtmoos, Germany
• M 3.4 — 2022-10-16
  Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany
• M 3.9 — 2022-09-10
  1 km WSW of Zimmersheim, France
• M 4 — 2022-07-09
  2 km NNE of Grosselfingen, Germany
• M 4.1 — 2021-06-26
  2 km SE of Hœrdt, France
• M 3.1 — 2018-05-04
  2 km W of Schliengen, Germany