september 2002
Freiburg im Breisgau is located in the southwestern corner of Germany, about fifty miles across the Swiss border from Basel, around the same distance across the French border from Strasbourg. It is the historical centre of Baden Wurttemberg, Germany’s third largest state which is home to both Mercedes and Porsche. The region contains the foothills of the Alps and the source of the Danube, and the area around Freiburg has some sixty-five thousand acres given over to vineyards. The city became prosperous from the exploitation of silver mines in the surrounding Schwarzwald or Black Forest. In the mid fourteenth century the citizens purchased their autonomy from the local aristocracy and turned themselves over to the protection of the Hapsburgs who allowed them to maintain a significant degree of freedom. In 1520 the city instituted legal reforms that were unusually progressive for the times and decided against joining the Reformation which meant that it became an important centre for Catholicism. The Dutch humanist Desiderius Erasmus lived here when forced to flee Basel because of religious persecution. The city’s striking red sandstone cathedral or Munster, built during the period from 1200 to 1530, is notable for its fine tracery spire, gothic nave and gargoyles; there is a peculiar sculpture of the prince of darkness on the western porch, located at that point where natural light is weakest. The surrounding Munsterplatz, which is home to a daily farmers’ market, was flattened by wartime bombing (from which the Munster alone survived remarkably unscathed) but its handsome palaces have since been carefully restored. The blood red Kaufhaus or Merchant’s Hall still displays the Hapsburg coat of arms.
Popular opinion has it that Frieburg is the sunniest city in Germany and solar panelling is a visible feature of many homes, especially in the southern district of Vauban whose car-free neighbourhood is intended as a model of sustainable living. Germany’s Green Party has long had a stronghold here and the city is renowned for its love both of cycling and recycling. There are said to be more bicycles than residents and the commercial centre is extensively pedestrianised. It has a youthfully bohemian and culturally diverse atmosphere, and a plethora of boutique shops and cafes can be found located down the many charming alleyways off the main thoroughfares. Freiburg has been a university town since 1457; Edmund Husserl taught here and his onetime student Martin Heidegger went on to be rector. Husserl’s central claim that consciousness is essentially intentional and cannot therefore be separated from the material objects of its concern was rejected by Heidegger who believed that "the possibilities and destinies of philosophy are bound up with man's existence, and thus with temporality and historicality". At the southern end of the city centre, the Schwaben Tor, one of two surviving medieval towers, is decorated with a painting of the city’s patron saint, George, standing over his defeated dragon. East of this you can climb the Schlossberg for dramatic views out over the cityscape and across the rolling expanse of the Black Forest. The city streets are lined by peculiar rivulets, constantly flowing with water, known as bachle, which were originally used for fighting fires and refreshing livestock. Legend has it that if you step into one of these then you will marry a Freiburger.
Frankfurt am Main is the economic centre of the neighbouring state of Hessen. Whereas Freiburg opted for historical restoration after the war, Frankfurt pursued a programme of dramatic commercial reinvention and its modern skyline of high rise offices includes three of the five tallest buildings on the continent. The city today, as home to the European Central Bank, is the most important financial centre in the Eurozone but it is also renowned for spending more per year on the arts than any other city in the EU. It annually hosts an international trade fair, dating back to 1150 when visitors to the first such event were granted the privilege of imperial protection. It has also hosted a book fair every year since 1478, which today is considered the world’s most important event for the negotiation of publishing rights and licensing fees. Post war regeneration gave the city an excellent subway system and its airport is now a major international hub. The borse, or stock exchange, located to the northwest of the centre, is fronted by twin statues of a bull and a bear intended to symbolise those opposing periods of market sentiment when prices are either rising or falling faster than their historical averages. The surrounding streets are lined with expensive jewellers and designer clothes shops, upmarket delicatessens and smart cafes. The adjacent district of Kaiserstrasse, around the main train station, is home to the largest red light district in the country. Sachsenhausen, to the south, is a relaxing suburb filled with bars and restaurants, the perfect place to sample local specialities like the apfelwein cider or the ubiquitous sausage to which the city gives its name.
Frankfurt straddles the Main before it meets the Rhine and is named for the fort constructed there by Charlemagne in 794AD to protect a ford over the river. The medieval quarter of Romerberg, a low hill on which the fort was built, centres on the reconstructed town hall, notable for its distinctive triple stepped gables. The nearby cathedral of St Bartholomaus, also known as the Dom, was built during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, constructed on the foundations of an earlier church that dates from the time of the Merovingians, that Frankish dynasty preceding Charlemagne’s own Carolingians which first ruled over the territories that make up modern day France and Germany. From 855 until 1792 the cathedral was the coronation venue for the Holy Roman Empire, a confederation of catholic sovereignties that included at different times in its history the peoples of various central European and Slavic countries. After the Lombards had driven the Byzantines out of Italy and thereby threatened the position of Rome, the then Pope formed an alliance with the Franks based on a constitution whereby the Emperor would support the Pope and the Pope would entitle the Emperor. Throughout the feudalism of the middle ages the balance of power between the two waxed and waned. At the same time, the eastern patriarchs refused to accept the legitimacy of the arrangement which meant that their ideological schism with the western church became a political one as well. Frankfurt was also the birthplace and sometime home of Johann Wolfgang Goethe, one of Germany’s most influential cultural figures; his philosophy spurred on the later work of Hegel and Schopenhauer, his poetry inspired musical compositions by Listz and Mahler, and his scientific writings framed the questions to which Heisenberg in physics and Darwin in biology would subsequently address themselves.