Bremen (city)

Bremen is a city in northern Germany (official name: Freie Hansestadt Bremen¹ (Free Hanseatic City of Bremen), referring to its membership in the medieval Hanseatic League). It is a port city, situated along the river Weser, about 50 km south from its outflow into the North Sea. Bremen is one of two towns belonging to the state of Bremen, the other being Bremerhaven. Population: 545,983 (1st June 2005).The metropolitan area (Bremen-Oldenburg) has a population more than 2,37 million.

Politics

The Bürgerschaft (city assembly) is the parliament of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (official name, German: Freie Hansestadt Bremen), which is voted for by the citizens of Bremen every four years.

One of the two mayors (Bürgermeister) is elected President of the Senate (Präsident des Senats) and serves as head of the city state. The current President of the Senate of Bremen is Jens Böhrnsen.

History

In the 8th century the troops of Charlemagne advanced to the Weser in order to christianise the tribes settling here. Bremen, which may have been an older settlement, became a bishopric²; a deed claiming the town's foundation in 788 has now been recognised as a forgery, so the exact date is unknown. In the following centuries the bishops of Bremen were the driving force behind the Christianisation of Scandinavia.

In the 12th century the power of the archbishops was challenged by Henry the Lion. The duke was successful and became the factual ruler of the town. These events led to a civil government and a loss of clerical power. Bremen became a merchants' town, and its ships dominated the southern portions of the North Sea. This dominance ended when the Hanseatic League, originally a trade alliance of the Baltic Sea only, expanded to the North Sea. In the early 14th century ships from Bremen acted as pirates to board hanseatic cogs. In order to avoid open war aldermen from Bremen went to the Hanseatic Council in Lübeck and agreed to becoming members of the league (1358)³.

Bremen remained a reluctant member of the Hanseatic League. The town demanded support for its wars against the chieftains of Frisia, who ruled the region around the Weser mouth, but they seldom joined campaigns in the Baltic Sea. In 1425 the conflict escalated, when the citizens burnt hanseatic documents in the market place. Bremen was expelled from the league in 1427. The consequences followed soon: the sudden loss of power led to territorial claims of neighbouring states (e.g. Oldenburg) and significant territorial losses.

In 1620 Germany's first man-made harbour was built at Vegesack. ⁶

On March 6, 1901 an assassin attempted to kill Wilhelm II of Germany here.

After World War II, Bremen became a part of the American occupation zone since the USA wanted to have one port town within their zone. This prevented the inclusion of Bremen into the new Land of Lower Saxony that was formed around it within the British zone, and secured Bremen independence as a Federal State in its own right in the new West German federation.

Historical population

1810: 35,800 inhabitants

1830: 43,700

1850: 55,100

1880: 111,900

1900: 161,200

1925: 295,000

1998: 550,000 ⁴

Sights

Many of the sights in Bremen are found in the Altstadt (Old Town), an oval area surrounded by the Weser River, on the southwest, and the Stadtgraben, the former moats of the medieval city walls, on the northeast. The oldest part of the Altstadt is the southeast half, starting with the Marktplatz and ending at the Schnoor district.

The Marktplatz (Market square) is dominated by the opulent façade of the Town Hall. The building was erected between 1405 and 1410 in Gothic style, but the façade was built two centuries later (1609-12), in Renaissance style.

In front of the Town Hall stand two famous statues: one is the statue (1404) of the city's protector, Roland, bearing the "sword of justice" and a shield decorated with an imperial eagle. The other is Gerhard Marcks's famous 1953 bronze sculpture Die Stadtmusikanten (Town Musicians) which portrays the donkey, dog, cat, and rooster of the Grimm Brothers' fairy tale.

Other interesting buildings in the vicinity of the Marktplatz are the Schütting, a 16th-century Flemish-inspired guild hall, and the Stadtwaage, the former weighing house (built in 1588), with an ornate Renaissance façade.

The impressive Cathedral St. Petri (13th century), to the east of the Marktplatz, with sculptures of Moses and David, Peter and Paul, and Charlemagne.

The Liebfrauenkirche (Our Lady's Church) is the oldest church of the town (11th century). Its crypt features several impressive murals from the 14th century.

Off the south side of the Markplatz, the 110-metre (120 yards) Böttcherstraße was transformed in 1923-1931 by the coffee Magnate Ludwig Roselius, who commissioned local artists to convert the narrow street (in medieval time, the street of the barrel makers) into an inspired mixture of Gothic and Art Nouveau. Today, the street is one of Bremen's most popular attractions.

At the end of Böttcherstraße, by the Weser bank, stands the Martinikirche (St Martin's Church), a Gothic brick church built in 1229, and rebuilt in 1960 after its destruction in World War II.

Tucked away between the Cathedral and the river is the Schnoor, a small, well-preserved area of crooked lanes and fishing houses from the 15th and 16th centuries, now occupied by cafés, artisan shops and art galleries.

Schlachte, the medieval harbour of Bremen (the modern port is some kilometres downstream) and today a street with one pub/bar next to the other on the one side and on the other side the river Weser.

More contemporary tourist attractions include:

Universum Science Center, a modern science museum
botanika, an extension to a public park that attempts to the same as above Universum for biology
Beck's Beer Factory, tours are available to the public which include beer tasting
The Space Center opened in 2004 inside the Space Park in the Gröpelingen district and closed on 2004 26 September, since then a remarkable, and typical for the local government, investment ruin.
The Kunsthalle Bremen, an art museum with paintings from the 19th and 20th century
The Neues Museum Weserburg, an art museum with modern paintings and sculptures

Constructions

Sister City

Bremen's Sister Cities are

Gdańsk (Poland), since 1976 Riga (Latvia), since 1985 Dalian (China), since 1985

Rostock (Germany) since 1987 Haifa (Israel), since 1988 Bratislava (Slovakia), since 1989

Corinto (Nicaragua), since 1989 İzmir (Turkey), since 1995 Yokohama (Japan), since 2001 Pune (India)

Miscellaneous

Bremen has a large and famous university founded in 1971 ⁵, the more practice-related University of Applied Sciences (earliest predecessor founded in 1799) more recently the International University Bremen, and several high-tech industries have settled in the city. Many of Germany's space technology exports are manufactured in EADS SPACE Transportation facilities in Bremen, such as the Columbus module of the International Space Station, Europe's Ariane 5 rocket upper stages and the Automated Transfer Vehicle. Furthermore, Bremen is the home of the second biggest Airbus plant of Germany, producing wing equipment for the A300/A310, A330/A340 and A380 families of aircraft. There is also a Mercedes-Benz factory in Bremen, building the C, CLK, SL, and SLK series of cars. Beck's beer is brewed in Bremen.

Bremen has an international airport situated in the south of the city (ICAO code: EDDW / IATA code: BRE).

It is home of the football team SV Werder Bremen which won the German Football Championship for the fourth and the German Football Cup for the fifth time in 2004, making SV Werder Bremen just the fourth team in German football history to win the double.

Bremen is famous for a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, the Town Musicians of Bremen, although they never actually reach Bremen in the tale.

Every year since 1036 in the last two weeks of October Bremen hosts Freimarkt ("Free market"), one of the world's oldest and in Germany one of today's biggest continuously celebrated fairground festivals.

Bremen is also host to one of the four big annual Techno parades, the Vision Parade, and also the birthplace of the American comedic industrial musician Kompressor.

The city was also host to the 2004 Choir Olympics.

In October-November 2005, Bremen hosted the 14th ACM Conference on Information and Knowledge Management (CIKM ^*)

Bremen is the birthplace of entertainer Hans-Joachim Kulenkampff, actors Ben Becker and Meret Becker, singer, songwriter (current Band: Element of Crime), and novelist Sven Regener, and more celebrities.

Gallery

image:bremen.rathaus.750pix.jpg|The city hall (Rathaus) image:bremen.square.750pix.jpg|The main square (Market Square) image:bremen.cathedral.500pix.jpg|The cathedral of Saint Petri in Market Square image:bremen.pigs.750pix.jpg|Swineherd and pigs sculpture in Bremen Image:weserhb.jpg|The Weser River in Bremen Image:Bremen-4muscians.jpg|The Four Musicians of Bremen Image:Bremen-Roland.jpg|The Statue of Roland Image:Bremen-Becks_Brewery.jpg|Beck & Co Image:Bremen-Böttcherstraße-wall.jpg|A building on Böttcherstraße Street Image:Bremen_Böttcherstraße_Street_Statues.jpg|Statues in a wall on Böttcherstraße Street Image:Bremenbank.jpg|Bremen Bank Image:Bremen Windmill.jpg|Windmill near the Am Wall Image:Bremen Townhall Whalejaws.jpg|Jaws of a whale inside city hall

External links

Official city website
Official visitors information (various languages)
University of Bremen
Hochschule or University of applied sciences
International University Bremen
City Panoramas Bremen - Panoramic Views of Bremen's Highlights
Freimarkt website
photographs from Bremen
Images from Bremen

History links

http://www.genealogy.net/reg/BRE (Genealogical research in Bremen)
http://www.schiffslisten.de (Database: Emigration via Bremen Ports 1920 - 1939)
http://maus.genealogy.net (Die MAUS - Genealogical society of Bremen)
http://www.historic.de (Military History of Bremen 1933-1945)
Map of Lower Saxony in 1789

References

page 64

Footnotes

¹ Kohl since 1815
² Kohl claims the Bishopric was created in 787
³ Kohl
⁴ Kohl population of around 550,000 in 1998 includes 25,000 students
⁵ Kohl

Bremen | Cities in Germany | German state capitals | Hanseatic League | World Heritage Sites in Germany

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