Constance

German Konstanz, a city of Baden. It lies at the northwest end of Lake Constance at the outgo of the Rhine. Constance is an old city. In the sixth century it became the seat of a bishopric, which was suppressed in 1802. Constance was a free town of the empire down to 1548. After the Reformation it was subject to Austria; since 1805 it has been a town of Baden. Population, 17,000. There are cotton mills and important manufactories of chemicals and carpets. There is frequent steamship service between Constance and other lake ports. There are several lines of railway. Constance is the center of considerable trade. The city is situated beautifully on the immediate shore of the lake. Interest centers in the old buildings. The surrounding scenery is beautiful. Ranges of the Alps are in full view, but interest centers in historical buildings. The cathedral is a Romanesque edifice with a Gothic tower. An open spire, provided with a platform, gives the climber a broad view of the town and lake. A town hall, ornamented with frescoes relating to the history of Constance, contains the municipal archives. Among other municipal documents there are 2,800 charters of the Reformation period. The museum, an old guild house of the butchers, contains a collection of lake antiquities and specimens of natural history. The Kaufhaus, or Merchants' Hall, was erected in 1388. It contains a large hall, 156 feet long and 105 feet wide, where the great Council of Constance met, 1414-1418. The house in which Huss was arrested is marked by a portrait tablet. The room in which he was confined is pointed out in the old Dominican monastery now converted partly into a hotel. A large stone slab in the floor, fifty feet from the entrance of the cathedral just mentioned, contains a white spot which always remains dry when the rest is damp. Tradition claims that this is where Huss stood when sentenced by the council. A large boulder with inscriptions marks the spot where Huss and Jerome suffered martyrdom.