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Konstanz

BadenFormer states and territories of Baden-WürttembergFree imperial citiesGermany–Switzerland border crossingsKonstanz (district)
Pages including recorded pronunciationsPages with Alemannic German IPAPages with German IPAPopulated places on Lake ConstancePopulated places on the RhineTowns in Baden-Württemberg
Rheintorturm in Konstanz
Rheintorturm in Konstanz

Konstanz ( KON-stənts, US also KAWN-stahnts, German: [ˈkɔnstants] , locally [ˈkɔnʃtants] , Alemannic German: [ˈkoʃd̥əts, ˈxoʃd̥əts]), also known as Constance in English, is a university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the south of Germany. The city houses the University of Konstanz and was the residence of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Konstanz for more than 1,200 years.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Konstanz (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Konstanz
Seestraße, Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Konstanz

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 47.666666666667 ° E 9.1833333333333 °
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Address

Seestraße 13a
78464 Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Konstanz, Konstanz-Petershausen-Ost
Baden-Württemberg, Germany
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Rheintorturm in Konstanz
Rheintorturm in Konstanz
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Imperia (statue)
Imperia (statue)

Imperia is a statue at the entrance of the harbour of Konstanz, Germany, commemorating the Council of Constance that took place there between 1414 and 1418. The concrete statue is 9 metres (30 ft) high, weighs 18 tonnes (18 long tons; 20 short tons), and stands on a pedestal that rotates around its axis once every four minutes. It was created by Peter Lenk and clandestinely erected in 1993. The erection of the statue caused controversy, but it was on the private property of a rail company that did not object to its presence. Eventually, it became a widely-known landmark of Konstanz.Imperia shows a woman holding two men on her hands. Although the two men resemble Pope Martin V (elected during the council) and Emperor Sigismund (who called the council), and they wear the papal tiara and imperial crown, Lenk has stated that these figures "are not the Pope and not the Emperor, but fools who have acquired the insignia of secular and spiritual power. And to what extent the real popes and emperors were also fools, I leave to the historical education of the viewer."The statue refers to a short story by Balzac, "La Belle Impéria". The story is a harsh satire of the Catholic clergy's morals, where Imperia seduces cardinals and princes at the Council of Constance and has power over them all. The historical Imperia that served as the source material of Balzac's story was a well-educated Italian courtesan who died in 1512, nearly 100 years after the council, and never visited Konstanz.

Council of Constance

The Council of Constance (Latin: Concilium Constantiense; German: Konzil von Konstanz) was an ecumenical council of the Catholic Church that was held from 1414 to 1418 in the Bishopric of Constance (Konstanz) in present-day Germany. The council ended the Western Schism by deposing or accepting the resignation of the remaining papal claimants and by electing Pope Martin V. It was the last papal election to take place outside of Italy. The council also condemned Jan Hus as a heretic and facilitated his execution by the civil authority, and ruled on issues of national sovereignty, the rights of pagans and just war, in response to a conflict between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Kingdom of Poland and the Order of the Teutonic Knights. The council is also important for its role in the debates over ecclesial conciliarism and papal supremacy. Constance issued two particularly significant decrees regarding the constitution of the Catholic Church: Haec sancta (1415), which asserted the superiority of ecumenical councils over popes in at least certain situations, and Frequens (1417), which provided for councils to be held automatically every ten years. The status of these decrees proved controversial in the centuries after the council, and Frequens was never put into practice. Though Haec sancta, at least, continued to be accepted as binding by much of the church up to the 19th century, present-day Catholic theologians generally regard these decrees as either invalid or as practical responses to a particular situation without wider implications.