BREGENZ

town, capital of Bundesland (federal province) Vorarlberg, western Austria, on the eastern shore of Lake Constance (Bodensee). The town lies at the foot of the Pfnder Mountain (3,487 ft ; ascended by suspension railway). Inhabited in prehistoric times, it was later the site of a Celtic settlement and then of a Roman camp (Brigantium). Settled by the Alemanni, a Germanic people, in the 6th century, it was ruled by the counts of Bregenz until 1206, when it passed to the counts of Montfort. It had been chartered in 1200 and was sold in 1451 and 1523 to the Habsburgs, who made it one of their principal seats after 1726. The state museum has Celtic and Roman collections, and remains of the 13th-century town walls still stand. Other notable historical landmarks include the medieval Martins-Turm with St. Martin's Chapel (136266), the Gothic parish church (1097; most recent reconstruction 1738), the Gothic Seekapelle (altered 169698), and the old town hall (1511). Bregenz is a tourist centre with winter and summer sports facilities and the site of a summer arts festival by the lake, with a special stage measuring 361 ft by 984 ft and a dais for 6,300 spectators, the largest of its kind in Europe. Bregenz manufactures textiles, electrical goods, chemicals, and machinery and is served by a large hydropower plant nearby. Pop. (1981) 24,683.