Graf-Zeppelin-Haus

You are now standing in front of the Culture and Congress Centre Graf-Zeppelin-Haus. The Graf-Zeppelin-Haus, also knows as GZH, was named after the honorary citizen Count Zeppelin in 1985 to give thanks to him, and has since then been known outside of Friedrichshafen as an events venue with over 700 events a year.

For one event, a glider was once brought in and hung from the ceiling…at another event a real elephant was brought onto the stage…can you imagine how long it took to get rid of the smell of elephant from the GZH? But even the citizens of Friedrichshafen are very proud of their Graf-Zeppelin-Haus and use it for their own events, such as the children’s carnival ball that is celebrated here every year.

The Graf-Zeppelin-Haus is a technical masterpiece, because it has eight floors and four of those are underwater. A 26m long retaining wall separates the GZH from Lake Constance. The retaining wall is made up of 840 columns with a diameter of 80cm. Today, there is, of course, free Wi-Fi in the entire building.

The Graf-Zeppelin-Haus is not the only place where there are fun events for children. Children were considered and looked after in Friedrichshafen from an early stage. Citizens worked little by little to rebuild the city to create a good future for themselves, but mainly for children.

The “Seehasenfest” was therefore started to give the children a reason to celebrate. Ever since, every year in summer, the “Seehase” (lake rabbit) mascot – a white rabbit with black spots – is called out of Lake Constance. The whole city sings and celebrates for several days and the children of Friedrichshafen receive presents. On the final day the “Seehase” is returned into the lake, and the children start looking forward to next year. The “Seehasenfest” was the first step in bringing culture back to Friedrichshafen after the war. Concerts, plays and other events take place regularly – many of them right here in the Graf-Zeppelin-Haus. Friedrichshafen has become a real cultural city.