The island of Lindau currently has about 3,000 inhabitants on an area of 68
hectares (0.68 km²). The last official figures from the
population census of 25 May 1987 gave the population as 2755, making Lindau the second-largest
island in Lake Constance after
Reichenau in terms of area and population. For centuries, Lindau was the most populous island and it was only after the decline in population in the old town in the late 1980s that it passed the baton to Reichenau at the other end of the lake, which was six times the size and more rural in character. In the 1970 census, the island's population was still 4,413, and in 1904 as much as 5,853. The island is separated from the Lindau quarter of
Aeschach on the mainland by the
Kleiner See. The
Kleiner See is bounded in the east by the 150-metre-long Landtor Bridge (
Landtorbrücke), over which the
Chelles Allee runs, and in the west by the 410-metre-long railway causeway and covers an area of around 20 hectares. There was a bridge at this spot as early as the 13th century; by contrast the railway embankment was built in the 19th century. The railway causeway carries four tracks and has a heavily used cycleway and footpath on its eastern side. It has two bridges under which boats may pass. The railway running over the causeway from Aeschach to the island of Lindau was the last section of the
Ludwig South-North Railway, to be taken into operation. It was opened on 1 March 1854 as part of the
Buchloe–Lindau railway. The old town of Lindau, which is a listed monument, occupies the large eastern part of the island of Lindau, also known as the "main island" (
Hauptinsel). In the centre is the main street of
Maximilianstraße with the two gable fronts of the town hall on the
Reichsplatz. Parallel to
Maximilianstraße there is the
Ludwigstraße in the south and the
Grub in the north. The curvature of both roads enables the line of the medieval fortifications of the island to be seen. The smaller formerly separate island of
Hintere Insel is located west of the historical
town wall and the old moat. This rear part of the island was enlarged around 1970 by a good four hectares, by the reclamation of an area of the lake between the
Pulverschanze and the
Sternschanze. It now covers an area of eleven hectares, about one sixth of the island and is dominated by the
Lake Constance Clinic of ENT physician and cosmetic surgeon, Werner Mang. The westernmost point of the
Hintere Insel and of the whole island is marked by the 1508
Powder Tower and the former
Luitpold-Kaserne built in 1902/03. == References ==