District No. 424

Unterwiehre-Süd

The largest Wiehre district - Lorettoberg hill, the Loretto lido, the Sternwald forest with its Water Castle. Where the Wiehre gives way to the woods.

Unterwiehre-Süd is the southernmost sub-district of the Wiehre, number 424 in Freiburg's district system. It is shaped by the wooded Lorettoberg hill - locally nicknamed the "Josephsbergle" - whose summit reaches about 384 meters and which separates the Wiehre from the Vauban district and the town of Merzhausen. To the east the area extends to the tracks of the Höllental railway; to the west it takes in the Sternwald as a large inner-city recreation area. This position between forest and railway makes Unterwiehre-Süd one of the quietest residential quarters in the Wiehre, with direct access to hiking and jogging trails and playgrounds at the forest edge.

The Lorettoberg is home to several well-known destinations: the Loretto Chapel, endowed by Freiburg citizens in 1657; the Hilda Tower, built in 1886 for the wedding of the future Grand Duchess Hilda; and the Art Nouveau Schloss-Café from 1902. In the Sternwald above the quarter stands Freiburg's Water Castle, a drinking-water reservoir from 1895/96 whose façade echoes the Freiburg city seal of 1245 and which still supplies parts of the city today.

The best-known landmark at the foot of the Lorettoberg is the Loretto lido. Opened in 1841, it is considered Germany's oldest family outdoor pool and includes a women's bath added around 1886 - the only remaining women-only outdoor pool in the country. Unterwiehre-Süd is served in part by tram lines 3 and 5.