Landshut is an independent city in Germany in south-eastern
Bavaria. It is the seat of the government of Lower Bavaria and the
Lower Bavaria district of the same name, as well as the
administrative seat of the Landshut district. With 75,457
inhabitants, Landshut is the largest city in Lower Bavaria before
Passau and the second largest city in East Bavaria after Regensburg.
In a Bavaria-wide comparison of population figures, it ranks 10th
after Bamberg (as of December 31, 2022). The regional center on the
Isar is the north-eastern focal point of the Munich metropolitan
region.
The place “Landeshuata” (“Landeshut” for “guard and
protection of the country”) was mentioned in documents as early as
1150, and in 1204 the town and Trausnitz Castle were officially
founded by the Bavarian Duke Ludwig I. In the late Middle Ages, the
city was one of the capitals of the Bavarian duchies along with
Munich, Straubing and Ingolstadt, which is reflected in the
architecture to this day. As the capital of the part-duchy of
Bavaria-Landshut, the city experienced its heyday in the 14th and
15th centuries. The magnificent Landshut Wedding is a historical
event in the city, at which the marriage of the Bavarian Duke George
the Rich in 1475 to the Polish king's daughter Hedwig has been
reenacted since 1903.
Landshut's valuable Gothic and
Renaissance cityscape with many monuments and pre-industrial
building ensembles is of great cultural and historical importance on
a Central European scale. Landshut's old town is considered one of
the most important and best-preserved historic city centers in
Germany in terms of architectural culture and has already been
nominated for World Heritage status. At 130 meters, the Gothic tower
of the Martinskirche is the thirteenth tallest church tower and the
tallest church tower made of brick in the world. The Stadtresidenz
Landshut is one of the first Renaissance buildings north of the
Alps.
After Landshut was home to the Ludwig Maximilian
University from 1800 to 1826, Landshut has been a university town
again since the Landshut University of Applied Sciences was founded
in 1978. Landshut is one of the economically strongest and most
affluent municipalities in Germany, the most important for the
processing industry are the nearby BMW plant Landshut-Ergolding, the
world market leader in ventilation and drive technology ebm-papst,
the glass company Schott AG and the rusk manufacturer Brandt. The
service sector is also important, with locations of the energy
company E.ON, Sparkasse Landshut, Deutsche Telekom and other
providers. With the Landshut trade fair, it is also a national trade
fair location. Traditional breweries in the city are the Landshuter
Brauhaus from 1493 and the C. Wittmann brewery from 1616.
By plane
Munich Airport (IATA: MUC) is about 40 km from Landshut
and can be easily reached via the A 92 motorway. There is also a bus
service between the airport and the city, the so-called Airport Line. In
modern coaches, it takes about 40 minutes to travel from the stop in the
central area of the airport via the Moosburg-Nord, Landshut-Münchnerau,
Landshut Hauptbahnhof stop to the Landshut Altstadt stop. Buses run
every hour except late at night, with some buses only going to/from
Central Station. The Moosburg-Nord stop is a request stop. When you're
on the bus, tell the driver that he's stopping. If you want to get on,
you have to call 0871/1436-2706 beforehand and register there. A single
trip costs €10 for adults. There are cheaper tickets for families and
frequent travelers.
Landshut also has an airfield (EDML) that can
be used by aircraft up to 5.7 tons. This is located in the district of
Ellermühle, almost 10 km west of the city centre
By train
Landshut main station (Bahnhofplatz 1) is located about 1.5km northwest
of the historic old town. It is served daily by around 120 regional
trains. There are regular connections to Freising, Ingolstadt, Munich,
Nuremberg, Passau, Regensburg, Rosenheim and Salzburg. The important
connection to Munich is served twice an hour by a regional express,
which takes about 45 minutes to get to the state capital.
Landshut Süd station (Pettenkoferstraße 1) is located about 1.5 km
south-west of the historic old town. It is approached every hour by
regional trains that run between Landshut and Salzburg. The journey to
Salzburg takes about two hours (with a 15-minute stopover in Mühldorf).
By bus
Landshut can usually be reached daily from the surrounding
communities by a few regional bus connections (RBO).
In the
street
Landshut is on the A 92, which has only been fully passable
since 1988 and connects Munich with Deggendorf at the foot of the
Bavarian Forest.
In addition, the following federal roads lead
to/via Landshut:
B 11 Munich-Freising-Landshut
B 15
Regensburg-Landshut-Rosenheim
B 299 Mühldorf am Inn-Landshut-Neumarkt
The B 15 is to be completely rebuilt as a four-lane expressway. This
construction has now been completed from the A 93 near Saalhaupt
(approx. 15km south of Regensburg) to Ergoldsbach (approx. 20km north of
Landshut) and will in future be used between the junctions
Landshut-Essenbach and Wörth a.d. Isar meet the A92. In the long term, a
continuation beyond Landshut is also planned. This so-called B 15 new
should first cross the A 94 near Schwindegg (approx. 50 km east of
Munich) and then flow into the A 8 near Rosenheim.
city bus
Stadtwerke Landshut offers a very good bus network with
14 different lines (the city lines). The buses usually run every 30
minutes and stop very frequently. The main bus hubs are the main train
station and the old town. Both are frequently served by almost all
changing lines. It is generally not permitted to take bicycles with you.
A somewhat slimmed-down nighttime timetable with ten lines (the
evening lines) also makes it possible to reach many destinations at a
later hour. There are special timetables during the Dult (the regional
folk festival) or the Landshut Wedding. Sometimes the passengers are
slightly to heavily intoxicated at a later hour.
At peak times,
five additional lines (the express lines) with fewer stops and changed
routes run to relieve the cramped space situation in the city buses.
The 14 city lines in detail:
Line 1: Preisenberg/Kumhausen -
Ländtorplatz/Stadttheater - Luitpoldstraße - Hauptbahnhof - Nordfriedhof
- Altdorf/Kleinfeld
Line 2: Altstadt - Josef-Deimer-Tunnel -
Ländtorplatz/Stadttheater - Luitpoldstraße - Klinikum - Hauptbahnhof -
Industriegebiet - Ergolding
Line 3: Auloh - exhibition center -
Niedermayerstraße - old town - Seligenthaler Straße - main station -
Wolfgangsiedlung
Line 4: Ländtorplatz/Stadttheater -
Klötzlmüllerstraße - Bannwallstraße - Querstraße - Löschbrand
Line 5:
Old Town - Main Cemetery - Moniberg - Old Barracks (- Schweinbach)
Line 6: Auwaldsiedlung - Altstadt - Seligenthaler Straße - Hauptbahnhof
- Wolfgangsiedlung - Altdorf - Eugenbach
Line 7: Mitterwöhr - old
town - main cemetery - Hagrain - Hofberg - Achdorf - upper old town
Line 7A: Old town - main cemetery - Hagrain - Berggrub/JVA
Line 8:
main station - settlement North Wolfgang - Altdorf - Eugenbach
Line
9: Altstadt - Seligenthaler Straße - Hauptbahnhof - Rennweg - Landshut
Park - Münchnerau - Gündlkoferau
Line 10: Metzental - Klausenberg -
Ländtorplatz/Stadttheater - Luitpoldstraße - Sportzentrum
West/Protestant nursing home
Line 11: Piflaser Weg - Am Alten
Viehmarkt/CCL - Seligenthaler Straße - Hauptbahnhof - Rupprechtstraße -
Querstraße - Landshut Park
Line 12: Altstadt - Stethaimer Straße -
Piflas - Ergolding
Line 14: Old Town - Niedermayerstraße - Exhibition
Center - Gretlmühle - Wolfsteinerau/Frauenberg
The ten evening
lines in detail:
Line 101: Main station - Luitpoldstraße -
Ländtorplatz/Stadttheater - Achdorf - Kumhausen
Line 102: Altstadt -
Josef-Deimer-Tunnel - Ländtorplatz/Stadttheater - Luitpoldstraße -
Hauptbahnhof - industrial area (- Piflas) - Ergolding
Line 103:
Wolfgangsiedlung - main station - Seligenthaler Straße - old town -
Niedermayerstraße - exhibition center - Auloh (- Frauenberg)
Line
104: Central Station - Rupprechtstraße - Querstraße (- Bannwallstraße) -
Klötzlmüllerstraße - Ländtorplatz/Stadttheater
Line 105: Central
Station - Seligenthaler Strasse - Old Town - Main Cemetery - Moniberg -
Niedermayerstrasse - Old Town
Line 106: Old Town - Am Alten
Viehmarkt/CCL - Mitterwöhr - Auwaldsiedlung (- Exhibition Center -
Schweinbach)
Line 107: Old Town - Main Cemetery - Hagrain - Hofberg -
Achdorf - Josef-Deimer-Tunnel - Old Town
Line 108: Altstadt -
Seligenthaler Straße - Hauptbahnhof - Wolfgangsiedlung - Altdorf -
Eugenbach
Line 109: Am Alten Viehmarkt/CCL - Altstadt - Seligenthaler
Straße - Hauptbahnhof - Oberndorfer Straße - Löschbrand - Münchnerau -
Gündlkoferau - Münchnerau - Querstraße - Rupprechtstraße - Hauptbahnhof
- Seligenthaler Straße - Am Alten Viehmarkt/CCL
Line 110:
Ländtorplatz/Stadttheater - Klausenberg - Metzental - Südbahnhof -
Ländtorplatz/Stadttheater
The 5 express lines in detail:
Line
X2: Ergolding - Piflas - Hauptbahnhof
Line X3: Auloh - Exhibition
Center - Auwaldsiedlung - Mitterwöhr - Seligenthaler Straße -
Hauptbahnhof
Line X6: Eugenbach - Altdorf - Oberndorfer Straße -
Hauptbahnhof
Line X10: Metzental - Klausenberg -
Ländtorplatz/Stadttheater - Luitpoldstraße - Hauptbahnhof
Line X33:
University - Exhibition Center - Niedermayerstraße - Seligenthaler
Straße - Hauptbahnhof
The timetables for the individual lines can be
downloaded in PDF format from the Stadtwerke website.
RBO
For
longer distances, the route of the Verkehrsgesellschaft Regionalbus
Ostbayern (RBO) is recommended. Most lines start from Landshut main
station. During the Dult (the regional folk festival) or the Landshut
Wedding, there are often special trips by private providers. Sometimes
the passengers are slightly to heavily intoxicated at a later hour.
With the RBO buses, all communities in the Landkreis district
(radius of 30 to 40 kilometers) as well as surrounding communities from
the neighboring counties can be reached from Landshut. However, the RBO
timetables are not regular-interval timetables, as the capacity
utilization is too low. Usually only a few trips are offered daily.
Parking facilities
Long-term parking
Grieserwiese: on
Wittstraße, approx. 1300 parking spaces, parking in the asphalted area
near the city is subject to a charge (1€/day), in the gravel area free
of charge, approx. 5 minutes on foot to the pedestrian zone (closed to
the Dult)
Sparkassen-Arena (at the exhibition center): on
Niedermayerstraße, approx. 800 free P+R parking spaces (with the city
bus line 3 every 30 minutes to the old town)
Main station: on
Oberndorfer Straße, 628 free commuter parking spaces
Short-term/day parkers
parking garages
Center/Mühleninsel: approx.
300 paid parking spaces (first 30 minutes free), open daily until 6 a.m.
to midnight (Friday and Saturday until 2 a.m., Sunday from 8 a.m.),
during the day €1.80 per hour, 5 minutes’ walk to the pedestrian zone
Freyung/Gestütstraße: 189 paid parking spaces, only open during the day,
only open on Sundays for special events (Christmas market, Haferl
market, Landshut wedding), €0.60 per hour, in the immediate vicinity of
the judicial authorities and the tax office, 10 minutes' walk to the
pedestrian zone
Karstadt-Oberpaur/Wittstraße: approx. 550 paid
parking spaces, open 24 hours, max. €1.50 per hour (parking fee
reimbursement for some shops in the city centre), 2 minutes' walk to the
old town
City Center Landshut (CCL): on Podewilsstraße, approx. 600
paid parking spaces (first hour free during the day), open 24 hours,
€2.00 per hour, directly in the CCL shopping center, 5 minutes' walk to
the pedestrian zone
Sparkasse Landshut: on Bischof-Sailer-Platz,
approx. 100 paid parking spaces, only open during the day, €1.60 per
hour (discounted for Sparkasse Landshut customers), entry only with EC
card, 5 minutes’ walk to the pedestrian zone
parking spaces
Neustadt: 209 paid parking spaces, €1.20 per hour, 3 minutes' walk to
the pedestrian zone
Postplatz: 24 paid parking spaces, €1.20 per
hour, 5 minutes' walk to the pedestrian zone
Mühlenstraße: approx. 70
paid parking spaces, 5 minutes' walk to the pedestrian zone
Trinity
Square: approx. 75 paid parking spaces, €1.20 per hour, 2 minutes' walk
to the pedestrian zone
Zeughaus/Ringelstecherwiese: on Wittstraße,
paid parking, €1.20 per hour, 3 minutes' walk to the pedestrian zone
(closed for the Landshut Wedding)
The Landshut parish and collegiate church of St. Martin and Kastulus
(Basilica minor) is the main church in Landshut and is centrally located
(and visible from afar) in the middle of the old town. It was started by
master builder Hans Krumenauer around 1385 as a hall church and
completed around 1500 with the significant participation of Hans von
Burghausen. With its extraordinary, excessively vertical architecture,
in which elements of high and late Gothic are combined, the
Martinskirche is one of the most important monumental Gothic buildings
in southern Germany. At 130.6 meters, the tower is the tallest brick
tower in the world and the tallest church tower in Bavaria.
The
Spitalkirche Heilig-Geist is a side church of the parish of St. Martin.
It is located almost directly on the banks of the Great Isar and forms
the end of the old town to the north. Directly opposite the church is
the Heilig-Geist-Spital, which - founded in 1208 - has a close
historical connection with the Heilig-Geist-Kirche. This was built in
the Gothic style between 1407 and 1461 according to the plans of Hans
von Burghausen. After the master builder died in 1432, Hans Stethaimer,
after whom an important street in Landshut is named, took over the
construction work. The tower was originally supposed to be even higher
than the Martinsturm, but this was not realized by Stethaimer for cost
reasons. In contrast to the architectural style, the interior was
designed in the Baroque style (much later), but was replaced by
neo-Gothic elements at the end of the 19th century. After extensive
renovations in 1961 and 1998, very little of these remains today. Damage
from the Second World War was also repaired during these renovation
measures. Today, the Heilig-Geist-Kirche hosts exhibitions from time to
time, since only a few services are held here.
The parish church
of St. Jodok is the second oldest parish church in Landshut after the
Martinskirche (founded in 1369). It was commissioned by Duke Heinrich
XIV for the newly founded district of Freyung in 1338. The Jodokskirche
was built in the Gothic style between the second half of the 14th
century and the end of the 16th century. The construction work was set
back decades by the fire of 1402, which led to a redesign of the
architecture. The ceiling construction was redesigned and the two side
chapels were built. The interior was completely redesigned in the
mid-19th century, and the last renovation dates from the 1990s. At 77
meters, the tower of the Jodokskirche is the second highest tower in
Landshut after that of the Martinskirche.
The parish church of
St. Nikola also has a long history. As early as 1157, almost 50 years
before Landshut was founded, St. Nikola was founded as a subsidiary
church of the neighboring town of Ergolding. In 1232 the Nikolakirche
was attached to the already existing Cistercian monastery in
Seligenthal. Towards the end of the Second World War, the church was
badly damaged and only provisionally restored. After the foundation,
which was built on piles, threatened to collapse due to the
ever-increasing water regulation, the structure had to be extensively
renovated in the 1990s. The church was greatly enlarged by a new
building.
The Church of the Holy Blood is a Gothic church worth
seeing with two striking round towers in the Berg district and the
oldest cemetery in Landshut.
Trausnitz Castle is enthroned on the spur of a steep slope called
Hofberg at an altitude of over 500m above sea level. NN directly above
the old town of Landshut and the Isar and is next to the Martinskirche
the most famous landmark of Landshut. The oldest parts of today's castle
date back to 1204, the year the city of Landshut was founded. It was
completed in 1235 when Emperor Friedrich II was staying in Landshut. He
made the castle a center of imperial politics and Hohenstaufen rule.
Then, until 1503, it was almost continuously the ducal seat of the
(Lower) Bavarian Wittelsbach family. The castle, now known as Trausnitz
(= don't dare), experienced a cultural boom again in the late 16th
century by Duke Wilhelm V. However, the wall paintings created at that
time were largely destroyed by the castle fire in 1961 (the fool's
staircase in the so-called Italian extension has been preserved ).
During the Thirty Years' War, on July 22, 1634, the town of Landshut and
the castle were besieged by the Swedes. In the eastern part of the
castle complex, a large breach was made in the castle wall, through
which the Swedes could gain access. The gate located at this point is
still called Schwedentor because of this incident.
The Landshut
city residence is the first Renaissance palace north of the Alps. It is
located opposite the town hall in the middle of the old town. It was
built between 1536 and 1543 under Duke Ludwig X. First, the German
building was built by regional master builders. On a trip to Italy, the
duke then hired Italian builders, who extended the residence to include
the Italian building at the back. The model for the Italian building was
the villa-like, suburban Palazzo del Te in Mantua. The state rooms of
the city residence with rich stucco work and fresco paintings are today
a tourist attraction of the city. While the stucco work was done by
Italians, the paintings on biblical, mythological and historical
subjects are by artists such as Hermanus Posthumus, Hans Bocksberger the
Elder and Ludwig Refinger. The façade on the city side was redesigned in
a classical style when Count Palatine Wilhelm von Birkenfeld-Gelnhausen
resided here from 1780-1799. The Birkenfeld rooms also date from this
period. When Crown Prince Ludwig lived here during his studies in
Landshut in the first decade of the 19th century, some rooms were given
early wallpaper that has become rare today. Today the city residence
houses a museum with changing exhibitions and a café.
Town hall with town hall state hall, Altstadt 315
Former Jesuit
College with Jesuit Church of St. Ignatius (now housing the police
station), Neustadt 480
Former Dominican monastery with the Dominican
church of St. Blasius (now housing the government of Lower Bavaria),
Government Square 540
Former Franciscan monastery with St. Loretto
church (today houses the museum in the cloister), Marienplatz 9
Cistercian monastery Seligenthal with kindergarten, elementary school,
high school, etc., Bismarckplatz 14
St. Joseph Convent of the
Ursulines with secondary school, Neustadt 535
Landtor, Landtorplatz
Museums
City residence (changing exhibitions), Altstadt 79
Heilig-Geist-Kirche (changing sacred exhibitions), Landshut 394
Sculpture Museum in the Hofberg (exhibition site of the famous Landshut
sculptor Fritz Koenig, also an important collection of African art), Am
Prantlgarten 1
Museum in the cloister (about Landshut art and
cultural history), Marienplatz 9
Kunst- und Wunderkammer (artificial,
natural, exotic and scientific exhibits collected by Duke Wilhelm V.) at
Trausnitz Castle
KASIMIRmuseum (Landshut's first children's and youth
museum), Alter Franziskanerplatz 484
streets and squares
Streets in the historic old town
old town
new town
theater
street
country lane
Freying
government road
Holy Spirit
Alley
At the old cattle market
Squares in the historic old
town
Ländtorplatz (corner of Theaterstraße/Ländgasse)
Trinity
Square (southern end of Old Town)
Postplatz (northern end of the old
town)
Bischof-Sailer-Platz (corner of Neustadt/Heilig-Geist-Gasse/Am
Alten Viehmarkt)
Government Square (forecourt of the former Dominican
monastery)
Bismarckplatz (Forecourt of the Seligenthal Monastery)
Important arterial roads
Luitpoldstraße/Wittstraße (B 11 towards
Munich)
Inner Munich Street/Outer Munich Street
Stethaimer
Strasse/Johannisstrasse/Rennweg/Theodor-Heuss-Strasse
Podewilsstrasse/Schlachthofstrasse/Innere Regensburger Strasse/Outer
Regensburger Strasse
Hofmark-Aich-Strasse/Neue Regensburger Strasse
(B 15 towards Regensburg)
Zweibrückenstrasse/Seligenthaler
Strasse/Altdorfer Strasse
Parkstrasse/Oberndorfer Strasse
Konrad-Adenauer-Straße (B 299 towards Neustadt a. d. Donau or towards
Altötting)
Maximilianstrasse/Niedermayerstrasse/Wildbachstrasse/Am
Lurzenhof
Neue Bergstrasse/Veldener Strasse (B 15 towards Rosenheim)
Other places in the city
Kupfereck (corner of Inner Münchener
Straße/Neue Bergstraße/Wittstraße/Äußere Münchener Straße)
Kennedyplatz (corner of Seligenthaler
Strasse/Stethaimerstrasse/Johannisstrasse
Karl-Eisenreich-Platz
(corner of Stethaimerstraße/Äußere Regensburger Straße)
Bahnhofsplatz
(at the main station)
St.-Wolfgangsplatz (on Oberndorfer Straße,
forecourt of the parish church of St. Wolfgang)
Bayerwaldplatz (on
Bayerwaldstraße)
Herzog-Georg-Platz/Ludwig-Bachmeier-Platz (on
Niedermayerstraße, forecourt of the parish church of St. Peter and Paul)
Parks and green spaces
Albin-Lang-Stadtpark (green space on
Luitpoldstraße; near the clinic and the municipal pool)
Mühleninsel
recreation park (green space between the historic old town and the city
park)
Ringelstecherwiese (green area on Wittstraße; Landshut Wedding
venue; near Stadttheater and Ländtor)
Hofgarten (green space on the
Hofberg; near Trausnitz Castle)
Flutmulde (canal running straight
through Landshut, which is flooded at high tide and can otherwise be
used as a local recreation area; near the main station)
Gretlmühle
(526,000 m² local recreation area approx. 7km down the Isar from the
city center; several bathing lakes and a windsurfing lake with a total
water area of 290,000 m²; spacious sunbathing lawns and floodplain
forest; ice skating or curling possible in winter)
Landshut wedding.
Every four years, the Landshut Wedding of 1475,
one of the largest historical festivals in Europe, is celebrated here
with the cry "Heaven Landshut, Thousand Landshut". The wedding of the
Landshut duke's son George the Rich with the Polish king's daughter
Hedwig is remembered. This was precisely documented and is honored in
this three-week festival, as it united the Christian Occident at the
time.
Around 2,400 performers, clad in true-to-the-original medieval
costumes, can be seen bringing the wedding of yesteryear to life against
the backdrop of the old capital of what was then the Duchy of Lower
Bavaria. The event is attended by over 700,000 spectators every year.
Last performance (four-year cycle!) of the LaHo (as it is called by the
locals) was in June/July 2017.
Carnival parade
Every two years
(always in odd years) the Landshut carnival parade takes place on Shrove
Sunday in the inner city area. The approx. 1.2 kilometer long route
leads from Inner Münchener Straße via Dreifaltigkeitsplatz, Altstadt,
Postplatz and Heilig-Geist-Gasse to Bischof-Sailer-Platz. The parade
will then come to an end at various stands in the city centre.
Landshut Zinc Carnival
The Landshut zinc carnival in the old town
takes place every year in the afternoon of Shrove Tuesday. The many red
noses, after which this important event is named shortly before the
finale, are particularly striking in the hustle and bustle.
Landshut Short Film Festival
The Landshut Short Film Festival, which
was first held in the Dreihelmenstadt in 2000, takes place in March
every year. All formats and genres with a playing time of up to 30
minutes are permitted. The event has the character of a competition: the
best films of each genre are honored by a well-known jury. The
springboard competition for young directors is particularly worth
mentioning.
Strong Beer Festival
During Lent, the strong beer
festival, which is now well known far beyond the city limits, takes
place every year on the Emslander parking lot in the industrial area.
The cabaret artist Christian Springer, who is well-known throughout
Bavaria, will hold the obligatory Lenten sermon.
garden festival
Every year at the beginning of May, the Garden Festival takes place at
Trausnitz Castle. The usually three-day event has a different motto
every year. Around 150 exhibitors then present their contributions on
the castle grounds, which attract around 30,000 visitors.
Landshut Court Music Days
The Landshut Court Music Days, which were
first held in 1982, are also of national importance. The European
Festival for Early Music, which takes place every two years, was the
first festival of its kind in the 1980s. In the beginning, music from
the Gothic, Renaissance and early Baroque periods was mainly performed,
but more recently modern music has also been incorporated. The concept
of the initially revolutionary music event has now been adopted by many
other cities in a similar way. The Court Music Days take place annually
in the period from mid to late May.
Africa Days
A weekend in
July (in the LaHo years already in June) in Landshut is all about
African culture. The fascinating way of life and culture of the people
of Africa is brought closer to the visitors. It is about peaceful
coexistence and exchange between different cultures.
Dult
The
popular folk festival takes place twice a year - traditionally on the
Grieserwiese near the historic old town. The spring festival attracts
numerous visitors to the fairground and beer tent as early as mid/late
April, the Bartlmädult (names after Bartolomäus, name day August 24)
takes place at the end of August during the classic folk festival. The
Dult actually consists of two events: the pleasure Dult as a classic
folk festival and the market-like sales Dult.
Haferlmarkt
Every year on a weekend in September, the Landshuter Haferlmarkt takes
place in Obere Freyung (in the immediate vicinity of Bavaria's only
vocational school for ceramics). Garden ceramics, decoration, a diverse
selection of traditional Kröninger ceramics, modern everyday ceramics,
up to the unusual decorative pottery art, but also simple household
pottery are offered to the visitor here.
Niederbayernschau
One
of the largest trade fairs in Lower Bavaria takes place every two years
(always in odd years) in the exhibition park in the east of the city.
Exhibitors from all sectors of the regional and national economy can
present themselves to a wide audience here. The Niederbayernschau
usually opens its doors at the end of September/beginning of October.
Night of the Blue Wonders
Every year in November, the night of
the blue wonders takes place, which allows the numerous visitors to
listen to many bands in about 30 bars, pubs, clubs and restaurants for a
single admission price.
Christmas pyramid
The unique
pre-Christmas attraction in the immediate vicinity of the CCL opened in
mid-November. Visitors can warm themselves up with a cup of mulled wine
or punch every day from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Christmas market
During the entire Advent season, the Christmas market takes place in the
Freyung on the large forecourt of the Jodokskirche. It is considered one
of the most beautiful in Bavaria, especially since the location is in
the shadow of Trausnitz Castle.
Landshut Nativity Trail
The
Landshut Nativity Scene Trail has been held parallel to the Christmas
market since 1999. Numerous historic cribs are exhibited in churches and
various public buildings throughout the inner city area.
Landshut's old town and new town, the two shopping miles in the city
center, offer a variety of shopping opportunities of all kinds. The old
town is mostly a pedestrian zone, the new town is accessible by car.
Only a short walk from Neustadt - in the street Am Alten Viehmarkt -
is the CCL (City Center Landshut), which opened in 2003 and which, in
addition to many clothing and shoe shops, also has an Aldi discounter
(the last remaining supermarket in the city centre), a multiplex cinema
( the Kinopolis, which has supplanted almost all other cinemas in
Landshut), various options for a snack bar, a pub (Eisgruber's) and two
nightclubs (skylight, mea:mea). In addition, the CCL provides sufficient
parking spaces in its three-storey underground car park.
The
industrial area in the north, which the city of Landshut shares with the
neighboring market town of Ergolding, is also ideal for shopping. The
hardware stores and supermarkets dominate here. The industrial area can
be reached directly via the Landshut-Nord motorway exit and the B 299.
The west of the city was greatly upgraded in 2011 with the opening
of Landshut Park in the Münchnerau. Previously, there were only a few
shops in this part of the city, but now there are specialist stores from
all the important shopping segments conveniently located at the
Landshut-West motorway exit.
markets
Weekly market in the
lower Neustadt, on Fridays
Schwaigermarkt in the old town, weekdays
except Friday
Since the Neolithic Age more than 7000 years ago, people from the
black earth area of the lower Danube have settled on the middle course
of the Isar. Around 5500 BC it is proven that the first settlers reached
the area in which the city of Landshut later developed. At the latest
around 4700 B.C. a Stone Age settlement. Archaeological excavations from
2006, which mainly revealed potsherds and stone tools, suggest that this
village was founded by settlers from Bohemia, whose influence was
formative for over a hundred years before the local culture of the
Oberlauterbach group was finally adopted. This settlement existed for
about 300 years.
After this time there is no evidence of a
possible settlement of the greater area for about 3500 years. A clay
funerary urn is dated to 900 BC. dated. During this time, one of the
largest settlements in Bavaria is said to have arisen in what is now the
northern part of the city. Since 15 BC The densely forested hills of
Lower Bavaria, which were sparsely populated at the time, belonged to
the Roman Empire. While numerous fortresses and cities such as
Regensburg (Latin: Castra Regina) or Passau (Latin: Batavia) were built
on the state border, the Danube, this epoch in Landshut's prehistory
passed relatively quietly in the area.
From 500 AD, the Bavarian
people emerged from various tribes and local population. The first
settlements in the region that still exist today, such as Ergolding and
Eching, were founded and the land was cultivated. Up until the 12th
century, most families made a living from farming to be self-sufficient.
In the High Middle Ages, many people began to specialize in certain
professional activities: trade and crafts developed. Representatives of
these new professional groups primarily settled in geographically
favorable locations in order to attract more customers. Because of its
location on an important bridge over the Isar, the future Landshut was
able to develop into an important city.
Even before the city was founded, there was a military and guard
settlement on the site of today's Trausnitz Castle, which is mentioned
in documents around 1150 as Landeshuata, but according to excavations in
2002 it probably existed since the 10th century.
The burgeoning
of trade in Bavaria fell under the reign of the second Bavarian duke
from the House of Wittelsbach: Power disputes broke out between Duke
Ludwig the Kelheimer, son of Otto I, who was enfeoffed with the Duchy of
Bavaria by Friedrich Barbarossa, and the bishop of Regensburg . As a
result, the duke had the episcopal castle "Strassbourg" to the
north-east of today's Landshut destroyed, which was probably built to
guard an important bridge.
Shortly thereafter, in 1204, the duke
decided to found a town a few kilometers up the Isar and to bridge the
river. The settlement, which has since been referred to as Landshut, was
the first major city founding by Ludwig the Kelheimer in Lower Bavaria.
The exact year in which the city and Trausnitz Castle were founded is
only known from the annals of Abbot Hermann von Niederaltaich, which
states: “Lvdwicus dux Bawariae castrum et oppidum in Lantshvt construere
cepit” (English: “Ludwig, the Duke of Bavaria, began building the castle
and town in Landshut”).
The place was made for a trading post: on
the one hand, the Hofberg represented a good starting point for building
a castle, on the other hand, it was particularly easy to cross the Isar
here, since only two smaller bridges were built over the mill island
instead of one large one had to. The location on the river in general,
on which shipping was still being carried out at that time, and the
contractual stipulation that all trade routes from Munich and the Alpine
region in the direction of Regensburg and the Bavarian Forest should be
bundled in Landshut, did the rest and left the young city quickly grow.
Jews are mentioned as donors when the city was founded in 1204, but it
is not clear from this source whether they were living in Landshut at
that time.
In the first fifty years of its existence, Landshut
consisted of three parts: the old town, for a long time one of the
widest and most expansive streets in Bavaria, where many rich craftsmen
settled, the castle high above the settlement and from 1232 the
Seligenthal monastery, the by Ludmilla, widow of Ludwig the Kelheimer,
who had been donated after his death. Many Bavarian dukes are buried in
Seligenthal. The Jewish population has been documented since 1256, as
they are named in a police and trade code that regulated the sale of
meat for Jews.
Up until 1253, Landshut was the headquarters of
the Wittelsbach family, making it the de facto capital of Bavaria. The
ducal suburb had shifted in the previous period, first from Regensburg
to Kelheim and then to Landshut. As early as 1255, however, the country
was divided between the duke's two sons in Upper Bavaria with the
capital Munich and Lower Bavaria with the capital Landshut. Almost a
hundred years later, in 1340, Ludwig the Bavarian reunited the two parts
of the country - this time with his headquarters in Munich. But only
nine years later, the Bavarian territory was again divided: This time,
the three areas of Straubing-Holland, Upper Bavaria and Lower
Bavaria-Landshut were created under the sons of Ludwig the Bavarian. The
latter area was ruled by Stephen II, who united two of the three parts
of the country after the death of the Upper Bavarian ruler in 1363.
In these historically confused times, Landshut prospered so that the
city walls had to be expanded several times: The first expansion took
place around fifty years after the city was founded, when the existing
street was supplemented by the "Lower Old Town". Towards the end of the
13th century, the entire area of today's new town was built parallel to
the old town. A good twenty years later, the area around today's
"Dreifaltigkeitsplatz" was also built on. Since 1340, the city walls
have also been drawn around the new district of "Freyung". As the name
already suggests, the establishment in this district was associated with
large tax benefits; citizens were exempt from all tax payments for ten
years. In addition, the city limits were shifted to the Isar and more
city gates were built.
Ever since a town fire in 1342 destroyed
more than a hundred buildings, newly built houses in Landshut have
always been made of stone. As a result of the great fire, the
construction of a new church became necessary. However, a new building
was not started before 1380.
With the death of Stephen II, his three sons divided the country
again, which went down in history as the Bavarian division of 1392. This
resulted in the three duchies of Bavaria-Munich, Bavaria-Ingolstadt and
Bavaria-Landshut.
The first duke of the economically most
successful part of the country, Bavaria-Landshut, was Frederick the
Wise, who reigned from 1375 to 1393 and heralded the era of the rich
Landshut dukes. During his reign, construction began on one of the most
splendid buildings in Bavaria at the time: after a construction period
of 120 years, the Martinskirche was not completed until around 1500. A
few hundred meters to the northeast, the city afforded the
Heilig-Geist-Kirche around the same time.
Friedrich's successors,
all of whom were nicknamed "the rich", played a key role in the rise of
Landshut. The first of the wealthy dukes, Henry XVI, ruled with an iron
fist when he captured the Landshut town councilor at Trausnitz Castle,
filling the state coffers by expropriating the 49 wealthiest
townspeople. He was also extremely successful from a political point of
view, because he was able to significantly expand the Landshut sphere of
influence, fought successfully against his cousin, Ludwig VII of
Bavaria-Ingolstadt, received parts of the "Straubinger Ländchen" in 1429
and almost all of Bavaria-Ingolstadt in 1447 this line died out. In the
years that followed, Landshut, already a political center, also
developed into an economic and cultural center of Bavaria and became
richer than Bavaria-Munich, which is not least attributed to the trade
in the "white gold", salt, which was found in cities within the Duchy,
such as Bad Reichenhall, Kitzbühel, Rattenberg or Kufstein.
Henry's successor, Louis the Rich, who ruled the duchy from 1450, began
systematically discriminating against Landshut's Jews, who were expelled
if they did not allow themselves to be baptized and paid 30,000
guilders. The social highlight of the reign, which was characterized by
tournaments and events, was undoubtedly the marriage of his son Georg to
Hedwig of Poland (Polish Jadwiga) from the Jagiellonian dynasty in 1475,
which is one of the most magnificent celebrations of the late Middle
Ages and went down in the annals as the Landshut Wedding .
After
the death of his father, George the Rich took over the office of duke
four years later, in 1479. The medieval town expansion was completed
under him. With the exception of the Mühleninsel district, all built-up
areas of the city were surrounded by a massive wall. Overall, the city
wall was breached in only eight places by gates. In addition to the
Ländtor, there was also the Outer and Inner Isartor, near the
Spitalerturm, on the eastern city limits the Kapuzinertor and the
Hagrainertor, in the west the Münchnertor and the Hutertor granted
admission. Numerous well-known artists, such as Hans Leinberger or Mair
von Landshut, were active in the city at this time and enriched cultural
life.
With the death of George the Rich on December 1, 1503, the glorious
period of the Gothic city came to an end. This left no male descendants
from the marriage with Hedwig. As a result, under the existing
Wittelsbach House Treaties, Bayern-Landshut was to fall entirely to
Bayern-Munich. Shortly before his death, Georg tried in vain to appoint
his son-in-law and nephew Ruprecht von der Pfalz as his successor. The
Munich line entitled to inherit under Albrecht IV did not want to accept
this breach of contract, which led to the Landshut War of Succession. In
the period that followed, numerous settlements around Landshut were
burned down before Ruprecht and his wife Elisabeth died in 1505,
bringing the conflict to an end. As a result of an imperial arbitration,
Bayern-Landshut was reunited with Bayern-Munich and the city lost
political importance.
However, in 1507 the Rentamt Landshut was
established, which meant that the city continued to be one of the most
important administrative centers of the Duchy. When in 1514 Louis X
claimed the dukeship of his brother Wilhelm IV, many feared that
disputes would flare up again. At the Kaiser's insistence, Wilhelm
agreed to a division of government powers. Ludwig was then assigned the
administration of the Landshut and Straubing rent offices from Landshut.
From 1537 to 1543 he had the city residence in Landshut built, the first
Renaissance palace north of the Alps. When Ludwig died childless in
1545, Landshut once again lost its status as a residential city, but the
tax office remained.
Hereditary Prince Wilhelm resided in his
native town of Landshut for ten years until he took office in 1579.
Under him, Friedrich Sustris expanded the Trausnitz into a Renaissance
castle. A detailed city model that is exceptional worldwide, which Jakob
Sandtner made around 1570 on behalf of Duke Albrecht V for Landshut and
the four other Bavarian government cities of Munich, Ingolstadt,
Straubing and Burghausen, also dates from this period. The city itself
continued to lose political importance in the period that followed.
In the decades that followed, the city's history was relatively
quiet, far from any major unrest. In order to strengthen the position of
the Catholic faith in Landshut, Duke Maximilian moved the collegiate
monastery of St. Kastulus from Moosburg to Landshut and appointed St.
Martin as the collegiate church. In Landshut, too, a large church
building for the Jesuits was built in the course of the
Counter-Reformation with St. Ignatius at the end of the Renaissance.
The Thirty Years' War did not pass Landshut by. A total of three
times - in 1632, 1634 and 1648 - the city was visited by the Swedes. The
invasion of July 22, 1634 in particular dealt the city a heavy blow and
destroyed its relative prosperity. While the mayor and councilors
capitulated early in 1632 when Swedish troops first arrived and finally
agreed to the payment of 100,000 Reichsthaler and were thus able to
avert greater devastation, the second time they met they went into
battle. The Swedish troops, on their way to break the siege of
Regensburg, took the castle and town by storm. In the slaughter that
followed, the imperial general Johann von Aldringen died alongside
numerous residents and defenders. After the storming, the Swedish
generals Bernhard von Sachsen-Weimar and Gustaf Graf Horn allowed their
armies to sack Landshut for eight days. The Swedes thus failed to
immediately move on to Regensburg in order to relieve the city, which
had been besieged by an imperial army for three months. The omission had
serious consequences, because Regensburg had already capitulated on July
26, 1634, as it turned out when the withdrawal from Landshut was delayed
on July 30. The long stay of the Swedes in Landshut - probably a result
of the plundering of the city for several days - was a serious,
momentous strategic mistake by the two Swedish generals, the cause of
which has not yet been clarified. The Swedish commander of Regensburg,
who later became Field Marshal Lars Kagg, was so bitter about the
absence of the relief army that he did not want to exchange a word when
he later met Bernhard von Sachsen-Weimar in Nuremberg. The surrender of
Regensburg was the beginning of further serious military defeats for the
Swedes. Both Swedish armies under Bernhard von Sachsen Weimar and Gustaf
Horn were badly defeated by the two Imperial Bavarian armies, which had
failed to fight them at Regensburg, after their hasty retreat from
Bavaria to Württemberg in the Battle of Nördlingen, which had become
necessary.
As if the exceptionally violent sacking of the city
had not brought enough suffering to the city, plague and famine broke
out within the city walls as a result of the incursion, and a third of
the city's population at the time was wiped out. Finally, in 1648, the
city once again fell into the hands of foreign occupiers. This time it
was French troops led by Marshal Turenne and Swedish troops led by Field
Marshal Carl Gustav Wrangel who exacted tribute from the city for
another five months, albeit doing far less damage than the occupation
fourteen years earlier. The history of the city, which had been on a
steady downward slide in the previous centuries, had thus reached a low
point.
In 1668 Elector Ferdinand Maria brought the Ursuline
Sisters from Messkirch to Landshut to teach young women. In 1671, the
elector himself laid the foundation stone for the Sankt Joseph
monastery. After a long period of peace from 1648, Landshut was occupied
by the Austrians in 1704, when Bavaria under Elector Maximilian II
Emanuel had allied itself with France in the War of the Spanish
Succession. In 1705 Landshut was briefly the seat of the Imperial
Administration in Bavaria. In the 1740s, not even a hundred years after
the great devastation of the Thirty Years' War, the city suffered again
from the Austrian auxiliary troops during the War of the Austrian
Succession, when Elector Karl Albrecht had himself elected Emperor
against the resistance of the Habsburgs.
In 1771, the demolition
of the hospital gate marked the beginning of the systematic destruction
of a total of seven of the eight historic city gates. The façade of the
city residence was redesigned in a classical style when Count Palatine
Wilhelm von Birkenfeld-Gelnhausen resided in Landshut from 1780 to 1799.
A trend-setting year for the history of Landshut was 1800. At that
time, Elector Max IV Joseph relocated the oldest university in Bavaria,
which had been founded in 1472 by Ludwig the Rich in Ingolstadt, to
Landshut. The official justification for this move was the direct threat
to well-fortified Ingolstadt from French troops. In reality, however, a
move of the university had been considered for the first time at least
twenty years earlier, since the fortress city on the Danube and the
established provincialism interfered too much with university life
there. However, because Max I Joseph, who rose to become king a short
time later, rejected excessive centralization in Munich, the
Dreihelmenstadt was considered as an alternative. Crown Prince Ludwig
lived in the city residence for some time during his studies in the
first decade of the 19th century.
Ultimately, however, Landshut
also suffered from Napoleon's campaign, which entered the city on April
21, 1809. As a result of the clashes known as the "Battle of Landshut",
three city gates and towers were so badly damaged that they had to be
demolished. After a former Jesuit monastery had already disappeared from
the townscape at the end of the 18th century, the other seven
monasteries existed until 1802/1803. However, when secularization began
in the early 19th century, all monasteries and the collegiate monastery
were dissolved. In the forty years that followed, at least three
ecclesiastical institutions were reopened: the first was the St. Joseph
Convent of the Ursulines in 1826, followed almost ten years later - in
1835 to be precise - by the Seligenthal Convent of the Cistercians and
the Franciscan Convent (erroneously referred to as the monastery of St.
Peter and Paul).
In 1826, only a good quarter of a century after
the university was relocated to the city, King Ludwig I was responsible
for the fact that the almost 1,000-student tertiary educational
institution known as the "reform university", which was one of the five
largest in Germany, moved to the State capital Munich was relocated and
still exists today as the Ludwig Maximilian University. In order to stop
the subsequent loss of importance - at least partially - the Royal
Bayer. 2nd Chevaulegers Regiment and the Kgl. Bayer. 4th Jäger Battalion
and the Court of Appeal were relocated from Munich to the city and a
lyceum (comparable to a university at the time) was set up. The latter
was moved to Freising after just under ten years in 1834, from which the
Philosophical-Theological University of Freising ultimately developed.
However, Landshut only played a subordinate role within Bavaria
after the short "university era". With the administrative reorganization
of Bavaria under Count von Montgelas, the city of Landshut was assigned
to the Isar district, which was newly founded in 1806 and administered
from Munich. This situation changed at least partially when the
Unterdonaukreis was renamed Niederbayern in 1838, Landshut was assigned
to this district and the district seat was moved from Passau to Landshut
in 1839.
In 1858, Landshut was finally connected to the Bavarian
railway network with a line in the direction of Munich. In 1874, the
Munich Gate, the penultimate historic city gate of Landshut, was
demolished to allow traffic to flow freely in the upper old town.
Between 1869 and 1873, King Ludwig II had magnificent rooms set up
for himself on the second floor of the Trausnitz princely building.
The first thirty years of the city's history in the 20th century
passed relatively quietly and were characterized by the beginnings of
industrialization. One year before Adolf Hitler came to power in 1932,
the governments of Lower Bavaria and Upper Palatinate were merged. The
much larger Regensburg was chosen as the administrative seat of the
newly founded “Government District of Lower Bavaria and Upper
Palatinate”.
Towards the end of the Second World War, the Todt
Organization set up the Landshut satellite camp of the Dachau
concentration camp on what was then the “small parade ground”. Around
500 Jewish concentration camp prisoners were used for forced labor in
armaments projects, of whom at least 83 died as a result of the inhuman
prison conditions. A commemorative plaque on the Landshut-Achdorf
cemetery commemorates these victims of the Nazi regime, including 74
prisoners from a death march from the Flossenbürg concentration camp.
On March 19, 1945, just over a month before American troops marched
into the city on May 1, the station area was devastated by the heaviest
bomb attack on the city. There were 300-400 casualties. On April 29,
1945, at the instigation of Gauleiter Ludwig Ruckdeschel, government
councilor Franz Seiff was publicly hanged by Gestapo men on the
Viehmarktplatz without trial because he had hoisted a white and blue
flag on his house in Schweinbach near Landshut. He was the leader of a
30 to 50-strong resistance group that worked on a peaceful handover of
the city to the Americans as part of the Bavarian Freedom Action. The
planned actions could no longer be carried out after Seiff's arrest. At
the same time, police officers, who had only responded to the radio call
from the Bavarian Freedom Campaign, occupied the town hall in order to
hand over the city to the Allied troops peacefully. However, this action
also failed. The city honored Franz Seiff with a street name in 1946. To
commemorate those victims of National Socialism who lived in Landshut, a
total of 26 stumbling blocks in Landshut have been laid by Gunter Demnig
since October 2, 2012 in Theaterstraße, the street "Altstadt", in
Seligenthaler Straße and in Innere Münchner Straße.
Just two days
after American troops marched into the city, on May 3, 1945, the
short-lived Ergolding Air Base was established by the United States Army
Air Forces (USAAF) 4 kilometers northeast of Landshut city center. The
airfield, known as Advanced Landing Ground "R-71", was operated as a
supply and evacuation airfield and was already abandoned on June 15,
1945.
After the end of the war and the "years of foundation" of
the Federal Republic of Germany, the East Bavarian administrative
district was split into two parts again in 1956 and Landshut was once
again declared the seat of government for Lower Bavaria.
On
October 21, 1961, the princely building of the castle burned down.
Almost all of the wall paintings, the furniture and fittings of the
Palas fell victim to the fire, as did the magnificent rooms that King
Ludwig II had furnished. In the late 1960s and early 1970s in
particular, medieval buildings in Landshut were demolished to make room
for new buildings such as banks, department stores and offices. In 1973
alone, more historic buildings were destroyed than during the entire
war. Parts of the old town were sacrificed for the construction of roads
and parking spaces for cars. Instead of developing open spaces close to
the city center into new business centers, monofunctional zones with
large administration buildings were created.
Between 1972 and
1974, the urban area increased from around 19 km² to almost 66 km² as
part of the regional reform. The Landshut University of Applied Sciences
was founded in 1978. It initially comprised the three departments of
economics, social affairs and technology and over the years has been
expanded to include mechanical engineering and computer science.
In 1992 the new Munich Airport was opened, in whose catchment area
Landshut is located, which has contributed to the fact that the city has
recorded strong population growth since 2000. In 1999 the Josef Deimer
Tunnel (Hofberg Tunnel until July 2007) was completed. This made it
possible for the first time to quickly cross the urban area in an
east-west direction within the Hofberg below the castle and to calm
traffic in the city centre. However, city buses were only banned from
this pedestrian zone in 2006. In 2004 the city of Landshut celebrated
its 800th anniversary. A German commemorative stamp was issued for this
occasion.
On April 1, 1928, the hitherto independent communities of Achdorf and Berg ob Landshut were incorporated. On January 1, 1972, the former community of Münchnerau and part of the dissolved community of Hohenegglkofen were added. Schönbrunn followed on July 1, 1972. A large part of the dissolved municipality of Frauenberg was added on July 1, 1974.
Geographical location
Landshut is located in the center of the
Lower Bavarian hill country (also known as "Tertiary Hill Country"),
which stretches from the Danube in the north to the border of the Munich
gravel plain in the south; the city therefore belongs to the foothills
of the Alps. The Tertiary hill country is interrupted in the urban area
of Landshut by the river bed of the Isar. Most of the built-up area lies
on the flat terraced deposits of the river in the Isar valley. The Isar
divides Landshut into three large urban areas: a northern part in the
Isar-Donau hill country, a southern part in the Isar-Inn hill country
and the Mühleninsel in the city center. The southern districts of the
city are delimited by a chain of hills, some of which rise steeply, of
which the Hofberg forms the highest point in the city area at a height
of 505 meters above sea level. Southwest of the built-up area in the
direction of Moosburg is the bird sanctuary of the Middle Isar
reservoirs, which is one of the most valuable water bird sanctuaries in
Bavaria. On the lower Isar to the east of the city area there are other
artificial lakes, of which the Altheim reservoir, the Niederaichbach
reservoir and the Gretlmühle bathing lakes are the most important. North
of the Isar, the Landshut trough runs through the city. When not
flooded, the Flutmulde is one of the most popular parks in Landshut.
The city is around 70 km south of Regensburg and Straubing, 75 km
south-west of Deggendorf, 120 km west of Passau, 60 km north-west of
Altötting and 100 km from Traunstein, 85 km north of Rosenheim and 70 km
north-east of the state capital Munich.
There are extensive bentonite deposits near Landshut, which are also mined. The formation of bentonite is directly related to the Ries event.
The city of Landshut is an enclave within the district of the same
name. The urban area covers a total area of 65.7 square kilometers,
which is largely based on the course of the Isar, which flows from
southwest to northeast. In this way, the relatively generous east-west
extension is created, which is a maximum of 21.5 kilometers. In a
north-south direction, the city area stretches a maximum of 7.2
kilometers at its widest point.
While the built-up area of
approximately 20.3% is in the center of the area, the city is dominated
by water and forest areas to the east and west, which together represent
another approximately 20% of the land use. The most distinctive form of
land use is agriculture. Over 45% of the total area of the independent
city is used for agricultural purposes. Approximately 8.1% of the total
area is made up of a wide variety of traffic areas. Only about one
percent of the area is used for recreation.
A total of nine municipalities border on the area of the independent city of Landshut, all of which are located within the district of the same name. Starting clockwise, the municipality of Essenbach borders the urban area in the northeast, followed by Niederaichbach in the extreme east, followed by the municipality of Adlkofen, followed by Kumhausen and Tiefenbach in the south. Finally, in the extreme south-west of the urban area, there are borders with Eching and Bruckberg. In the north, the municipalities of Altdorf and Ergolding also border.
The city of Landshut is located in the temperate climate zone with
continental characteristics. The climate is humid all year round. The
average annual temperature is 8.5 °C, with January being the coldest
month with an average temperature of −1.0 °C and July being the warmest
month of the year with an average temperature of 18.1 °C.
The
average annual precipitation of 824 mm is above average compared to
other Bavarian cities. The precipitation in southern Bavaria generally
increases from the north towards the Alps; the average annual
precipitation in Regensburg, north of Landshut, is only 637 mm, while
Rosenheim, close to the Alps, records 1075 mm of precipitation per year.
The rainiest month is July, with over 100mm of precipitation, while
February is the wettest with just 43mm. Most snow falls on the days
clustered around January 8th.
In the first century after its founding, the city attracted many residents. Around 1500 it already had several thousand inhabitants. At the end of the late Middle Ages, the number of city dwellers stagnated. Over the centuries, it has been repeatedly decimated by numerous wars and the resulting famines and epidemics. The Thirty Years' War weighed particularly heavily. Since the 19th century, when Landshut regained its importance, the population has increased again. Many incorporations during the 20th century led to further growth. After World War II, the population was over 40,000 and steadily increased through the 1970s to hover between 50,000 and 60,000 residents by 2000. Since the turn of the millennium, the population has been growing again, with the 70,000 mark being exceeded in 2016 and 75,000 in 2022 after a small, corona-related stagnation. On the northern outskirts, the city has grown together with the settlement centers of the communities of Altdorf and Ergolding and in the south with the community of Kumhausen. About 100,000 people live in this agglomeration.