With 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the fourth largest city
in Bavaria. It is the center of the Upper Palatinate and is located
at the northernmost point of the Danube. The Roman origins and the
almost completely preserved medieval old town (stone bridge, St.
Peter's Cathedral, old town hall with Reichstag Hall) make
Regensburg a popular travel destination. Regensburg's old town and
Stadtamhof have been part of the UNESCO World Heritage since 2006.
Regensburg is one of the oldest cities in Germany and is located
at the northernmost point of the Danube and at the mouths of the
Naab and Regen. This exposed point has been inhabited since the
Stone Age. Recent excavations have uncovered Celtic tombs from
around 400 BC.
In written records, Regensburg first appeared
around AD 90 as a Roman cohort fort. In 179 AD the Roman legionary
fort Castra Regina was built here, the main military base of the
Roman province of Raetia. Around 400 AD the camp was slowly
abandoned.
From around 500 AD, Regensburg was the seat of the
Bavarian dukes and was therefore referred to as the first Bavarian
"capital". The diocese of Regensburg was founded by Saint Boniface
in 739, making it one of the oldest on German soil.
In the
9th century, Regensburg was one of the most important cities in the
East Franconian kingdom of the Carolingians. Due to long-distance
trade to Paris, Kiev and Venice, Regensburg had its economic heyday
in the 12th and 13th centuries and was one of the most populous and
prosperous cities. A sign of the prosperity of the time is the
construction of the Stone Bridge (around 1135-1146). In 1245,
Emperor Friedrich II made Regensburg a free imperial city, and it
remained so until 1803.
From 1663 to 1803 the Perpetual
Reichstag met in Regensburg, as the territorial representation of
the German states and a forerunner of today's Bundesrat. From 1748
the princes of Thurn and Taxis resided in Regensburg as principal
commissioners (representatives of the emperor in the Reichstag).
Through the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of 1803, Regensburg
became an electorate under the Imperial Arch-Chancellor Karl Theodor
von Dalberg. After being conquered by Napoleon, Regensburg became
part of Bavaria in 1810. Regensburg fell back considerably in terms
of its political and economic importance. As a result,
industrialization largely bypassed Regensburg, but the medieval old
town was largely preserved and the heavy bombardments during World
War II were mainly aimed at the Messerschmitt aircraft factory in
the west of the city, the railway facilities and the port. The
destruction in the old town was less than 10%.
Only after the
Second World War did Regensburg begin to flourish again. The
establishment of the university of applied sciences, the fourth
Bavarian state university and the settlement of Siemens, Infineon
Technologies, Continental, Siemens VDO and BMW made a significant
contribution to this.
In 2004, Regensburg passed the
150,000-resident mark, including second homes. The difference to the
129,000 residents with their main residence can be explained by the
approximately 25,000 students, some of whom live here but have their
main residence elsewhere.
Regensburg has also been a pope
city since 2005, because Joseph Ratzinger stayed in Regensburg for a
long time during his academic career. From 1969 he taught dogmatics
and the history of dogmas at the University of Regensburg. The
so-called Pope's House in Pentling is certainly worth a detour. In
2006, the year after his election, Pope Benedict XVI visited
Regensburg as one of the first cities on his Bavaria-wide journey.
He spent four days in the city that he calls his home: "I really
feel at home in Regensburg," he said at the time. Among other
things, the pontifex held a holy mass on the Islinger Feld, where
the 16m high cross erected especially for this purpose still reminds
of his visit.
The historic city center of Regensburg itself has been practically
completely preserved. The city is said to have the most in Europe, with
around 6,000 listed buildings. The historic old town was included in the
UNESCO World Heritage List in 2006 as an ensemble with around 1,200
individual monuments.
churches
In Regensburg you will find an
extremely high number of historic churches and several monasteries, some
of which were former ones:
1 St. Peter's Cathedral, Domgarten,
Domplatz 1 . The cathedral church of the diocese of Regensburg is the
most important sacred building in the city and a major work of Gothic
architecture in southern Germany.
2 Collegiate Church of St.
Johann, Krauterermarkt 4 (on the north-west corner of the cathedral) .
Originally a Gothic church from the 14th century, it was profoundly
remodeled during the Renaissance and Baroque periods. It once served as
the baptistery of the Regensburg Cathedral and contains the bishop's and
canon's crypt.infoedit
3 Niedermünster Church, Niedermünstergasse
6 . Church of the former monastery of canons of the Reich Abbey of
Niedermünster, today the seat of the episcopal ordinariate. There was a
church here as early as around the year 700. Parts of the foundation
walls are still preserved. Today's building dates back to 1146 and is in
the Romanesque style. The interior was modernized and decorated in the
Baroque style in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the roof truss also
dates from this period. In the Niedermünster are the tombs of Saints
Erhard von Regensburg (an itinerant bishop of the 8th century) and
Albert von Cashel (an Irish monk from the same period) as well as Duke
Henry I of Bavaria (r. 948-955), his Mrs. Judith and her daughter-in-law
Gisela of Burgundy (the wife of Duke Henry II). The predecessor
buildings discovered under the church (a Roman legionary camp and place
of worship as well as church buildings from the Carolingian and Ottonian
eras) were reconstructed photorealistically and three-dimensionally as
part of the Document Niedermünster (public tour Sun, Mon and public
holidays 2.30 p.m., €6, children up to 16 J. free; registration, meeting
point and ticket sales in the information center at Domplatz 5).
4 Collegiate Church of Our Lady of the Old Chapel,
Schwarze-Bären-Strasse 7. The oldest church in Regensburg and thus one
of the oldest in all of Bavaria. A temple to Juno probably stood here in
Roman times. This is said to have been converted into a Christian chapel
in the 7th century, the Palatine Chapel of the Agilolfingers, who ruled
and Christianized Bavaria from Regensburg. The church itself was laid
out from 875 under King Ludwig the German (who temporarily resided in
Regensburg) as a three-aisled basilica, using stones from the Roman city
wall. This fell into disrepair after the royal palace was relocated. The
core of today's building goes back to the Ottonian period, King Heinrich
II and his wife Kunigunde founded the collegiate monastery in 1002. The
raised choir, on the other hand, was not built until the mid-15th
century and is in the late Gothic style. The interior, on the other
hand, was radically redesigned in the second half of the 18th century,
and the rococo style has dominated here ever since. Consequently, the
Church of the Old Chapel is one of the art-historically most important
rococo churches in Bavaria. It also has the canonical status of a minor
basilica.
5 Neupfarrkirche, Neupfarrplatz. Evangelical parish and
university church; built after the expulsion of the Jews and the
destruction of the Jewish Quarter in 1519; consecrated in 1540, two
years later converted to the Evangelical-Lutheran denomination.
Architecturally, it can be assigned mainly to the Renaissance, but also
partly to the late Gothic period. The altar from 1617 is worth seeing.
6 San Cassiano, San Cassiano Square 1.
7 Former Minorite
Church . Former church of the Franciscan monastery; an impressive High
Gothic church, now profaned and part of the Historical Museum.
8
St Emmeram. Former abbey church of the St. Emmeram monastery, which was
secularized in 1803 and then converted into Thurn and Taxis Castle.
Today the parish church and basilica minor.
9 St. Blasius
Dominican Church, Am Ölberg 4
10 Dreieinigkeitskirche, Am Ölberg
1. One of the first new Protestant churches to be built in Bavaria,
erected in 1627–31 according to plans by the architect Hanns Carl in the
early Baroque style as a column-free hall church.
11 Holy Cross
Monastery Church, Am Judenstein 10
12 Parish Church of St. Rupert
13 Parish Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Kreuzgasse 20.
14 St. Leonhard, St.-Leonhards-Gasse 1. The Romanesque hall church
was built around 1120/30 and was assigned to the Johanniter Commandery
of the same name, hence the name Crusader Church.
St. Andreas (in
Stadtamhof).
15 St. Oswald, Engelburgergasse 2. Evangelical.
16 Schottenkirche St. Jakob, Jakobstrasse 3. Classic work of high
Romanesque church architecture in southern Germany. Its northern portal,
the so-called Schottenportal, is particularly well-known, with its
primitive and enigmatic imagery, which gives rise to various
interpretations. Seminary church of the Regensburg seminary.
17
Carmelite Monastery of St. Joseph, Alter Kornmarkt 7. Monastery of the
Discalced Carmelites.
18 Obermünster Abbey, An der Hülling 1 .
Former monastery of canons, whose church was one of the few buildings
destroyed in World War II.
Since Regensburg was a free imperial city, there are only two
buildings that can be described as castles or palaces:
Thurn und
Taxis Castle (St. Emmeram Castle), Emmeramspl. 5. The former 8th-century
Benedictine monastery of St. Emmeram, south of Emmeramsplatz, was
secularized in 1803. A few years later, the princes of Thurn and Taxis
acquired it and had it converted into a residential palace in 1812. The
architect was Jean Baptiste Métivier. Parts of the castle are still
inhabited by members of the von Thurn und Taxis family. During certain
opening times, the castle museum with the cloister can be visited as
part of a guided tour, as can the stables museum and the treasury. In
the princely palace, near the ticket office, there is a museum café
where you can comfortably bridge the waiting time until the start of the
tour. In the immediate vicinity of the castle in the west is the
excellent Fürstliche Brauhaus zu Regensburg; a timely reservation is
recommended. Open: summer 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., outdoor facilities closed in
winter. Price: stables + treasury: €4.50; Castle only with a guide € 16.
Last modified: Jul. 2022 Edit info
Herzogshof, Kornmarkt .
Palatinate of the Bavarian dukes who resided in Regensburg during the
reigns of the Agilolfinger from the 6th century. From 791 at the latest
it was the royal palace of the Carolingians, and there is evidence that
Charlemagne also stayed here. Arnulf of Carinthia moved his palace to
the monastery of St. Emmeram, after which the old palace lost its
importance. In the 12th and 13th centuries it was used again as a court
by the Wittelsbach dynasty. The lower part of today's building dates
from around 1200 (Romanesque arched windows in the east facade), the
upper floors were added later. The neighboring Roman tower, connected to
the ducal court by a candle arch, probably served as the keep of the
Palatinate
The Stone Bridge with the Brücktor (construction 1135-1146) is one of
the most important bridge structures of the European Middle Ages and was
a model for, among other things, the Charles Bridge in Prague and the
Rhône Bridge in Avignon. When it was inaugurated, it was the only Danube
bridge between Ulm and Vienna and for 800 years the only continuous
bridge over the Danube in Regensburg. The Stone Bridge is Regensburg's
most famous landmark and is a World Heritage Site.
Old Town Hall,
Rathausplatz 4. The oldest part dates from the middle of the 13th
century. The official residence of the Lord Mayor and a part of the city
administration are located here to this day. The town hall also houses a
museum that provides information about the diets that always took place
in Regensburg from 1594 (from 1663 to 1806 "Perpetual Reichstag" in the
imperial hall of the town hall). Part of World Heritage.info edit
Salzstadel, Weiße-Lamm-Gasse 1. The Salzstadel is an impressive
building that was of great economic importance for the city as a
transhipment point for salt transport on the Danube. Today the
Regensburg Visitor Center is located there
Porta Praetoria. North
gate of the Roman legionary camp
Royal Villa. Built for King
Maximilian II in 1854-56 in the English neo-Gothic style (so-called
“Maximilian style”), the design was by the Munich architect Ludwig
Foltz. Today the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments
Ostentor, Ostengasse 39. Gothic entrance gate to the city from the
east, built around 1300. info edit
The historic Wurstkuchl
wikipediacommons on the Danube claims to be the oldest Wurstbraterei in
the world.
The cityscape is also characterized by the so-called
patrician towers (family towers) such as the house on the Heuport or the
Golden Cross on Haidplatz, which served as an imperial hostel for
Charles V Austria went down in history.
The Golden Tower in
Wahlenstraße, which was built in 1260, is probably the best-known of the
Regensburg dynasty towers, with which the patrician families displayed
their wealth and influence. The inside of the towers is mostly empty.
The Baumburg Tower is also worth seeing. Not least because of these
towers that characterize the cityscape, Regensburg is sometimes referred
to as the "northernmost city in Italy", while for Johann Wolfgang Goethe
it was the "most German of all cities".
Historical Museum, Dachauplatz 2-4, 93047 Regensburg (in the former
Minorite monastery). The museum shows an unusually rich collection on
the art and cultural history of the city of Regensburg from the Stone
Age to the 19th century. The collection of funerary monuments and
several historic organs in the adjoining Minorite Church are noteworthy.
Price: adults €5.
House of Bavarian History, Donaumarkt 1, 93047
Regensburg. Tel.: +49 941 788 388 0 (booking hotline). Price: Price:
adults 5€.
Reichstag Museum, Rathausplatz 1, 93047 Regensburg (in the
old town hall). Tel.: +49 (0)941 507. The Perpetual Diet met here from
1663 to 1806: medieval culture and history including the former torture
chamber (Fragstatt). Permanent exhibition on the structure and function
of the Reichstag. Open: Access only as part of guided tours in the Old
Town Hall.
Kepler Memorial House, Keplerstraße 5, 93047 Regensburg.
Phone: +49 (0)941-5073442 . The museum documents the life and work of
the famous astronomer Johannes Kepler in the house where he died with
books, letters and documents and with the instruments of the time in
historical interiors from the 17th century. Kepler's life ended
dramatically in Regensburg, he died here on November 15, 1630, a poor
and betrayed man who had lost his belongings and was not paid for his
work by either the Emperor or Wallenstein. Open: Sat, Sun, public
holidays: 10:30 - 16:00. Price: Full-paying €2.20, reduced €1.10,
families €4.40.
City Gallery in the Empty Bag, Bertoldstrasse 9. Tel:
(0)941-507-2440. The Jazz Club Regensburg also resides there. Open:
Tue-Sun and public holidays 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Price: full-payer €5,
reduced €2.50, free admission every 1st Sunday of the month.
Document
Neupfarrplatz, Neupfarrplatz, 93047 Regensburg. Remains of the medieval
synagogue and Jewish quarter.
Art Forum Ostdeutsche Galerie,
Dr.-Johann-Maier-Strasse 5. Tel.: (0)941-29714-0, e-mail:
info@kog-regensburg.de . The museum is dedicated to the works of artists
from the former German eastern territories and the German settlement
areas in eastern and south-eastern Europe ("East German" therefore does
not refer to the former territory of the GDR). Art from 1800 to the
present is collected and exhibited, with a focus on Classic Modernism,
from Impressionism to New Objectivity. These include i.a. Pictures by
Lovis Corinth, Käthe Kollwitz, Oskar Kokoschka, Alfred Kubin or Adolph
von Menzel. Open: Tue-Sun 10:00-17:00, Thu 10:00-20:00. Price: €6,
reduced €4.
Cathedral
Treasury Museum, Krauterermarkt 3, 93047 Regensburg.
Diocesan Museum
Museum Ortisei on the cathedral square
Princely treasury of Thurn and
Taxis (Thurn and Taxis Museum, Marstallmuseum), Emmeramsplatz 6 (in the
former stables of St. Emmeram Castle). Tel: (0)941-5048-133 wikipedia.
Branch of the Bavarian National Museum. Open: late March–early November:
Mon–Fri 11am–5pm, Sat–Sun, public holidays 10am–5pm; Early November–late
March: Sat–Sun, public holidays 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Price: full-payer
€4.50, reduced €3.50.
Natural History Museum East Bavaria, Am
Prebrunntor 4. Tel.: (0)941-507-3443. There is a family day ticket (10
€) and the visit to the museum is also very suitable for small children
(children up to 6 years have free entry). You can park your buggy in the
anteroom or take it with you to the 1st and 2nd floor with the elevator.
Open: Mon 9am-12pm, Tue-Fri 9am-4pm, Sun 10am-5pm, Sat closed. Price:
full-payer €5, reduced €3.
Danube Shipping Museum Regensburg,
Marc-Aurel-Ufer 1. Tel.: (0)941-5075888, e-mail: kontakt@dsmr.de. The
discarded but still operational tugs Ruthof/Érsekcsanád (a paddle
steamer, built in 1923) and Freudenau (diesel engine, built in 1942)
serve as museum rooms. Open: late March–late October: Wed–Sun 10:00
a.m.–5:00 p.m.; closed in winter. Price: entry €3.
Bridge Tower
Museum
Museum in the Trinity Church
Museums of the district
hospital
Clock Museum
Golf Museum, Tändlergasse 3, 93047
Regensburg
Postal Museum
Regensburg Public Observatory
Regensburg Tourismus GmbH, the official tourism organization of the
city of Regensburg, offers a variety of city tours in cooperation with
kulttouren e.V.
With the City-Bus you can explore Regensburg and
its landmarks comfortably in the bus. On his tours through the old town
he passes all the major monuments.
Segway Tour Regensburg (Seg
Tour GmbH), Wahlenstrasse 14. Tel: +49 941 58612684, email:
info@segwaytour-regensburg.de. City tour on different routes through
Regensburg with the electric standing scooter "Segway®". In addition to
the classic tour to the most famous sights, you can also choose a tour
along the Danube or combined with the ship to the Walhalla. Also
bookable for events, company outings or bachelor parties. Price: EUR
85.00. Accepted payment methods: Cash, Master, Visa, Amex, Apple Pay,
Google Pay, EC.
Regensburg Aktiv is the No. 1 for city tours -
excursions - and adventure in and around Regensburg. Bookable for large
groups or individuals. Telephone: 0941 / 38224830; Email:
info@regensburg-aktiv.de
The Stadtmaus has specialized in city
tours with a particularly cultural and historical background; from tours
with actors to child-friendly tours to the famous Halloween tour with
torches and the rider on the white horse, the tours offer variety and
still remain informative.
Cherrytours Regensburg - My city tour
(Cherrytours GmbH), Frauenbergl 2. Tel.: +49 941 59998723, e-mail:
office@cherrytours.de. City tours privately or in small groups for
individualists. Tours available daily, also in different languages.
Individual start and end points possible on request. Price: from 15 EUR.
Accepted payment methods: Cash, Master, Visa
streets and squares
The remains of the medieval synagogue, which was only rediscovered in
1995, and the Jewish quarter can be seen on and under Neupfarrplatz. The
Christmas market also takes place here every year.
Remains of the
Roman fort walls have been uncovered on Adolph-Kolping-Strasse, in the
multi-storey car park on D.-Martin-Luther-Strasse and on
Ernst-Reuter-Platz.
Regensburg has an above-average number of green spaces. They
essentially surround the old town in the area of the former
fortifications and along the Danube:
Dörnbergpark - has a
children's playground and the Bistro Rosarium
City park - with café
under the linden trees
Donaupark - Especially in summer, the large
park is a very popular area, especially for joggers and, because of the
continuous Danube cycle path, also for cyclists. On summer evenings,
there is always a relaxed atmosphere at the barbecue areas.
Herzogspark - A very manageable, but idyllic park next to the Natural
History Museum.
Theatre:
Theater Regensburg (municipal theaters with opera,
operetta, musical, drama and ballet)
Theater am Bismarckplatz - Large
House and Neuhaussaal
Theater in the Velodrome
Theater am
Haidplatz
Puppet theater in the city park
Regensburg peasant
theater in the Hubertushöhe restaurant, Wilhelm-Raabe-Strasse 1
STATT
Theater (cabaret stage)
Turmtheater in the Goliathhaus - drama,
boulevard, cabaret, musical, children's theater, among others
Regensburg student theater
theater at the university
Open Theater
Regensburg
Music:
Regensburg cathedral sparrows
Bavarian
Jazz Institute (organizes the Bavarian Jazz Weekend in Regensburg every
summer)
Regensburg Jazz Club V
University Choir Regensburg
Vocal ensemble Cantabile Regensburg
Scots Choir
Dirschl and
Starzinger
Teichmann brothers
added GT
Sports:
Regensburg marathon: With over 7,000 participants, one of the ten
largest city marathons in Germany (on the Sunday after Ascension Day),
includes a 10 km continental run in addition to the marathon and the
half marathon
Arcaden Lauf: 6km city run from the Regensburg Arcaden
through the old town and back (mid-July)
Regensburg Triathlon: short
and amateur distance (every year on the second Sunday in August)
Arber Cycle Marathon: Over 5,000 participants on routes of varying
difficulty up to 250 kilometers from Regensburg to the Bavarian Forest
and back (every year on the last Sunday in July)
Regensburg Leukemia
Run: Annual run with different distances
The East Bavarian consumer fair DONA with several special exhibitions
takes place every two years in March/April.
Dult: twice a year in May
and August. The view of the old town and the Danube from the Ferris
wheel is famous.
Regensburg School Theater Days: In three weeks in
June, around 20 Regensburg school theaters perform their plays.
Bavarian Jazz Weekend: On a long summer weekend, you could listen to
over 100 different bands, combos and soloists at several venues in the
old town - if there was enough time. The jury of the Bavarian Jazz
Institute usually ensures a high musical level.
Regensburg days of
early music
Every summer, the cinemas located in the old town
organize an open-air cinema for several weeks. Current films, but also
classics and popular films from recent years are shown.
Citizens'
festival: takes place every two years in the summer of the "odd years".
So next time in 2035.
Christmas market (Christkindl-Markt) in
December.
Showtheater Traumfabrik: Since 1980, the showtheater from
Regensburg has been showing ten stage shows every year after Christmas
in the Audimax of the University of Regensburg.
By plane
Regensburg does not have its own commercial airport. The
nearest major international airports are Nuremberg Airport (IATA: NUE)
and Munich Airport (IATA: MUC). These are each about 100km away and can
be reached via the motorway. This results in additional transfer times
of between 45 minutes and one hour. airportLiner airport transfer offers
door pick-up from and to any address in Regensburg and the surrounding
area (one person €42, two or more people €29 p.p.).
There is a
direct train connection to Munich Airport in 1 hour 20 minutes.
By train
Regensburg's main train station is quite central, on the
southern edge of the old town, just 800 meters from the cathedral
square.
Regensburg can be reached quickly with direct ICE, EC and
IC trains from the following directions:
Frankfurt am Main (ICE every
two hours, journey time a good three hours), Würzburg (1:50 hours),
Nuremberg (55 minutes)
Vienna (ICE every two hours, journey time a
good 3½ hours), Linz (2:10 hours), Passau (a good hour)
Prague (4x
daily EC/ALEX, travel time 4:20 hours), Pilsen (2½ hours)
Bremen (1x
daily ICE, 2x daily IC, travel time 8:40-9:15 hours), Dortmund (around 7
hours), Cologne (5½-6 hours)
Hamburg (1x daily ICE, journey time 5:20
hours; or Euronight), Hanover (4 hours)
In regional traffic,
there are the following scheduled connections:
Munich every hour with
RE or ALEX (journey time 1½ hours), Landshut (40-45 min)
Nuremberg
every two hours with RE (journey time a good hour)
Hof every two
hours with ALEX (journey time just under two hours)
pastures i. i.e.
obpf. hourly with ALEX or OPX (journey time one hour)
Ingolstadt
every hour with Agilis (journey time 1:05 hours)
With one change:
Stuttgart (via Nuremberg) in 3 hours 20 minutes
Dresden (via Hof) in
4 hours 45 minutes
Berlin (via Nuremberg) in just under 6 hours
Zurich (via Munich) in approx. 6 hours
By bus
The Regensburg
long-distance bus stop is located on Bahnhofstrasse, not far from the
main train station.
The bus terminal is the official boarding and
alighting point for tour groups visiting Regensburg by bus. It is
located in Stadtamhof at the northern end of the Stone Bridge on the
Main-Danube Canal, not far from the banks of the Danube opposite the old
town. From here, it takes about 10 minutes to cross the 850-year-old
stone bridge, which is closed to traffic, directly into the heart of the
old town. The free bus parking spaces are only about 500m from the bus
terminal on the north side of the Main-Danube Canal.
In the
street
Regensburg can be reached via the following motorways and
federal roads:
Federal motorway A 3:
Cologne-Frankfurt-Nuremberg-Regensburg-Passau-Vienna
Federal motorway
A 93: Munich (A 9)-Holledau-Regensburg-Schwandorf-Weiden-Hof-Dresden (A
72 - A 4)/Berlin (A 9)
Federal roads B 8:
Nuremberg-Neumarkt-Regensburg-Straubing-Passau
Federal roads B 15:
Weiden-Schwandorf-Regensburg-Landshut
Federal roads B 16:
Ingolstadt-Regensburg-Roding-Cham
By boat
Regensburg can be
reached by inland cruise ship on the Danube, the cruise ship landing
stage is in the eastern part of the old town near the Marc-Aurel-Ufer.
There is a connection to the Rhine shipping via the Main-Danube Canal
and cruises with a stop, e.g. be offered in Nuremberg. The Danube leads
to the east via Vienna and Budapest to the Black Sea.
By bicycle
the most beautiful way is via the Danube Cycle Path.
via the
Naabradweg
"Road of Emperors and Kings"
Car: Regensburg is easily accessible by car. There are a number of
parking options around and in the old town. The city center itself is
largely pedestrianized and the sights are all within walking distance.
Bicycle: Many excursion destinations in and around Regensburg can be
easily reached by bicycle, such as the Walhalla or, for those planning a
longer trip, the Liberation Hall in Kelheim. The Falkenstein cycle path,
a railway cycle path to Falkenstein, begins in Regensburg.
Public
transport: Local public transport is provided by around 70 bus routes
operated by the Regensburger Verkehrsbetriebe GmbH (RVB) and the
Regensburger Verkehrsverbund (RVV). The old town bus runs in the center
and a city tour (from Domplatz)
Boat trips: The excursion boats
depart from the Marc-Aurel-Ufer (east of the Steinerne Brücke), their
main destination being the Walhalla near Donaustauf.
There are a variety of shopping opportunities in Regensburg. In the
city center you can find (almost) everything, every shop is within easy
walking distance from the car parks, and various bus lines run from the
various corners of the city centre.
Organic weekly market. Fruit,
vegetables, milk and cheese products, meat, baked goods and street food
from organic farming and rearing. Open: Fri 14:00-19:30. Last modified:
Mar. 2022info edit
There are also a number of large shopping centers:
Regensburg-Arcaden, Friedenstraße 23, 93053 Regensburg (south of the
old town, directly at the train station).
Donau-Einkaufszentrum
(DEZ), Weichser Weg 5, 93059 Regensburg.
Alex Center
Köwe Center
Rennplatz Shopping Center (REZ)
Knacker (otherwise called "Regensburger"):
According to legend,
the sister of the Bockwurst, which was only 10 cm long and more than 4
cm thick and widespread in the old Bavarian region, was made for the
first time in the second half of the 19th century by a Regensburg
butcher and is known in its home region as a Knacker referred to,
another theory derives the name from neck meat (Bavarian: Gnack). The
smoked boiled sausage is only made from fine or coarse sausage meat from
lean pork stuffed into beef coronary intestines. The term "Original
Regensburger" is protected for the sausages produced in the inner city
area. They are only real when connected with white and red string.
It
is consumed hot or cold, pure or with a snack with sweet mustard,
gherkins, horseradish and also with sauerkraut. In the Regensburg
Sausage Salad they are processed with a marinade of vinegar, oil,
chopped onions and mustard, as "Regensburger-Semmel mit alles"
("Knackersemmel") they are fried, cut in half lengthwise and, above all,
with horseradish, mustard and cucumber slices sold at the Regensburg
Christmas market.
Reichstag confectionery:
According to tradition,
the confection made of almonds and dates with chocolate coating, which
is also sold elsewhere under this name, takes its name from the
"perpetual Reichstag of Regensburg" (the representation of the estates
in the Holy Roman Empire from 1663 to 1806), where it was offered to the
deputies free of charge.
The snack was invented in 1663 by a chef
from Regensburg, and it was only later that Duke Cesar Gabriel de
Choiseul-Praslin, staying as a guest in Regensburg, brought the recipe
to France and Belgium.
Danube mussels: a chocolate treat.
Nut
croissants: are croissants with nut filling
gastronomy
Due to
the high number of restaurants in the city center, the typical range of
Bavarian cities can be found in Regensburg. From bourgeois Bavarian inns
to Italian, Chinese, Thai or Indian restaurants.
The beer gardens
of the Regensburg foundation breweries are recommended in summer:
2
Spitalgarten, St.-Katharinen-Platz 1, 93059 Regensburg. Tel.: +49 941
84774. Historic inn with a large beer garden with a view of the Danube,
Stone Bridge and Cathedral. Price: Main courses from €8.20.
3 Alte
Linde, Müllerstrasse 1, 93059 Regensburg. Tel.: +49 941 88080. Historic
inn with beer garden on the Oberen Wöhrd at the Steinerne Brücke
(postcard view of the old town) Price: Main courses from €8.40.
4
Kneitinger Keller, Galgenbergstrasse 18, 93053 Regensburg. Phone: +49
941 76680 . Historic inn with beer garden with old chestnut trees. Open:
Open daily from 9:00 a.m. Price: main courses from €6.90. last modified:
Aug 2020 edit info
as well as many smaller beer gardens along the
Danube and in the inner courtyards of the old town.
Famous
culinary institutions in Regensburg:
5 Wurstkuchl (historical sausage
kitchen), Thundorferstraße 3, 93047 Regensburg (tourist trap next to the
Stone Bridge and also recognizable from afar by the clouds of smoke).
Tel.: +49 (0)941 46621. The Wurstkuchl has its origins in a cookshop in
the construction office during the construction of the Stone Bridge
(completed in 1146). Traditionally, this makes it the oldest bratwurst
parlor in the world. There are 6, 8, 10 or 12 sausages with cabbage, or
hand-made, 3 in a croissant with homemade sweet mustard.
6 Dampfnudel
- Uli (inn), Am Watmarkt 4, 93047 Regensburg. Tel.: +49 (0)941 53297.
"The best Dampfnudel are at Dampfnudel Uli" (Alfons Schuhbeck), one of
the most well-known places in Regensburg, with pictures of prominent
visitors hanging inside.
7 Kneitinger brewery restaurant,
Arnulfsplatz 3, 93047 Regensburg. Tel.: +49 (0)941 52455. a permanent
institution in Regensburg. Open: daily until 10 p.m.
Cheap
8
ZARA Grill (clean snack bar with seating and Turkish specialties (kebab
and much more)), Rote-Hahnen-Gasse 4, 93047 Regensburg (directly at the
end of the Pustetpassage). Tel: (0)941 37804786.
Middle
9
Gasthof Parzefall (inn with beer garden), Obertraublinger Str. 54, 93055
Regensburg (in Burgweinting (district 18 in the south)).
10 L'Osteria
(Italian restaurant), Watmarkt 1. Tel: (0)941 5999181. Italian in the
middle of the old town, known for its large but thin-crust pizzas. Part
of a Europe-wide franchise chain.
International
11 Sam
Kullman's Diner Regensburg (American-style restaurant), Friedenstraße
10, 93053 Regensburg. Tel.: (0)941 630. Burger and chicken wings "All
you can eat" every Wednesday evening, reservation is essential! Also
part of a Germany-wide chain. Open: 11.30-22.30.
12 El Sombrero
(Mexican restaurant), Fischgässl 4. Tel.: (0)941 58402890. Tequila,
since 1990. Open: 5pm-11pm, closed on Mondays.
Upscale
Historic Corner, Watmarkt 6, 93047 Regensburg. In a historic vault in
the city center. Open: Closed in 2022 after star chef Anton Schmaus
left.
13 Seven Oceans, Friedenstrasse 7, 93051 Regensburg. Tel.:
(0)941 992908. The only upscale fish restaurant in Regensburg. Open:
Mon.-Fri. 11.30-14.00.
Coffee shop
14 Café Lila,
Rote-Hahnen-Gasse 2, 93047 Regensburg (Haidplatz on the corner of
Rote-Hahnen-Gasse. Usually easy to see, as the seating is also
outside.). Phone: +49 941 55552, email: info@cafe-lila.de. Café am
Haidplatz also offers vegetarian and vegan dishes. Feature: coffee shop.
Open: Monday-Thursday and Sunday 08:00-01:00, Friday and Saturday
08:00-02:00.
15 Café Pernsteiner Konditorei, Von-der-Tann-Straße 40.
Long-established café on the outskirts of the old town. The house
specialty is the "Agnes Bernauer Torte," a 13-layer calorie bomb with
lots of cream, shortcrust pastry and coffee. There is a friendly rivalry
with a pastry shop in Straubing about their "authenticity". Open: 7.30
a.m. - 6 p.m., Sat.+Sun. from 9.00 a.m., closed on Mondays.
Regensburg has one of the highest density of pubs in Europe, so there
is something for every taste. In the old town alone there are over 350
cafés, bars, trendy pubs, clubs and discos. A list of all locations and
all upcoming events can be found on kult.de.
From two o'clock in
the night there is a curfew and closing time in the old town area, only
discotheques are open on weekdays until three o'clock and on weekends
until four o'clock.
A hotel overview can also be found on Regensburg Tourismus GmbH
(official site).
Cheap
Gasthof Rieger, Oberisling, Rauber Str.
27, 93053 Regensburg/Oberisling. Tel.: +49 (0)941 7 19 70. The inn is
located in the south of Regensburg in Oberisling. Oberisling is a
incorporated village and easily accessible from the A3 exit Universität.
1 Hotel-Restaurant Wiendl, Universitätsstrasse 9, 93053 Regensburg.
Tel.: +49 (0)941 92 02 70. The Hotel Wiendl is within walking distance
of the Regensburg University of Applied Sciences and is therefore a
preferred accommodation for research projects (e.g. EU project
PV-Servitor).
Dechbettener Hof, Dechbetten 11, 93051 Regensburg.
Tel.: +49 (0)941 35283. The hotel is only a few minutes away from the A
93 and can therefore be reached quickly. There is no rest day in the
hotel. The following times apply to our own restaurant: Mon is a day
off. The following applies to all other days: Large menu 11:00 a.m. –
2:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m., snack menu 2:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.
Check-in: 14:00-23:00. Price: Single room from €40, double room from
€70.
Middle
2 HANSA APART-HOTEL Regensburg, Friedenstrasse 7,
93051 Regensburg. Tel.: +49 (0)941 99 29 0. The hotel is located between
the main train station and the Regensburg University of Applied
Sciences, both within walking distance and is therefore a preferred
accommodation for research projects. Feature: ★★★★.
Hotel Vitalis,
Dr.-Gessler-Str. 29, 93051 Regensburg. Tel.: +49 (0)941 298 59 207.
Popular with business travelers due to its convenient location.
3
Apollo Hotel & Restaurant, Neupruell 17, 93051 Regensburg. Tel.: (0)941
91050, Fax: (0)941 910570, Email: info@hotelapollo.de. Feature: ★★★.
Upscale
4 SORAT Insel Hotel Regensburg, Müllerstrasse 7, 93059
Regensburg. Tel.: +49 (0)941 8 10 40. Located directly on the banks of
the Danube near the Stone Bridge and close to the old town and
cathedral. Feature: ★★★★.
5 Hotel Goliath am Dom, Goliathstrasse 10,
93047 Regensburg. Tel.: +49 (0)941 20 00 90. Located right in the heart
of Regensburg city center, all sights are easily accessible on foot. The
stone bridge, St. Peter's Cathedral and the old town hall are less than
a minute's walk away. Feature: ★★★★.
Regensburg has three universities:
the University of Regensburg:
Founded in 1962 as the fourth university in Bavaria, it began teaching
in 1967. From 1969 to 1977, Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI,
taught dogmatics and the history of dogmas here.
the Regensburg
University of Applied Sciences - University of Technology, Economics and
Social Affairs; founded in 1971 as a successor to various institutions
dating back to the 19th century.
the University of Catholic Church
Music and Music Education Regensburg. Founded in 1874, the world's first
Catholic church music school, which was converted into the Academy for
Catholic Church Music and Music Education in Regensburg in 1973, was
transferred to the university in 2004.
Horizons - Institute for
Language, Communication and Culture (since 1987) conducts qualified
German courses for foreigners. Since 2005, Horizonte has also been a
member of the international language school organization IALC.
Like all Bavarian cities, Regensburg is one of the safest in Germany. The increase in criminal offenses in the statistics over the past few years can be traced back to the investigations into Bafög fraud and customs offences. According to police statistics over the last few years, Regensburg is the city with the highest crime rate in Bavaria.
Regensburg has numerous clinics with all specialist areas. There is
also a large university dental clinic.
Universitätsklinikum
Regensburg (the only third-level hospital in Eastern Bavaria),
Franz-Josef-Strauß-Allee 11, 93053 Regensburg. Phone: +49 (0)941 94 40.
gospel hospital
Merciful Brothers Regensburg
St. Josef's Hospital
Practical advice
Tourist Information, Rathausplatz 4, 93047
Regensburg. Phone: +49 (0)941 5074410.
heading north
Kallmünz worth seeing: castle ruins, stone bridge.
Can be reached by bike from Regensburg via the cycle path along the Naab
(there and back approx. 70 km).
Wolfsegg Castle: well-preserved
castle that can be visited, where, according to legend, a white woman is
said to be walking around.
Regental near Marienthal
eastbound
Castle ruins Donaustauf: from the ruins you have a beautiful view of the
Danube and Walhalla
Brennberg castle ruins with observation tower
Falkenstein Castle
Walhalla The Hall of Fame and Honor is located
near Donaustauf about 11km east of Regensburg. The hall was commissioned
by the Bavarian King Ludwig I in 1842 and built by the Bavarian court
architect Leo von Klenze. Boat trip from Regensburg Steinerne Brücke.
Bach on the Danube is the second smallest wine-growing region in
Germany. Ride the ship past the Walhalla or continue after a stopover.
Enjoy wine in an arbor and back. Baier wine from Bach can also be
purchased in Regensburg.
Nepal-Himalayan Pavilion in Wiesent (approx.
20km east on the Danube) - Here the "Nepal Himalayan Pavilion" from the
World Exhibition Expo 2000 in Hanover was rebuilt. In addition, there is
a show garden in a former quarry with more than 4,500 plant species to
visit (including many high mountain plants).
from Unterlichtenwald
Hike to the Ellbogenbauer or through the Otterbachtal
Höllbachtal
Hike through the wild and romantic Höllbachtal.
Wörth on the Danube
with Wörth Castle - day trip destination 20km to the east - a town with
over 1200 years of history.
heading west
near Schönhofen you
can hike on the Alpine trail, which got its name from the Jura rocks
there.
heading south
Thousand-year-old oak near Neueglofsheim
Southwest direction
in the nature park Altmühltal or the
Altmühltal.
to Bad Abbach with Heinrichsturm, petting zoo in the
Kurpark, Inselbad and salt caves in the Kaiser-Therme.
Kelheim
Liberation Hall - The Liberation Hall, built in 1863, is located near
Kelheim, about 26km south-west of Regensburg. In 2013: 150 years of the
Liberation Hall. With coffee nearby. Possibilities: hiking trail or paid
parking lot on the mountain. Commissioned by King Ludwig I as a memorial
to the unification of Germany after the wars of liberation against
Napoleonic France.
Altmühltal Archeology Park Family excursion to the
Keltentor in Kehlheim-Gronsdorf, can be combined with the Liberation
Hall. With a bit of luck you can see how the container ships or the
panorama ship Altmühlperle pass through the lock.
Danube breakthrough
at Weltenburg E.g. as a boat trip from Kehlheim, lunch at the Weltenburg
monastery.
to Riedenburg with Prunn Castle (ideal image of a medieval
knight's castle) and Falkenhof Rosenburg Castle, a classic knight's
castle with flight demonstrations of birds of prey.
Dripstone Cave
Schulerloch Living cave of the Neanderthals. Guides. Terrace café with
bistro. Special features: cave concerts, special tours and other events
such as B. Meditate in the stillness of the cave. Also known as Cave
Tour in Essing.
to Abensberg with the bird park Tierpark Abensberg, a
zoo with birds, pigs, donkeys to feed. Restaurant with coffee terrace
and playground at the entrance and the Hundertwasser Tower: beer and art
at the Kuchlbauer.
Cards
City of Regensburg, Office for Surveying and Statistics:
Official city map of Regensburg. 1:12,500. 12th edition. Regensburg 2005
Fritsch leisure map 63. City and district of Regensburg 1:50,000. (With
tourist information, hiking trails and parking lots)
Waldverein
Regensburg (ed.): Hiking guide in the area around Regensburg. With
hiking map 1:60,000. 10th edition. MZ-Verlag, Regensburg 2002, ISBN
3-934863-06-X
UK L 6: Regensburg and the surrounding area.
Topographic map 1:50,000 with hiking and biking trails. Bavarian State
Surveying Office, Munich 1996
Toni Breuer and Carsten Jürgens (eds.):
Aerial and satellite imagery atlas of Regensburg and eastern Bavaria.
Friedrich Pfeil, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-931516-31-8
The first documented traces of settlement go back to
around 5000 BC. The Regensburg bend in the Danube has been inhabited
since the Stone Age.
At the beginning of 2006, Celtic graves
with some valuable grave goods were found about 100 m east of the
walls of what later became the legionary camp. They were dated to
around 400 BC. dated.
With the establishment of a Roman camp
in 179, Regensburg can provide evidence of an early first mention by
Emperor Mark Aurelius. Over the centuries, Regensburg has been given
a variety of names. This indicates the rich history. The name
Radaspona is first found in literature around 770 by Arbeo von
Freising, but it probably goes back to older Celtic names. This
resulted in the French naming of Regensburg "Ratisbonne" and the
Italian "Ratisbona". The origin of the name is based on two Celtic
words: rate or ratis 'wall, city wall' and bona 'foundation' or
'city'.
In addition, the city was also considered with
humanistic new formations such as Quadrata, Germanisheim,
Hydatospolis, Ymbripolis, Reginopolis and Tyberina.
Antiquity
The Roman history of Regensburg begins around AD 79 with
the establishment of the Kumpfmühl cohort fort in what is now the
district of Kumpfmühl-Ziegetsdorf-Neuprüll. The camp served as an
observation post for the mouths of the Naab and Regen and was secured by
a ditch and palisades, later also by a stone wall. Auxiliary troops were
stationed in the camp, either a cavalry cohort of around 500 men or a
double cohort of foot soldiers of around 1000 men. A civilian settlement
(vicus) soon developed around the fort. There was also a settlement in
the form of an elongated village (vicus), which began in the area of
today's western old town at Bismarckplatz and ran along a road leading
to the Danube, where a ship mooring was proven on the bank. As
excavations in 1967/77 have shown, this Danube settlement quickly
expanded to a greater extent, stretching eastwards to the Castra Regina
legionary camp, which was built later. Remains of a Roman observation
tower were found near the mouth of the Naab. The oldest Roman brewery
north of the Alps is believed to date from this period (2nd century)
(see Roman pavilion on the Kornweg). The fort and the civilian
settlements were destroyed in the Marcomannic Wars in the second half of
the 160s.
After the Marcomanni had been pushed back until about
170 AD, the legionary camp Castra Regina (camp on the rain) was built by
order of Emperor Mark Aurel from about 175. This stone building with its
approximately 10 meter high wall, the four gates and numerous towers is
still clearly recognizable in the floor plan of Regensburg's old town.
The stone inscription from its inauguration in 179 AD, which was once
located above the east gate and is considered the founding document of
Regensburg, is still preserved today. In the camp was the III. Italian
Legion stationed with around 6000 soldiers. It was the main military
base of the province of Raetia and was therefore an exception in the
Roman administrative system, since the legion was not stationed in the
provincial capital of Augsburg. During the turmoil of the migration of
peoples, the fort was given up for military use in the course of the 5th
century, and from then on it was a walled civilian settlement.
From around 500 to 788, Regensburg was the headquarters of the
Bavarian dukes of the Agilolfinger family. Regensburg became an
important center of the early Bavarian tribal duchy. Duke Odilo
implemented the Bavarian diocesan division in 739. The dioceses of
Regensburg, Freising, Passau and Salzburg were founded under canon law
and their boundaries defined. After his victory over the Bavarian Duke
Tassilo III. Charlemagne spent two consecutive winters (791-793) in the
old Bavarian ducal city of Regensburg to personally secure the
incorporation of Bavaria into the Frankish Empire. Under Ludwig II the
German, Regensburg once again became a residence and administrative
center.
Regensburg is one of the oldest bishoprics in Germany,
which had already existed for several decades when it was placed under
canon law by Boniface in 739 and thus under the bishop of Rome. Remains
of various successive epochs can be found, among other things, in the
excavations under the Niedermünster church, which belongs to one of the
oldest monastery complexes in the city and to which the so-called
Erhardi crypt can also be assigned. The Romanesque chapel of St. George
and Afra is of a similar age. Even though Regensburg, as an imperial
city, was Protestant from 1542, the city always remained a Catholic
bishopric, although it was temporarily administered by other bishoprics.
In the 9th century Regensburg was one of the most important cities
of the East Franconian Carolingian Empire. Hemma († 876), the wife of
the East Frankish King Ludwig the German, and the two last East Frankish
Carolingian rulers, Emperor Arnulf of Carinthia († 899) and his son King
Ludwig the Child († 911) were buried in the Benedictine Abbey of St.
Emmeram. a monastery that was then still outside the walled city. It was
only under the Bavarian Duke Arnulf I that the monastery of St. Emmeram
was included in the walled city around 920 with the construction of the
new Arnulfine city wall. As in all medieval cities, the bishop resided
in the episcopium, in close proximity to the cathedral, his episcopal
church, within the walled city.
In 954, Liudolf, the eldest son of Otto the Great, retired to
Regensburg after his rebellion against his father had failed. After
several months of siege of the city by Otto's brother Heinrich,
Regensburg was conquered and set on fire; However, Liudolf managed to
escape.
A Regensburg town legend from this time is the Dollinger
legend.
The city experienced its economic heyday through
long-distance trade to Paris, Venice and Kiev. At that time it was one
of the wealthiest and most populous cities in Germany. Around the year
1050, the city with around 40,000 inhabitants was even the largest in
the empire, ahead of Rome and Cologne. According to the envoy of the
caliph of Cordoba Ibrahim ibn Yaqub, Regensburg was a center of the
medieval slave trade, in which Slavs and Balts who were prisoners of war
were exported to Muslim dominions.
The Romanesque and Gothic
architecture of the Middle Ages still determines the face of the old
town today. A sign of the prosperity of the city at that time is the
construction of the Stone Bridge from 1135 to 1146. The medieval
architectural miracle contributed to the further increase in the
prosperity of the city in the 13th century and became the model for many
other bridge constructions, for example for the Judith Bridge (Precursor
of the Charles Bridge) in Prague. At the same time, the bridge is a
symbol of the rise of civic self-government: Emperor Barbarossa's bridge
privilege of September 26, 1182 names the bridge master (magister
pontis) Herbord for the first time.
In May 1147 Konrad III. in
Regensburg on the second crusade, the strategically favorable Danube
crossing may have been one of the decisive factors. Emperor Frederick I
Barbarossa set out here in May 1189 with a large force on the Third
Crusade.
Late Staufer period
In 1207 and 1230, King Philip of Swabia
and Emperor Frederick II bestowed extensive privileges on the city
(known in scholarly terms as the Philippinum and Fridericianum,
respectively), which subsequently enabled it to become a free city.
As early as November 10, 1245, the citizens of Regensburg managed to
get Emperor Friedrich II to confirm the city's right to
self-government with the privilege of "appointing a mayor and
council". The lucrative long-distance trade that increased after the
construction of the Stone Bridge made the city a hub for east-west
and north-south trade. In the city, which at that time still had
around 20,000 inhabitants as one of the largest cities in the
empire, a wealthy bourgeoisie of around 2000 people arose, who
played a political role. The heads of 50-60 of these families formed
the patriciate that made up the city government. The Regensburg
patrician families began a lively building activity and powerful
patrician house castles were built made of stone with family towers
as a status symbol, of which the golden tower has been preserved in
its original height. The oldest part of today's Old Town Hall with
its tower was also built according to the pattern of the house
castles. During this time of the rich patricians, the mendicant
order churches and monasteries, such as the Minorite Church and the
Dominican Church of St. Blasius, were built.
Late Middle Ages
The Bavarian dukes of the Wittelsbach family residing in the city
could not stop the city's development towards independence due to
internal conflicts after the Bavarian division of the state in 1255.
They gave up their residence in Regensburg on the Kornmarkt, left
Regensburg and moved to Landshut in 1259. However, they continued to
retain their rights in the city, which had existed since 1185, such
as the right to mint coins, the right to escort and court powers in
bailiwicks. The rights were pledged to rich citizens or to the city,
which meant a financial burden for the city. This began a
four-century-long conflict between the city and the dukes of the
Duchy of Bavaria and the Regensburg prince-bishops of the Regensburg
Bishopric, whose territories encompassed the relatively small urban
area of Regensburg. It always remained the aim of the Bavarian dukes
to undermine the viability of the city of Regensburg in order to
regain their lost capital.
The construction of the Regensburg
Cathedral of St. Peter was probably started around 1273. Together
with the Stone Bridge, the cathedral is the symbol of the city. From
1293 the construction of the medieval city wall with seven new city
gate towers began, with which the new suburbs in the west and east
and several churches and monasteries were included in the city area.
At the beginning of the 14th century, there were signs of an
economic downturn in Regensburg, caused by a shift in the trade
routes in eastern and oriental trade. From the late Middle Ages,
other cities such as Augsburg, Vienna and Nuremberg, which saw
economic growth and – unlike Regensburg – increasing population
numbers, benefited from this. The declining income was offset by
high costs, because at the beginning of the century the city
fortifications were built over the course of 30 years.
From
1330 onwards there were unrest and uprisings by the guilds and
craftsmen in many cities in the south of the empire, who demanded
that the patricians participate in the city government. In
Regensburg, the uprisings took on very special proportions because
the patrician Friedrich Auer, supported by Emperor Ludwig IV,
initially allied himself with the guilds and rose to the mayor's
office. There he developed a dictatorial regime and was overthrown
again in 1334. Friedrich Auer withdrew to Brennberg Castle near
Regensburg and worked from there as a robber baron on the trade
routes of the Regensburg patricians. The city of Regensburg, which
had been unsettled and weakened by the Auer uprising, was suddenly
threatened in 1337 by an army of Emperor Ludwig IV, who - true to
his origins from the House of Wittelsbach - wanted to take advantage
of the situation and make a new, but ultimately unsuccessful attempt
to to bring the city of Regensburg back to the Duchy of Bavaria.
The first major plague pandemic, which swept across Europe and
the Near East from 1347 to 1353 and resulted in a drastic decline in
the population, certainly had a damaging impact on the economic
development of the long-distance trading city of Regensburg. The
ever-increasing blockades by the Bavarian dukes and their increasing
harassment of the city's merchants and traders had probably even
more serious effects on the city's economic situation. That is why
the city of Regensburg joined the Swabian League of Towns in 1381.
The federation was committed to protecting its approximately 50
members from the respective sovereigns and was also willing to exert
military pressure on the princes. In 1388, during the city war,
there were also military actions in the area around Regensburg,
during which the army of the Bavarian Duke Albrecht I not only
destroyed the city's vineyards. A siege of the city of Regensburg
was unsuccessful. The town war ended with the peace treaty of Cheb,
which did not change the situation that existed before the war. The
cities were obliged to pay high war indemnities and had to bear
their own high war costs. In addition, the city council of
Regensburg was forced to increase spending on improving the city
fortifications in order to maintain independence. This worsened the
city's already difficult financial situation by the end of the
century.
In the 15th century, Regensburg's economic decline
continued and led to the city's bankruptcy. The crash was initiated
when the Hussite wars began in 1419. The fighting also spread to the
Upper Palatinate and ended in 1434 with the defeat of the Hussites
and the loss of economic power and sales areas in the Bohemian
region and the sales areas further to the north-east, which were no
longer accessible to Regensburg long-distance traders. The desolate
financial situation of the city had deteriorated because the
northern bridgehead of the Stone Bridge had been reinforced in
anticipation of the Hussites and the eastern buildings of the
Katharinenspital had to be demolished.
There was an outflow
of capital and the departure of rich families from Regensburg,
because the city, which only made a living from long-distance and
transit trade, had neglected to promote handicrafts and the
production of consumer goods in the 14th century, as had happened in
Nuremberg. Nuremberg and Augsburg now also benefited from trade with
Venice and Italy thanks to new options for using the Brenner Pass,
while the Tauern Pass used by the Regensburg traders was sidelined.
As a long-distance trading city with the Near East, Regensburg
had also found itself in a peripheral position due to the advance of
the Turks in south-eastern Europe. The expansion of the Turks could
not be stopped after the defeat of the Serbs in 1389 in the Battle
of Amselfeld and in 1396 in the Battle of Nicopolis and in the
subsequent Turkish wars. The trade route to the east, which had
previously been impeded by the city of Vienna's staple rights in
force since 1221, was finally blocked by the conquest of
Constantinople by the Turks.
In 1471, in Regensburg, in the
presence of Emperor Friedrich III. and the papal envoy held the
imperial assembly for the introduction of the Turkish tax. At this
so-called Regensburg Christian Day, 10,000 delegates had to be
accommodated, fed and provided with information on the course of
negotiations in the city area. These tasks could be managed well
from an organizational point of view with the help of the city area
divided into guards and using the bell of the market tower as a
means of communication.
After the Christian Day, Emperor
Friedrich III. at the Reichstag to actually receive the promised
money for the war against the Turks from the Reich Estates. In the
case of the Free Imperial City of Regensburg, efforts were initially
unsuccessful, so that in 1483 the Emperor had to threaten the city
with an imperial ban in order to receive 6,000 guilders. Regensburg,
whose population had meanwhile dropped to around 12,000, was unable
to raise the money, especially since Friedrich, as patron of the
Jews, had already sentenced the city to a fine of 8,000 guilders in
1476 for years of unjustified incarceration of seventeen prominent
Jews. To pay off the debt, the city council levied new taxes. This
led to a revolt by the guilds in August 1585, with the population
turning their anger against the emperor.
In this situation,
the Bavarian Duke Albrecht IV used his old rights as burgrave as a
lure. He had pledged the rights to the city of Regensburg in 1479
for 19,000 guilders and now offered them to the council for
repurchase. With this sum, the city was able to settle its debts to
the emperor and also received financial assets. A pro-Bavarian,
anti-imperial mood prevailed among the population, expressed in the
slogan: “Better a duke than an emperor! The duke makes rich, the
empire makes poor.” In October 1485, a pro-Bavarian group in the
city council pushed through the acceptance of the Bavarian duke's
proposals. In July 1486, the complete connection of the city to the
Duchy of Bavaria was regulated in a transfer agreement. The deciding
factor was the argument that, like other Bavarian country towns that
were prospering at the beginning of the modern era, Regensburg could
only achieve an economic upswing with Bavarian funding. In August
1486, Duke Albrecht IV moved into Regensburg in grand style. As a
member of the Wittelsbach family, he had been pursuing a policy of
expansion and confrontation with the imperial House of Habsburg for
years, and now achieved one of his greatest successes. In the years
that followed, up until 1492, the Bavarian duke began some
construction measures that boosted the economy in Regensburg, such
as e.g. B. 1487 the construction of the first salt barn in
Regensburg. The old trade route to Nuremberg through the Prebrunntor
on the southern bank of the Danube was relocated to the northern,
Bavarian-controlled bank of the Danube. Plans to build a ducal
residence in front of the Prebrunntor and plans to found a
university were not realized at that time.
Emperor Friedrich
and his son, who was crowned king and co-ruling since 1486, the
later Emperor Maximilian I, reacted sharply to Regensburg's
submission to Bavarian rule and took legal action against the
Wittelsbach competitors. In October 1491 and January 1492, the
Imperial Chamber Court imposed an imperial ban on the city of
Regensburg and the Bavarian duke. The Emperor found the military
support he needed in the Swabian League, a union of Swabian imperial
estates that offered resistance to the Wittelsbach dynasty's efforts
to expand. The Bavarian Duke Albrecht IV was forced to give in to
military pressure, and the urban imperial immediacy of the city of
Regensburg was restored in 1492. This required several contracts in
which the territorial borders between Regensburg and Bavaria were
redefined. In these treaties of 1496, the city of Regensburg lost
its status as a free city and became an imperial city under the
supervision of imperial commissioners, whose powers were laid down
in regimental regulations and treaties of protection. The Bavarian
duke lost his old rights as burgrave in the city along with the
income from it. As compensation, the "Am Hof" settlement was raised
to the status of the Bavarian country town of Stadtamhof.
However, the mood among the population remained tense because the
economic situation did not improve and because there were still
supporters of the Bavarian Duke, with whom the imperial
commissioners, who were called Reichshauptmann from 1499, dealt
harshly with them. A 30-year phase of social unrest began in the
city, which led to the expulsion of the Regensburg Jews in 1519.
The inner unrest in the city escalated in 1511 when Emperor
Maximilian I appointed the Franconian nobleman Thomas Fuchs von Wallburg
as the new imperial governor for Regensburg. The majority of the city
council resisted the appeal for two years. A power struggle began
between the emperor and the city council, during the course of which
Konrad Liskircher, who was loyal to the emperor, was kidnapped by the
mob in 1513, imprisoned, tortured and hanged. After a number of imperial
commissions had been dispatched, Thomas Fuchs von Wallburg was appointed
the new Reichshauptmann. After that, the partisans of the Bavarian Duke
were settled and the ringleader, the master builder Wolfgang Roritzer,
was executed along with more than 100 followers. Emperor Maximilian I
imposed a new city constitution on the city in 1514, the so-called
"Regimentsordnung", which formally remained in force until 1803. After
his appointment, the new Reichshauptmann Thomas Fuchs von Wallburg
played an important and favorable role in the city's financial affairs
and in negotiations with Bishop Johann von der Pfalz, so that his
appointment was no longer questioned.
After the death of Emperor
Maximilian in January 1519 and the election of the new King Charles V in
June 1519, the City Council of Regensburg used the brief period of power
vacuum without the Emperor and organized a pogrom to expel the
Regensburg Jews, at that time the largest Jewish community in Germany .
This was preceded by an order from the city council on February 21,
which met a demand from Christian craftsmen. The old Jewish quarter on
today's Neupfarrplatz and the Jewish cemetery in front of the Peterstor
were totally destroyed. A happy accident during the demolition work was
mystified as a miracle and led to the pilgrimage "Zur Schönen Maria".
The pilgrimage was very popular and brought the city and the bishop high
income for several years. The money was used to build a pilgrimage
church using Jewish tombstones. After the completion of the choir, the
pilgrimage declined and the construction had to be stopped due to lack
of money. The hull was temporarily closed and used as a Protestant town
church after the introduction of the Reformation in 1542. Only in the
19th century was the church closed in the west; This is how today's
Neupfarrkirche was built on the square of the same name.
In 1524,
the Regensburg Convention was the first alliance of early church
imperial estates in the city. In 1541 the Regensburg religious
discussion between Philipp Melanchthon and Johannes Eck took place in
the Neue Waag on Haidplatz. The conversation was an attempt to bridge
the deep rifts that had opened up between Catholics and Protestants
after Luther posted his theses in Wittenberg in 1517, but this did not
succeed.
In the years after 1517, when more and more cities
joined the Reformation, the religious-political freedom of action of the
city council in Regensburg was repeatedly restricted. In addition to the
area of the imperial city, the urban area also included the territories
of the bishop with the cathedral, the monastery of St. Emmeran, the
monastery of Obermünster and the monastery of Niedermünster. Even the
Duke of Bavaria, who surrounded the city with his territory, did not
hesitate to put the city under pressure on religious policy by
threatening economic blockades. In the years after 1517, the city
council had to walk a tightrope politically and was led and advised by
Reichshauptmann Thomas Fuchs von Wallburg, who was very influential with
the emperor. He withheld the city council, so the city never put itself
at the forefront of the Reformation movement. At the same time, however,
the many reformatory approaches that existed in the city on the part of
the citizens and that were supported by foreign nobles who were staying
in the city were not hindered. Since 1526, Protestant celebrations of
communion in town houses and the homes of aristocrats have been
tolerated. However, this also increased the danger of religious
sectarianism. The Anabaptists had settled in Regensburg since 1525 and
in 1528 the Anabaptist Wutzelburger was executed.
When the
emperor gave the towns the freedom to join the Augsburg Confession in
the imperial farewell of 1541, the town council seized the opportunity
and, following a petition from the townsfolk on September 28, 1542,
decided to celebrate with a Holy Communion on October 15, 1542. Church
service in the Neupfarrkirche to officially introduce the Reformation in
Regensburg. Council consultant Johann Hiltner provided the required
justification. After the introduction of the Reformation, there were
still a variety of conflicts with the prince-bishop. The situation
calmed down only after the chamberlain Stephan Fugger vom Reh († 1602)
had signed the Lutheran formula of 1577 for the city council of
Regensburg.
In the years of the beginning of the Reformation, the
Protestant grammar school poeticum developed from a provisional Latin
school initially founded by the city magistrate in 1505 at a new
prominent location, from which the Regensburg grammar schools developed
over the decades together with a Catholic Jesuit college.
In 1575
the election of the German king took place in Regensburg for the first
time.
From the end of the 16th century and especially before and after the
outbreak of the Thirty Years' War and years after the Peace of
Westphalia, Regensburg was one of the most important places of refuge
for evangelical expellees from Austria, easily accessible via the
Danube. Of the approximately 100,000 exiles, some families settled
permanently in Regensburg, e.g. B. Members of the Stubenberg noble
family. However, many exiles moved on to Nuremberg, Franconia, Swabia,
Prussia and the Netherlands. A second wave of Salzburg exiles then
followed in the late autumn and winter of 1731/32.
At the
Regensburg Kurfürstentag of 1630, the commander-in-chief of the imperial
army, Wallenstein, was initially deposed, but then reinstated at the end
of 1631 because the rapid advance of the Swedish army under King Gustav
II Adolf to southern Germany was changing the military situation for the
emperor and for Bavaria had deteriorated drastically. In the first years
of the Thirty Years' War, Regensburg was not affected by military
operations, but was occupied by Bavarian troops in 1632 because, after
the defeat of the Bavarian army in the Battle of Rain am Lech, an attack
by the Swedes on Austria along the Danube line seemed possible and
Regensburg became important as a potential barrier fortress. With the
occupation of Regensburg by Bavarian troops in April 1632, the battles
for Regensburg began. First, the Bavarian commander Troibreze expanded
the city fortifications and strengthened them with outworks. As it
turned out later, these measures had no effect because Wallenstein
refused to send troop reinforcements to Regensburg. In November 1633,
Regensburg was stormed and occupied by Swedish troops under Bernhard von
Sachsen-Weimar. All Catholic clergy were expelled and Protestant
services were held in the cathedral. Just a few months after the
assassination of Wallenstein, Regensburg was recaptured jointly by
Imperial and Bavarian troops after a three-month siege in July 1634
under the leadership of the new commander-in-chief of the Imperial Army,
Archduke Ferdinand, son of Emperor Ferdinand II. An attempt to relieve
the Swedish defenders in Regensburg by two Swedish armies was carelessly
delayed because both armies lost a lot of time sacking Landshut. The
help of these armies did not come in time. and resulted in an
exhausting, loss-making return march of the two Swedish armies to the
west. This made their preparations for the forthcoming battle near
Nördlingen considerably more difficult.
Regensburg was occupied
exclusively by imperial troops, which greatly annoyed the Bavarian
Elector Maximilian I and later resulted in years of economic sanctions.
For Archduke Ferdinand, the victory at Regensburg was the first military
success, followed by an even greater victory with the subsequent Battle
of Nördlingen. After these proofs of military performance, Archduke
Ferdinand was elected Roman-German king at the Regensburg Electors' Day
in 1636. In 1637 he was named Emperor Ferdinand III. He was his father's
successor and convened an Elector's Day in Regensburg in 1641, at which
the possibilities for a peace agreement were discussed, but not decided.
A Swedish army under General Johan Banér used the Emperor's presence to
launch a heavy cannonade attack on the city, but had to retreat without
success.
Regensburg was already an important center in the time of the East
Franconian Empire, in which imperial diets were also held. From 1594
onwards, the Imperial Diets were only held in the Imperial Hall of the
Regensburg town hall and even after the end of the Thirty Years' War
with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, the first Imperial Diet was
convened again in Regensburg after the war. At this Reichstag, details
of the provisions of the peace treaty were discussed and passed, and it
was decided to convene another Reichstag in 1663. This Reichstag of 1663
then developed into the Perpetual Reichstag, at which the emperor was
usually represented by imperial principal commissioners selected by him.
The imperial princes were usually represented by envoys, some of whom
settled in Regensburg with their families, set up embassies with
servants in the city and, in the event of their death, were buried in
the city either in Catholic monasteries or, if they were Protestant, on
the southern backyard of the Trinity Church, built in 1631. A few
burials had already taken place there at the end of the war, despite the
initial resistance of the city government, which initially only wanted
to allow burials outside the city wall at St. Peter's Cemetery for
reasons of hygiene. At that time, the creation of the diplomatic
cemetery, now known as the envoy cemetery, began with almost 100 burials
at the end of use around 1790, 20 closely adjacent large Baroque
epitaphs and 32 preserved grave slabs.
In the course of the War
of the Spanish Succession, which began in 1701, in which many estates in
the Hague Alliance fought with the Emperor and with England against
Electoral Bavaria, which was allied with France, the keys to the city
were handed over to the Bavarian General Alessandro Maffei on April 8,
1703 on the Stone Bridge without a fight hand over. At the same time,
Elector Max Emanuel, who was allied with France against the Austrian
Emperor, undertook to withdraw the Bavarian troops stationed in
Stadtamhof as soon as he had been assured of the neutrality of the city
of Regensburg in the conflict and he had the guarantee that neither of
the two warring parties would destroy the Steinerne can use the bridge.
In fact, however, the city was occupied by a coup d'état and there was
heavy fighting and destruction in Stadtamhof.
The last plague
epidemic in the city occurred in 1713/14, resulting in around 8,000
deaths. At the end of August 1713, the envoys to the Perpetual Reichstag
left the city with their servants and moved to Augsburg, followed by
many clergymen. After about 7,000 people had left the city, it was
completely cordoned off by Bavarian hussars. A plague hospital was set
up on the lower Wöhrd, where mass graves were also created. A second
wave of exiles from Salzburg reached Regensburg in the late autumn and
winter of 1731/32.
In 1742, after the election of the Bavarian
Elector Karl Albrecht as Emperor Karl VII (HRR), the Imperial Postmaster
General Prince Alexander Ferdinand von Thurn und Taxis was appointed
Principal Commissioner and Deputy Emperor at the Everlasting Reichstag.
During this time, the Reichstag met in Frankfurt, where the new
principal commissioner also had his residence. After the unexpected
death of Emperor Charles VII in January 1745 and the election of Franz I
of Lorraine, Maria Theresa's husband, as the new Emperor, the seat of
the Reichstag was moved back to Regensburg. Only after Alexander
Ferdinand von Thurn und Taxis, who had initially lost his position as
principal commissioner, had agreed to the transfer of his residence to
Regensburg as well, was he reappointed principal commissioner on January
15, 1748. The Freisinger Hof on the north side of Emmeramsplatz in
Regensburg was rented as a representative building for a magnificent
court and extensively expanded into a residential palace at the expense
of the House of Thurn and Taxis. In April 1750, the palace was occupied
and became the place of a magnificent court, where gala suppers and
court bands were used to amuse and amuse the envoys after Reichstag
sessions. Alexander Ferdinand von Thurn and Taxis died in 1773. His
successor as Principal Commissioner was his son Karl Anselm von Thurn
and Taxis. After the palace was destroyed by a major fire in 1792, a
move to the western outbuilding (today the government of the Upper
Palatinate) took place. The quarters for the office, the library and the
archives required for the performance of the office as the emperor's
deputy were housed at this time, as was the mailing department, in the
Zanthaus on Gesandtenstraße, where numerous legations had also set up
rented apartments. Although these tenancies had an economic benefit for
the city, it was small, since the envoys were not subject to any duties
or taxes. In 1771, the Zanthaus was bought by Thurn und Taxis and, after
moving to the buildings of the Sankt Emmeram monastery in 1812, sold
again to the Bernhard brothers, who set up a factory for snuff tobacco
there.
In the winter of 1783/84 a volcanic eruption in Iceland
also caused great damage in the city of Regensburg and the surrounding
area. A dense fog was followed by a heavy hailstorm with "three-pointed
pieces of ice", many deaths from lightning and devastated fields.
Numerous properties were destroyed by the flames, trees, bushes and
crops died under a sticky layer of sulphur, the flood exposed graves,
drowned people everywhere. On August 1, 1783, the Bavarian elector
banned the weather bells, which had previously caused people to die from
lightning. In addition, in 1783/84 there were short, alternating,
extremely hot and cold days with serious consequences on February 27,
28, 29 and in the summer of 1784 in Regensburg: flooding and ice not
only destroyed the middle tower of the Stone Bridge, but also houses and
commercial buildings destroyed, bridges, people and food, cattle and
fodder supplies were swept away.
end of the 18th century
Regensburg was shaken by serious internal political disputes when,
against the background of the city's impending financial collapse,
representatives of the citizenry and the magistrate successfully sued
the city's Privy Council (the actual government body) before the
Imperial Court Council in Vienna for mismanagement and breach of the
constitution. The Emperor decreed a selective revision of the city
constitution and granted Regensburg a moratorium – to the detriment of
the city's creditors – which averted the collapse of the city-state.
During the Second Coalition War in December 1799, 5,000 Russian soldiers
marched through the city. In the summer of 1800, French troops occupied
Munich and also took up quarters in Regensburg on their way to the
Battle of Hohenlinden. The city was hit with high contributions, which
completely ruined the city's finances.
Principality of Regensburg under Prince Primate Karl Theodor von
Dalberg (1803 to 1810)
Kingdom of Bavaria
Transitional period as a
Bavarian provincial town
One of the last decisions of the Reichstag
was made in Regensburg in 1803: the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss led,
among other things, to the secularization of most of the monasteries.
With the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss, the independent Principality of
Regensburg came into being under Karl Theodor von Dalberg, who was only
able to take office as Archbishop on February 1, 1805 due to Bavarian
objections. At the last meeting of the Reichstag in Regensburg on August
1, 1806, the states of the Confederation of the Rhine declared their
withdrawal from the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. In the Fifth
Coalition War (France against Great Britain and Austria), an Austrian
army corps occupied Regensburg on April 20, 1809. Three days later, the
city was recaptured by a French army, destroying the houses and
monasteries in the southeastern part of the city between Klarenanger
(today Dachauplatz) and Peterstor. Napoleon suffered the only injury
during all his campaigns.
As a result, Dalberg retained his
office as Archbishop of Regensburg until his death in 1817, but had to
cede his Principality of Regensburg to the Kingdom of Bavaria on May 22,
1810. Bavaria officially took possession of Regensburg on May 23, 1810.
The integration into the Kingdom of Bavaria meant the loss of political
importance and the special position of the former imperial city or
principality. However, even in the days of the imperial city, the
economic situation had become so desolate that further self-employment
seemed problematic for this reason alone. Reconstruction in the
southeast of the city began under the police director Franz Xaver
Gruber, appointed by the Bavarian king in 1810, who set up a city
administration. Only after the city had regained self-government in
municipal matters through the Bavarian municipal edict of May 17, 1818
was Johann Karl Martin Mauerer elected the first legally qualified mayor
of the city of Regensburg in September 1818.
Regensburg became the capital of the Regenkreis, and from 1838 of the
“Regensburg and Oberpfalz” district, which later became the Upper
Palatinate government district. As a "district city" and at the same
time the seat of the district office of the same name, Regensburg slowly
began to gain in importance again. In 1859 the city was connected to the
railway network with connections to Nuremberg and Munich.
In the
years that followed, mayor Oskar von Stobäus (1869-1903) began to
modernize the city with the almost complete demolition of the medieval
city fortifications. After that, nine new schools, new districts and
connecting roads could be built, e.g. B. the D. Martin Luther Straße and
1871 after the founding of the Reich the Reichsstraße. As early as
December 1857, the first gasworks on Landshuter Strasse went into
operation. The gas produced from coal from 1865 was initially used for
street lighting and from 1900 for heat generation. In 1897 the gas works
were municipalised. At the end of 1899, the first power plant went into
operation on Augustenstraße, initially with Thurn und Taxis Castle as
the largest customer, and from 1903 it was replaced by the Regensburg
tramway. Due to the high infant mortality rate, the search for new
sources for the drinking water supply was particularly urgent and proved
to be very costly. The sources finally found in Sallern required the
construction of elevated tanks and new lines. The subsequent
canalisation of the city aimed to drain all sewage and faeces from the
city area and by 1911 had only covered 2/3 of the properties. The
facility was very expensive, but significantly improved the poor health
of the population.
Despite all these measures, there was hardly
any industry in the years that followed. Towards the end of the century
the population had almost tripled, but had increased tenfold in the
cities of Munich and Nuremberg and quadrupled in the comparable city of
Augsburg. Within Bavaria, Regensburg was no longer the fifth largest
city, but had fallen to eighth place, overtaken by the new industrial
cities of Ludwigshafen, Fürth and Kaiserslautern. For a long time,
Regensburg's role was limited to that of an economic and commercial
center for a relatively limited agricultural area. In addition, however,
the traditional importance of the old, peaceful city as a church and
school town and as the seat of the authorities was preserved.
In the municipal elections of 1899, the candidates of the former
conservative Catholic Bavarian Patriots Party joined the new Center
Party. They had waged a strongly denominational election campaign
against the Protestant-dominated National Liberal Party of Mayor Stobäus
and achieved a 43% share of the vote. Despite this, the Center Party was
not given a seat in the municipal bodies. The result was repeated in the
municipal elections in 1902 and 1905. The unfair result was a
consequence of the municipal electoral law of the time and had two
causes. For one thing, eligibility to vote was conditional on acquiring
citizenship, which had to be bought, which many poor Catholic residents
could not afford. Added to this was the fact that the mandatory majority
vote and sophisticated constituency demarcations meant that all mandates
went to the Liberals. In this way, the bourgeois liberal leadership that
had ruled Regensburg for decades had secured its supremacy and prevented
the middle and petty bourgeoisie and the later new workers from not
being represented in the municipal bodies. These very unfair conditions
only changed after Heinrich Held, who had been editor-in-chief of the
Regensburger Morgenblatt in Regensburg since 1899, became a member of
the Center in the Bavarian state parliament from 1907. There, Held
demanded new municipal suffrage for large cities and was able to enforce
this demand with the support of the Social Democrats in 1908. As a
result, in the same year, six of the twelve seats in the board of
municipal representatives went to the Center Party and the chairman of
the farmers' association, Georg Heim, was even elected a member of the
Regensburg city council. In 1910, under Mayor Hermann Geib, the opening
of the Luitpoldhafen, which had been planned by his predecessor Stobäus,
brought about an economic upswing. The western harbor still has an
important function today. Up to and including the First World War,
shipping on the Danube was very important because of the oil imports
from Romania. The Regensburg petroleum port soon proved to be too small.
In 1913 the inland shipping company Bayerische Lloyd was founded.
Interwar period and National Socialism
In 1920, the trade
association founded in 1847 decided not to sell its club house in
Ludwigstrasse as initially planned, but to expand the building in
cooperation with the Chamber of Crafts and to create a trade building as
a service center for trade and commerce in the Upper Palatinate. Despite
inflation and devaluation, the first construction phase was completed in
1924 with exhibition rooms. The driving force was the owner of the
Wiedamann tin foundry workshop, who in 1925 also initiated the merger
with the then impoverished Kunstverein. The new association caused a
stir when it called for the founding of a cultural history museum. In
1928, the city government appointed Walter Boll as administrator of the
city collections, who prepared the founding of today's Historical Museum
from 1931.
An increase in the urban area of more than 26 square
kilometers and an increase of around 20,000 inhabitants in 1924 resulted
in the incorporation of seven communities of the former Stadtamhof
district office, which then became the Regensburg district office,
today's Regensburg district. The incorporations were the present
districts of Stadtamhof, Reinhausen, Sallern, Schwabelweis, Steinweg,
Weichs and Winzer.
The Lord Mayor Otto Hipp (Bavarian People's Party), who had been in
office since 1920, was a determined opponent of the National Socialists
and had legally forbidden the NSDAP from using city buildings as late as
the early 1930s. After Hitler came to power and four days after the
Reichstag elections on March 5, 1933, the NSDAP in Regensburg, with a
high turnout of 87.5%, performed significantly worse than the national
average (43.9%), atypical to other cities. Nevertheless, SA detachments
gathered on the town hall square demanded that the mayor hoist the
swastika flag on the town hall. When Hipp refused, the flag was raised
against his will under police protection. Hipp's immediate complaints to
higher authorities were disregarded. On March 9, after Franz Ritter von
Epp had been appointed Reich Commissioner for Bavaria, swastika flags
were placed on all town halls on his instructions.
On March 20,
1933, mayor Hipp was taken from his apartment to the town hall by SA
groups under tumultuous circumstances, forced to resign and taken into
protective custody. Otto Schottenheim (NSDAP) was appointed as his
successor, who remained in office until 1945 after being confirmed by
the National Socialist-dominated city council. On May 12, 1933, an
official book burning also took place in Regensburg on Neupfarrplatz. In
the same year, Mayor Schottenheim had the construction of a “National
Socialist model settlement” (today Konradsiedlung-Wutzlhofen), named
after him, begin in the north of the city. A second model settlement,
mainly for workers of the Messerschmitt aircraft factory, the so-called
"Hermann-Göring-Siedlung" (today Ganghofersiedlung), was later built in
the south of the city. Other suburban settlements were built at the same
time on Brandlberg, in Steinweg (Palatinate settlement) and in the west
of the city (Westheimsiedlung).
In 1933 Regensburg was added to
the Gau Bayerische Ostmark of the NSDAP (based in Bayreuth) – from 1942
Gau Bayreuth – but remained the seat of the government of the district
formed in 1932 (from 1939 administrative district) Lower Bavaria/Upper
Palatinate. In the fall of 1932, elementary school teacher Wolfgang
Weigert took over the position of NSDAP district leader from Wilhelm
Brodmerkel.
As in the entire Reich area, measures to oust the Jewish population
of Regensburg from urban life also began in Regensburg in 1933, which
resulted in the emigration of many Jewish families. In the course of the
"Jew boycott" in April 1933, 107 businessmen and craftsmen from the
Jewish community of Regensburg, which at the time consisted of about 430
people, were taken into protective custody, allegedly to protect them
from the excited population. In the spring of 1934, Jewish students had
to leave secondary schools. In August 1935, entertaining Jews in
restaurants was forbidden. In November 1936, Jewish cattle dealers were
expelled from the municipal slaughterhouse, and as a result Mayor
Schottenheim forbade Jews from entering the slaughterhouse. In July 1938
the windows of downtown Jewish shops were smeared with oil paint, and by
October 1938 few of the original 18 Jewish shops remained. On the night
of November 10, 1938, the synagogue at the Brixner Hof was also burned
down in Regensburg during the Night of Broken Glass, initiated by
members of the National Socialist Motor Corps and supported by Mayor
Schottenheim, who gave the instruction to limit the extinguishing work
to the surrounding houses.
On April 2, 1942, 106 Regensburg Jews
were transported from the site of the destroyed synagogue to Piaski and
later murdered in the Belzec and Sobibor extermination camps. Further
transports led to the Auschwitz concentration camp and the
Theresienstadt concentration camp. A total of around 250 of the Jews
deported from Regensburg were murdered during the Shoa. Around 230
Regensburg Jews were able to escape extermination by emigrating or
fleeing.
At the beginning of 1945, the Colosseum subcamp, a
subcamp of the Flossenbürg concentration camp, was located in the
Stadtamhof district. In the neighboring municipality of Obertraubling,
the concentration camp Obertraubling existed on the premises of the
former Messerschmitt GmbH. Today, part of this area (such as the former
so-called Russian Camp II with more than a thousand mostly Russian
forced laborers) belongs to the urban area of Regensburg.
In the
fall of 1942, the Gestapo arrested over 30 people and accused them of
anti-state behavior. Since the persecuted, who belonged to all political
camps from the KPD to the BVP to the NSDAP, met in irregular succession
on Regensburg's Neupfarrplatz, the Gestapo gave them the name
"Neupfarrplatz Group". In their final report, the police accused those
arrested of using word-of-mouth to destroy them; this had "weakened many
German national comrades in their confidence in victory quite
considerably". Two of the accused, Josef Bollwein and Johann Kellner,
were sentenced to death by the 6th Senate of the People's Court for
"preparation for high treason" and executed on August 12, 1943 in
Munich-Stadelheim.
Others were sentenced to prison and loss of
honor or taken to the Flossenbürg concentration camp. Six more people
died there.
From 1940 onwards, a total of 638 women, men and
young people were deported from the district mental hospital on
Ludwig-Thoma-Strasse to the Hartheim killing center as part of the T 4
"euthanasia" campaign. More than 500 other people were forcibly
sterilized.
At the beginning of the Second World War, several labor camps for
prisoners of war from many nations were set up in and around Regensburg.
About 700 of them became victims of Nazi forced labor or died of
epidemics and miserable living conditions. A total of almost 14,000
so-called foreign workers had to do forced labor in Regensburg during
the war.
During the Second World War, Regensburg suffered
relatively little from air raids compared to other larger cities,
because no night surface raids took place, but targeted object attacks.
A total of about 20 such attacks took place, killing about 1,100 people
and destroying about 400 buildings and damaging the same number. To the
west of the city, the Messerschmitt aircraft factory was a strategic
target for air raids, which was completely destroyed after three
attacks. Other strategic goals were the port facilities in the east of
the city and the railway facilities on the south-eastern edge of the old
town as a railway junction between Munich and Berlin. The Messerschmitt
aircraft factory, which was one of the largest of its kind in Europe,
was attacked by American bombers for the first time on August 17, 1943
(Operation Double Strike) and, like the port facilities, was completely
destroyed with further attacks in the course of 1944, without the
aircraft production outsourced to concentration camps was stopped or
reduced.
The existing buildings in the old town were less
affected than the degree of destruction in other German inner cities,
although one of the most important architectural monuments in the city,
the Obermünster Collegiate Church, was completely lost and other
historical buildings in the old town, such as e.g. B. the Old Chapel or
the New Waag on Haidplatz, were badly damaged. In a total of 20 bombing
raids by the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces in
1943-1945, around 3000 people died, including many prisoners of war. The
housing fabric in the city was only relatively little damaged: 82% of
the apartments were considered undamaged, 9% as moderately to severely
damaged and 9% as totally destroyed.
As early as 1944, for
propaganda reasons, a Führer decree had declared Regensburg and numerous
other cities to be fortresses. On April 22, 1945 Gauleiter (Gau
Bayreuth) and Reich Defense Commissioner Ludwig Ruckdeschel demanded the
defense of Regensburg to the last stone in a fanatical speech or radio
address in the Velodrome. For the following night he announced the
demolition of all Danube bridges. A short time later, Ruckdeschel and
District President Gerhard Bommel fled to Schloss Haus near
Neueglofsheim.
In the early morning hours of April 23, 1945,
retreating Wehrmacht troops blew up the Iron Bridge, the Iron Bridge and
the Adolf Hitler Bridge, as did two pillars of the 12th-century Stone
Bridge, one of the most important Cultural monuments of the city (the
first and second as well as the tenth and eleventh arches were blown
up). As a result, there was no longer an intact bridge over the southern
arm of the Danube in the city area. In the night that followed, the new
Regenbrücke (today's Frankenbrücke) and the Reinhausener Brücke also
followed in the north of the city.
On April 23, 1945, cathedral
preacher Johann Maier (1906-1945) asked for a handover without a fight
at a demonstration on Moltkeplatz, which was mainly carried out by
Regensburg women with children and old people, but also soldiers and
clergy, so that the city would not more will be damaged or to avoid
further victims. The following day, he was publicly executed on
Moltkeplatz, today's Dachauplatz, together with Regensburg citizen Josef
Zirkl and retired gendarmerie officer Michael Lottner for "sabotage"
(see also final phase crimes).
In the afternoon of April 25,
units of the 71st Infantry Division occupied the Stadtamhof district. On
the same day they reached Donaustauf and in the evening Bad Abbach.
On the day of April 26, the Wehrmacht units and the combat commander
Hans Hüsson left the city of Regensburg in a south-easterly direction.
Major Othmar Matzke, the highest-ranking officer who remained in the
city contrary to the order situation, then, in the morning hours of
April 27, in consultation with Mayor Otto Schottenheim, sent a Major
General a. D. as a parliamentarian to the US troops. This offered an
unconditional surrender, and then Regensburg was handed over to the 3rd
US Army without a fight.
In June 1945, under American occupation,
Regensburg became a collection point for around 2,200 Italian citizens
who had been liberated from concentration camps by the Americans and
were accommodated in the halls of the former Messerschmitt aircraft
factory. They were brought back to Italy at the end of July 1945. Among
them was the painter Aldo Carpi, who lived with American soldiers in a
residential building and left detailed reports about the immediate
post-war period in Regensburg.
On June 12, 2007, Gunter Demnig
laid the first stumbling blocks in Regensburg to commemorate the victims
of National Socialism in Regensburg.
As early as 1945, shortly after the end of the war, the population
clearly exceeded the 100,000 mark and reached 150,000 by the turn of the
millennium. After the war, streams of refugees from the east
(particularly from the Sudetenland) were the main reason for the
increase in population. In addition to the refugees, there was another
group of around 6,000 people, including 5,000 Ukrainians and 1,000
people of unclear nationality, who were housed as so-called Displaced
Persons in the Ganghofer settlement built during the war until 1949,
which is why they were known as the "Little Ukraine". was designated.
See also UNRRA and refugee policy (Germany).
The refugees were
accommodated in the old town because there were no buildings in the
outer areas. Around 1955, this meant that the population density in
Regensburg was higher than anywhere else in the Federal Republic. Due to
the unacceptable living conditions, the risk of fire was high and not
only plans and measures for the renovation of the old town had to be
tackled, but also new construction measures in the outskirts of the
city. After a long delay, the 1933 Charter of Athens was also applied in
Regensburg in 1957. The charter was an architectural manifesto that was
important for city planners, in which, in addition to the construction
of space-saving high-rise buildings, healthy building outside of densely
populated old towns, in locations with light, air and sun and with play
and sports facilities was recommended. According to the charter, outside
of the old town in Regensburg, several residential areas were built,
e.g. B in the Konradsiedlung after 1962 more than 900 apartments in
high-rise buildings and four-storey apartment blocks, which were
supplied by their own heating plant. An infrastructure with
kindergartens, many playgrounds, a post office and supply shops was also
created.
For Regensburg, with its old town of narrow streets and
old buildings that were largely spared from bomb damage during the war,
the question arose as to whether renovation should take place and if so,
how. Should only individual, selected buildings be preserved or should
larger islands of tradition be created? Or should the old town be left
haphazardly to the dynamic forces of modern life and the growing
economy? Questions of this kind were important because the Bavarian
Monument Protection Act, which only came into force in 1973, did not yet
exist at the time. These questions were dealt with in a 1967 academic
publication entitled "Regensburg - On the Renewal of an Old City". The
publication appeared as the final report of an urban development seminar
of the "Foundation Regensburg". In view of the special situation in
Regensburg, the report discussed sociological, economic, legal and
transport issues in addition to monument preservation and urban planning
considerations. The report was created in three years of work under the
direction of the city planner Prof. Werner Hebebrand and drew nationwide
attention to Regensburg. The report was financed by the cultural group
of German industry in the Federation of German Industries. The actual
initiator of the urban planning seminar was the renowned architect and
urban planning expert Sep Ruf. In 1963, during a stay in Regensburg, in
view of the new building measures begun there in 1957 by Friedrich
Pustet KG after the demolition of nine houses and properties from the
13th and 18th centuries, he recognized that the old town of Regensburg
was in danger of being permanently affected by the requirements being
damaged by modern road traffic and the new living standards. At the end
of the report there were demands for the enactment of a monument
protection law to prevent the demolition of monuments, for the
adaptation of the planned urban development promotion law to cities with
monuments and for the possibility of financing the preservation of
monuments, demands that were then fulfilled from 1973 onwards. The
report produced in Regensburg had no impact on the large-scale
demolition measures already planned for Neupfarrplatz.
Between
1971 and 1983 there were new reasons for the growth of the population.
In the course of municipal area reform, there were numerous
incorporations and various infrastructure measures that led to people
moving in, such as the founding of the university and the settlement of
industrial companies.
In 1960, the Osthafen (built in 1960/61 and
1970–72) began operations, followed in 1978 by the Main-Danube Canal. In
1965 the foundation stone was laid for the construction of the
university, whose faculties began operations in 1967. Then there was the
technical college. The planned construction of a university hospital was
delayed. It was not until 1984, with the laying of the foundation stone
for the dental clinic, that the construction of the clinic began, which
was opened in 1992.
The Siemens group has constantly expanded its
Regensburg location, among other things by building a factory for chip
production (today Infineon AG). In the course of the aforesaid
incorporations, Regensburg experienced an increase in area of almost 3
km². This made it possible for the BMW factory at Harting to start
production in 1986. From 1989 Toshiba produced laptops and notebooks in
Regensburg, but gave up its location in Regensburg again in 2009. For
this has, u. a. on the former Toshiba site, the company Osram, which
produces and researches classic and new light sources here. In 1997,
Regensburg was awarded the Europe Prize for its outstanding efforts in
promoting European integration.
The historic city center of
Regensburg with narrow streets, numerous patrician houses and chapels,
churches and monasteries from all artistic epochs of the Middle Ages
could be largely preserved as a result of the city redevelopment
measures that began after 1955 and were supported by the population,
despite some losses. The city center now offers the largest medieval old
town in Germany with more than 1000 protected monuments. In addition,
the old town has the largest number of family towers north of the Alps,
which has earned Regensburg the nickname "Italy's northernmost city".
→ Main article: Old town of Regensburg with Stadtamhof
On July
13, 2006, the old town of Regensburg, including the Stadtamthof, was
recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. In 2007, the city
established a World Heritage Center housed in the historic Salzstadel
near the southern bridge tower of the Steinerne Brücke. There, detailed
information on the city's history (~ 2000 years) is given at a central
point and current exhibitions are held.
In 2015, Regensburg was
awarded the honorary title of "European City of Reformation" by the
Community of Evangelical Churches in Europe.