Freyung-Grafenau is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. It is bounded by (from the south and clockwise) the districts of Passau,

Deggendorf Deggendorf () is a town in Bavaria, Germany, capital of the Deggendorf district. It is located on the left bank approximately in the middle between the Danube cities of Regensburg and Passau. The Danube forms the town's natural border towards t ...

and

Regen Regen (Northern Bavarian: ''Reng'') is a town in Bavaria, Germany, and the district town of the district of Regen. Geography Regen is situated on the great Regen River, located in the Bavarian Forest. Divisions Originally the town consisted ...

, the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. Th ...

and by

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

History

The district was established in 1972, by merging the former districts of Grafenau and Wolfstein. In medieval times Wolfstein (east of the Ilz River) was the property of the

bishop of Passau The Diocese of Passau is a Roman Catholic diocese in Germany that is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising.Wolfstein Castle Wolfstein Castle or Schloss Wolfstein is a ''schloss'' and former castle in Freyung, Bavaria, Freyung in Lower Bavaria. It gave its name to the county of Landkreis Wolfstein, Wolfstein which was dissolved in 1972. Location The ''schloss'' lies n ...

, now a ''

schloss ''Schloss'' (; pl. ''Schlösser''), formerly written ''Schloß'', is the German term for a building similar to a château, palace, or manor house. Related terms appear in several Germanic languages. In the Scandinavian languages, the cognate ...

''. Grafenau (west of the Ilz River) successively belonged to different countries, before it was annexed by Bavaria in 1438. Wolfstein became a part of Bavaria two years after the dissolution of the clerical states in Germany (1803).

Geography

Freyung-Grafenau is the easternmost district of Bavaria. It is located in the southern parts of the

Bavarian Forest The village of Zell in the Bavarian Forest The Bavarian Forest ( German: ' or ''Bayerwald''; bar, Boarischa Woid) is a wooded, low-mountain region in Bavaria, Germany that is about 100 kilometres long. It runs along the Czech border and is ...

and is partially occupied by the

Bavarian Forest National Park The Bavarian Forest National Park (german: Nationalpark Bayerischer Wald) is a national park in the Bavarian Forest, Eastern Bavarian Forest immediately on Germany's border with the Czech Republic. It was founded on 7 October 1970 as the first Na ...

. The source of the

Ilz The Ilz () is a river running through the Bavarian Forest, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Danube and in length ( including its main source river Große Ohe), during which it travels down a height difference of ~140m. The Ilz is formed a ...

River is situated in the district.

Coat of arms

The wolf represents the area of Wolfstein, while the bear stands for Grafenau (as it was ruled from the castle of ''Bärnstein'', and ''Bär'' means "bear"). At the bottom sits the blue and white

lozengy The lozenge in heraldry is a diamond-shaped rhombus charge (an object that can be placed on the field of the shield), usually somewhat narrower than it is tall. It is to be distinguished in modern heraldry from the fusil, which is like the lo ...

History

Geography

Coat of arms

Towns and municipalities

References

External links