Straubing () is an independent city in

Lower Bavaria Lower Bavaria (german: Niederbayern, Bavarian: ''Niedabayern'') is one of the seven administrative regions of Bavaria, Germany, located in the east of the state. Geography Lower Bavaria is subdivided into two regions () – Landshut and Donau- ...

, southern Germany. It is seat of the

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

Straubing-Bogen Straubing-Bogen is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in the eastern part of Bavaria, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from the north clockwise) Cham, Regen, Deggendorf, Dingolfing-Landau, Landshut and Regensburg. The independent town of Straubing is s ...

. Annually in August the

Gäubodenvolksfest The Gäubodenvolksfest in Straubing is one of the largest Volksfests (beer festival and travelling funfair) in the German state of Bavaria. It is an annual event, spanning eleven days mid-August. History The Gäubodenvolksfest was fou ...

, the second largest fair in Bavaria, is held. The city is located on the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , p ...

forming the centre of the

Gäuboden The Gäuboden (also referred to in German as the Dungau) is a region in Lower Bavaria in southern Germany without any clear geographic or cultural boundaries, that covers an area about 15 kilometres wide south of the River Danube and the Bavaria ...

History

The area of Straubing has been continuously settled since the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

. The conquest by the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

in 16–14 BC had a dramatic impact on the whole region. Even today many traces of the 400-year Roman occupation can be found: for example, the famous 'Römerschatz' (Roman treasure) which was excavated in 1950 and which is shown in the Gäubodenmuseum. ''Sorviodurum'', as the Romans called it, was an important military support base. After the fall of the Roman Empire Straubing became a centre of settlement of the Bavarii, mostly around St. Peter's Church (built in the 9th century) between Allachbach and Danube. According to the customs of the Bavarii the settlement was named after their leader ''Strupinga'', which later evolved into the name Straubing. In 1218 a new part of the city (called 'new town') was founded by Duke Ludwig I Wittelsbach of

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 lan ...

. Straubing became the capital of the

Duchy of Bavaria-Straubing Bavaria-Straubing denotes the widely scattered territorial inheritance in the Wittelsbach house of Bavaria that were governed by independent dukes of Bavaria-Straubing between 1353 and 1432; a map (''illustration'') of these marches and outliers ...

under Duke Wilhelm I when Bavaria was divided among the sons of Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor in 1349. In 1429 Straubing passed to

Ernest, Duke of Bavaria Ernest of Bavaria-Munich (german: Ernst, Herzog von Bayern-München), (Munich, 1373 – 2 July 1438 in Munich), from 1397 Duke of Bavaria-Munich. Biography Ernest was a son of John II and ruled the duchy of Bavaria-Munich together with h ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

, who ordered the murder of

Agnes Bernauer Agnes Bernauer (c. 1410 – 12 October 1435) was the mistress and perhaps also the first wife of Albert, later Albert III, Duke of Bavaria. Because his father, Ernest, ruling Duke of Bavaria at the time, considered this liaison with a commone ...

in Straubing. The grave of Agnes Bernauer cannot be found. But in the graveyard of St. Peter's Church is a chapel built by Duke Ernest. In 1633, during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battle ...

, the Swedish army successfully besieged the city. Nowadays, this new town is the centre of Straubing with many shops, offices, restaurants and a pedestrian area. Most buildings there still have medieval style. The nightlife of Straubing, with many pubs and discothèques, is concentrated in this area. The most important buildings are the beautiful Gothic cathedral-like Basilica of St. Jacob, the Romanesque St. Peter's Church, the Carmelite monastery with its Baroque church and library, St. Vitus's, where you can find a life-size personification of "state and church" joined in holy matrimony. Between 1933 and 1945 most of the members of the then small Jewish community of Straubing were murdered or forced to emigrate. In 2006, Straubing had a lively Jewish community with around 950 members. During a rally in June 1940, when Straubing and Bogen held its Kriegskreistag, some 20,000 people gathered at the ''Großdeutschlandplatz''. Among the speakers were

Gauleiter A ''Gauleiter'' () was a regional leader of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) who served as the head of a '' Gau'' or '' Reichsgau''. ''Gauleiter'' was the third-highest rank in the Nazi political leadership, subordinate only to '' Reichsleiter'' and to ...

Wächtler and ''Gauamtsleiter'' Erbersdobler. In July 1940, the ''Donau-Zeitung'' reported that the Straubing ''Kreisleiter'', Anton Putz, had flown toward France and not returned. In 1944 and 1945, Straubing suffered from several American air raids. The local military hospital was destroyed to the extent of 80 percent with a loss of 45 patients. In November 2016 a fire destroyed a greater part of the medieval city hall. Straubing has many industrial areas and a port at the river Danube with access to the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal, a connection from the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...

to the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

. It is the centre of the Bavarian high tech offensive in

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used ...

Main sights

As one of five ducal residences of medieval Bavaria (besides Landshut, Munich,

Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an independent city on the Danube in Upper Bavaria with 139,553 inhabitants (as of June 30, 2022). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan area. Ingolstadt is the second largest city in Upper Ba ...

and Burghausen) the old town of Straubing especially features many Gothic buildings. * The Romanesque Church of St. Peter (12th century) * The Gothic City Tower (begun in 1316) * The Gothic city hall (large parts have been destroyed by a fire on November 25th 2016) * The medieval ducal castle or ''Herzogsschloss''. Duke Albert I began the construction in 1356. * The Gothic Basilica of St. Jacob (present-day church begun in 1393), a Gothic hall church and the largest main church of Straubing. The church was built according to plans of the architect Hans von Burghausen. * The Church of St. Vitus – home of the oldest still existing confraternity in Germany, the St. Salvator-Confraternity * The Carmelite monastery and Church of the Holy Spirit (since 1368, by Hans von Burghausen; the only monastery which survived the dissolution of 1802) The monks especially support Palestinian Christians. * Church of St. Ursula by the Asam brothers * The Baroque Trinity Column at the Theresien Square * The Water Tower * Sossau pilgrimage church * Straubing Zoo (the only zoo in East Bavaria)

Festivals and cultural events

*Straubinger Frühlingsfest, a spring festival (annual) *

and Ostbayernschau *Museum containing

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

artifacts *Agnes-Bernauer-Festspiele, a historical play to remind of the murdered Agnes Bernauer * Straubing Zoo *A

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

festival – ''bluetone'' (former name Jazz an der Donau) – one of the greatest jazz-festivals in Europe *Bürgerfest (burgher festival) is held every two years in the historical centre of Straubing

Sports

Ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

: Straubing Tigers –

DEL Del, or nabla, is an operator used in mathematics (particularly in vector calculus) as a vector differential operator, usually represented by the nabla symbol ∇. When applied to a function defined on a one-dimensional domain, it denotes ...

(Highest German League) *

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

: Straubing Spiders – founded in 1985 * Harness racing: Trabrennbahn Straubing (Highest German Level) *

Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

: German Women's Volleyball League (Highest German League)

Education

The

Technical University of Munich The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; german: Technische Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences. Establis ...

has one of its campuses in Straubing. It is specialised on

renewables Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

. A

Fraunhofer Institute The Fraunhofer Society (german: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V., lit=Fraunhofer Society for the Advancement of Applied Research) is a German research organization with 76institutes spread throughout Germany ...

for boundary and biodiversity engineering is also located in Straubing. Straubing has four gymnasiums (grammar schools): * Anton-Bruckner-Gymnasium * Gymnasium der Ursulinen * Johannes-Turmair-Gymnasium * Ludwigsgymnasium

Twin towns – sister cities

Straubing is twinned with: *

Romans-sur-Isère Romans-sur-Isère (; Occitan: ''Rumans d'Isèra''; Old Occitan: ''Romans'') is a commune in the Drôme department in southeastern France. Geography Romans-sur-Isère is located on the Isère, northeast of Valence. There are more than 50,00 ...

, France *

Tuam Tuam ( ; ga, Tuaim , meaning 'mound' or 'burial-place') is a town in Ireland and the second-largest settlement in County Galway. It is west of the midlands of Ireland, about north of Galway city. Humans have lived in the area since the Bronz ...

, Ireland *

Wels Wels (; Central Bavarian: ''Wös'') is a city in Upper Austria, on the Traun River near Linz. It is the county seat of Wels-Land, and with a population of approximately 60,000, the eighth largest city in Austria. Geography Wels is in the ...

, Austria

Notable people

(c. 1410–1435), mistress of Albert III, Duke of Bavaria * Thomas Naogeorgus (1508–1563), dramatist and humanist * Ulrich Schmidl (1510–1579), mercenary, explorer, chronicler and councilor * Jakob Sandtner (16th century), master turner * Emanuel Schikaneder (1751–1812), impresario, dramatist, actor and composer * Joseph von Fraunhofer (1787–1826), optician and physicist *

Carl Spitzweg Carl Spitzweg (February 5, 1808 – September 23, 1885) was a German romanticist painter, especially of genre subjects. He is considered to be one of the most important artists of the Biedermeier era. Life and career Spitzweg was born in U ...

(1808–1885), romanticist painter, worked here * Arthur Achleitner (1858–1927), writer * Otto Ritter von Dandl (1868–1942), politician *

Hans Adlhoch Hans Adlhoch (29 January 1883 in Straubing, Lower Bavaria – 21 May 1945 in Munich) was a German politician, representative of the Bavarian People's Party. He was a member of the City Council at Augsburg, and from January–March 1933 was ...

(1883–1945), member of the Reichstag *

Rex Gildo Rex Gildo (formerly Alexander Gildo, born Ludwig Franz Hirtreiter; 2 July 1936 – 26 October 1999) was a German singer of Schlager ballads who reached the height of his popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, selling over 25 million records and st ...

(1936–1999), pop singer *

Michael Karoli Michael Karoli (29 April 1948 – 17 November 2001) was a German guitarist, violinist and composer. He was a founding member of the influential krautrock band Can. Career Karoli was born and grew up in Straubing, Bavaria, moving to St. Gall ...

(1948–2001), guitarist *

Margot Mahler Margot Mahler (1948–1997) was a German film and television actress.Pym p.553 She appeared in a number of sex comedies during the 1970s. Selected filmography * '' Angels of the Street'' (1969) * ''When You're With Me'' (1970) * ''The Mad Aunts ...

(1945–1997), actress *

Claus Richter Claus Richter (born 4 November 1948 in Straubing) is a German journalist. Life Richter works in Germany as a journalist. From 1984 to 1987 he was correspondent and studio manager for the ARD in New York City, likewise from 1987 to 1991 in Eas ...

(born 1948), journalist *

Gerda Hasselfeldt Gerda Hasselfeldt (born 7 July 1950) is a German politician of the Christian Social Union (CSU) who served as deputy chairperson of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group and chairwoman of the Bundestag group of CSU parliamentarians. Following her dep ...

(born 1950), politician (CSU), Vice-

President of the Bundestag The president of the Bundestag (german: Präsident des Deutschen Bundestages or ) presides over the sessions of the Bundestag, the federal parliament of Germany, with functions similar to that of a speaker in other countries. In the German orde ...

, former federal minister *

Ewa Klamt Ewa Klamt (born 26 May 1950, Straubing) is a German politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament for Lower Saxony from 1999 until 2009. She is a member of the conservative Christian Democratic Union, part of the European People's ...

(born 1950), CDU politician *

Siegfried Mauser Siegfried Mauser (born 3 November 1954) is a German pianist, academic and music manager. In 2016, 2017, and 2018, German courts convicted him as a multiple sex offender.Ralf Wiegand/Susi Wimmer, ''Professor Unrat.'' In: ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'', n ...

(born 1954), pianist and musicologist *

Thomas Stellmach Thomas Stellmach (born 1965 in Straubing, West Germany) is a German animated film producer and director. Stellmach has received many awards including the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for his 1996 film ''Quest''. Stellmach studied a ...

(born 1965), director and Oscar winner *

Gerold Huber Gerold Huber (born 1969) is a German classical pianist, best known as the regular duo partner of baritone Christian Gerhaher and accompanist of other singers. Career Born in Straubing, Huber studied on a scholarship at the , piano with Fried ...

(born 1969), pianist *

Christian Gerhaher Christian Gerhaher (born 24 July 1969, in Straubing) is a German baritone and bass singer in opera and concert, particularly known as a Lieder singer. Career Christian Gerhaher studied with Paul Kuën and Raimund Grumbach at the Hochschule ...

(born 1969), baritone *

Michael Stumpf Michael Stumpf (born 1970) is a scholar in the field of systems biology, in particular the inference of mathematical models using statistical inference and machine learning approaches. He has made ample contributions to network science, cell fate d ...

(born 1970), systems biologist * Markus Weinzierl (born 1974), football player and coach *

Elli Erl Elisabeth Maria Erl (born 25 May 1979) is a German singer-songwriter. She came to fame as the winner of the second season of the television show '' Deutschland sucht den Superstar'', the German ''Idol'' series adaptation. With ''DSDS'', Erl ...

(born 1979), singer-songwriter

References

External links

{{Authority control Populated places on the Danube Holocaust locations in Germany