Rain (also: ''Rain (Lech)'') is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

in the Donau-Ries 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, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. It is situated on the river Lech, close to its confluence with 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 , pa ...

, 11 km east of Donauwörth. Rain is on the B16 road and served by the Ingolstadt–Neuoffingen railway (part of the Danube Valley Railway—''Donautalbahn''), both of which run between Ulm and

Regensburg Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the ...

. The earliest reference to Rain is in a document of the

Niederschönenfeld Niederschönenfeld is a municipality in the district of Donau-Ries in Bavaria in Germany. It lies on the river Danube. Mayors *1978–1996: Johann Höringer *1996–2002: Manfred Rümmer *2002–2020: Peter Mahl *since 2020: Stefan Roßkopf P ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whic ...

dated 4 July 1257, wherein it is described as a ''"civitas nostra"'' or ducal town. It is most probable that Rain was founded during the reign of

Otto II Wittelsbach, Duke of Bavaria Otto II (7 April 1206 – 29 November 1253), called the Illustrious (german: der Erlauchte), was the Duke of Bavaria from 1231 and Count Palatine of the Rhine from 1214. He was the son of Louis I and Ludmilla of Bohemia and a member of the Wit ...

(1248–1253) or at the latest in the reign of Louis II, Duke of Bavaria (1253–1294) before 1257. Rain was founded for economic and strategic reasons. The town protected Bavaria from the northwest and collected

customs Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out of a country. Traditionally, customs ...

from its

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually someth ...

over the river Lech. On 15 April 1632 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 battl ...

the Battle of Rain took place. The

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

Gustavus Adolphus Gustavus Adolphus (9 December Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">N.S_19_December.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 19 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/now ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

defeated the army of the Catholic League commanded by Johann Tserclaes von Tilly. Tilly withdrew his troops to

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 ...

, where he died from

tetanus Tetanus, also known as lockjaw, is a bacterial infection caused by ''Clostridium tetani'', and is characterized by muscle spasms. In the most common type, the spasms begin in the jaw and then progress to the rest of the body. Each spasm usually ...

from an infected gunshot wound in his thigh. In 1914 a

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...

commemorating Tilly was erected in front of Rain's

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

. Rain's architectural heritage also includes the

Roman Catholic 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 let ...

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chri ...

St John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

, which features late

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plast ...

es dating from about 1480. There is also the Swabian Gate, the historic Spital with its All Saints'

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common type ...

and the former

Castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

. Rain has three museums: the Lachner Brothers Museum, Homeland Museum and Jean-Duprai-Museum. The four Lachner brothers, Theodor, Franz,

Ignaz Ignaz is a male given name, related to the name Ignatius. Notable people with this name include: * Franz Ignaz Beck (1734–1807), German musician * Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644–1704), Bohemian-Austrian musician * Ignaz Brüll (1846–1907), ...

and Vinzenz, were nineteenth-century German

composers A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Def ...

, all of whom were born in the town. Other historic figures from Rain include lawyer and astronomer

Johann Bayer Johann Bayer (1572 – 7 March 1625) was a German lawyer and uranographer (celestial cartographer). He was born in Rain, Lower Bavaria, in 1572. At twenty, in 1592 he began his study of philosophy and law at the University of Ingolstadt, ...

(1562–1625), humanist Georg Tannstetter (1482–1535) and pianist Michael Raucheisen (1889–1984). Rain is the

headquarters Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...

of the Dehner chain of garden centres, which employs 1,100 people in the town. Rain's other industries include a

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or do ...

refinery employing 240-280 people. Rain is twinned with Tougan, capital of the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

of Sourou in

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana t ...

Mayors

*Otto Spreitler, temporary (1945) *Josef Müller (1945–1948) *Carl Faig (1948–1966) *Karl Würmseher, PWG (1966–1990) *Gerhard Martin, SPD (1990-2020) *Karl Rehm, PWG (since 2020)

Other people

* Georg Tannstetter, called '' Collimitius '' (1482-1535), Scholar and Humanist * Johannes Bayer (1572-1625), jurist and creator of the Uranometria * Franz Lachner (1803-1890), musician * Ignaz Lachner (1807-1895), musician *

Vinzenz Lachner Vinzenz Lachner (also spelled Vincenz) (19 July 1811 – 22 January 1893)"Vinzenz Lachner", ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians''. London: Macmillan Publishers, 1980. was a German composer and conductor. Early life Born in Rain am ...

(1811-1893), musician * Michael Raucheisen (1889-1984), pianist and composer * Georg Weber (1910-1986), entrepreneur * Dieter Reiter (born 1958), politician (SPD), Mayor of Munich since May 2014

References

{{Authority control Donau-Ries