Napoleon came, saw and conquered. Most of the time. He was smitten with Passau and called it Germany's most beautiful city. Passau owes its charme to the art of Italian building masters and the attractive landscape – three rivers, Inn, Donau and Ilz gather into one here. Being picturesque and of southern air the old town is almost as beautiful as Venice.

Kelts, Romans and the church already adored the ideal location. Already in 739 was Passau the bishop's see. The prince-bishop resided in the monastery Niedernburg which possessed a lot of land. So much beauty and religiousness could have provoked joy and laughter, one would think. The citizens thought differently and protested often against the reign of the clergy. Actually rebellion seems to run in the Passauer's blood.

Thus the fortress Veste Oberhaus was built in 1219, not only for the defense against external enemies, but also against Passauer citizens. Here  Protestantismus was officially acknowledged in 1552, which was legally confirmed three years later in the peace of Augsburg. The jail of the Passau castle saw the first songbook of the Baptists, a spin-off of the reformers.

Nowadays the city of the three rivers is famous for its eloquent cabaret artists. In the 1970s resistance arose against the strongly conservative powers. The leaders were the two cabaret artists Bruno Jonas und Siegfried Zimmerschied who performed in the Scharfrichterhaus on Milchgasse. The conservative press  imposed gagging order, the diocese made a report due to blasphemy and the city prohibited performances. The troubled water won peace and since 1983 the German cabaret award, the "Scharfrichterbeil", is awarded here. God won't help smiling in the face of so much backbone.

The city's beauty surely deserves a smile. After having burnt down completely in 1662 Italian building master (Carlone and Lurago) created a southern baroque appearance. The city centre is dominated by the Residenzplatz with its pompous patrician houses and the new Bischops' Residence. The latter hosts the Domschatz and Diocese museum with Roman and baroque gems. In the immediate vicinity rises above all the Stephansdom. It lies on the highest point of the old town between Inn and Donau, has a giantly big and pretty baroque interior and the Europe's biggest organ with 17.794 pipes.

A couple of minutes away on the shores of the Danube lies the Rathausplatz with the city hall in the Venetian style. No surprise the Passauer had conquered already in the 13th century. The glass museum with amazing exhibits of Bohemian glass is accommodated stylefully in the „Wilder Mann“. Further to the east you will pass the Niedernburg monastery and the Modern Museum towards the meeting point of Donau, Inn and Ilz. If you feel like checking out nice cafés and shop stroll along the shores of the Innufer, passing the Schaiblingsturm and St. Michaelskirche, back to Ludwigsstraße into the pedestrian area.

by Karin Nagl