What to See in Passau - Top Sights and Attractions

Baroque place of worship with frescoes. St. Stephen's Cathedral is a baroque church from 1688 in Passau, Germany, dedicated to Saint Stephen. It is the seat of the Catholic Bishop of Passau and the main church of his diocese.

Since 730, there have been many churches built on the site of the current cathedral. The current church, a baroque building around 100 metres (328 ft) long, was built from 1668 to 1693 after a fire in 1662 destroyed its predecessor, of which only the late gothic eastern side remains. The cathedral's overall plan was made by Carlo Lurago, its interior decoration by Giovanni Battista Carlone, and its frescos by Carpoforo Tencalla.

Passau Cathedral's used to be the largest organ in the world. It still is the largest church organ outside USA. Over time, it has been outgrown by more recent instruments, for instance Wanamaker's organ in the USA.

The organ currently has 17,774 pipes and 233 registers, all of which can be played with the five-manual general console in the gallery. Portions of the organ have their own mechanical-action or electric-action consoles, for a total of six consoles.

The cathedral has eight large bells in the bell rooms in the north and south towers. The heaviest,"Pummerin" at 7550 kg cast in 1952 and "Sturmerin" weighing 5300 kg cast in 1733 hang in the south tower. The other six bells hang in the north tower. They include: "Misericordia" weighing 6000 kg, the Angelus bell, "Predigerin", "Elfuhrglocken", the Choir bell, and "Dignitar". A ninth bell, the "Zeichenglocke" hangs near the sacristy door.^[1]

The Luitpold Bridge is a 208 m long suspension bridge in Passau, which connects the tip of the old town with the Angerstrasse below the Veste Oberhaus shortly before the Ilz flows into the Danube. With a span of 126 m, the structure has spanned the Danube at river kilometer 2225.750 since 1910. On the south side, the suspension cables are guided over a pylon and anchored in the foundation soil with anchor blocks; on the north side, they are anchored in a rock face below Veste Oberhaus.

The bridge was planned as a replacement for a pedestrian suspension bridge built in 1869 about 100 m downstream, whose wire cables were badly damaged by corrosion around 1900. Initial considerations in favor of an inexpensive bridge design with iron crescent girders towering high above the river led to numerous protests directed against a feared destruction of the cityscape. In the end, the decision was made in favor of a much more elaborate cable suspension bridge, which was wider and more load-bearing than the old pedestrian bridge but, like the latter, hardly interfered with the cityscape or landscape due to its filigree supporting structure made of wire cables.

First, two 25 cm steel cables, each with a breaking strength of 960 tons, were tensioned across the Danube. From a pontoon platform, the assembly of 40 cross girders took place. The sidewalks on both sides of the roadway were covered with reinforced concrete slabs and the road was paved. It was inaugurated in 1911 and has normal pylons on the Passau side and only small pylons on the slope side, where the supporting cables are anchored in the ground.

Shortly before the end of the Second World War on May 2, 1945, immediately before the invasion of U.S. troops, the bridge was partially blown up. Donations and support from the Bavarian ministries made it possible to repair the bridge relatively quickly and reopen it to traffic on August 17, 1948. The engineer Rudolf Barbré played a major role in the reconstruction.

With a clearance of only 5.15 m above the Highest Shipping Water Level (HSW 2010) (5.95 m at the crest; neighboring bridges have 7.70 and 9.50 m, respectively), it is one of the lowest bridges over the Danube for Danube navigation.

In 2017 and 2018, a general renovation of the bridge took place.

The city parish church of St. Paul is the oldest parish church in Passau.

The first church was dedicated to St. Paul already around 1050. After the destruction by fires in 1512 and 1662, the present building was erected in 1678.

At St. Paul's Arch, the northern gate to the old town, a flight of steps leads up to the single-towered church, decorated in cream and pink. The master builder is Carlo Antonio Carlone. The original very flat spire of the 17th/18th century was replaced in the second half of the 19th century by a high pointed spire. This was taken down in 1950 because of alleged dilapidation and rebuilt with only about a third of its height. Since then, the tower is only the second highest church tower in Passau after the cathedral. In the interior, the black, gilded altars and the similarly colored pulpit stand out against the light-colored walls. The large high altar from around 1700 bears a painting by Franz Werner Tamm depicting the beheading of the apostle Paul. The side altars and the pulpit were made between 1678 and 1689, and the painting Beweinung Christi (1689) is by Johann Michael Rottmayr. The sparse stucco was not installed until 1909.