Passau at the Confluence of Three Rivers
At the confluence of the three rivers Danube, Inn and Ilz, the Baroque city of Passau was our last docking in Germany. Currently a town of 50,000 inhabitants, fifty churches and five breweries, Passau and its glories have been extolled since at least the 6th century. Established by the Romans around 200 AD, this Italianate city has a history steeped in culture, trade and religion. In 999 AD Passau came under the rule of a Bishop and as of 1217 under the rule of Prince Bishops who held both sacred and secular power, symbolized by the double barred cross. Its diocese once extended as far as Hungary, and St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Passau was the mother church of St. Stephen’s in Vienna. The Prince Bishop’s fortress Veste Oberhaus towers high above the city. In Medieval times the salt trade from Salzburg established the city as a major merchant center and made it exceedingly rich. Trade also brought culture to Passau, and it remains today a city of great cultural wealth.
The unusually chilly day began with excellent morning tours showing Passau’s history and its major sites. Among the highlights were the Mariahilfe Church, the Residence of the Prince Bishops and St. Stephen’s Cathedral. Some of our group opted to concentrate on the world renowned Glass Museum and market specialties. At the Glass Museum they were dismayed to find the entrance barred by security due to a visit by the German-born Queen Silvia of Sweden. Through diplomatic negotiations of the expedition staff, however, our guests were allowed to visit the museum after all.
When the Habsburg Archduke Leopold I came to Passau in 1683 as his capital city of Vienna suffered under siege by the Turks, he prayed for the success of his forces in the Mariahilfe Church and soon thereafter this victory was assured. Mariahilfe is a pilgrimage church, where pilgrims climb the 321 steps, often on their knees, as an act of penitence. At the Prince Bishop’s Residence we marveled at the Baroque interior, walking up the Rococo staircase to take pictures or just to get a closer view of the frescoed ceiling and ornamental stucco.
St. Stephen’s has been called a Baroque church with a Gothic heart. The reason for this designation stems from the fact that when the original Gothic structure partially burned in the Great Fire of 1662, the surviving Gothic section was later incorporated into a new church built in the contemporary Baroque style. It is the largest Italian Baroque church north of the Alps and houses the largest cathedral organ in the world, whose significance cannot be measured by the almost 18,000 pipes and 233 registers. It was the grandeur and beauty of the organ registers that awed a vast public of over 600 listeners. Many of us attended this midday recital in which the main work was by the late 19th century French composer Alexandre Guilmant.
On the way back to the River Cloud some people visited the great hall of the Old Town Hall with its important art works. The most famous is a scene from the Song of the Niebelungen, written by an anonymous medieval monk, which combines mythology with fifth century historical personages and takes place along the Rhine and Danube Rivers. The depiction in the Town Hall shows the heroine Kremhild entering Passau with her uncle Bishop Pilgrim.
Back on the River Cloud we ate a sumptuous Bavarian buffet, including suckling pig, a keg of Passau beer, and a peach puff with plum sauce. Later there were lectures by Ray Russell on Absolutism, Enlightenment and the Habsburgs and by Lucy Russell on Mozart’s Operas: What Cannot Be Spoken, Must Be Sung. Afterwards, everyone gathered on deck to hear informative commentary by our Director Gabriella Kiel on the sites we were passing along the Schloegener Schlinge, a meandering section of great beauty on the Danube.
In the pre-dinner re-cap Sharon, Ray and Lucy spoke on the history of wurst, the purity laws for beer from 1516, and the amber trade, and Lucy closed by playing a piano sonata by Joseph Haydn. The evening meal was followed by the first part of the film “Sissi” about the beloved Empress Elisabeth of Habsburg. With a parade of impressions still in our minds, we retired to our cabins as the River Cloud carried us along the tranquil Danube to our first stop in Austria at the Abbey of Melk.
At the confluence of the three rivers Danube, Inn and Ilz, the Baroque city of Passau was our last docking in Germany. Currently a town of 50,000 inhabitants, fifty churches and five breweries, Passau and its glories have been extolled since at least the 6th century. Established by the Romans around 200 AD, this Italianate city has a history steeped in culture, trade and religion. In 999 AD Passau came under the rule of a Bishop and as of 1217 under the rule of Prince Bishops who held both sacred and secular power, symbolized by the double barred cross. Its diocese once extended as far as Hungary, and St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Passau was the mother church of St. Stephen’s in Vienna. The Prince Bishop’s fortress Veste Oberhaus towers high above the city. In Medieval times the salt trade from Salzburg established the city as a major merchant center and made it exceedingly rich. Trade also brought culture to Passau, and it remains today a city of great cultural wealth.
The unusually chilly day began with excellent morning tours showing Passau’s history and its major sites. Among the highlights were the Mariahilfe Church, the Residence of the Prince Bishops and St. Stephen’s Cathedral. Some of our group opted to concentrate on the world renowned Glass Museum and market specialties. At the Glass Museum they were dismayed to find the entrance barred by security due to a visit by the German-born Queen Silvia of Sweden. Through diplomatic negotiations of the expedition staff, however, our guests were allowed to visit the museum after all.
When the Habsburg Archduke Leopold I came to Passau in 1683 as his capital city of Vienna suffered under siege by the Turks, he prayed for the success of his forces in the Mariahilfe Church and soon thereafter this victory was assured. Mariahilfe is a pilgrimage church, where pilgrims climb the 321 steps, often on their knees, as an act of penitence. At the Prince Bishop’s Residence we marveled at the Baroque interior, walking up the Rococo staircase to take pictures or just to get a closer view of the frescoed ceiling and ornamental stucco.
St. Stephen’s has been called a Baroque church with a Gothic heart. The reason for this designation stems from the fact that when the original Gothic structure partially burned in the Great Fire of 1662, the surviving Gothic section was later incorporated into a new church built in the contemporary Baroque style. It is the largest Italian Baroque church north of the Alps and houses the largest cathedral organ in the world, whose significance cannot be measured by the almost 18,000 pipes and 233 registers. It was the grandeur and beauty of the organ registers that awed a vast public of over 600 listeners. Many of us attended this midday recital in which the main work was by the late 19th century French composer Alexandre Guilmant.
On the way back to the River Cloud some people visited the great hall of the Old Town Hall with its important art works. The most famous is a scene from the Song of the Niebelungen, written by an anonymous medieval monk, which combines mythology with fifth century historical personages and takes place along the Rhine and Danube Rivers. The depiction in the Town Hall shows the heroine Kremhild entering Passau with her uncle Bishop Pilgrim.
Back on the River Cloud we ate a sumptuous Bavarian buffet, including suckling pig, a keg of Passau beer, and a peach puff with plum sauce. Later there were lectures by Ray Russell on Absolutism, Enlightenment and the Habsburgs and by Lucy Russell on Mozart’s Operas: What Cannot Be Spoken, Must Be Sung. Afterwards, everyone gathered on deck to hear informative commentary by our Director Gabriella Kiel on the sites we were passing along the Schloegener Schlinge, a meandering section of great beauty on the Danube.
In the pre-dinner re-cap Sharon, Ray and Lucy spoke on the history of wurst, the purity laws for beer from 1516, and the amber trade, and Lucy closed by playing a piano sonata by Joseph Haydn. The evening meal was followed by the first part of the film “Sissi” about the beloved Empress Elisabeth of Habsburg. With a parade of impressions still in our minds, we retired to our cabins as the River Cloud carried us along the tranquil Danube to our first stop in Austria at the Abbey of Melk.
