Passau

Passau (previously Latin: Batavis or Batavia) is a town in Lower Bavaria, Germany. It is also known as the Dreiflüssestadt or "City of Three Rivers," because the Danube is joined at Passau by the Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north.

Passau's population is 50,415, of whom about 11,000 are students at the local University of Passau. The university, founded in the late 1970s, is the extension of the Institute for Catholic Studies (Katholisch-Theologische Fakultät) founded in 1622. It is renowned in Germany for its institutes of economics, law, theology, computer science and Cultural Studies.

History

In the 2nd century BC, many of the Boii tribe were pushed north across the Alps out of northern Italy by the Romans. They established a new capital called Boiodurum by the Romans (from Gaulish Boioduron), now within the Innstadt district of Passau.

Passau was an ancient Roman colony of ancient Noricum called Batavis, Latin for "for the Batavi." The Batavi were an ancient Germanic tribe often mentioned by classical authors, and they were regularly associated with the Suebian marauders, the Heruli.

Passau (district)

Passau is a district (Kreis) in the southeast of Bavaria. It encloses the city of Passau geographically from two sides. Neighboring districts are (from the east clockwise) Rottal-Inn, Deggendorf, Freyung-Grafenau. To the south it borders Austria.

History

Archaeological findings prove that the area was settled more than 7000 years ago. In 1971 the district was created by merging the previous districts Wegscheid, Vilshofen, Griesbach (Rottal) and parts of the districts Pfarrkirchen and Eggenfelden. The city's original name was Batava (also known as Batavia) in Roman times. Passau survived three major fires, the biggest one being the all-destructive fire from 1662. After much of the city had burned down, bishops rebuilt it in Baroque style. To this day, massive cathedrals such as the St. Stephan's Dom (Dom means "cathedral" in German) stun visitors from all over the world. St. Stephan houses the world's largest church organ.

Geography

The district consists of two geographically different parts, separated by the river Danube. In the north is the southern part of the Bayrischer Wald (Bavarian Forest) mountains with hills up to 1000 meter. In the south of the Danube river the landscape is only hilly with plains between the valleys of the Inn and Ilz river.

List of minor planets: 16001–17000