ST STEPHEN'S --PASSAU, GERMANY

                         An Old Historic Church

        

I’ve had the opportunity to visit Passau, Germany at the confluence of the Danube, Inn and Ilz Rivers three times. The first time we were biking, and we just biked on into the city of three rivers. The second time we were grounded on the Danube River because of low wate, so we bused into the city.

            On the first two  visits we ended a city walking tour over cobbled streets and small alleys at  St. Stephen’s Cathedral, the largest baroque church north of the Alps, just in time for an organ concert. St Stephen’s with its onion topped twin towers sits on the highest point in town. There is a third, higher tower. The 1662 fire that destroyed eighty percent of the city also destroyed all of the church except the Gothic nave. 
         Built of sandstone, restoration is always on-going. Many of the large sandstone blocks were being replaced with limestone. Each new block is marked with the mason’s signature with a cross above it. We were told that it takes three months to cut and replace each large stone.

        Italians rebuilt most of the city, including the church, which accounts for the heavy baroque influence. The new part of the city is 400 years old.  Italian baroque is a little less ornate than Romanesque baroque, but you could have fooled me! Baroque churches do not contain stained glass windows.

       During World War II, bombing was confined to  areas around the railroad tracks so the church escaped damage. The fountain in the church square was erected in 1903.

        Inside the church we had time to absorb its beauty. The ceiling is 90 feet high, but in the nave 110 feet high. Statues are nine feet tall while the angels are six feet. The ceiling fresco allowed for no errors as it was painted on fresh plaster. The largest church organ in the world has five organs and 17,774 pipesand 80 miles of electrical wiring!  The 1928 organ is placed on an 18^th century casing.  (The Mormon Tabernacle organ is larger but is not considered a church organ.)

It is the custom in this part of the world to have the cemetery within walls that surround the church. The wall is usually concrete and about five to six feet high surrounding the property’s perimeter. Then each grave in the cemetery has a raised bed for a flower garden. Relatives often tend these mini gardens with great care. Sometimes the family hires someone else to do it and there are people, often elderly women, who make an occupation of just tending these little gardens.

            For 600 years the church was closed to the public and used only by clergy. By 1803 the church had lost a lot of its power and the reigning Hapsburgs returned the church to the people. In the early 1990s the church underwent a 12-million-Mark restoration.(before the Euro currency.)

High water marks are dated on buildings near the river. A bus takes one across the river and to the castle high on the hill opposite the main part of the city. Otherwise the city is very walkable. Passau has a lot of character and a very friendly feel to it.