Ratisbon

Ratisbon (in German: Regensburg ), is a German city, located in the Land of Bavaria. It is bathed by the the Danube and is the capital as well district of the Haut-Palatinat as of Landkreis de Regensburg.

The city is, after Munich, Nuremberg and Augsburg, the fourth plus big city of the Land. Since July 13rd, 2006, the old woman-city of Ratisbon belongs to the Liste of the world heritage of UNESCO.

It is the seat of a évêché Catholique and is located at 88 kilometers of Nuremberg and at 103 kilometers of Munich.

History

On an old Celtic colony , the Romains based into 179 a military camp at the place where the river " Regen" throws itself in the the Danube. At the time mérovingienne, Ratisbon, capital of the Bavarii, was the residence of the Agilolfing, first dukes of Bavaria. In 739 holy Boniface, the apostle of the German nation, a Diocèse establishes there. The city reached its political and economic apogee in XIIe/XIIIe century, when it was with the crossroads of important commercial main roads. To this time the large monuments go back from the city, the Steinerne Brücke (stone bridge 310 m length spanning the the Danube builds between 1135 and 1146), the Gothic cathedral (devoted in 1276), the Altes Rathaus (old town hall) and the towers patricians. In 1245 the emperor Frederic II granted Ratisbon the row of free city of Empire (" Freie Reichsstadt"), which conferred a certain political autonomy to him. However, Ratisbon was évincée later with the profit of the other Bavarian big cities. During following centuries, many imperial diets (" Reichstage") there took place. The diet of 1541, in which took part humanistic the Melanchton and Bucer, tried to find a compromise between Catholicisme and Réforme, without success. In 1542, Ratisbon passed officially to the religion reformed (like the majority of the free cities of Empire), but it remained at the same time the seat of évêché catholic, so that the two confessions coexisted. In 1663, the city became the permanent headquarter of the diet (" Immerwährender Reichstag"). It is as in Ratisbon as dissolves the Empire under the pressure of the Napoleonean troops in 1803 was (" Reichsdeputationshauptschluss"). In 1810, the city was annexed by the new Kingdom of Bavaria created by Napoleon and became a city second-rate for more than 150 years. During the First World War, the principal prison camp of Bavaria was located at Ratisbon. During the Second world war, Ratisbon was hardly industrialized and thus was touched very little by the combined bombardments, which enabled him to preserve almost intact its old medieval center. After the war were established various companies, especially automobile industry (BMW) and electronics industry (Siemens, AEG, Toshiba), which gave a new impulse to the area. In the same way, the foundation of the 4th Bavarian university in the city in 1967 contributed to the development of Ratisbon, which counts today more than 20.000 students. Before being elected Pope, Joseph Ratzinger was teaching there in Théologie of 1969 to 1977.

Religions

Christianity

The évêché of Ratisbon was founded in 739 by the pope Boniface. Many convents were founded in the years which followed. At the beginning of XIIIe century the Schottenklöster in Germany were joined together in only one congregation whose superior was the abbot of the Scottish monastery of Ratisbon. They maintained the close cultural links with Cashel in Ireland. The city introduced the Reform as from 1528 (the public first eucharistie took place on October 15th, 1542). However, like the episcopal see and of many convents which did not belong to the city itself remained, the catholic confession remained represented in the city. It became even the dominant confession following a many immigration.

Economy and infrastructures

Economy

The economic takeoff of Ratisbon after the Second world war started relatively late. The high specialized school and the foundation of the university into 1967 formed the bases of a very dynamic economic development, reinforced by the establishment of a series of large companies. In June 2006, unemployment rate accounted for 6.2%, that is to say below the Bavarian average. With 720 places by 1 ' 000 inhabitants, Ratisbon in addition lays out of the second high density of places of work in Germany, just behind Frankfurt.

In 2005,32 ' 844 people worked in the services, 30 ' 387 in processing industries, 11 ' 365 in the trade, 6 ' 147 in various administrations of the territorial collectivities, 4 ' 607 in the sector of the media and transport, 3 ' 220 in that of the credit and the insurances, 2 ' 458 in the construction industry, 75 in the forest agriculture and activities and 1 ' 192 in other fields. Processing industry - which includes/understands automotive engineering, electrical engineering, the construction of machines, the production of sugar and foodstuffs - form the economic spinal column of the city.

Transport

The town of Ratisbon forms, with its highway exchanger and its central station, a rail junction and truck driver in Eastern Bavaria.

Railroads

Ratisbon was, until in the years 1970, the seat of a direction of the railroads and a point of intersection for the trains with long distance. The Deutsche Bahn serves the line Nuremberg - Ratisbon - Passau - Vienna with Eurocity every two hours. This line was, to the opening of the Rhine-Hand-Danube Channel in 1992, the largest axis of entry of goods in Germany.

Ratisbon suffered from the suppression of the Interzones trains and the introduction of the Interregios trains. Only regional trains serve from now on the Ratisbon lines - Landshut - Munich, Ratisbon - Weiden - Hof and Ratisbon - Ingolstadt - Ulm. From this moment, Ratisbon was not any more one point of intersection for the trains with long distance. The regional lines for Alling and Falkenstein had already they removed in the immediate future post-war period.

Urban public transport

Public transport of Ratisbon ( Regensburger Verkehrsverbund , RVV) serves 73 lines of bus. The 300 buses of the company traversed 12 ' 135 ' 000 of kilometers in 2005. The beginning of the year 1980, the project to bore a tunnel for the buses in the old cities failed.

Between 1903 and 1964, the city had a small network of Tram. With its apogee, the day before the Second world war, the network counted four lines and 12.3 kilometers of ways. It was gradually dismantled - as in many other European cities - between 1955 and 1964.

Currently, a construction project of a network the RER is being studied. Layouts were already released and of constructions were arranged for this purpose.

Main roads

The retreat of the rail was accompanied by a revalorization of the road links. Until in the years 1980, all the highways led to trunk roads around Ratisbon. In times which followed, the city was connected gradually to the highway network.

Highways:

Trunk roads:

Ratisbon is on three tourist roads: the German road of the Files, the road of the emperors and the kings, as well as the European road of Goethe.

European channel the Rhine-Hand-Danube

The river port of Ratisbon east, with a total traffic of 6.681.000 tons in 2003, the largest wearing of Bavaria. Its situation on the European Channel the Rhine-Hand-Danube does of it one of the most important places of transit between the ports of the the North Sea and Eastern Europe.

Cycle roads with long distance

Ratisbon is with the intersection of several cycle roads with long distance: the road of the Danube, which goes from the sources of the Danube to Budapest, the Waldnaabtal/Naabtal road which leads of Bärnau to Ratisbon, the road of Regental which goes from Ratisbon to Eisenstein, the road of the Limes, which leads of Bad Hönningen to Ratisbon and, finally, the Falkenstein-Festpiel-chambtal road, which goes from Ratisbon to Furth im Wald.

==Jumelages==

Ratisbon is twinned with the following cities:

See too

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