Straubing

Straubing is a city of 48,000 people (2018) in Lower Bavaria. It is the center of the Gäuboden, a fertile plain along the Danube, and a gateway to the nearby Bavarian Forest. Straubing was the main city for large parts of the forest for almost six centuries.

History
The area of Straubing has been continuously settled since the Neolithic era. It was conquered by the Romans in 16–14 BC. Many traces of the 400-year Roman occupation can be found: for example, the famous 'Römerschatz' (Roman treasure) which was excavated in 1950 and which is shown in the Gäubodenmuseum. Sorviodurum, as the Romans called it, was an important military support base.

After the fall of the Roman Empire Straubing became a centre of settlement of the Bavarii, mostly around St. Peter's Church between Allachbach and Danube. According to the customs of the Bavarii the settlement was named after their leader Strupinga, which later evolved into the name Straubing.

In 1218 a new part of the city (called 'new town') was founded by Duke Ludwig I Wittelsbach of Bavaria. Straubing became the capital of the Duchy of Bavaria-Straubing under Duke Wilhelm I when Bavaria was divided among the sons of Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor in 1349.

Between 1933 and 1945 most of the members of the then small Jewish community of Straubing were murdered or forced to emigrate. In 2006, Straubing had a lively Jewish community with around 950 members.

Straubing has many industrial areas and a port at the river Danube with access to the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal, a connection from the North Sea to the Black Sea. It is the centre of the Bavarian high tech offensive in biotechnology. The Coat of Arms - virtually unchanged since the 13th century - contains the blue-white diamonds which would later be taken into the Wittelsbach Coat of Arms and have come to symbolize "Bavaria" in both official and folkloric contexts. Other elements of the Coat of Arms are a plow symbolizing the fertile Gäuboden and a Fleur de Lys symbolizing the old connection to the Bishopric of Augsburg to which Straubing used to belong ecclesiastically.

By car
Take the A3 motorway to the Kirchroth/Straubing exit.

By boat
As Straubing sits along the Danube, you can arrive here by boat, whether in your own watercraft or on a cruise.

See
The new town is the centre of Straubing with many shops, offices, restaurants and a pedestrian area. Most buildings there still have medieval style.

The most important buildings are the beautiful Gothic cathedral-like Basilica of St. Jacob, the Romanesque St. Peter's Church, the Carmelite monastery with its Baroque church and library, St. Vitus's, where you can find a life-size personification of "state and church" joined in holy matrimony.

The city square is often the point for a visit to Straubing. It is the major central axis of the late medieval new town (Neustadt), founded by the Wittelsbach dynasty in 1218. It is a pedestrian zone, shopping precinct, and a market place.



Drink
The nightlife of Straubing, with many pubs and discothèques, is concentrated in the new town.