thumb|Aerial image of the Veste Oberhaus

thumb|Veste Oberhaus

thumb|Veste Oberhaus above Veste Niederhaus (left) and 15th-century pilgrimage church of St. Salvator (right)

thumb|View of the fortress in the 15th century, Oberhausmuseum

thumb|Inner courtyard

Veste Oberhaus is a fortress that was founded in 1219 and, for most of its time, was the stronghold of the Bishop of Passau, Germany. It is now the site of a museum, a youth hostel and a restaurant.

The fortress is located on the mountain crest () on the left side of the Danube, between it and the Ilz, and dominates the old city of Passau, which it faces across the Danube. Below Oberhaus on the promontory between the two rivers is Veste Niederhaus, part of the fortress system.

History

The fortress was built in 1219 by Ulrich II, the first prince-bishop of Passau, at the location of a previously existing chapel dedicated to St. George. The intention was to express the military strength of the bishopric and support the bishop's status as an elector of the Holy Roman Empire, granted in 1217, and also to protect against both external enemies and internal threats such as those citizens of Passau who wished to acquire the independent status of a free imperial city.

As siege techniques improved over the centuries, Veste Oberhaus was repeatedly renovated and extended, beginning in 1255–56, so that it offers an opportunity to study fortification techniques from the 13th through the early 19th century. The inscription "1499" prominent on the facade refers to one of these renovations. The most significant rebuilding took place under Leonhard von Laiming, Christoph von Schachner, Urban von Trennbach and Johann Philipp von Lamberg. Under them, the fortress developed from a Gothic citadel to an early Renaissance princely residence, a "fortified princely castle" and, finally, in the era of invasion by the Turks, a regional fortress and symbol of aristocratic status. Archeological investigations in the 1990s revealed traces of a 17th-century residential tower. from the Schanzlbrücke Danube bridge. The main gate, the Ravelintor, bears the arms of Cardinal Johann Philipp von Lamberg and was built in 1703. This leads to the Kronwerke, a Baroque bailey constructed in 1674–1740, and a second defensive area dating mostly to the 16th century. From this middle defensive ring, the Burgstraße leads past the main watchtower (built around 1350) and across a drawbridge through a tower built in 1433 to the main fortress. The gate tower at this point bears the arms of Prince Bishop Leonhard von Laiming dated 1440. The buildings encircling the outer courtyard are 16th-century. The church of St. George in the inner courtyard has early and high Gothic frescoes and predates the fortress; it was renovated in Baroque style. The remaining museum rooms were still accessible. In May 1945, US troops captured the Veste and used it as a rest center for American soldiers until February 1946. After the establishment of an auxiliary hospital for tuberculosis and venereal diseases in the castle complex in February 1946, the newly created Oberhausmuseum was opened on August 26, 1952, a few weeks after the hospital was closed.

The baroque-era forward fortifications of the Veste were replaced by a Thingplatz open-air theatre. In the form of an amphitheater in the approximate form of a quarter circle, this was designed by Ludwig Moshamer and had approximately 6,000 seats and room for approximately 18,000 standees. Ground was broken on August 26, 1934, and the facility was dedicated on September 22, 1935. In 1937 Eberhard Wolfgang Möller's Frankenburger Würfelspiel was performed; this concerned an event that happened not far away from Passau, and was to have been repeated annually, but political objections by the Austrians prevented it. In 1938, 85 boys and 162 girls born in 1927 and 1928 were sworn in there as Hitler Youth. The Thingplatz is no longer in use, no remains are visible.

See also

  • List of forts

References

Further reading

  • Monika Soffner-Loibl. Veste Oberhaus Passau. Peda-Kunstführer 822. Passau: Kunstverlag Peda, 2011.
  • Jürgen Dupper, Stefanie Buchhold, Bernhard Forster (Edit.): 800 Jahre Veste Oberhaus. Mächtig prächtig! Regensburg 2019 (in German)
  • Oberhausmuseum
  • Passau Youth Hostel
  • Tourist-Info: museum, youth hostel, tower, restaurant, at Burgen in Bayern, Haus der bayerischen Geschichte