Regensburg listed as World Heritage Site

The UNESCO has nominated the historical city center of Regensburg, capital of the Bavarian district Upper Palatiny as a World Heritage Site. The official act will take place beginning of 2007.
After Stone Age and Celtic settlements, the strategically important site of Regensburg was founded as the Roman fortified camp Ratisbona in app. 90 AD and later extended as the Roman fort Castra Regina in 179 . A remnant of the Roman wall is still visible and is incorporated in buildings later belonging to the Arch Bishop (Porta Praetoria).
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In 739 St. Boniface established a bishopric, initiating the Christanization of the Czech people and creating first ties to Eastern Europe. From 530 through the middle of the 13th century Regensburg was the capital of Bavaria. The famous Steinerne Brücke (Stone Bridge) was built in 1136 - 1146, a remarkably short period for those times, and opened the route from the Mediterranean to Northern Europe; Regensburg became a city of wealthy merchants as well as the seat of the Immerwährender Reichstag (permanent Imperial Diet) of the Holy Roman Empire, a title it retained until 1806 when Napoleon rearranged the map of Europe.
In 1803, Regensburg lost its status of Freie Reichsstadt (Imperial Free City) and was integrated in the State of Bavaria. Its political and economical importance decreased - a fact that may have saved it from the devastating bombings other cities suffered in World War II.
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Due to this, the midaeval city center remained mostly intact with buildings dating back to the 12th century, e.g. the Wurstküchl, St. Ulrich, or even earlier, such as the Obermünster church, dated at 1010.
The cathedral of St. Peter, founded in 1275, remains an exceptional example of Gothic architecture.
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St. Jakob, aka Schottenkirche as it was founded by Irish monks, is a Romanic basilika complete with grotesque carvings and al fresco paintings depicting the stations of the cross.
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After all the bare facts and history: From personal experience I know that Regensburg is a great place to live in spite of the winter fogs and occasional flooding. The night life - due to the abundance of students (about 17,5000 attend the university) - is teeming, the cultural life (concerts, theaters, museums) caters to every taste, the architecture is exciting (if you're into that sort of thing).

Great place for a day trip, too. Nice Christmas market!

Regensburg was one of the first places we went while we were exploring Bavaria after moving here. We were hanging out at the Wurstküchl, and struck up a conversation with an older man who had lived in the US shortly after WWII. We chatted with him for awhile, and then he offered us a snort of this white powder he had. We thought he was doing cocaine, right out in front of everybody! Somebody explained later that it was white snuff, which we'd never heard of.

In summer, it's really quite nice - lots of people barbequeing and just sitting or wandering along the Danube river. For shopping, there's the Arcaden and a bit further away the Donau Einkaufszentrum. For short weekend trips, Prague is not too far away.

Wonderful city, shame about the people.

I miss living in the center of Regensburg and if the train didn't take 90 minutes each way I'd move there and commute to work. The place is beautiful and the city's cheap in comparison to Toytown. A lot of the people there sit and complain about how schicky-micky Munich is without realising that they themselves are ten times worse.

woof.

I bet those are the law students. Arrogant bunch they were.

I miss regensburg. will have to take my brother up there when he comes at the end of the month.

Interesting fact though, the front two spires of the dom were only built within the last couple of hundred years, being the newest part of the church and not part of the original.

Two more things that makes Regensburg famous:

- It's where the Pope comes from

- The Regensburg Domspatzen http://www.domspatzen.de/eng/

Not quite. Bene is from Marktl am Inn, he taught dogmatics at the Regensburg University from 1969 until he was named Arch Bishop of Munich and Freising in 1977.

You are perfectly right. Regensburg is considered to be the Pope's 'adopted hometown', where his brother still lives. He was not born there.

If you want to be really picky, one should mention Pentling - A little village just outside of Regensburg...

Certainly when the news of the Popes visit there was a lot of talk of "Papa kommt nach Hause" in Regensburg, and they didnt mean Germany in general.

Locals say that it would have been cheaper if the city of Regensburg bought airtickets for all of the people in Regensburg to go and see the Pope in The Vatican City...than the money they're spending on the Pope coming to visit the city.

Late 19th century by King Ludwig, he of castle fame. The original caps were plain pyramidal roofs and not very tall. Ol' Storybook Holzkopf, swisher that he was, wanted everything to look fantasyland.

Interesting Dom fact: The Dom is still under construction and always will be due to a legend that the Devil will get the soul of the Baumeister as soon as it's completed.

Interesting bridge fact: the statue in the middle of a guy shielding his eyes and looking at the spires was a Middle Ages mason's joke. Construction on the Steinerne Brücke and the Dom began in 1365. Despite the mad Donau, the bridge was completed a lot sooner.

This is all from memory in case someone ghugels and finds I'm off by a year or two. I can only go by what the Baumeister told me.

woof.

Yes yes yes Finally the ole village gets recognition. I look forward to seeing the ol' girl in October, thankfully after the Pope arrives. Remember when I return in Oct i will have an extra room for those wishing to visit raintown.

Regensburg! I love that town, especially in the fall when the leaves are turning colours. I took a walk in a forest full of bright gold leaves. pure magic.

I spent two weeks there learning German when I first came out here. It really was mindblowingly ancient. There were actually houses there from the Dark Ages (pre-1000) and not just the middle ages. And many of the merchants houses in the Aldtstadt have these fantastic towers on them - a sort of status symbol with the taller the tower indicating the most prestige. Well worth a visit for anyone interested in history or architecture but a beautiful place to see for even those who aren't. Since it was not bombed in the War then maybe it gives us a glimpse of what Bavaria was really like beore most of its cities got anihilated.

I live in Regensburg and I really like it. It's very convenient where I live too, outside the town but only a 20 minute walk and plenty of access to bike paths and running trails. Would be nice if there were more interesting concerts for the kind of music I like though.

what kind of music do you like?

Yep what are you looking for? Metal? Rap? Dance? Volksmusik?

Mostly Metal, some Rock (but absolutely no Rock with Rap influence in it, just not my thing).

The clue was in the username!

Any other tips on where to visit in Regensburg? Am leaving tomorrow morning (well.. later this morning I guess) hehe.

We just went to Regensburg last Wednesday & took the boat trip to Walhalla. There is a booth on the river where you purchase the ticket for the boat ride. If I remember right, it was about a 3 hour trip in total. Just make sure that you wear good climbing shoes. It is a bit of a climb up the hill to Walhalla.

I love the beergardens, if the weather is nice hit up the alte linde. There is never a shortage of stuff to see in Regensburg.

Make sure my plants are still dead. Look for the mouse at the music store. Don’t know why I told you that. It’s quite boring. Boston coffeehouse is a great people watching spot (especially lost American tourist) and the best drawing tables in winter if I must say so myself. The best beer gardens are on the north side of the donau.

PS
On a sad note if you cross the stone bridge toward the north side look to your right at the second embankment, before the canal, and see if the old man is there is painting. That old man is my hero. He has the audacity to do everything I can not dare myself to do. Now I miss Ringspurgt (regensburg).

I put a few suggestions in the Wiki page.