Rathaus

Description

The town hall complex of #Passau (Bavaria) unites the Altes Rathaus (core from 1298), Neues Rathaus, and former customs house. Citizens seized the Altes Rathaus in a 1298 uprising against the dominant prince-bishops, yet never achieved full independence or imperial freedom, civic power remained subordinate to episcopal control. Its Venetian-style hall dates to 1405; the structure grew by merging eight medieval houses. A 1446 Gothic staircase leads to baroque halls reshaped after 17th-century fires by architects Carlo Lurago and Giovanni Battista Carlone. Major 19th-century shifts included demolishing the old defensive tower, clearing walls and market buildings by 1819 to open the square northward toward the Danube, and adding a 38m neo-gothic tower by Heinrich von Schmidt with guardian statues (bishop, knight, citizen, farmer) and 24 coats of arms evoking the 1871 German Empire's founding states.