PASSAU, an ancient, picturesque, frontier t. of Bavaria, at the confluence of the Inn and time• Ilz with the Danube, 90 in. .e.n.e. of Munich. It consists of Passau proper (triangular in shape, and occupying an eminence on the tongue of land between the right bank of the Danube and the left bank of the Inn, and the suburbs, Innstadt, on the right hank of the Inn; Anger and fort Oberhaus, between the Danube and the Ilz; and Tlzatrult, on the left bank of the Ilz. At the point of junction, the Inn is both wider and has had a longer course than the Danube, the former being 834 ft.; while the latter is only 696 ft. wide. The railway bridge and another iron bridge on eight piers of granite, eonnect Itmstadt with Passau, and the Danube is crossed by a fine bridge resting on seven piers, also of granite. Fort Oberhaus, on the left bank of the Danube, stands on steep, wooded cliffs, at an elevation of upwards of 400 ft., and is connected with the castle of Niederhaus by out walls; both are now used as prisons for criminals from the upper classes and military offenders. The appearance of Passau, situated at the confluence of two great rivers. and rising like all amphitheater on the most beautiful spot of the Danube, is strikingly effective and pieturesque. Among the
chief buildings are the cathedral, the bishop's palace, the poswillice, where the treaty of Passau was signed in 1552; the Jesuits' college, a large building now used as a school; and the church of St. Michael's. In the cathedral square (Domplatz) is a bronze statue of king Maximilian Joseph, erected in 1828. Passau contains also numerous picture galleries, collections of antiquities, and benevolent and charitable institutions The women of Passau are famous for their beauty. Pop. '75, 14,752.
The natural advantages of-this site, in a military point of view, were appreciated at an eady period by the Romans, who erected a strong camp here, garrisoned it with Batavian troops, and from this circumstance named it )3atava Castra. Passau was long the seat of an independent bishopric founded in the 7th c., hut secularized in 1803. By the treaty of Passau, signet! here in 1552 by the emperor Charles V. on the one side, and the Protestant princes of Germany on the other, public recognition of the Lutheran faith among the institutions of the empire was granted. The cathedral of Passau and great part of the town were consumed by fire iu 1662.