994 - Martin Wirth, Passau, view across the river to houses, churches and Veste Oberhaus, veduta 2003

Martin Wirth, Passau, view across the river to houses, churches and Veste Oberhaus, veduta 2003 (1939 – 2017 Ilsenburg), watercolour over pencil on paper, signed and dated (20)03 lower right, label verso, titled "Passau", view across the broad river to the riverside buildings with churches, towers and colourful rows of houses, above on a wooded ridge the extensive fortifications of the Veste Oberhaus, in the foreground red roofs and a tower with pointed spire, condition commensurate with age, slightly stained, edges slightly creased, image 24x36 cm (HxW) Passau lies in Lower Bavaria on the border with Austria, where the Danube, Inn and Ilz meet, and is therefore known as the City of Three Rivers. The diocese was founded by Boniface in 739 and was one of the largest dioceses of the Holy Roman Empire. Prince-Bishop Ulrich II had the Veste Oberhaus built from 1219 on the Georgsberg between the Danube and the Ilz; the fortress looks across the Danube to the old town and today houses a museum. The townscape of the Danube city is shaped by Gothic and Baroque buildings, above all St Stephen's Cathedral, whose organ has 17,774 pipes.