Portal:Bavaria

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Bavaria

Bavaria (/bəˈvɛəriə/ bə-VAIR-ee-ə; German: Bayern [ˈbaɪɐn] ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (German: Freistaat Bayern [ˈfʁaɪʃtaːt ˈbaɪɐn] ; Bavarian: Freistoot Bayern), is a state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of 70,550.19 km2 (27,239.58 sq mi), it is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total land area of Germany. With over 13 million inhabitants, it is the second most populous German state behind North Rhine-Westphalia, but due to its large physical size its population density is below the German average. Major cities include Munich (its capital and largest city, which is also the third largest city in Germany), Nuremberg, and Augsburg.

The history of Bavaria includes its earliest settlement by Iron Age Celtic tribes, followed by the conquests of the Roman Empire in the 1st century BC, when the territory was incorporated into the provinces of Raetia and Noricum. It became the Duchy of Bavaria (a stem duchy) in the 6th century AD following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. It was later incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire, became the independent Kingdom of Bavaria after 1806, joined the Prussian-led German Empire in 1871 while retaining its title of kingdom, and finally became a state of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949.

Bavaria has a distinct culture, largely because of its Catholic heritage and conservative traditions, which includes a language, cuisine, architecture, festivals and elements of Alpine symbolism. It also has the second-largest economy among the German states by GDP figures, giving it the status of a wealthy German region.

Contemporary Bavaria also includes parts of the historical regions of Franconia and Swabia, in addition to Altbayern. (Full article...)

Selected article

Munich skyline
Munich skyline

Munich (/ˈmjuːnɪk, -nɪx/ MEW-nik(h); German: München [ˈmʏnçn̩] ; Bavarian: Minga [ˈmɪŋ(ː)ɐ] ) is the capital and most populous city of the Free State of Bavaria. With a population of 1,589,706 inhabitants as of 29 February 2024, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg, and thus the largest which does not constitute its own state, as well as the 11th-largest city in the European Union. The city's metropolitan region is home to about 6.2 million people and the third biggest metropolitan region by GDP in the European Union.

Straddling the banks of the river Isar north of the Alps, Munich is the seat of the Bavarian administrative region of Upper Bavaria, while being the most densely populated municipality in Germany with 4,500 people per km2. Munich is the second-largest city in the Bavarian dialect area, after the Austrian capital of Vienna. (Full article...)

Selected biography

Christian Morgenstern
Christian Morgenstern

Christian Morgenstern (May 6, 1871 in Munich– March 31, 1914 in Meran) was a German author and poet from Munich.

Morgenstern's poetry, much of which was inspired by English literary nonsense, is immensely popular, even though he enjoyed very little success during his lifetime. He made fun of scholasticism, e.g. literary criticism in "Drei Hasen", grammar in "Der Werwolf", narrow-mindedness in "Der Gaul", and symbolism in "Der Wasseresel". In "Scholastikerprobleme" he discussed how many angels could sit on a needle. Still many Germans know some of his poems and quotations by heart, e.g. the following line from "The Impossible Fact" ("Die unmögliche Tatsache", 1910):

For, he reasons pointedly / That which must not, can not be. (German: "Weil, so schließt er messerscharf / Nicht sein kann, was nicht sein darf.")

Quotes

  • Home is not where you live, but where they understand you.

Christian Morgenstern (poet)

  • So certainly, if we can tell evil stories to make people sick, we can also tell good stories that make them well.

Rainer Werner Fassbinder (film director)

  • Hopefully it won't be worse than it is already.

Karl Valentin

Selected image

Königsee
Königsee
Credit: Fanndian
The Königssee is a lake located in the extreme southeast of the German State of Bavaria (Bayern), near the German-Austrian Border. Lying near the Bavarian town of Berchtesgaden in the municipality of Schönau am Königsee, just south of the Austrian city Salzburg in the German Alps, the Königssee is the deepest lake in Germany.

Did you know?

  • ...that there is a Bavarian citizenship (as opposed to a German citizenship)? Actually, the Bavarian constitution (Bavaria has a separate constitution that exists alongside the German constitution) explicitly provides for it in articles 6 and 7. Specifically, you become a Bavarian citizen by birth, by marriage or by being naturalized.

Subcategories

Topics

Cities of Bavaria: MunichNurembergAugsburgWürzburgRegensburgIngolstadtFürthErlangenBayreuthBambergAschaffenburg

Regions of Bavaria: Lower BavariaLower FranconiaUpper FranconiaMiddle FranconiaUpper PalatinateSwabiaUpper Bavaria

Politics of Bavaria: List of Ministers-President of BavariaBavarian state election, 2008Landtag of Bavaria

Economy of Bavaria: BMWSiemensAudiAllianzAdidasMAN

History of Bavaria: List of Ministers-President of BavariaAgilolfingsKingdom of BavariaHouse of WittelsbachBavarian Council Republic

Symbols: Coat of arms of BavariaFlag of BavariaBayernhymneBavaria statueCoat of arms of MunichMünchner Kindl

Original languages: Austro-Bavarian (boarisch)SwabianLow AlemannicEast Franconian

Culture: Paganism in the Eastern AlpsLederhosenDirndlMaibaumOktoberfestHofbräuhaus am PlatzlAcademy of Fine Arts, MunichDer Blaue ReiterBavarian National MuseumPinakothek der ModerneNeue PinakothekAlte Pinakothek

The Zugspitze massif from the northeast

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Wikipedia in Bavarian languages

Austro-Bavarian Alemannic
Boarische Wikipedia Alemannische Wikipedia

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