Passau - St. Stephan's Cathedral

The western facade of the Stephansdom (St. Stephan's Cathedral) is under renovation. The large baroque cathedral was erected between 1668 and 1693, after a fire had destroyed its predecessor in 1662.

The cathedral seen today is the fifth erected on the highest point of a peninsula between the rivers Danube and Inn.

A christian church, dedicated to St. Severin, existed already around 450, when Passau was still known under the Roman name of Batavia.
A pre-Romanesque church, dedicated to St. Stephanus, was built around 720. When Saint Bonifatius founded the diocese of Passau in 739, this church became a cathedral. It got destroyed, when Emperor Otto II (husband of Theophanu) conquered Passau after a siege during the wars he fought against his cousin Henry II, Duke of Bavaria (aka "Henry the Wrangler").
A three nave Romanesque church was consecrated in 985, followed by an early Gothic cathedral, built between 1280 and 1325.
This got rebuilt over a long period between 1407 and 1598, before it burnt down and so gave room for the Baroque cathedral seen here.