Regensburg – a bridge between the past and the future

"Life in a wonderful city" - "Why not just stay here forever?" - "Italy's northernmost city". It's much harder to pick the best slogan than it is to invent them. In Regensburg, it's very easy! Let's take a fun look at the reasons while we go on a little tour of Regensburg's lively atmosphere. You're invited too!

"Regensburg is both old and new." This motto appears in Regensburg's tourist brochures, and it would be easy to think it was created by a modern advertising agency. But these words come to us from a monk named Otloh, who lived in the St. Emmeram monastery in the mid-11th century. Even then, the contrast between old and new must have been something unusual, and it is a city characteristic that remains to this day. The city, rooted and founded in Roman times, is now also a modern high-tech industry location. Traditional old trades like hatmakers and tower clockmakers are at home here, just the same as the Infineon chip factory, or BMW's flourishing car factory.

When we look to the future, the city's society still finds valuable points to ponder in its past, and our slogan is: "Being sure of our past makes us strong for the future." A world leader among IT companies has a branch in Regensburg, and advertises its "innovation" using stone-carved Roman lettering. The head-high stone block is the "founding certificate", history close enough to touch, and a reminder of Regensburg's first mention in writing.

On the Danube, simple fishing boats and a replica of a Roman skiff pass by ultra-modern luxury cruise ships. The ancient waterway connects the North Sea to the Black Sea by way of the Rhine-Main-Danube canal. Regensburg is the largest commercial harbour in Bavaria.