Ingolstadt

Ingolstadt, city, Bavaria Land (state), southern Germany. It lies along the Danube and Schutter rivers, southwest of Regensburg. First mentioned in 806 as a crown estate, villa Ingoldestat, it was chartered in 1250 and became a ducal seat in 1392. The duchy of Bavaria-Ingolstadt passed to the Bavaria-Landshut line in 1447 and to the Bavaria-Munich line of the Wittelsbachs in 1503. The University of Munich, which was important in the German humanist movement and in the Counter-Reformation, was founded in Ingolstadt in 1472 but was moved to Landshut in 1800 and to Munich in 1826. A garrison and fortress town in the 19th century, Ingolstadt was damaged considerably in World War II. The city was reconstructed after the war and expanded rapidly.

Ingolstadt is a centre for motor-vehicle production, rail traffic, and petroleum refining. Oil pipelines link it to Genoa and Trieste (Italy) and Marseilles (France), and a natural-gas pipeline links the city to the Czech Republic.

The old town is partly surrounded by 14th-century walls, including the picturesque Cross Gate, and there are many medieval houses and churches. The city’s notable landmarks are the massive brick late Gothic Cathedral of Our Lady (1425–1500); the ducal castle (1420), which houses the Bavarian Army Museum; a museum on the history of medicine; a municipal museum; the former university buildings; and the late Baroque Church of Maria de Victoria (1732–36). Ingolstadt is the seat of a university of applied sciences. A ring of parks separates the old town from the surrounding industrial and residential districts. Pop. (2003 est.) 119,528.