Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Bavaria shopping experience:

1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Bavaria offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Bavaria at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.

2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about

3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Bavaria? Wrong! If the Bavaria is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.

4. Questions - Got a question about Bavaria then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....

5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Bavaria? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Bavaria and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.

6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Bavaria wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.

7. Feedback - happy with your Bavaria then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.

8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Bavaria site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site

9. Contact - got a question about Bavaria, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.

10. Payment - ready to pay for your Bavaria, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.

{{Infobox German Bundesland|Name = Free State of Bavaria|German_name = Freistaat Bayern|state_coa = Coat of arms of Bavaria.svg|coa_size = 110|map = Deutschland Lage von Bayern.svg|flag = Flag of Bavaria (lozengy).svg|flag1_title = "Lozengy" variant|flag2 = Flag of Bavaria (striped).svg|flag2_title = Striped variant|capital = Munich|area = 70549.44|area_source =|population = 12495000|pop_ref = |pop_date = 2007-04-30|GDP = 404|GDP_year = 2005|GDP_percent = 18|Website = bayern.de|leader_title =|leader = Günther Beckstein of Bavaria ([German language: ), with an area of 70,553 km² (27,241 square miles) and almost 12.5 million inhabitants, forms the southernmost and geographically largest States of Germany of Germany. Its capital is Munich.

History The Bavarians emerged in a region north of the Alps, originally inhabited by the Celts, which had been part of the Roman provinces of Rhaetia and Noricum. The Bavarians spoke Old High German but, unlike other Germanic groups, did not migrate from elsewhere. Rather, they seem to have coalesced out of other groups left behind by Roman withdrawal late in the 5th century AD. These peoples may have included Marcomanni, Thuringians, Goths, Rugians, Heruli, and some remaining Ancient Rome. The name "Bavarian" ("Baiuvari") means "Men of Baia" which may indicate Bohemia, the homeland of the Marcomanni. They first appear in written sources circa 520. Saint Boniface completed the people's conversion to Christianity in the early 8th century. Bavaria was, for the most part, unaffected by the Protestant Reformation, and even today, most of it is strongly Roman Catholic Church.

From about 550 to 788, the house of Agilolfing ruled the duchy of Bavaria, ending with Tassilo III who was deposed by Charlemagne.

Three early dukes are named in Frankish sources: Garibald I may have been appointed to the office by the Merovingian kings and married the Lombard princess Walderada when the church forbade her to King Chlothar I in 555. Their daughter, Theodelinde, became Queen of the Lombards in northern Italy and Garibald was forced to flee to her when he fell out with his Frankish overlords. Garibald's successor, Tassilo I, tried unsuccessfully to hold the eastern frontier against the expansion of Slavic peoples and Eurasian Avars around 600. Tassilo's son Garibald II of Bavaria seems to have achieved a balance of power between 610 and 616.

After Garibald II little is known of the Bavarians until Theodo_of_Bavaria#Ordinals, whose reign may have begun as early as 680. From 696 onwards he invited churchmen from the west to organize churches and strengthen Christianity in his duchy (it is unclear what Bavarian religious life consisted of before this time). His son, Theodbert of Bavaria, led a decisive Bavarian campaign to intervene in a succession dispute in the Lombards in 714, and married his sister Guntrud to the Lombard King Liutprand. At Theodo's death the duchy was divided among his sons, but reunited under his grandson Hucbert.

At Hucbert's death (735) the duchy passed to a distant relative named Odilo of Bavaria, from neighboring Alemannia (modern Southwest Germany and northern Switzerland). Odilo issued a law code for Bavaria, completed the process of church organization in partnership with St. Boniface (739), and tried to intervene in Frankish succession disputes by fighting for the claims of the Carolingian dynasty Grifo. He was defeated near Augsburg in 743 but continued to rule until his death in 748.

Tassilo III of Bavaria (b. 741 - d. after 794) succeeded his father at the age of eight after an unsuccessful attempt by Grifo to rule Bavaria. He initially ruled under Frankish oversight but began to function independently from 763 onwards. He was particularly noted for founding new monasteries and for expanding eastwards, fighting Slavs in the eastern Alps and along the Danube and colonizing these lands. After 781, however, his cousin Charlemagne began to pressure Tassilo to submit and finally deposed him in 788. The deposition was not entirely legitimate; Dissenters attempted a coup against Charlemagne at Tassilo's old capital of Regensburg in 792, led by his own son Pepin the Hunchback, and the king had to drag Tassilo out of imprisonment to formally renounce his rights and titles at the Assembly of Frankfurt in 794. This is the last appearance of Tassilo in the sources and he probably died a monk. As all of his family were also forced into monasteries, this was the end of the Agilolfing dynasty.

For the next 400 years numerous families held the duchy, rarely for more than three generations. With the revolt of duke Henry II, Duke of Bavaria in 976, Bavaria lost large territories in the south and south east. The last, and one of the most important, of these dukes was Henry the Lion of the house of Welf, founder of Munich. When Henry the Lion was deposed as duke of Saxony and Bavaria by his cousin, Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1180, Bavaria was awarded as fief to the Wittelsbach family, which ruled from 1180 to 1918.Also the Electoral Palatinate was acquired by the Wittelsbach in 1214.

The first of several divisions of the duchy of Bavaria occurred in 1255. With the extinction of the Hohenstaufen in 1268 also Swabian territories were acquired by the Wittelsbach dukes. Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor acquired Brandenburg, Tyrol, Holland and County of Hainaut for his House but released the Upper Palatinate for the Palatinate branch of the Wittelsbach in 1329. In 1506 with the Landshut War of Succession the other parts of Bavaria were reunited and Munich became the sole capital.

In 1623 the Bavarian duke replaced his relative, the Electoral Palatinate in the early days of the Thirty Years' War and acquired the powerful prince-elector dignity in the Holy Roman Empire, determining its Emperor thence forward, as well as special legal status under the empire's laws. Also the Upper Palatinate was reunited with Bavaria. The ambitions of the Bavarian prince electors led to several wars with Austria during the early 18th century. From 1777 onwards Bavaria and the Electoral Palatinate were governed in personal union again.

When Napoleon abolished the Holy Roman Empire, Bavaria became a Kingdom of Bavaria in 1806, and its area reduplicated. Tyrol and Salzburg were temporarily reunited with Bavaria but finally ceded to Austria. In return the Rhenish Palatinate and Franconia were annexed to Bavaria in 1815. Between 1799 and 1817 the leading minister count Maximilian Joseph von Montgelas followed a strict policy of modernisation and laid the foundations of administrative structures that survived even the monarchy and are (in their core) valid until today. In 1818 a modern constitution (by the standards of the time) was passed, that established a bicameral Parliament with a House of Lords ("Kammer der Reichsräte") and a House of Commons ("Kammer der Abgeordneten"). The constitution was valid until the collapse of the monarchy at the end of the World War I.

After the rise of Prussia to prominence Bavaria managed to preserve its independence by playing off the rivalries of Prussia and Austria, but defeat in the 1866 Austro-Prussian War led to its incorporation into the German Empire in 1871. In the early 20th century Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Henrik Ibsen, and other notable artists were drawn to Bavaria, notably to the Schwabing district of Munich, later devastated by World War II.Socialist premier Kurt Eisner, who deposed King Ludwig III of Bavaria, was assassinated in 1919 leading to a violently suppressed communist revolt. Extremist activity on the right also increased, notably the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch, and Munich and Nuremberg became Nazism strongholds under the Third Reich. As a manufacturing center, Munich was heavily bombed during World War II and occupied by United States Army.

Since World War II, Bavaria has been rehabilitated into a prosperous industrial hub. A massive reconstruction effort restored much of Munich's historic core, and the city played host to the 1972 Summer Olympics. More recently, state minister-president Edmund Stoiber was the CDU/CSU candidate for chancellor in the German federal election, 2002, and native son Cardinal Bishop Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg (a German-Army officer who was the central figure in the July 20 plot to kill Adolf Hitler in 1944) was born in Jettingen, Bavaria.

Geography Bavaria shares international borders with Austria and the Czech Republic as well as with Switzerland (across Lake Constance). Neighbouring states within Germany are Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, Thuringia and Saxony. Two major rivers flow through the state, the Danube (Donau) and the Main, while the upper Rhine forms part of the southwest border of the state. The Bavarian Alps define the border with Austria, and within the range is the highest peak in Germany, the Zugspitze.

The major cities in Bavaria are Munich (München), Nuremberg (Nürnberg), Augsburg, Würzburg, Regensburg, Ingolstadt, Fürth and Erlangen.

See also: List of places in Bavaria

Politics Bavaria has a unicameral Landtag of Bavaria, or state parliament, elected by universal suffrage. Until December 1999, there was also a Senat, or Senate, whose members were chosen by social and economic groups in Bavaria, but following a referendum in 1998, this institution was abolished. The head of government is the Minister-President.

Bavaria has long been a bastion of conservative politics in Germany, with the Christian Social Union of Bavaria having almost a monopoly on power since its inception in 1946. Every Minister-President since 1957 has been a member of this party.

In 1995 the Bavarians decided to introduce direct democracy on the local level in a referendum. This was initiated bottom-up by an association called Mehr Demokratie (More Democracy). This is a grass-roots organization which campaigns for the right to citizen-initiated referendums. In 1997 the Bavarian Supreme Court aggravated the regulations considerably (e.g. by introducing a turn-out quorum). Nevertheless, Bavaria has the most advanced regulations on local direct democracy in Germany. This has led to a spirited citizens’ participation in communal and municipal affairs – 835 referendums took place from 1995 through 2005.

In the 2003 elections the CSU won more than two thirds of the seats in Landtag. No party in post-war German history had achieved this before (not counting the rigged election wins of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany in communist East Germany).On the other hand the bigger and more liberal, or rather social democratic, cities, especially Munich, have been governed for decades by the SPD (Social Democrats).From the historical point of view, older Bavaria was one of the most liberal, even though predominantly Roman Catholic, states until the rather rural areas of Swabia and Franconia were added in 1814/15 at the Congress of Vienna.The Kingdom of Bavaria and the Duchy of Baden were the first German States to have a constitution early in the 19th Century.

2003 election result At the last state election on 21 September 2003, the CSU achieved a two-thirds majority of seats, the first ever gained by a party in a German state parliament. Edmund Stoiber remained Minister-President, with the CSU forming a government without a coalition.

{] (CSU)| align="right" | 6,217,864| align="right" | 60.7%| align="right" | +7.8%| align="right" | 124| align="right" | +1| align="right" | 68.9%|-| Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)| align="right" | 2,012,065| align="right" | 19.6%| align="right" | −9.1%| align="right" | 41| align="right" | −26| align="right" | 22.8%|-| Alliance '90/The Greens (FDP)| align="right" | 263,731| align="right" | 2.6%| align="right" | +0.9%| align="right" | 0| align="right" | +0| align="right" | 0.0%|-| [The Republicans (Germany) (REP)| align="right" | 229,464| align="right" | 2.2%| align="right" | −1.4%| align="right" | 0| align="right" | +0| align="right" | 0.0%|-| Free Voters of Bavaria (FW)] (ÖDP)| align="right" | 200,103| align="right" | 2.0%| align="right" | +0.2%| align="right" | 0| align="right" | +0| align="right" | 0.0%|-| All Others| align="right" | 120,952| align="right" | 1.2%| align="right" | −0.7%| align="right" | 0| align="right" | +0| align="right" | 0.0%|-|- bgcolor=lightgrey! | Totals! align="right" | 10,248,735! align="right" | 100.0%! align="right" |  ! align="right" | 180! align="right" | −24! align="right" | 100.0%|}




Economy Bavaria has long had one the largest and healthiest economies of any region in Germany, or Europe for that matter. Its GDP in 2004 exceeded 385 billion Euros. This would make Bavaria itself one of the largest economies in Europe. Some large companies headquarted in Bavaria include BMW, Audi, Siemens AG, Allianz, Infineon, the EADS, Puma AG AG and Adidas AG.

Culture in the background, the perception of Bavaria as an alpine region endures.Due to their long independence (until 1871), Bavarians have always maintained a strong national identity. Some features of the Bavarian culture and mentality are remarkably distinct from the rest of Germany. A prevalent perception among other Germans is that Bavarians see Bavaria as the most important part of Germany. A common play on words "It's nice to be a Preiss, but it's higher to be a Bayer" lambasts the Bavarian sense of superiority. Its name in German, "Freistaat Bayern" means simply "the free state of Bavaria." However, many Germans sarcastically refer to Bavaria as "Frei statt Bayern" which literally means "Free instead of Bavaria," implying that Bavarians view themselves as a separate country, or at least culturally superior to the rest of Germany. Noteworthy differences (especially in rural areas, less significant in the major cities) can be found with respect to:

Religion The predominant faith is Catholicism, particularly in the southern parts of Bavaria and Lower Franconia. As per the most recent available Kirchliche Statistik Eckdaten from the Deutsche Bishofskonferenz, Bavaria is one of two Bundesländer with a population that is in majority Catholic. As per this source, in 2005 57.8 % of the Bavarian population was Catholic.Meanwhile, Lutheranism has a significant presence in large parts of Franconia. Religion remains important to many in the region, as expressed by the typical Bavarian and Austrian greeting: "Grüß Gott!" (God bless you). The current pope, Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Alois Ratzinger), was born in Marktl am Inn in Upper Bavaria.

Attitude towards traditions Bavarians commonly emphasize pride in their traditions. Traditional costumes are worn on special occasions, century-old folk music is practised and dialect songs and poems are taught in nursery schools. The May Poles (which in the Middle Ages served as the community's yellow pages, as figurettes on the pole represent the trades of the village), and the bagpipes in the Upper Palatinate region bear witness to the Paganism in the Eastern Alps remnants of cultural heritage of the region.

Food and drink Bavarians tend to place a great value on food and drink. Bavarians also consume many items of food and drink which are unusual elsewhere in Germany, for example Weißwurst (white sausage). Beer in particular has always been regarded as a basic nutrient (Grundnahrungsmittel, or 'the base foodstuff'). . At folk festivals, beer is traditionally served by the litre (the so-called Maß). Bavarians are particularly proud of the traditional Reinheitsgebot, initially established by the Duke of Bavaria in 1516. According to this law, only three ingredients were allowed in beer: water, barley, and hops. In 1906 the Reinheitsgebot made its way to German law and it had been a law in Germany until the EU struck it down recently as incompatible with the European common market. Bavarians are also known as some of the world's most beer-loving people with an average annual consumption of 170 litres per person.

in Franconia.

Language and dialects These three High German languages are spoken in Bavaria: Austro-Bavarian in Old Bavaria (South East and East), Swabian German (an Alemannic German dialect) in the Bavarian part of Swabia (South West) and East Franconian German in Franconia (North).

Bavarians are very proud of their marked dialects, and most of them speak with their Bavarian, Franconian languages or Swabian German accent. As with traditions in general, cultivation of dialect and regional accent is not associated with backwardness, but is considered a strengthening of regional identity.

===Politics=== The Christian Social Union, which has ruled in Bavaria uninterruptedly since 1957, does not seek election in any other state of Germany. The Christian Social Union of Bavaria, arguably the most inward looking of the major German political parties, combines socially conservative positions with advocacy for extensive involvement of the state in the economy.

Ethnography In comparison to the sometimes elaborate formality in other parts of Germany, Bavarians are known to be more egalitarian and folksy. Their sociability can be experienced at the annual Oktoberfest, the world's largest beer festival welcoming around 6 million visitors every year, or in the famous beer gardens. Genuine traditional Bavarian beer gardens work on a BYO basis, i.e. patrons bring their own food and only buy beer from the brewery that runs the beer garden.

In the United States, particularly among German Americans, Bavarian culture is viewed somewhat nostalgically, with several "Bavarian villages", most notably Leavenworth, Washington. Since 1962, the town has been styled with a Bavarian theme; it is also home to "one of the world's largest collections of nutcrackers" and an Oktoberfest celebration it claims is among the most attended in the world outside of Munich.http://www.leavenworth.org/

Administrative divisions Regierungsbezirke (administrative regions)

Bavaria is divided into 7 administrative regions called Regierungsbezirke (singular Regierungsbezirk).

  • Upper Franconia ()
  • Middle Franconia ()
  • Lower Franconia ()
  • Swabia (administrative region) ()
  • Upper Palatinate ()
  • Upper Bavaria ()
  • Lower Bavaria ()


    • These administrative regions consist of 71 administrative districts (called Landkreise, singular Landkreis) and 25 independent cities (kreisfreie Städte, singular kreisfreie Stadt).

    Landkreise/kreisfreie Städte (rural districts/urban districts)

    Rural districts:{||-| width="34%" valign="top" |
  • Aichach-Friedberg
  • Altötting (district)
  • Amberg-Sulzbach
  • Ansbach (district)
  • Aschaffenburg (district)
  • Augsburg (district)
  • Bad Kissingen (district)
  • Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen
  • Bamberg (district)
  • Bayreuth (district)
  • Berchtesgadener Land
  • Cham (district)
  • Coburg (district)
  • Dachau (district)
  • Deggendorf (district)
  • Dillingen (district)
  • Dingolfing-Landau
  • Donau-Ries
  • Ebersberg (district)
  • Eichstätt (district)
  • Erding (district)
  • Erlangen-Höchstadt
  • Forchheim (district)
  • Freising (district)


    • | width="33%" valign="top" |
  • Freyung-Grafenau
  • Fürstenfeldbruck (district)
  • Fürth (district)
  • Garmisch-Partenkirchen (district)
  • Günzburg (district)
  • Haßberge
  • Hof (district)
  • Kelheim (district)
  • Kitzingen (district)
  • Kronach (district)
  • Kulmbach (district)
  • Landsberg (district)
  • Landshut (district)
  • Lichtenfels (district)
  • Lindau (district)
  • Main-Spessart
  • Miesbach (district)
  • Miltenberg (district)
  • Mühldorf (district)
  • Munich (district) (Landkreis München)
  • Neuburg-Schrobenhausen
  • Neumarkt (district)
  • Neustadt (Aisch)-Bad Windsheim
  • Neustadt (Waldnaab) (district)

    | width="33%" valign="top" |

  • Neu-Ulm (district)
  • Nürnberger Land
  • Oberallgäu
  • Ostallgäu
  • Passau (district)
  • Pfaffenhofen (district)
  • Regen (district)
  • Regensburg (district)
  • Rhön-Grabfeld
  • Rosenheim (district)
  • Roth (district)
  • Rottal-Inn
  • Schwandorf (district)
  • Schweinfurt (district)
  • Starnberg (district)
  • Straubing-Bogen
  • Tirschenreuth (district)
  • Traunstein (district)
  • Unterallgäu
  • Weilheim-Schongau
  • Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen
  • Wunsiedel (district)
  • Würzburg (district)|}

    Urban districts:{||-| width="33%" valign="top" |
  • Amberg
  • Ansbach
  • Aschaffenburg
  • Augsburg
  • Bamberg
  • Bayreuth
  • Coburg, Germany
  • Erlangen
  • Fürth
    • | width="33%" valign="top" |
  • Hof, Germany
  • Ingolstadt
  • Kaufbeuren
  • Kempten im Allgäu
  • Landshut
  • Memmingen
  • Munich (München)
  • Nuremberg (Nürnberg)
  • Passau

    ]
  • Rosenheim
  • Schwabach
  • Schweinfurt
  • Straubing
  • Weiden in der Oberpfalz
  • Würzburg|}

    Gemeinden (municipalities) The 71 administrative districts are on the lowest level divided into 2031 municipality (called Gemeinden, singular Gemeinde). Together with the 25 independent cities (which are in effect municipalities independent of Landkreis administrations), there are a total of 2056 municipalities in Bavaria.

    In 44 of the 71 administrative districts, there are a total of 215 unincorporated areas (as of January 1, 2005, called gemeindefreie Gebiete, singular gemeindefreies Gebiet), not belonging to any municipality, all uninhabited, mostly forested areas, but also four lakes (Chiemsee -without islands, Starnberger See -without island Roseninsel, Ammersee, which are the three largest lakes of Bavaria, and Waginger See).

    Historical buildings Image:Aschaffenburg Schloss Johannisburg.jpg|Johannisburg Castle in AschaffenburgImage:Wuerzburger_Residenz_vom_Hofgarten.jpg]Image:BambergDom.jpg|Cathedral in BambergImage:Vierzehnheiligen I.JPG]Image:Bayreuth_Festspielhaus_2006-07-16.jpg|Festspielhaus of Richard Wagner in BayreuthImage:Nuremberg sebald castle f lorenz f s.jpg]Image:Kastell Biriciana (Weißenburg in Bayern).jpg|Kastell Biriciana, Weißenburg in Bayern close to the LimesImage:Regensburg-steinerne-bruecke-hytrion-enhanced_1-1024x768.jpg]Image:Walhalla_aussen.jpg|Walhalla temple in Donaustauf near RegensburgImage:Befreiungshalle-kelheim-aussen.jpg]Image:Passau inn cathedral.JPG|Cathedral and Oberhaus fortification in PassauImage:LandshutTrausnitz01.jpg]Image:A_rathausplatz.jpg|Townhall in AugsburgImage:Munich_skyline.jpg]Image:Freisinger Dom aussen 01.jpg|Cathedral in FreisingImage:Herrenchiem.JPG]Image:Linderhof-1.jpg|LinderhofImage:Schloss Hohenschwangau.jpg|Schloss HohenschwangauImage:Castle_Neuschwanstein.jpg|NeuschwansteinImage:wieskirche_boenisch_okt_2003.jpg|Wieskirche, SteingadenImage:Burghausen.jpg]

    Miscellaneous Famous people There are many famous people who were born or lived in present-day Bavaria:

    Company names The motorcycle and automobile makers BMW (Bayerische Motoren-Werke, or Bavarian Motor Works) and Audi, Grundig (consumer electronics), Siemens AG (electricity, telephones, informatics, medical instruments), Adidas and Puma AG have (or had) a Bavarian industrial base.

    The iconic, opening scenes of the 1965 Rodgers and Hammerstein film musical The Sound of Music were shot in the Bavarian Alps.

    A famous annual festival is called Oktoberfest or October Festival. It was first celebrated in 1810 as a public feast when the Bavarian crown prince Ludwig married Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. The celebration originally was designed as a feast for all members of the Bavarian Nation, who should celebrate the country and the crown. It only turned to a pure matter of boozing in the 20th century and is nowadays attended rather by tourists than by Bavarians. Munich locals often despise it. It is celebrated during the two weeks leading up to the first Sunday in October.

    Bavaria has also given its name to a major Netherlands brewery, Bavaria Brewery (Netherlands).

    The meaning of the coat of arms Modern coat of arms was designed by Eduard Ege, following heraldic traditions in 1946.
    • The Golden Lion: At the dexter chief, sable, a lion rampant Or, armed and langued gules. This represents the administrative region of Upper Palatinate.
    • The "Franconian Rake": At the sinister chief, per fess dancetty, gules and argent. This represents the administrative regions of Upper, Middle and Lower Franconia.
    • The Blue Panther: At the dexter base, argent, a panther rampant azure, armed Or and langued gules. This represents the regions of Lower and Upper Bavaria.
    • The Three Lions: At the sinister base, Or, three lions passant guardant sable, armed and langued gules. This represents Swabia.
    • The White-And-Blue Heart-Shaped Shield: The heart-shaped shield of white and blue fusils askance was originally the coat of arms of the Counts of Bogen, adopted in 1247 by the Wittelsbachs House. The white-and-blue fusils are indisputably the emblem of Bavaria and the heart-shaped shield today symbolizes Bavaria as a whole. Along with the People's Crown, it is officially used as the Minor Coat of Arms.
    • The People's Crown: The four coat fields with the heart-shaped shield in the centre are crowned with a golden band with precious stones decorated with five ornamental leaves. This crown appeared for the first time in the coat of arms in 1923 to symbolize sovereignty of the people after the dropping out of the royal crown.


    {|| Arms of the Bavarian electorate 1753: || |-| Arms of the Kingdom of Bavaria 1807: || |-| Arms of the Kingdom of Bavaria 1835: || |}

    Bavarian "citizenship" The fact that unlike all other German Länder, Bavaria's constitution provides for Bavarian citizenship is often mentioned as an indicator for Bavarian distinctiveness. Some Bavarians are keen to emphasize that - in accordance with the generous indication of the constitution - they regard everyone
    • born in Bavaria,
    • born to a Bavarian parent,
    • adopted by a Bavarian as a child,
    • married to a Bavarian, or
    • naturalized in Bavaria,
    as a fellow-Bavarian; some of those falling under this untechnical definition express pride in being "Bavarian". However, state legislation regulating citizenship procedures has never been enacted, the constitution itself provides that all Germans enjoy the same rights as Bavarian citizens, and no office issues certificates concerning a "Bavarian" citizenship. Thus, the notion of citizenship rather bears a folkloristic, but not really political meaning.

    However, many of those born in Bavarian clearly divide between born Bavarians and people that only moved to Bavaria. The nickname for all those who came to Bavaria is "Zuagroaste" ("those who have traveled here").

    Many people in the northern part of Bavaria see themselves as Franconians and do therefore not like to be called "Bavarians". They have a separate dialect and don't wear traditional Bavarian clothing.

    German-Bavarian relations It is a common joke in Germany that Bavaria is not part of Germany. In fact a minority seriously agrees with this notion; the Bavaria Party (Bavaria Party) advocates Bavarian independence from Germany. It is important to note that Bavaria was the only state to reject the West German constitution in 1949. However this has had no consequences on its implementation. Furthermore, many NGOs (non-governmental organizations) have a German and a dedicated Bavarian branch. For example the Red Cross: BRK (Bayerisches Rotes Kreuz) in Bavaria and DRK (Deutsches Rotes Kreuz) in the rest of Germany. The main disintegrated factor might seem to be the fact that Bavaria has its very own political party representing the free state in the Bundestag. However, this party always cooperates with CDU (Christian Democratic Union (Germany)), forming factions and building up the government with it. Thus, the existence of a dedicated party is not necessarily a disintegrating factor and is rather seen as a sign for political diversity in Germany. Bavaria fielded a border police force, much like the Federal German Grenzschutz, during the Cold War.

    Population and area {| class="wikitable"|- bgcolor=lightgrey! | Administrative Region! colspan="2" | Population (2005)! colspan="2" | Area (km²)! colspan="2" | No. municipalities|-| Lower Bavaria| align="right" | 1,341,481| align="right" | 10.8%| align="right" | 8,531| align="right" | 12.1%| align="right" | 308| align="right" | 15.0%|-| [Upper Franconia| align="right" | 1,712,275| align="right" | 13.7%| align="right" | 7,245| align="right" | 10.3%| align="right" | 210| align="right" | 10.2%|-| [Upper Palatinate| align="right" | 1,788,919| align="right" | 14.3%| align="right" | 9,992| align="right" | 14.2%| align="right" | 340| align="right" | 16.5%|-| [Upper Bavaria| align="right" | 4,238,195| align="right" | 33.8%| align="right" | 17,530| align="right" | 24.8%| align="right" | 500| align="right" | 24.3%|-|- bgcolor=lightgrey! Total! align="right" | 12,468,726! align="right" | 100.0%! align="right" | 70,549! align="right" | 100.0%! align="right" | 2,056! align="right" | 100.0%|}

    See also List of rulers of Bavaria List of Premiers of Bavaria Former countries in Europe after 1815 Extensive pictures of Bavaria in addition to those shown below are linked from in :Category:Bavaria, where they are organized (predominantly) by locale.

    External links
    • http://www.bayern.de official website
    • Bavarian Traditions and Customs


    References {{Infobox German Bundesland|Name = Free State of Bavaria|German_name = Freistaat Bayern|state_coa = Coat of arms of Bavaria.svg|coa_size = 110|map = Deutschland Lage von Bayern.svg|flag = Flag of Bavaria (lozengy).svg|flag1_title = "Lozengy" variant|flag2 = Flag of Bavaria (striped).svg|flag2_title = Striped variant|capital = Munich|area = 70549.44|area_source =|population = 12495000|pop_ref = |pop_date = 2007-04-30|GDP = 404|GDP_year = 2005|GDP_percent = 18|Website = bayern.de|leader_title =|leader = Günther Beckstein of Bavaria ([German language: ), with an area of 70,553 km² (27,241 square miles) and almost 12.5 million inhabitants, forms the southernmost and geographically largest States of Germany of Germany. Its capital is Munich.

    History The Bavarians emerged in a region north of the Alps, originally inhabited by the Celts, which had been part of the Roman provinces of Rhaetia and Noricum. The Bavarians spoke Old High German but, unlike other Germanic groups, did not migrate from elsewhere. Rather, they seem to have coalesced out of other groups left behind by Roman withdrawal late in the 5th century AD. These peoples may have included Marcomanni, Thuringians, Goths, Rugians, Heruli, and some remaining Ancient Rome. The name "Bavarian" ("Baiuvari") means "Men of Baia" which may indicate Bohemia, the homeland of the Marcomanni. They first appear in written sources circa 520. Saint Boniface completed the people's conversion to Christianity in the early 8th century. Bavaria was, for the most part, unaffected by the Protestant Reformation, and even today, most of it is strongly Roman Catholic Church.

    From about 550 to 788, the house of Agilolfing ruled the duchy of Bavaria, ending with Tassilo III who was deposed by Charlemagne.

    Three early dukes are named in Frankish sources: Garibald I may have been appointed to the office by the Merovingian kings and married the Lombard princess Walderada when the church forbade her to King Chlothar I in 555. Their daughter, Theodelinde, became Queen of the Lombards in northern Italy and Garibald was forced to flee to her when he fell out with his Frankish overlords. Garibald's successor, Tassilo I, tried unsuccessfully to hold the eastern frontier against the expansion of Slavic peoples and Eurasian Avars around 600. Tassilo's son Garibald II of Bavaria seems to have achieved a balance of power between 610 and 616.

    After Garibald II little is known of the Bavarians until Theodo_of_Bavaria#Ordinals, whose reign may have begun as early as 680. From 696 onwards he invited churchmen from the west to organize churches and strengthen Christianity in his duchy (it is unclear what Bavarian religious life consisted of before this time). His son, Theodbert of Bavaria, led a decisive Bavarian campaign to intervene in a succession dispute in the Lombards in 714, and married his sister Guntrud to the Lombard King Liutprand. At Theodo's death the duchy was divided among his sons, but reunited under his grandson Hucbert.

    At Hucbert's death (735) the duchy passed to a distant relative named Odilo of Bavaria, from neighboring Alemannia (modern Southwest Germany and northern Switzerland). Odilo issued a law code for Bavaria, completed the process of church organization in partnership with St. Boniface (739), and tried to intervene in Frankish succession disputes by fighting for the claims of the Carolingian dynasty Grifo. He was defeated near Augsburg in 743 but continued to rule until his death in 748.

    Tassilo III of Bavaria (b. 741 - d. after 794) succeeded his father at the age of eight after an unsuccessful attempt by Grifo to rule Bavaria. He initially ruled under Frankish oversight but began to function independently from 763 onwards. He was particularly noted for founding new monasteries and for expanding eastwards, fighting Slavs in the eastern Alps and along the Danube and colonizing these lands. After 781, however, his cousin Charlemagne began to pressure Tassilo to submit and finally deposed him in 788. The deposition was not entirely legitimate; Dissenters attempted a coup against Charlemagne at Tassilo's old capital of Regensburg in 792, led by his own son Pepin the Hunchback, and the king had to drag Tassilo out of imprisonment to formally renounce his rights and titles at the Assembly of Frankfurt in 794. This is the last appearance of Tassilo in the sources and he probably died a monk. As all of his family were also forced into monasteries, this was the end of the Agilolfing dynasty.

    For the next 400 years numerous families held the duchy, rarely for more than three generations. With the revolt of duke Henry II, Duke of Bavaria in 976, Bavaria lost large territories in the south and south east. The last, and one of the most important, of these dukes was Henry the Lion of the house of Welf, founder of Munich. When Henry the Lion was deposed as duke of Saxony and Bavaria by his cousin, Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1180, Bavaria was awarded as fief to the Wittelsbach family, which ruled from 1180 to 1918.Also the Electoral Palatinate was acquired by the Wittelsbach in 1214.

    The first of several divisions of the duchy of Bavaria occurred in 1255. With the extinction of the Hohenstaufen in 1268 also Swabian territories were acquired by the Wittelsbach dukes. Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor acquired Brandenburg, Tyrol, Holland and County of Hainaut for his House but released the Upper Palatinate for the Palatinate branch of the Wittelsbach in 1329. In 1506 with the Landshut War of Succession the other parts of Bavaria were reunited and Munich became the sole capital.

    In 1623 the Bavarian duke replaced his relative, the Electoral Palatinate in the early days of the Thirty Years' War and acquired the powerful prince-elector dignity in the Holy Roman Empire, determining its Emperor thence forward, as well as special legal status under the empire's laws. Also the Upper Palatinate was reunited with Bavaria. The ambitions of the Bavarian prince electors led to several wars with Austria during the early 18th century. From 1777 onwards Bavaria and the Electoral Palatinate were governed in personal union again.

    When Napoleon abolished the Holy Roman Empire, Bavaria became a Kingdom of Bavaria in 1806, and its area reduplicated. Tyrol and Salzburg were temporarily reunited with Bavaria but finally ceded to Austria. In return the Rhenish Palatinate and Franconia were annexed to Bavaria in 1815. Between 1799 and 1817 the leading minister count Maximilian Joseph von Montgelas followed a strict policy of modernisation and laid the foundations of administrative structures that survived even the monarchy and are (in their core) valid until today. In 1818 a modern constitution (by the standards of the time) was passed, that established a bicameral Parliament with a House of Lords ("Kammer der Reichsräte") and a House of Commons ("Kammer der Abgeordneten"). The constitution was valid until the collapse of the monarchy at the end of the World War I.

    After the rise of Prussia to prominence Bavaria managed to preserve its independence by playing off the rivalries of Prussia and Austria, but defeat in the 1866 Austro-Prussian War led to its incorporation into the German Empire in 1871. In the early 20th century Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Henrik Ibsen, and other notable artists were drawn to Bavaria, notably to the Schwabing district of Munich, later devastated by World War II.Socialist premier Kurt Eisner, who deposed King Ludwig III of Bavaria, was assassinated in 1919 leading to a violently suppressed communist revolt. Extremist activity on the right also increased, notably the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch, and Munich and Nuremberg became Nazism strongholds under the Third Reich. As a manufacturing center, Munich was heavily bombed during World War II and occupied by United States Army.

    Since World War II, Bavaria has been rehabilitated into a prosperous industrial hub. A massive reconstruction effort restored much of Munich's historic core, and the city played host to the 1972 Summer Olympics. More recently, state minister-president Edmund Stoiber was the CDU/CSU candidate for chancellor in the German federal election, 2002, and native son Cardinal Bishop Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg (a German-Army officer who was the central figure in the July 20 plot to kill Adolf Hitler in 1944) was born in Jettingen, Bavaria.

    Geography Bavaria shares international borders with Austria and the Czech Republic as well as with Switzerland (across Lake Constance). Neighbouring states within Germany are Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, Thuringia and Saxony. Two major rivers flow through the state, the Danube (Donau) and the Main, while the upper Rhine forms part of the southwest border of the state. The Bavarian Alps define the border with Austria, and within the range is the highest peak in Germany, the Zugspitze.

    The major cities in Bavaria are Munich (München), Nuremberg (Nürnberg), Augsburg, Würzburg, Regensburg, Ingolstadt, Fürth and Erlangen.

    See also: List of places in Bavaria

    Politics Bavaria has a unicameral Landtag of Bavaria, or state parliament, elected by universal suffrage. Until December 1999, there was also a Senat, or Senate, whose members were chosen by social and economic groups in Bavaria, but following a referendum in 1998, this institution was abolished. The head of government is the Minister-President.

    Bavaria has long been a bastion of conservative politics in Germany, with the Christian Social Union of Bavaria having almost a monopoly on power since its inception in 1946. Every Minister-President since 1957 has been a member of this party.

    In 1995 the Bavarians decided to introduce direct democracy on the local level in a referendum. This was initiated bottom-up by an association called Mehr Demokratie (More Democracy). This is a grass-roots organization which campaigns for the right to citizen-initiated referendums. In 1997 the Bavarian Supreme Court aggravated the regulations considerably (e.g. by introducing a turn-out quorum). Nevertheless, Bavaria has the most advanced regulations on local direct democracy in Germany. This has led to a spirited citizens’ participation in communal and municipal affairs – 835 referendums took place from 1995 through 2005.

    In the 2003 elections the CSU won more than two thirds of the seats in Landtag. No party in post-war German history had achieved this before (not counting the rigged election wins of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany in communist East Germany).On the other hand the bigger and more liberal, or rather social democratic, cities, especially Munich, have been governed for decades by the SPD (Social Democrats).From the historical point of view, older Bavaria was one of the most liberal, even though predominantly Roman Catholic, states until the rather rural areas of Swabia and Franconia were added in 1814/15 at the Congress of Vienna.The Kingdom of Bavaria and the Duchy of Baden were the first German States to have a constitution early in the 19th Century.

    2003 election result At the last state election on 21 September 2003, the CSU achieved a two-thirds majority of seats, the first ever gained by a party in a German state parliament. Edmund Stoiber remained Minister-President, with the CSU forming a government without a coalition.

    {] (CSU)| align="right" | 6,217,864| align="right" | 60.7%| align="right" | +7.8%| align="right" | 124| align="right" | +1| align="right" | 68.9%|-| Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)| align="right" | 2,012,065| align="right" | 19.6%| align="right" | −9.1%| align="right" | 41| align="right" | −26| align="right" | 22.8%|-| Alliance '90/The Greens (FDP)| align="right" | 263,731| align="right" | 2.6%| align="right" | +0.9%| align="right" | 0| align="right" | +0| align="right" | 0.0%|-| [The Republicans (Germany) (REP)| align="right" | 229,464| align="right" | 2.2%| align="right" | −1.4%| align="right" | 0| align="right" | +0| align="right" | 0.0%|-| Free Voters of Bavaria (FW)] (ÖDP)| align="right" | 200,103| align="right" | 2.0%| align="right" | +0.2%| align="right" | 0| align="right" | +0| align="right" | 0.0%|-| All Others| align="right" | 120,952| align="right" | 1.2%| align="right" | −0.7%| align="right" | 0| align="right" | +0| align="right" | 0.0%|-|- bgcolor=lightgrey! | Totals! align="right" | 10,248,735! align="right" | 100.0%! align="right" |  ! align="right" | 180! align="right" | −24! align="right" | 100.0%|}




    Economy Bavaria has long had one the largest and healthiest economies of any region in Germany, or Europe for that matter. Its GDP in 2004 exceeded 385 billion Euros. This would make Bavaria itself one of the largest economies in Europe. Some large companies headquarted in Bavaria include BMW, Audi, Siemens AG, Allianz, Infineon, the EADS, Puma AG AG and Adidas AG.

    Culture in the background, the perception of Bavaria as an alpine region endures.Due to their long independence (until 1871), Bavarians have always maintained a strong national identity. Some features of the Bavarian culture and mentality are remarkably distinct from the rest of Germany. A prevalent perception among other Germans is that Bavarians see Bavaria as the most important part of Germany. A common play on words "It's nice to be a Preiss, but it's higher to be a Bayer" lambasts the Bavarian sense of superiority. Its name in German, "Freistaat Bayern" means simply "the free state of Bavaria." However, many Germans sarcastically refer to Bavaria as "Frei statt Bayern" which literally means "Free instead of Bavaria," implying that Bavarians view themselves as a separate country, or at least culturally superior to the rest of Germany. Noteworthy differences (especially in rural areas, less significant in the major cities) can be found with respect to:

    Religion The predominant faith is Catholicism, particularly in the southern parts of Bavaria and Lower Franconia. As per the most recent available Kirchliche Statistik Eckdaten from the Deutsche Bishofskonferenz, Bavaria is one of two Bundesländer with a population that is in majority Catholic. As per this source, in 2005 57.8 % of the Bavarian population was Catholic.Meanwhile, Lutheranism has a significant presence in large parts of Franconia. Religion remains important to many in the region, as expressed by the typical Bavarian and Austrian greeting: "Grüß Gott!" (God bless you). The current pope, Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Alois Ratzinger), was born in Marktl am Inn in Upper Bavaria.

    Attitude towards traditions Bavarians commonly emphasize pride in their traditions. Traditional costumes are worn on special occasions, century-old folk music is practised and dialect songs and poems are taught in nursery schools. The May Poles (which in the Middle Ages served as the community's yellow pages, as figurettes on the pole represent the trades of the village), and the bagpipes in the Upper Palatinate region bear witness to the Paganism in the Eastern Alps remnants of cultural heritage of the region.

    Food and drink Bavarians tend to place a great value on food and drink. Bavarians also consume many items of food and drink which are unusual elsewhere in Germany, for example Weißwurst (white sausage). Beer in particular has always been regarded as a basic nutrient (Grundnahrungsmittel, or 'the base foodstuff'). . At folk festivals, beer is traditionally served by the litre (the so-called Maß). Bavarians are particularly proud of the traditional Reinheitsgebot, initially established by the Duke of Bavaria in 1516. According to this law, only three ingredients were allowed in beer: water, barley, and hops. In 1906 the Reinheitsgebot made its way to German law and it had been a law in Germany until the EU struck it down recently as incompatible with the European common market. Bavarians are also known as some of the world's most beer-loving people with an average annual consumption of 170 litres per person.

    in Franconia.

    Language and dialects These three High German languages are spoken in Bavaria: Austro-Bavarian in Old Bavaria (South East and East), Swabian German (an Alemannic German dialect) in the Bavarian part of Swabia (South West) and East Franconian German in Franconia (North).

    Bavarians are very proud of their marked dialects, and most of them speak with their Bavarian, Franconian languages or Swabian German accent. As with traditions in general, cultivation of dialect and regional accent is not associated with backwardness, but is considered a strengthening of regional identity.

    ===Politics=== The Christian Social Union, which has ruled in Bavaria uninterruptedly since 1957, does not seek election in any other state of Germany. The Christian Social Union of Bavaria, arguably the most inward looking of the major German political parties, combines socially conservative positions with advocacy for extensive involvement of the state in the economy.

    Ethnography In comparison to the sometimes elaborate formality in other parts of Germany, Bavarians are known to be more egalitarian and folksy. Their sociability can be experienced at the annual Oktoberfest, the world's largest beer festival welcoming around 6 million visitors every year, or in the famous beer gardens. Genuine traditional Bavarian beer gardens work on a BYO basis, i.e. patrons bring their own food and only buy beer from the brewery that runs the beer garden.

    In the United States, particularly among German Americans, Bavarian culture is viewed somewhat nostalgically, with several "Bavarian villages", most notably Leavenworth, Washington. Since 1962, the town has been styled with a Bavarian theme; it is also home to "one of the world's largest collections of nutcrackers" and an Oktoberfest celebration it claims is among the most attended in the world outside of Munich.http://www.leavenworth.org/

    Administrative divisions Regierungsbezirke (administrative regions)

    Bavaria is divided into 7 administrative regions called Regierungsbezirke (singular Regierungsbezirk).

  • Upper Franconia ()
  • Middle Franconia ()
  • Lower Franconia ()
  • Swabia (administrative region) ()
  • Upper Palatinate ()
  • Upper Bavaria ()
  • Lower Bavaria ()


    • These administrative regions consist of 71 administrative districts (called Landkreise, singular Landkreis) and 25 independent cities (kreisfreie Städte, singular kreisfreie Stadt).

    Landkreise/kreisfreie Städte (rural districts/urban districts)

    Rural districts:{||-| width="34%" valign="top" |
  • Aichach-Friedberg
  • Altötting (district)
  • Amberg-Sulzbach
  • Ansbach (district)
  • Aschaffenburg (district)
  • Augsburg (district)
  • Bad Kissingen (district)
  • Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen
  • Bamberg (district)
  • Bayreuth (district)
  • Berchtesgadener Land
  • Cham (district)
  • Coburg (district)
  • Dachau (district)
  • Deggendorf (district)
  • Dillingen (district)
  • Dingolfing-Landau
  • Donau-Ries
  • Ebersberg (district)
  • Eichstätt (district)
  • Erding (district)
  • Erlangen-Höchstadt
  • Forchheim (district)
  • Freising (district)


    • | width="33%" valign="top" |
  • Freyung-Grafenau
  • Fürstenfeldbruck (district)
  • Fürth (district)
  • Garmisch-Partenkirchen (district)
  • Günzburg (district)
  • Haßberge
  • Hof (district)
  • Kelheim (district)
  • Kitzingen (district)
  • Kronach (district)
  • Kulmbach (district)
  • Landsberg (district)
  • Landshut (district)
  • Lichtenfels (district)
  • Lindau (district)
  • Main-Spessart
  • Miesbach (district)
  • Miltenberg (district)
  • Mühldorf (district)
  • Munich (district) (Landkreis München)
  • Neuburg-Schrobenhausen
  • Neumarkt (district)
  • Neustadt (Aisch)-Bad Windsheim
  • Neustadt (Waldnaab) (district)

    | width="33%" valign="top" |

  • Neu-Ulm (district)
  • Nürnberger Land
  • Oberallgäu
  • Ostallgäu
  • Passau (district)
  • Pfaffenhofen (district)
  • Regen (district)
  • Regensburg (district)
  • Rhön-Grabfeld
  • Rosenheim (district)
  • Roth (district)
  • Rottal-Inn
  • Schwandorf (district)
  • Schweinfurt (district)
  • Starnberg (district)
  • Straubing-Bogen
  • Tirschenreuth (district)
  • Traunstein (district)
  • Unterallgäu
  • Weilheim-Schongau
  • Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen
  • Wunsiedel (district)
  • Würzburg (district)|}

    Urban districts:{||-| width="33%" valign="top" |
  • Amberg
  • Ansbach
  • Aschaffenburg
  • Augsburg
  • Bamberg
  • Bayreuth
  • Coburg, Germany
  • Erlangen
  • Fürth
    • | width="33%" valign="top" |
  • Hof, Germany
  • Ingolstadt
  • Kaufbeuren
  • Kempten im Allgäu
  • Landshut
  • Memmingen
  • Munich (München)
  • Nuremberg (Nürnberg)
  • Passau

    ]
  • Rosenheim
  • Schwabach
  • Schweinfurt
  • Straubing
  • Weiden in der Oberpfalz
  • Würzburg|}

    Gemeinden (municipalities) The 71 administrative districts are on the lowest level divided into 2031 municipality (called Gemeinden, singular Gemeinde). Together with the 25 independent cities (which are in effect municipalities independent of Landkreis administrations), there are a total of 2056 municipalities in Bavaria.

    In 44 of the 71 administrative districts, there are a total of 215 unincorporated areas (as of January 1, 2005, called gemeindefreie Gebiete, singular gemeindefreies Gebiet), not belonging to any municipality, all uninhabited, mostly forested areas, but also four lakes (Chiemsee -without islands, Starnberger See -without island Roseninsel, Ammersee, which are the three largest lakes of Bavaria, and Waginger See).

    Historical buildings Image:Aschaffenburg Schloss Johannisburg.jpg|Johannisburg Castle in AschaffenburgImage:Wuerzburger_Residenz_vom_Hofgarten.jpg]Image:BambergDom.jpg|Cathedral in BambergImage:Vierzehnheiligen I.JPG]Image:Bayreuth_Festspielhaus_2006-07-16.jpg|Festspielhaus of Richard Wagner in BayreuthImage:Nuremberg sebald castle f lorenz f s.jpg]Image:Kastell Biriciana (Weißenburg in Bayern).jpg|Kastell Biriciana, Weißenburg in Bayern close to the LimesImage:Regensburg-steinerne-bruecke-hytrion-enhanced_1-1024x768.jpg]Image:Walhalla_aussen.jpg|Walhalla temple in Donaustauf near RegensburgImage:Befreiungshalle-kelheim-aussen.jpg]Image:Passau inn cathedral.JPG|Cathedral and Oberhaus fortification in PassauImage:LandshutTrausnitz01.jpg]Image:A_rathausplatz.jpg|Townhall in AugsburgImage:Munich_skyline.jpg]Image:Freisinger Dom aussen 01.jpg|Cathedral in FreisingImage:Herrenchiem.JPG]Image:Linderhof-1.jpg|LinderhofImage:Schloss Hohenschwangau.jpg|Schloss HohenschwangauImage:Castle_Neuschwanstein.jpg|NeuschwansteinImage:wieskirche_boenisch_okt_2003.jpg|Wieskirche, SteingadenImage:Burghausen.jpg]

    Miscellaneous Famous people There are many famous people who were born or lived in present-day Bavaria:

    Company names The motorcycle and automobile makers BMW (Bayerische Motoren-Werke, or Bavarian Motor Works) and Audi, Grundig (consumer electronics), Siemens AG (electricity, telephones, informatics, medical instruments), Adidas and Puma AG have (or had) a Bavarian industrial base.

    The iconic, opening scenes of the 1965 Rodgers and Hammerstein film musical The Sound of Music were shot in the Bavarian Alps.

    A famous annual festival is called Oktoberfest or October Festival. It was first celebrated in 1810 as a public feast when the Bavarian crown prince Ludwig married Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. The celebration originally was designed as a feast for all members of the Bavarian Nation, who should celebrate the country and the crown. It only turned to a pure matter of boozing in the 20th century and is nowadays attended rather by tourists than by Bavarians. Munich locals often despise it. It is celebrated during the two weeks leading up to the first Sunday in October.

    Bavaria has also given its name to a major Netherlands brewery, Bavaria Brewery (Netherlands).

    The meaning of the coat of arms Modern coat of arms was designed by Eduard Ege, following heraldic traditions in 1946.
    • The Golden Lion: At the dexter chief, sable, a lion rampant Or, armed and langued gules. This represents the administrative region of Upper Palatinate.
    • The "Franconian Rake": At the sinister chief, per fess dancetty, gules and argent. This represents the administrative regions of Upper, Middle and Lower Franconia.
    • The Blue Panther: At the dexter base, argent, a panther rampant azure, armed Or and langued gules. This represents the regions of Lower and Upper Bavaria.
    • The Three Lions: At the sinister base, Or, three lions passant guardant sable, armed and langued gules. This represents Swabia.
    • The White-And-Blue Heart-Shaped Shield: The heart-shaped shield of white and blue fusils askance was originally the coat of arms of the Counts of Bogen, adopted in 1247 by the Wittelsbachs House. The white-and-blue fusils are indisputably the emblem of Bavaria and the heart-shaped shield today symbolizes Bavaria as a whole. Along with the People's Crown, it is officially used as the Minor Coat of Arms.
    • The People's Crown: The four coat fields with the heart-shaped shield in the centre are crowned with a golden band with precious stones decorated with five ornamental leaves. This crown appeared for the first time in the coat of arms in 1923 to symbolize sovereignty of the people after the dropping out of the royal crown.


    {|| Arms of the Bavarian electorate 1753: || |-| Arms of the Kingdom of Bavaria 1807: || |-| Arms of the Kingdom of Bavaria 1835: || |}

    Bavarian "citizenship" The fact that unlike all other German Länder, Bavaria's constitution provides for Bavarian citizenship is often mentioned as an indicator for Bavarian distinctiveness. Some Bavarians are keen to emphasize that - in accordance with the generous indication of the constitution - they regard everyone
    • born in Bavaria,
    • born to a Bavarian parent,
    • adopted by a Bavarian as a child,
    • married to a Bavarian, or
    • naturalized in Bavaria,
    as a fellow-Bavarian; some of those falling under this untechnical definition express pride in being "Bavarian". However, state legislation regulating citizenship procedures has never been enacted, the constitution itself provides that all Germans enjoy the same rights as Bavarian citizens, and no office issues certificates concerning a "Bavarian" citizenship. Thus, the notion of citizenship rather bears a folkloristic, but not really political meaning.

    However, many of those born in Bavarian clearly divide between born Bavarians and people that only moved to Bavaria. The nickname for all those who came to Bavaria is "Zuagroaste" ("those who have traveled here").

    Many people in the northern part of Bavaria see themselves as Franconians and do therefore not like to be called "Bavarians". They have a separate dialect and don't wear traditional Bavarian clothing.

    German-Bavarian relations It is a common joke in Germany that Bavaria is not part of Germany. In fact a minority seriously agrees with this notion; the Bavaria Party (Bavaria Party) advocates Bavarian independence from Germany. It is important to note that Bavaria was the only state to reject the West German constitution in 1949. However this has had no consequences on its implementation. Furthermore, many NGOs (non-governmental organizations) have a German and a dedicated Bavarian branch. For example the Red Cross: BRK (Bayerisches Rotes Kreuz) in Bavaria and DRK (Deutsches Rotes Kreuz) in the rest of Germany. The main disintegrated factor might seem to be the fact that Bavaria has its very own political party representing the free state in the Bundestag. However, this party always cooperates with CDU (Christian Democratic Union (Germany)), forming factions and building up the government with it. Thus, the existence of a dedicated party is not necessarily a disintegrating factor and is rather seen as a sign for political diversity in Germany. Bavaria fielded a border police force, much like the Federal German Grenzschutz, during the Cold War.

    Population and area {| class="wikitable"|- bgcolor=lightgrey! | Administrative Region! colspan="2" | Population (2005)! colspan="2" | Area (km²)! colspan="2" | No. municipalities|-| Lower Bavaria| align="right" | 1,341,481| align="right" | 10.8%| align="right" | 8,531| align="right" | 12.1%| align="right" | 308| align="right" | 15.0%|-| [Upper Franconia| align="right" | 1,712,275| align="right" | 13.7%| align="right" | 7,245| align="right" | 10.3%| align="right" | 210| align="right" | 10.2%|-| [Upper Palatinate| align="right" | 1,788,919| align="right" | 14.3%| align="right" | 9,992| align="right" | 14.2%| align="right" | 340| align="right" | 16.5%|-| [Upper Bavaria| align="right" | 4,238,195| align="right" | 33.8%| align="right" | 17,530| align="right" | 24.8%| align="right" | 500| align="right" | 24.3%|-|- bgcolor=lightgrey! Total! align="right" | 12,468,726! align="right" | 100.0%! align="right" | 70,549! align="right" | 100.0%! align="right" | 2,056! align="right" | 100.0%|}

    See also List of rulers of Bavaria List of Premiers of Bavaria Former countries in Europe after 1815 Extensive pictures of Bavaria in addition to those shown below are linked from in :Category:Bavaria, where they are organized (predominantly) by locale.

    External links
    • http://www.bayern.de official website
    • Bavarian Traditions and Customs


    References

    Bavaria - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    Bavaria (German: Freistaat Bayern   (help · info), with an area of 70,553 km² (27,241 square miles) and almost 12.5 million inhabitants, lies in the southeast of Germany and is ...

    Plain Sailing : Bavaria
    Plain Sailing, Round, Britain Experience, Brixham, Devon, UK, Yacht, Boat, Charter, Training, RYA, Bavaria, Brokerage, New, Used, Sail, Motor, Bavaria 31 cruiser, Bavaria 34 ...

    Plain Sailing : Bavaria Range
    Plain Sailing, Round, Britain Experience, Brixham, Devon, UK, Yacht, Boat, Charter, Training, RYA, Bavaria, Brokerage, New, Used, Sail, Motor, Bavaria 31 cruiser, Bavaria 34 ...

    BAVARIA
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    Welcome to the Bavaria Owners Association
    Official UK owners association site. Offers event calendar, membership information and application. Members-only section includes race and rally information, news, forum, store ...

    Bavaria Yachts - Broker Yacht Sales - Total Sailing - Brig, Legend
    Bavaria Yachts - Yacht Broker, Yacht Sales, Windermere, Sailing boat sales, Brokerage, New and Used, on Windermere, Bavaria, Legend, Brig

    Holiday apartments in Bavaria, Germany
    Self catering apartments in Bavaria for a holiday apartment in Germany. Rental accommodation privately owned

    BAVARIA YACHTS CANADA and USA (West Coast)
    Fabrication and sales of vessels from 32 to 50 feet. Listings include boat specifications, an equipment section, and company history. Production boats are Lloyd's Register LRQA ...

    Holiday rentals in Bavaria, Germany
    Best choice of self catering Holiday rentals in Bavaria. Book direct with the owner on the largest and most trusted site for great value in Eastern Bavaria & Upper Bavaria.

    Invest in Bavaria | State of Bavaria - United States Office for ...
    State Of Bavaria, Germany - The United States Office For Economic Development, Bavarian Ministry for Economic Affairs, Transport and Technology, provides American corporations with ...

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    Bavaria



     
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