Vilshofen - St.Johannes der Täufer

Vilshofen is located at the confluence of the Vils river with the Danube. The settlement belonged to the bishopric of Passau. The Count of Ortenburg held Vilshofen as a fief. Already in 1220, a bridge existed ver the Vils. After a dispute with the House of Ortenburg Duke Otto II of Bavaria took possession of the city in 1241.
Emperor Ludwig of Bavaria confirmed the town charter in 1345. In 1572, Duke Wilhelm V of Bavaria approved the construction of a salt depot, which in the same year resulted in the construction of the first Danube bridge and the establishment of a wheat beer brewery.
The “Goldene Steig” salt trade route from Vilshofen to Bohemia and Prague started here.

In 1794 a fire destroyed almost the entire city, only a few houses in the town square remained unscathed. Most of today´s buildings date to the reconstruction at that time.

That fire had severely damaged the church, that had been a collegial church. After the collegiate was secularized in 1803, the rebuilding started. The walls and the late Gothic side chapels were preserved, the central columns were removed. On the orders of Elector Maximilian IV Joseph, the baroque furnishings from the secularized St. Nikola monastery in Passau was transferred to St. Johannes der Täufer in Vilshofen.