Ingolstadt: City History, Audi and Routes by the Water

Ingolstadt combines medieval city history with insights into automotive history and routes through parks and the Danube floodplains. You can discover historic models and special museum exhibits, encounter Marieluise Fleißer’s texts at locations around the city, or include the biotope trail in your plans for exercise in green surroundings. These diverse themes give your stay a distinctive focus – from culture to longer walking and cycling routes.

City History in Museums and Architecture

The Ingolstadt City Museum displays the Ingolstadt amber necklace, an amber find from the Bronze Age, and a city model from 1571 illustrating the late medieval city. The horse of Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus is also on display: it dates from the Thirty Years’ War and is presented as a trophy of victory. These three exhibits offer different ways of exploring the past – through a Bronze Age find, a model of the city and a historic object from a war.

Ingolstadt’s city walls are also an important part of the city’s history: the expanded walls encompassed more than 80 towers in total. This gave rise to the nickname “The City of a Hundred Towers,” in Latin ad centum turres. The New Castle, also known as the Neue Veste, is considered a forerunner of modern castle architecture in Germany. It is located at Paradeplatz 4, in the southeast of Ingolstadt’s Old Town. Those interested in architecture can connect the castle’s historical significance with its specific location in the city.

Literature, Audi and Outdoor Activities

The Marieluise Fleißer House is dedicated to the writer’s life and work. The museum is housed in a carefully restored late medieval town house with a former smithy. Another way to discover Fleißer’s texts is the Marieluise Fleißer walk, which connects historic locations with texts that can be read aloud at each location or read on a display. The digital presentation may change.

At the Audi museum mobile, more than 100 cars and bicycles, along with multimedia presentations, illustrate Audi’s history and long tradition. If you are more interested in current production than the brand’s history, Audi factory tours offer insights into modern automotive manufacturing at the company’s Ingolstadt site. The museum and factory tour have different focuses; check the latest information about each visit before making plans.

The biotope trail offers another perspective on Ingolstadt. This approximately eleven-kilometre walking and cycling route passes through Klenzepark, Luitpoldpark, the western Danube floodplains and the Glacis grounds. Eighteen information panels describe important biotope types in the city. The route thus combines a longer outing with information about nature in the city. As the city may update route details, it is a good idea to check the latest description before setting out.

The first section starts at Rathausplatz and leads through Klenzepark and Luitpoldpark and along the Danube. It returns to Rathausplatz via the Glacis Bridge and Künettegraben. A second section follows the Danube to the Ingolstadt weir, then continues past Fohlenweide and the Moosgärten allotment gardens, by the Westfriedhof cemetery and back to the starting point via Künettegraben. The described sections offer practical guidance if you would like to include a walk or cycle ride in your plans.

More Highlights in the Wider Ingolstadt Destination

The wider Ingolstadt destination includes other notable cultural and city-history highlights. The Asam Church of Maria de Victoria was built in 1732/36 as a prayer hall for the Marian Congregation. The church houses a ceiling painting by Cosmas Damian Asam measuring 42 by 16 metres; the Lepanto Monstrance is displayed in the sacristy. The Cross Gate is a landmark of Ingolstadt dating from the second half of the 14th century. It was one of four major gates built during the medieval expansion of the city.

Also within the wider destination, south of the historic Old Town, is the German Museum of the History of Medicine. Its permanent exhibition tells the story of 18th-century medicine. The museum also has a baroque medicinal herb garden, inviting visitors to look around, learn and stroll. Klenzepark is described there as a landscaped public park on the south bank of the Danube; a bridge reserved for pedestrians and cyclists connects it to the Old Town.

When looking for a holiday apartment in Ingolstadt, it helps to first decide what you would like to focus on: will your stay centre mainly on city history and museums, Fleißer’s texts at historic locations, or longer sections of the biotope trail? The answer makes it easier to match your interests to the location of your accommodation without combining the different experiences into a single route.

For the overview of the wider destination: Ingolstadt.