Welcome to the Hotel Atrium garni
We are glad to have you with us as our guest.
The following pages are meant to give you a survey of our services.
For further questions and information, please contact the front desk any time.
If there is anything in our hotel not up to your expectations, please tell us immediately, so that we have the chance to react and make amendments.
It is our greatest concern that you leave this house a fully satisfied guest.
One more request:
You would do us a great favor, if you took the time to fill out our questionnaire.
Your criticism, your suggestions and of course especially your compliments are very important to us.
Please insert the questionnaire in the slot marked questionnaire below the information board near the entrance.
Thank you very much and enjoy your stay!
Floorplan Mainfloor
The groundfloor of the hotel symbolizes the topography of Passau. The following pages are meant to help you find your way around the hotel, but also to tell you a few things worth knowing about our city, its districts, sights and the three rivers.
Danube, Inn and Ilz
(walk ways, Aquarium)
The Danube is 2857 km/1775 miles long, second only to the Wolga in Europe and the only one that runs from the west to the east; from the Black Forest to the Black Sea. The name is derived from the Roman river god Danubius, and for a long time it was the border to the pagan north. It is one of the oldest and most important european channels of trade and it passes 10 different countries.
In 1829,the „Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaft“ (literally translated: Danube steam shipping company) was founded, thereby most probably creating the longest German word ever.
The Inn originates in the Alps, in the Swiss Engadin. The word is celtic, „Ine“ meaning „the flowing one“. Although it is wider and carries more water at its debouchure than the Danube, the river is nonetheless called Danube further on as it has already covered a longer distance than the Inn, which is „only“ 517km/321 miles long.
The Ilz is a small river, only 65 km/40 miles long. It has its source in the Bavarian-Bohemian borderland and meanders through the Bavarian Forest to Passau. It is one of the very few remaining free-running rivers in Germany with many rare types of plants and animals.
In 2002/2003 it was therefore opted German „river landscape of the year“.
Ortspitze (Dreiflüsseeck)
(Bistro-Restaurant)
This is the conjunction point of the three rivers Danube, Inn and Ilz, the different colouring clearly to be seen. According to the famous folk song „Kufsteinlied“, the Inn is green, but in fact it is mostly greyish. Johann Strauss jr.'s „beautiful blue Danube“ is more of a brownish shade and the Ilz, which contains a lot of moor, is black.
Old Town (room wing)
The old town is situated on a narrow peninsula between Inn and Danube.
The cathedral is on a little hill, narrow crooked alleys and steep stair cases leading down to the rivers. The Stephansdom with the world's biggest cathedral organ (built in 1928, 1774 organ pipes and 233 registers) is the largest baroque cathedral north of the Alps. Its origin goes back to a church from 450 A.D. In the great fire of 1662, the gothic cathedral was almost completely destroyed, along with the largest part of town. The Italian master builders Carlone and Lurago rebuilt it in baroque style and gave a southern touch to the Old town. That's why Passau is sometimes called the „Bavarian Venice“.
The houses along the Innpromenade, which is beautiful to take a stroll on, are typical examples. Here you also find the Schaiblingsturm, a round bastion tower built in the 13th century to protect the salt harbour. In the center of the Old Town is the Residenzplatz surrounded by patrician houses and the New Bishop's Residence. Inside the Residenz you may visit the cathedral treasury- and-diocesan museum.
In the middle of the place is the Wittels- bacher brunnen (fountain). Down by the Danube you see the Rathaus (town hall) built in the 14th century; the 68m/223ft high bell tower was added in the 18th century.
Niederhaus and Oberhaus
Across the Danube, on top of the St.Georgsberg, rises the Veste Oberhaus, once one of the mightiest and hugest castles in Europe. Built in 1219, it was primarily designed for controlling the trade on the rivers, but it soon became more of a stronghold for the prince-bishops where they could flee to from their city residence via a tunnel underneath the Danube whenever the citizens became rebellious. Napoleon used it as a bulwark against the Austrians; from 1822 to 1918 it was a dreaded military prison. Today it houses the museum of local history.
Underneath the fortress connected by battlement, sits the Veste Niederhaus between Danube and Ilz.
Built in the 14th/15th century, it is now privately owned.
Ilzstadt
(Breakfast room/Restaurant)
The Ilzstadt vis-a-vis the Altstadt has lost a lot of its historical substance when a whole row of houses was torn down to improve the fortifications against floods in the postwar period. Originally, this was a picturesque fishermen settlement and a restocking point for the salt trade to Bohemia.
Perlfischerbar
Commercial pearl-fishing started in the 15th century. Only princes and bishops had the sovereign right to do so, because the pearls were of high quality and very precious. Theft was severely punished (from cutting off one's hand to hanging).
Today the river mussel is almost extinct.
Bschütt
(kitchen)
The first public swimming bath „Bschütt“ was opened in 1922, until the mid 30s there were two separate basins for men and women, divided by a wooden wall.
The bikini was forbidden until 1971. In 1999 the bath was closed and a new water park was opened in Kohlbruck. Now it is an area for recreational activities like streetball, tabletennis, soccer a.s.o.
Grubweg
(Breakfast Room)
The „Grubweg“ (today „Alte Strasse“ = „old road“) which this settlement was named after, was an important trade way for centuries. Till World War II, Grubweg was a rural community.
Industrialisation began in 1943 when a branch of the Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen was built. Today, the ZF is the biggest employer in Passau with ca. 4000 employees.
This was one of the reasons why people in Grubweg were against being incorporated in 1972.
Hacklberg
(room wing)
Our hotel is located in this part of town. Beer is beeing brewed here since 1619 on the former prince-episcopal castle premises. The Hacklberger Brauerei - whose beer we serve right here - is the largest of the breweries we have in Passau today.
It is owned by the catholic church.
Innstadt
(room wing)
Across the Inn, the pilgrimage church Mariahilf (built 1624-27) rises on a hill above the Innstadt. A covered staircase leads up to it, and pilgrims should stop on every one of the 321 steps to pray. Other sights are the Severinstor (gate) and remnants of a city wall, the Roman museum with the excavation site of the Roman camp Bojotro and the Severins- kirche (church).
In the 5th century, St.Severin founded the first christian community here.
Mühltal-Lounge
(you find newspapers and magazines here)
On the banks of the Mühlbach (creek) there once stood 7 mills, but none of them remained. Only the branching offs of the creek still indicate their former locations.