Bavaria

The Free State of Bavaria (German: Bayern or Freistaat Bayern), with an area of 70,553 km² (27,241 square miles) and 12.4 million inhabitants, forms the southernmost of the 16 states of Germany. Its capital is Munich.

Miscellaneous

The many famous Bavarians include:

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• Pope Benedict XVI -- as of April 2005 he is the current Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. His baptismal name is Joseph Ratzinger.
• Painters such as Hans Holbein the Elder, Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach and Franz Marc
• Musicians such as Richard Wagner, Richard Strauss and Theobald Boehm, the inventor of the modern flute.
• Modern musicians like Klaus Doldinger and Barbara Dennerlein
• Widely-read Bavarian writers like Bertolt Brecht, Lion Feuchtwanger
• Well-known scientists such as the Nobel prize winner Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen and Werner Heisenberg,also Rudolf Moessbauer and Robert Huber
• Well-known inventors such as Levi Strauss and Rudolf Diesel.
• Neurologist Alois Alzheimer, who first described Alzheimer's Disease

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

Related Topics:
BMW - Audi - Grundig AG - Siemens AG

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A famous annual festival is called Oktoberfest or October Festival. It is the largest public beer festival in the world, celebrated since 1811 during the two weeks leading up to the first Sunday in October.

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Bavaria has also given its name to a major Dutch brewery, Bavaria Brewery.

Related Topics:
Dutch - Bavaria Brewery

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Bavarian "citizenship"

The fact that, different to the constitutions of all other German Länder, the Bavarian constitution provides for a 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

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• 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 to being "Bavarian". However, state legislation regulating citizenship procedures has never been enacted, the consitution 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, not really a political meaning.

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Population and area

District population(2003) area (km²) municipalities

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Lower Bavaria .... 1,162,972 9.6% 10,330 14.6% 258 12.5%

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Lower Franconia .. 1,329,399 11.0% 8,531 12.1% 308 15.0%

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Upper Franconia .. 1,113,790 9.2% 7,231 10.2% 214 10.4%

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Middle Franconia . 1,678,535 13.9% 7,246 10.3% 210 10.2%

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Upper Palatinate . 1,069,121 8.8% 9,690 13.7% 226 11.0%

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Swabia ........... 1,773,688 14.4% 9,992 14.2% 340 16.5%

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Upper Bavaria .... 3,996,043 33.1% 17,530 24.8% 500 24.3%

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