St. Matthäus

St. Matthäus stands in Passau as the city’s first Protestant church, built in the Neogothic style. Friedrich Bürklein designed the three-aisled hall church between 1853 and 1859. A needle-shaped north tower rises above the entrance, flanked by pointed pinnacles decorated with granite flowers.

Six bays and three-sided galleries shape the interior, whose steel construction recalls nineteenth-century industrial architecture. The foundation stone was laid in 1856, and the church became the main parish church for Passau’s Evangelical Lutheran community. Andreas Rutz helped advance the project after founding an evangelical school, while Franz Christoph Wilhelm Bauer led its realization as vicar. The restoration completed in 2017 preserved a setting that serves worship, concerts, education, and community activities.

Inside, a large Christ figure by Karlheinz Hoffmann hangs lower in the sanctuary beside a prayer stone from 2017. A memorial plaque recalls Leonhard Kaiser, the theologian and reformer executed in Schärding in 1527. The adjacent Evangelical Center has housed administrative offices and modern event spaces since 2013. Five thousand members connect this historic church with choirs, Bible groups, youth work, language courses, social projects, and ecumenical meetings.