Donauwörth (redirected from Donauwoerth)

Donauwörth (dō`nouvört), town (1994 pop. 17,690), Bavaria, SW Germany, a port at the confluence of the Donau (Danube) and Wörnitz rivers. Its manufactures include machinery, airplanes, lace, and dolls. Historically a Swabian town, Donauwörth became (mid-13th cent.) the seat of the dukes of Upper Bavaria. It was made (14th cent.) an imperial city and adopted the Reformation in 1555. The efforts of Maximilian I of Bavaria to reestablish (1607) Catholicism in the city led to the formation of the Protestant Union and, in part, to the Thirty Years War. Donauwörth passed to Bavaria in 1714. It has a Gothic church (15th cent.), a baroque church (18th cent.), a picturesque 14th-century town hall (restored 1853), and the large Fugger house (1537–39).