Freising is celebrating - celebrate with us!

The city of Freising is celebrating a very special anniversary in 2024: the arrival of St Corbinian in Freising. The Prince-Bishop of Freising, Johann Franz Eckher von Kapfing und Liechteneck, decided on the year 724 - and had the Cathedral of St Mary redesigned by the brothers Cosmas Damian and Egid Quirin Asam as a "festive gift" in 1724. The anniversary was then celebrated again in 1824 and 1924.

This year, the city and the Archdiocese of Munich-Freising are celebrating the great Corbinian jubilee, which is both a diocesan and a city festival. Because there is another important aspect for the city: when Corbinian came here, Freising already existed. "1300 years of Corbinian in Freising" therefore also means "1300 years of Freising", which thus establishes its status as one of the oldest towns in Bavaria.

The jubilee year in honour of the wandering bishop was officially opened on 16 March 2024 with the unveiling of an art installation on Marienplatz, which refers to the arrival of Saint Corbinian 1300 years ago.

Corbinian's places of activity on the Domberg and Weihenstephaner Berg are now a natural part of the city. HHis reliquary in the Maximilian Chapel next to the crypt of Freising Cathedral can be visited daily. Freising commemorates this special person, Bishop Corbinian, and his significance for the church and the city with a wide range of events.

The varied programme of events for the "1300 years of Corbinian in Freising" celebrations was jointly organised by citizens, associations and institutions. The European idea - very much in the spirit of the city's patron saint - is also upheld with a programme of events organised by Freising's partner municipalities. Together they invite you to enjoy an entertaining cultural programme and an interesting exchange across borders.

The anniversary cultural programme is available at the tourist information office and can also be downloaded here as a PDF file (only available in German).

Bell greeting from all churches in the diocese

The Archdiocese of Munich and Freising is celebrating the anniversary year under the motto "Living faith" and provides information about the diocese's anniversary on a website at https://korbinian-in-freising.de (only available in German). Now, at the end of the feast year, the focus is on Korbinian's Week: the first event will be ‘Jugendkorbinian’ on Freising Cathedral Hill on 16 November. Another atmospheric event promises to be the candlelight procession on 22 November 2024 from St. George's Church on Marienplatz to Freising Cathedral.

The archdiocese will close the anniversary year on Sunday, 24 November 2024, with a bell salute at 7.30 pm as an acoustic commemoration in all churches of the diocese of Munich and Freising.

You can download the diocesan programme for the Korbinian Week here (only available in German).

Exhibitions, concerts, readings, guided tours, storytelling evenings, culinary and musical greetings from Freising's twin towns, a large parade and much more: the programme of events in the anniversary year was and is extensive and varied. More than 50 programme items were on the agenda. Companies are also contributing special products, for example the Weihenstephan state brewery has brewed an anniversary beer and Chocolaterie & Pâtisserie Muschler is creating Corbinian chocolates and cakes.

The Corbinian's guided tours offered by the tourist information centre can be found here (please note: only German guides):

- for individual guests
- for groups we offer the interesting guided tour "St. Korbinian in Freising".

Would you like to explore the most important places yourself? We have published the new city walk "In the footsteps of St Korbinian". The handy folding map takes you up the Domberg, through the city centre and up the Weihenstephaner Berg. Interesting and surprising facts about Bishop Korbinian accompany you on this circular route. You can obtain the folding map from the tourist information office or download it here (only available in German).

You can obtain the folding map from the tourist information office or download it here (German only).

The city has published a jubilee magazine for the big anniversary year ‘1300 years of Corbinian in Freising 2024’ (only available in German). It presents 84 richly illustrated pages of exciting (background) reports on the anniversary - including, for example, who this saint from Arpajon actually was. The Archdiocese of Munich and Freising is celebrating the jubilee year under the motto ‘Living faith’ and shows what significance this year can have for us today. Lord Mayor Tobias Eschenbacher and Cardinal Reinhard Marx have made themselves available for interesting interviews. The chapter on Freising's city partnerships throughout Europe is also worth reading.

A second part of the magazine deals with the present, the ‘renewed Freising’: the city centre, the Asam building and the city museum are the highlights that make Freising even more liveable and attractive. The parish church of St. George in the heart of the historic city centre is also being spruced up - another article provides exciting insights into this. And, of course, the exhibitions in and around the Diocesan Museum are also presented. Information on the city's cultural programme and the diocese's programme as well as other publications in the anniversary year round off the magazine. 

The anniversary magazine is available free of charge from the tourist information centre. You can download the magazine as a PDF file here (8.6 MB, only available in German). 

Various souvenirs, which we have available for you at the tourist information office, offer a lasting reminder of the Korbinian Year: from attractive paper bags to beer mats, valuable Korbinian coins to high-quality cotton bags and the anniversary pin. 

In honour of Corbinian, Sparkasse Freising Moosburg has had a commemorative coin minted with a historical image of the bishop in gold, silver and copper. You can obtain the medal at the Sparkasse office (Untere Hauptstraße 29) and at the Freising tourist information office - however, only the copper version is still available.

The Bavarian State Brewery Weihenstephan has brewed a tasty festival beer for the anniversary year in memory of Corbinian on Weihenstephan Hill. The anniversary beer comes into the glass as if freshly "wound" from the lager tank: naturally cloudy and wonderfully refreshing. The anniversary beer is available in the region in and around Freising in selected beverage markets until the end of 2024.

The Leitner family's Wachau winery still manages the former "Freisinger Hof" of the Prince-Bishop of Freising. The winegrower is offering two celebratory wines for the Corbinian Year: a white "Grüner Veltliner" and a red "Blauer Zweigelt", available at ‘Ploch Wein- u. Spirituosenfachhandel’, Weizengasse 18.

The city centre management association Aktive City offers a compilation of souvenirs for the city anniversary on its website - click here (German website).

The Freising Historical Society is republishing Bishop Arbeo's "Vita Corbiniani" for the feast year. The successor to Corbinian as Bishop of Freising wrote the life story of the saint around 768 and was still able to draw on stories from people who had known Corbinian personally. Arbeo described miracle legends such as the taming of the bear, but also Corbinian's very human traits: his outbursts of anger, his gruff demeanour, his enjoyment of noble horses and beautiful clothes. Bishop Arbeo of Freising marks the beginning of historiography in Bavaria and thus the history of literature in general. In his "vita sancti Corbiniani", he describes the life and work of St Corbinian, the patron saint of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising.

These notes, first published in 1983, were out of print - the Historical Society had the book reprinted for the Korbinian anniversary. It can be ordered via info＠historischer-verein-freising.de or in bookshops (ISBN 978-3-7954-3326-0) and is available at a price of 30 euros.

The "Vita Corbiniani" has also been published as an audio book. The audio version is available on the website of the Historical Society at https://historischer-verein-freising.de/vita-corbiniani. The audio version can be ordered as a booklet with two CDs for 10 euros at info＠historischer-verein-freising.de and is also available in bookshops (ISBN 978-3-9824008-1-5).