LANDSHUTER HOCHZEIT 1475 - Intro

Film by Ehab Aziz

Countless visitors from all over the world have experienced the “Landshuter Hochzeit 1475”, a historical pageant that is among the greatest in Europe. More than 2000 participants in mediaeval costumes bring to life a festival in all the splendour of the Late Middle Ages - the wedding between Hedwig, the Polish King‘s daughter, and Georg, the Duke of Landshut‘s son.

In 1474 ambassadors had been sent to Radom in Poland to negotiate the marriage. In the autumn of 1475 the 18-year-old bride departed from Kraków with a large escort and arrived at Landshut after a two-month journey. Princes and bishops welcomed the bride, and the Elector of Brandenburg referred to the union as a divine ordinance „for the benefit of Christendom and the Empire“.

In the majestic St. Martin‘s Church the Archbishop of Salzburg conducted the ceremony.

The bridal procession then moved through the spacious main street (Altstadt) and from the hill the castle ‚worthy of a king‘ greeted them just as it does today. From the windows of the houses the ladies watched the knights jousting. In the Town Hall the Emperor led the first dance with the bride and ten thousand guests caroused, played and danced.

Around the year 1880 artists from Munich painted scenes from the „Landshuter Hochzeit 1475“ in the State Room of the Landshut Town Hall. These wall paintings aroused in some townsmen the desire to revive the procession of princes, bishops, musicians, bride and bridegroom.  In 1902 they founded the association ‚Die Förderer‘ and held their first bridal procession in 1903.