DEUTSCHLAND	GERMANY
Bundesland: Freistaat Bayern	Bavaria
Regierungsbezirk: Oberbayern
Landkreis: Pfaffenhofen

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Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm (official name: Pfaffenhofen a. d. Ilm) is situated at an elevation of 457 m at the river Ilm in central Bavaria in the centre of the Hallertau region, the world's largest contiguous hop growing area.

The earliest mention of Pfaffenhofen is found in a document of 1140. In 1197 it was mentioned as a market town, and in 1318 as an 'oppidum'. Pfaffenhofen was almost completey destroyed in 1388 during so-called 'War of Towns' ('Städtekrieg') between the Swabian towns and the Bavarian dukes. After its reconstruction it was fortified and by 1438 it had obtained the status of a town. During the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) the population of Pfaffenhofen was reduced by war and the Plague from about 1,800 to a mere 700, and it took about two centuries to regain the previous number of inhabitants.

The town grew more rapidly in the second half of the 19th century, especially after its connection to the railroad system in 1865/67. After World War II the population doubled from 4,000 to about 8,000 by the moving in of so many displaced persons. During the 1970's several of the surrounding villages were incorporated into the municipality of Pfaffenhofen. The present population of the municipality of Pfaffenhofen is about 23,000 (2004), 16,000 of these live in the central town.

The Catholic parish church of Sankt Johannes Baptist [background] was built in 1393 in Gothic style in place of the previous Romanesque church which had been destroyed by fire in 1388. The interior of the church was redecorated in Baroque style in 1670–1672. The church spire (77 m high) is Pfaffenhofen's popular landmark. The original spire, which had been completed in 1531, was destroyed in 1768 by fire caused by a stroke of lightning but was reconstructed already in the same year.