München, capital of Bavaria, on the Isar, in the Alpine foothills, with (2019) 1,5 million residents.
In addition to the university and the Technical University, Munich has numerous universities and museums (including the Deutsches Museum, Alte and Neue Pinakothek). As the seat of scientific research institutions (Max Planck Society, Fraunhofer Society), art academies, drama schools, state opera and state drama, Munich is one of the most important educational and cultural centers in Germany.
The city is an extremely important business location with a focus on the service sector (banks, insurance companies, high-tech companies, media industry). Several railway lines and motorways converge in Munich; a modern major airport is located in the Erdinger Moos.
The numerous sights include the late Gothic Frauenkirche, the towers of which are the city’s landmarks, the baroque Theatine Church, the Residenz (16th – 19th centuries) with the Antiquarium, Nymphenburg Palace (begun in 1663) with the Amalienburg (1734–39) and important ones classicist buildings (including the Propylaea). Popular excursion destinations are the English Garden and Hellabrunn Zoo. The congress and trade fair city holds a top position in tourism in Germany, also due to the annual Oktoberfest. In 1972 the Summer Olympics took place in Munich.
Munich, founded in 1157/58 by Heinrich the Lion as a market town, was the residence of the Wittelsbach family from 1255 to 1918.
Cityscape
The city suffered severe damage during World War II, and numerous historical buildings were restored after 1945. The Alte Hof (14th / 15th century), the first city residence of the Wittelsbach family, still has the character of a well-fortified city palace despite considerable structural changes in the 19th and 20th centuries. An extensive building complex was created with the residential buildings begun in 1560: The Antiquarium (1569–71) is the largest secular Renaissance building north of the Alps. Under Elector Maximilian I, the residence was expanded into a mighty palace complex (1601–19), and the court garden was laid out in 1613–17. A new construction period left the rococo rooms (1730–37, designed by F. de Cuvilliés the Elder, by J. B. Zimmermann i.a. executed), e.g. B. Reiche Zimmer, ancestral and green gallery, Altes Residenztheater (1750–53, museum) are created. Under King Ludwig I, L. von Klenze gave the residence its final appearance: Königsbau (1826–35), inside the treasury and Nibelung halls (frescoes by J. Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1827–67, part of the Residence Museum), Allerheiligenhofkirche (1826–37) and ballroom building (1832–42).
The center of the old town, next to the Residenz, is Marienplatz: it is dominated by the Gothic Old Town Hall (1470–80) with the “Lower Gate” and the New Town Hall (1867–1908 by G. J. Hauberrisser based on the Flemish Gothic) with its 80 m high Tower; Marian column (1638). The oldest parish church is Sankt Peter (13th / 14th century, redesigned in the 17th / 18th century in Baroque style) with rich furnishings from late Gothic to classicism. The town’s landmark, the late Gothic Frauenkirche (restored 1468–88, 1989–93), is the largest hall church in southern Germany (109 m long); the distinctive “Welschen hoods” of the double tower facade were added in the Renaissance (1525).
In the former Augustinian Church (13th – 15th centuries, changed to Baroque style in 1618–21) the German Fishing and Hunting Museum. The former town clerk’s office, today Weinstadl (1551/52), is considered to be the most beautiful late Gothic house; the old coin (1563–67) is a major work of the South German Renaissance. The Jesuit Church of St. Michael (1583–97, choir and transept by F. Sustris), a mighty, barrel-vaulted wall pillar hall, introduced Mannerism in southern Germany; west of the Old Academy (1585–90). The first major building of the high baroque in Germany is the Theatinerkirche Sankt Kajetan (1663–75, completed by A. Barelli and E. Zuccalli, drum dome 1688). The Citizens’ Hall (Guardian Angel Group, 1763, by I. Günther) was built for the Marian Congregation in 1709/10 by G. A. Viscardi, who also consecrated the Trinity Church (1711 ff., 1718). The brothers C. D. and E. Q. Asam worked in the Gothic Church of the Holy Spirit on Viktualienmarkt (completed in 1392, redesigned in Baroque style in 1723–27), in the women’s collegiate church of St. Anna (1732–35; the adjoining monastery building early Classicist 1784/85), in the Sankt-Anna-Klosterkirche » im Lehel ”(1727–30, by J. M. Fischer) and in the Johann Nepomuk Church (“ Asam Church ”, 1733–46, rare example of a private church building by bourgeois artists) including the Asam house and created excellent Rococo stucco work. The Palais Porcia (1693, by Zuccalli) is one of the richest palaces of the Bavarian Rococo, Redesigned in 1737 by Cuvilliés the Elder), the Palais Preysing (1723–28, by J. Effner, grand staircase with stucco by J. B. Zimmermann) and the Palais Holnstein (now Archbishop’s Palace, 1733–37, by Cuvilliés the Elder). The English Garden with numerous buildings (Chinese Tower 1789/90, Rumfordhaus 1791, Monopteros 1833–35) is one of the earliest landscape gardens in Germany.
Four streets were expanded into boulevards in the 19th century: Brienner Straße with Karolinen-, Wittelsbacher- and Königsplatz, the latter with the Glyptothek (1816–30, von Klenze), the Staatliche Antikensammlung (1838–48, von G. F. Ziebland) and the Propylaea (1846–62, from Klenze); Ludwigstrasse (1817–27 by Klenze, 1828–50 by F. von Gärtner) with buildings in the style of the Italian Renaissance, in the south Feldherrnhalle (1841–44), then Odeonsplatz with KlenzesLeuchtenbergpalais (1816–21), in a neo-renaissance style reinterpreted in neo-classical style, furthermore Ministry of War (1827–30), State Library (1832–43), Ludwigskirche (1829–44), University (1835–40) and Siegestor (1843–50) in the north; Maximilianstrasse (1853–75), starting from the National Theater (1811–18, rebuilt after the fire of Klenze in 1823–25) and from the former Palais Törring (1747–58, converted by Klenze into the main post office in 1836–39), with a theater (1900 / 01, by Max Littmann, * 1862, † 1931, and R. Riemerschmid), Government of Upper Bavaria (1856–64), Museum Five Continents (1858–65) and Maximilianeum (1857–74) as the upper degree; Prinzregentenstrasse (begun in 1891), beginning at the neoclassical Prinz-Karl-Palais (1803–11), with the Haus der Kunst (1933–37, by P. L. Troost; renovated and modernized 1991–94), the splendid historic building of the Bavarian National Museum (1894–1900), Schack-Galerie (1907–09), Villa Stuck (1897–98, based on designs by the painter F. von Stuck, studio wing 1914, Art Nouveau Museum), Prinzregententheater (1900/01). Post office on Goetheplatz (1931–32, by Robert Vorhoelzer, * 1884, † 1954); the Theater am Gärtnerplatz (1864/65) was created as a scaled-down replica of the National Theater; Rondelle development on Karlsplatz from G. von Seidl (1899-1902); the Palace of Justice on Lenbachplatz (1887–97, by F. von Thiersch) is a work of late historicism (neo-baroque); Church of the Redeemer (Ungererstraße) by T. Fischer (1902).
The architecturally most important buildings of the time after the Second World War include: the reconstruction of the Maxburg on Pacellistraße (1956–57, by S. Ruf); Plant and sports facilities for the 1972 Olympic Games by G. Behnisch (1967–72, with F. Otto); the BMW administration building (1970–73, by Karl Schwanzer); the Neue Pinakothek (1973–81, by A. von Branca); the Hypobank building at Arabellapark (1975–81, by Walter and Bea Betz); the “Kunstbau” of the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus in the Königsplatz underground station (opened in 1994, by Uwe Kiessler); the new administration building of the Max Planck Society (1997–99, from Rudolf Graf, Michael Streib, Angelika Popp); the new building for the Münchner Kammerspiele (opened in 2001, by G. Peichl); numerous passages (including Kaufinger Tor, opened in 1994, by Heinz Hilmer and Christoph Sattler); as generous, modern museum building designed Pinakothek der Moderne (1996-2002, by S. Braunfels) and the architectural firm Coop Himmelb (l) au, the extension of the Academy of Fine Arts (2002-05) and the BMW World (adventure and Delivery center), 2004-07.
As a masterpiece of modern sacred architecture and part of the new Jewish Community Center on Sankt-Jakobs-Platz, the new main synagogue was inaugurated on November 9, 2006 (the previous building in the vicinity of the Frauenkirche was demolished in 1938 on the orders of A. Hitler); the opening of the parish hall and the Jewish Museum took place in 2007. In Munich-Fröttmaning, the »Allianz Arena« (2002–05), an architecturally remarkable stadium, was built by Herzog & de Meuron with a capacity of 66,000 spectators. The Brandhorst Museum (2009; architects Sauerbruch Hutton) in the Munich art area also attracted attention. In 2010, the 84m high office tower Skyline Tower (by Helmut Jahn) was completed in Schwabing.
The districts of Blutenburg (castle completed in 1439, church in 1488), Untermenzing (Martinskirche 1499) and Pipping (Wolfgangskirche 1478–80 with complete furnishings) offer late Gothic buildings. Sankt Michael in Berg am Laim is one of the most important late baroque church buildings (1739–42, by J. M. Fischer, stucco and frescoes by J. B. Zimmermann, altars by J. B. Straub). In the Georgskirche in Bogenhausen (late Gothic choir, otherwise new building 1766–68) high altar by Strauband pulpit by I. Günther (1733). Near Sankt Maria in Thalkirchen, a baroque-style building around 1400, the Asam-Schlösschen (1729/30 with a painted facade). Ramersdorf has one of the oldest Marian pilgrimage churches in old Bavaria (the new building from the 15th century was redesigned in Baroque style in 1675). A hunting lodge by J. Effner (1715–17) in Fürstenried. To the west of the city, Nymphenburg Palace.
