Munich tourist information

The palaces, royal avenues and theatres

The Alte Hof, a medieval castle and first residence of the Wittelsbach dukes in Munich still exists in the inner city close to Marienplatz. The Renaissance Mint Yard with its neoclassical façade is situated between the old castle and the Residenz.

The large Residenz palace complex (begun in 1385) on the edge of Munich's Old Town ranks among Europe's most significant museums of interior decoration. Having undergone several extensions, it contains also the treasury and the splendid rococo Cuvilliés Theatre. Many operas were staged here, including the premiere of Mozart's "Idomeneo" in 1781.

Munich is home to a neo-classical opera house of international renown, the Nationaltheater where several of Richard Wagner's operas had their premieres under the patronage of Ludwig II of Bavaria. Today it is the home of the Bavarian State Opera and the Bavarian State Orchestra. Next door the modern Residenz Theatre was erected in the building that had housed the Cuvilliés Theatre before World War II. The Gärtnerplatz Theatre is a ballet and musical state theatre on the left bank of the Isar in the south of the inner city. The modern Gasteig center on the opposite bank houses the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. The third orchestra in Munich with international importance is the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Close to the Gasteig on the bank of the Isar is the Volksbad, a large public bath built in the art nouveau style.

The most remarkable churches

The Peterskirche close to Marienplatz is the oldest church of the inner city. It was first built during the romanesque period, and was the focus of the early monastic settlement in Munich before the city's official foundation in 1158. Nearby the gothic hall-church Heiliggeistkirche (The Church of the Holy Ghost) was converted to baroque style from 1724 onwards and looks down upon the Viktualienmarkt, the most popular market of Munich.

The Deutsches Museum, located on an island in the Isar, is one of the oldest and largest science museums in the world. Three redundant exhibition buildings which are under a protection order were converted to house the Verkehrsmuseum, which houses the land transport collections of the Deutsches Museum. Several still not centralised museums show the expanded state collections of palaeontology, geology, mineralogy, zoology, botany and anthropology.

The city has several important art galleries, most of which can be found in the Kunstareal, including the Alte Pinakothek, the Neue Pinakothek, and the Pinakothek der Moderne.

Munich features a wide and diverse array of modern architecture, although strict height limitations for buildings have limited the construction of skyscrapers. Most high-rise buildings are clustered at the northern edge of Munich, like the Hypohaus, the Arabella High-Rise Building, the Highlight Towers, Uptown Munich and the BMW Headquarters next to the Olympic Park. Several other high-rise buildings are located near the city center and on the Siemens campus in southern Munich.

Munich is a green city with numerous parks. The Englischer Garten, close to the city centre and covering an area of 3.7 km², is one of the world's largest urban public parks, and contains a nudist area, jogging tracks and bridle-paths. Other large green spaces are the modern Olympic Park, and the parks of Nymphenburg Palace (with the Botanical Garden to the north), and Schleissheim Palace. The city's oldest park is the Hofgarten, near the Residenz, and dating back to the 16th century. Most known for the largest beergarden in the town is the former royal Hirschgarten, founded in 1780 for deers which still live there. The city's zoo is the Tierpark Hellabrunn near the Flaucher Island in the Isar in the south of the city.

The Hofbräuhaus am Platzl is arguably the most well-known beer hall, located in the city center. It also operates the second largest tent at the Oktoberfest, perhaps Munich's most famous attraction. A 2-week-long fair, it offers a wide selection of rollercoasters and several large beer tents ("Bierzelte"). The Oktoberfest was first held on October 12, 1810 in honor of the marriage of crown prince Ludwig to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. The festivities were closed with a horse race and in the following years the horse races were continued and later developed into what is now known as the Oktoberfest. Despite its name, most of Oktoberfest occurs in September. It always finishes on the first Sunday in October unless the German national holiday on 3 October ("Tag der deutschen Einheit" - Day of German Unity) is a Monday or Tuesday - then the Oktoberfest still opens for these days.

Culinary specialities
The Weißwürste ('white sausages'), traditionally eaten only in the morning, often served with sweet mustard and freshly baked pretzels are a speciality from Munich as well as Leberkäs, Bavarian grilled Sausage Loaf often served with Potato Salad.

The most famous soup might be the Leberknödel Soup. Leberknödel is a bread dumpling seasoned with liver and onions.

Schweinebraten (pot roasted pork) with Knödel (dumplings made from potatoes or white bread) and Kraut (cabbage) and Schweinshaxn (knuckle of pork) are served as lunch or dinner.

Popular as dessert is the traditional Bavarian Apple Strudel with Vanilla Sauce or Auszogene, a fried pastry shaped like a large donut.

These specialities are often served in the beergardens: Obatzda is a Bavarian Cheese Specialty, a savoury blend of smashed camembert with brie prepared with cream cheese, butter and onions or spicy paprika. It's often served in the beergardens as well as Radi (radish), white radish cut in slin slices and salted, and Münchner Wurstsalat, Munich' s famous Sausage Salad with thinly sliced Knackwurst marinated in vinegar and oil with onions on a bed of lettuce and sliced Swiss cheese. A Steckerlfisch is a local fish like trout or whitefish speared on a wooden stick, grilled and smoked on charcoal, the typical feature is the crispy skin. Another classic is A Hoibs Hendl (half a grilled chicken). A Mass is a litre of blond beer, a Radler consists of beer and half of lemonade.

Munich is famous for its breweries and the Weizenbier (wheat beer) is a speciality from Bavaria. Helles with its translucent gold colour is the most popular Munich beer today, although it’s not very old (only introduced in 1895). Helles and Pils have almost ousted the Munich Dark Beer, which gets its dark colour from burnt malt, the most popular beer in Munich within the 19th century. Starkbier is the strongest Munich beers, containing 6-9 percent alcohol. It is dark amber and has a heavy malty taste. It is most popular during the Lenten Starkbierzeit (strong beer time), which begins on or before St. Joseph’s Day (March 19th).

The city was founded in 1158 by the Welf Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, next to a settlement of Benedictine monks, called Munichen (Latin Monacum, Monachium). The monks' presence dated back to the 8th century, although settlement in the Munich area can be traced back to Roman times. The village then grew around St. Peter's church, next to the bridge that Henry built over the river Isar. To force traders to use his bridge (and charge them for doing so) he destroyed a nearby bridge owned by bishop Otto von Freising (Freising). Subsequently the bishop and Henry quarreled about the city before Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa at an Imperial Diet held in Augsburg in 1158. This sanctioned Henry's spoliation, and awarded an annual compensation for the bishop, and also confirmed Munich's trading and currency rights.

Almost two decades later in 1175 Munich was officially granted city status and fortified. In 1180, with the trial of Henry the Lion, Otto I Wittelsbach became Duke of Bavaria and Munich was handed over to the bishop of Freising. Otto's heirs, the Wittelsbach dynasty would rule Bavaria until 1918. In 1240 Munich itself was transferred to Otto II Wittelsbach and in 1255, when the dukedom of Bavaria was split in two, Munich became the ducal residence of Upper Bavaria.

When Bavaria was reunited in 1506 Munich became capital of the whole of Bavaria. The arts and politics became increasingly influenced by the court. During the 16th century Munich was a center of the German counter reformation, and also of renaissance arts. Duke Wilhelm V commissioned the Jesuit Michaelskirche, which became a center for the counter-reformation, and also built the Hofbräuhaus for brewing brown beer in 1589.

In 1806, it became the capital of the new Kingdom of Bavaria, with the state's parliament (the Landtag) and the new archdiocese of Munich and Freising being located in the city. Twenty years later Landshut University was moved to Munich.

Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, life in Munich became very difficult, as the Allied blockade of Germany led to food and fuel shortages. During French air raids in 1916 three bombs fell on Munich. After World War I, the city was at the center of much political unrest. In November 1918 on the eve of revolution, Ludwig III and his family fled the city. After the murder of the first republican premier of Bavaria Kurt Eisner in February 1919 Communists took power establishing the Bavarian Soviet Republic (Münchner Räterepublik) and Vladimir Lenin, who had lived in Munich some years before, sent a congratulatory telegram. But the Soviet Republic was brutally put down on May 3, 1919 by the militarist Freikorps, many of whom were later drawn to Adolf Hitler and National Socialism.

In 1923 Hitler and his supporters, who at that time were concentrated in Munich, staged the Beer Hall Putsch, an attempt to overthrow the Weimar Republic and seize power. The revolt failed, resulting in Hitler's arrest and the temporary crippling of the Nazi Party, which was virtually unknown outside Munich.

Munich remained a center of cultural life during the Weimar period, as figures such as Lion Feuchtwanger, Bert Brecht and Oskar Maria Graf were active.

The city however would once again become a Nazi stronghold when they took power in Germany in 1933. Because of its importance to the rise of Nazism, the Nazis called it the Hauptstadt der Bewegung ("capital of the movement"). The NSDAP headquarters were in Munich and many Führerbauten ("Führer-buildings") were built around the Königsplatz, some of which have survived to this day.

After American occupation in 1945, Munich was completely rebuilt following a meticulous and - by comparison to other war-ravaged German cities - rather conservative plan which preserved its pre-war street grid.

In 1957 Munich's population passed the 1 million mark.

Munich was the site of the 1972 Summer Olympics, during which Israeli athletes were assassinated by Palestinian terrorists, when terrorist gunmen from the Palestinian "Black September" group took hostage members of the Israeli Olympic team. A rescue attempt by the West German government was unsuccessful and resulted in the deaths of the Israeli hostages, five of the terrorists, and one German police officer.

Several games of the 1974 World Cup were also held in the city, including the German triumph against the Netherlands in a legendary final.