10 largest cities in Germany
Berlin
Hamburg
Munich
Cologne
Frankfurt am Main
Hanover
Dusseldorf
Leipzig
Bremen
Dresden
Location: Bavaria
Munich is the most populous city in Bavaria, the
third largest municipality in Germany and with 4788 inhabitants per
square kilometer the most densely populated municipality in Germany.
Administratively, Munich is an independent city. It forms the center
of the Munich metropolitan region (around 6.2 million inhabitants)
and the Munich planning region (2.93 million inhabitants).
Munich is one of the world cities and is considered a center of
culture, politics, science and media. It is the headquarters of
numerous corporations, including six DAX companies (Allianz, BMW,
Munich Re, Siemens, MTU and Siemens Energy). The only stock exchange
in Bavaria is located here. In the city ranking of the consulting
firm Mercer in 2018, Munich took third place out of 231 major cities
worldwide in terms of quality of life. According to Monocle
magazine, it was the most livable city in the world in 2018. On the
other hand, the residents' quality of life is increasingly
restricted by agglomeration disadvantages such as traffic and
environmental pollution. As a result of the very high home ownership
prices and real estate rents, the living space per inhabitant in
some districts is well below the national average. With 6,469 crimes
per 100,000 inhabitants in 2019, Munich is the safest municipality
among German cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants in terms of
the crime rate of all crimes.
Munich was first mentioned in a
document in 1158. In 1255 the city became the seat of a Bavarian
duke and was a royal residence from 1314 and an imperial residence
from 1328 to 1347. In 1506 Munich became the sole capital of
Bavaria. Today, the city is the seat of the Bavarian state
parliament, the Bavarian state government, the administrative seat
of the district of Munich surrounding the city with its district
office, as well as the Bavarian district of Upper Bavaria and the
administrative district of Upper Bavaria. Munich is the seat of some
federal authorities and courts, several state authorities and
international authorities. The city is the seat of important
universities and colleges, important museums and theaters. Due to a
large number of buildings worth seeing, including protected
monuments and ensembles, international sporting events, trade fairs
and congresses as well as the world-famous Oktoberfest, the city is
a magnet for international tourism.
Munich is divided into 25 city districts (not
districts), which also correspond to the administrative districts.
Most of these city districts (and their relatively arbitrary
administrative division) are initially relatively uninteresting for the
tourist. In their entirety, the districts Altstadt-Lehel (historical old
town, museums, shopping opportunities), Maxvorstadt (museum and
university district), Schwabing (popular nightlife and residential area,
English Garden) should primarily interest him. In addition,
Au-Haidhausen and the Ludwigsvorstadt-Isarvorstadt (commonly known as
the Glockenbachviertel/Gärtnerplatzviertel), in parts also Neuhausen,
are popular residential and nightlife areas. All other districts are
less worthwhile for an extended visit; nevertheless, individual tourist
destinations can be found there. The Hellabrunn Zoo in Harlaching, which
is well worth seeing, is in the immediate vicinity of the (renatured)
local recreation area of the Isar meadows (Flaucher). The Nymphenburg
Palace and the botanical garden are in Neuhausen-Nymphenburg. The
Olympic Park (1972 Summer Games) is part of the Milbertshofen-Am Hart
district.
Altstadt-Lehel
Ludwigsvorstadt-Isarvorstadt
Maxvorstadt
Schwabing West
Au Haidhausen
emissary
Sendling
West Park
Schwanthalerhöhe
Neuhausen-Nymphenburg
Moosach
Milbertshofen-Am Hart
Schwabing-Freimann
Bogenhausen
Berg am
Laim
Trudering strap
Ramersdorf-Perlach
Obergiesing
Untergiesing-Harlaching
Thalkirchen-Obersendling-Forstenried-Fürstenried-Solln
quarreling
Pasing-Obermenzing
Aubing-Lochhausen-Langwied
Allach-Untermenzing
Feldmoching-Hasenbergl
Laim
City founding
Henry the Lion
from the Frankish Welf family, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, cousin of the
incumbent Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa and at that time the most
powerful person in the Empire at the time, quarreled with Bishop Otto I
of Freising around 1155 in order to expand his influence in Bavaria .
Heinrich the lion established a new market with its own Isar bridge
further south to the bishop's crossing in Föhring (today near Sankt
Emmeramsmühle / Bogenhausen), where the salt transports were previously
dispatched. However, since the traders continued to use the Freisinger
bridge and also paid their fees there, legend has it that he quickly
destroyed the competing bridge.
The conflict was then ended by
Emperor Friedrich I. Barbarossa on June 14, 1158 in the so-called
"Augsburg Arbitration": Henry the Lion was allowed to use customs,
market and coins "at the monks" (his Isar crossing), the bishop had a
third of revenue to. Munich was born, the date of the divorce is now
considered the official founding day of the city. The monks can be found
in the coat of arms of Munich. Researchers are still debating which of
the old Bavarian monasteries the monks of Munich came from. The
Schäftlarn monastery is currently preferred over the monastery in
Tegernsee.
The founding of the city can be seen against the
background of the Upper Bavarian Salt Road, from 1158 the entire salt
trade was handled from Reichenhall and Hallein to southwest Germany and
Switzerland via Munich, the first day's rest after crossing the Inn from
Wasserburg and before the next stop, which at that time also passed
through Landsberg founded by Henry the Lion with its Lech crossing. The
customs revenue from the valuable salt was the basis for the boom in the
city of Munich.
A small chronicle of the history of Munich is
included in the article on the old town.
Art nouveau
Munich is
one of the major centers of Art Nouveau. The global art trend, also
called "Art Nouveau" in French and also "Art Nouveau" or "Modern Style"
in English, emerged at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries against
the social background of rapid industrialization with its cheap mass
production. Art Nouveau initially emanated from the artists and stood in
opposition to the dominating historicism (neo-gothic, neo-baroque) as it
was demanded by the spirit of the times and thus also by many patrons of
the arts.
Art Nouveau has its German name from a magazine that
has been published in Munich since 1896: "Jugend. Münchner Illustrated
Wochenschrift für Kunst und Leben". The editor was Georg Hirth (1841 -
1916), publisher of the then leading daily newspaper "Münchner Latest
News" in the publishing house at Sendlinger Str. 8, the publishing house
was merged into the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" after the Second World War.
Typical Art Nouveau stylistic devices are the decorative floral and
geometric ornaments, formed from curved lines, two-dimensional painting
and a stylization of the human figure. The art movement is considered to
be the last style that influenced all arts, from architecture to
furniture, posters, glass, pottery, textiles and book illustrations, it
ended at the latest with the beginning of the First World War.
Despite many losses in the Second World War and a subsequent
"modernization frenzy", in which many Art Nouveau objects were
demolished and destroyed as "kitsch", there are still numerous examples
of Art Nouveau to admire in Munich, some of which have been carefully
restored recently:
In the old town, the best-known examples of
Art Nouveau buildings are the Müllersche Volksbad and the Kammerspiele,
as well as other building facades. Another important Art Nouveau
building is the Prinzregententheater in Bogenhausen and the Deutsches
Theater in Ludwigsvorstadt.
Schwabing, as the place where artists and
bohemians lived, was one of the highlights of Munich Art Nouveau. There
are many recently restored town houses as examples of Art Nouveau
facades. The same applies to the districts of Nymphenburg, Bogenhausen
and Sendling.
By plane
Munich Airport "Franz Josef Strauss" (IATA: MUC) is the
second largest in Germany and is therefore served by flights from all
over the world. It has only one disadvantage: It is about 40km from the
city center. To get to Munich, we recommend the S-Bahn (MVV) with two
lines, both of which lead to the city center: The S8 runs through the
eastern parts of the city to the center (approx. 40 minutes). You should
take it if you z. B. wants to go to the new trade fair; the S1 runs via
the western parts of the city to the city center (approx. 50 minutes).
Alternatively, there is an express airport bus that runs directly to the
main train station (approx. 45 minutes) with just one stop in the north
of Munich. This is the fastest connection for the north of Munich when
there is no traffic jam on the Autobahn.
All major car rental
companies have offices at Munich Airport. Sixt (budget), Hertz, Avis and
Europacar are also located around the main train station.
Memmingen Airport (IATA: FMM), which low-cost airlines like Ryanair
refer to with expressions like "Munich-Memmingen" or "Munich West", is
actually 110km from Munich. A considerably longer arrival time is
therefore to be expected. It can be reached via a regular bus and the
A96.
By train
With 350,000 passengers a day, Munich Central
Station is behind the leader Hamburg and, together with Frankfurt
Central Station, the second busiest in Germany and is easy to reach from
all directions. The main train station is a terminal station in a
central location at the west end of the pedestrian zone. With 32
above-ground and 2 underground S-Bahn tracks (plus 6 more for the U-Bahn
that do not belong to DB), it has the most main tracks of any station in
Germany.
Numerous ICE, IC, EC and regional connections connect
Munich with the rest of Germany and Europe. From Munich there are direct
connections to Milan, Venice and Rimini via Innsbruck, to Prague via
Pilsen, to Budapest via Vienna, to Belgrade via Villach and Zagreb, to
Mannheim, to Essen via Frankfurt am Main and Cologne, to Berlin via
Nuremberg and Leipzig , to Hamburg via Würzburg, to Lindau and Passau.
The Starnberg station is a northern side wing of the station
concourse of the main station (platforms 27-36, on Arnulfstraße), the
occasionally used designation Holzkirchner Bahnhof refers to platforms
5-10 on the south side outside the concourse (on Bayerstraße).
The main station is served directly by the MVV with all S-Bahn lines, by
the underground lines U1, U2, U4, U5 and the booster lines U7 and (only
on Saturdays) U8 as well as by numerous tram and bus lines.
After
years of preliminary planning, construction work for the demolition and
new construction of the station, including a second underground S-Bahn
station, has been underway since 2019. The main building has already
been largely demolished, and large-scale diversions and shop closures in
the area of the main hall are to be expected until at least 2028.
However, there is still a wide range of dining options, especially in
the already modernized basement, as well as a supermarket that is also
open on Sundays and public holidays. A DB Travel Center and a DB Lounge
are also available, but these will be relocated from their usual
locations in the foreseeable future.
Munich Central Station,
Bahnhofplatz, 80335 Munich. Features: free WiFi, luggage storage, ticket
machine, ticket office, public toilet, lost property office.
For
more detailed information on the train connections and infrastructure,
see the Munich Central Station travel guide.
Other train stations
in Munich:
Munich's Ostbahnhof in the district of Haidhausen is
also served by long-distance traffic. All long-distance trains (railjet,
nightjet, EuroCity) towards Austria and Italy stop here.
The
Munich-Pasing train station is located in the west of Munich and is the
fourth largest train station in Bavaria. It is also served by many ICE
and IC trains that run in the direction of Augsburg and Stuttgart.
The three Munich railway stations are directly connected to each other
by the S-Bahn (almost all lines).
By bus
The central bus
station (ZOB) for Munich was reopened in September 2009 at Hackerbrücke.
In addition to various restaurants, the modern building also has
infrastructure such as banks, pharmacies, drugstores and other shops.
From the ZOB there are various international bus connections from
several travel companies to neighboring European cities, mainly in
Eastern Europe and sometimes with stopovers in other German cities. The
number of connections is currently being expanded. Examples of scheduled
bus services (timetable) are:
Berlin (via Leipzig), Paris, Belgrade,
Zagreb and Budapest have daily connections.
Barcelona, Madrid,
London, Budapest are approached several times a week.
Freiburg -
Friedrichshafen - Munich, (€36.50, MeinFernBus) since April 2012 the
first domestic German long-distance route.
ZOB (Munich central bus
station), Arnulfstraße 21 (near the main train station at Hackerbrücke).
Tel.: +49 89 4520 9890, e-mail: zob@muenchen-zob.de
Approach ZOB
with the MVV: all S-Bahn and tram lines 16/17, Hackerbrücke stop. The
central bus station can also be reached on foot from the main train
station via Arnulfstraße in about 10 minutes.
Other long-distance
bus terminals in Munich are the Fröttmaning bus terminal on the northern
outskirts of Munich in Fröttmaning with national and international
connections and the Messestadt-Ost bus terminal with regional
connections on the eastern outskirts of Munich in Riem an der Neue
Messe.
In the topic article long-distance buses in Germany there
is an overview of the long-distance bus line operators in Germany and
also further information on long-distance buses and long-distance bus
lines.
In the street
In Munich, environmental zones have been
set up in accordance with the Fine Dust Ordinance. If you don't have the
appropriate badge, you risk a fine of €100 when entering an
environmental zone. This also applies to foreign road users.
Entry
ban for vehicles of pollutant groups 1+2+3 (Info Federal Environment
Agency)
Since October 2012, access to the environmental zone,
which is the entire area within the Mittlerer Ring, has only been
permitted with a green sticker. This applies to all cars as well as
buses, mobile homes and trucks. The Mittlerer Ring itself is not part of
the environmental zone. For more information, including where the
particulate matter ticker is issued and how to obtain a sticker online,
see the environmental zone in Munich. The price for the sticker is
usually €5.
Traveling to Munich by car is possible from all
directions. The A8 (from/to Stuttgart, Ulm or from/to Salzburg), A9
(from/to Nuremberg), A92 (from/to Deggendorf), A94 (from/to Altötting),
A95 ( from/to Garmisch-Partenkirchen) and the A96 (from/to Lindau).
The A99 forms the Munich ring road, which is not completely closed,
however, as there is no connection between the A95 and the A8 in the
direction of Salzburg in the south-west of Munich. The middle ring
encloses the inner city area, the old town ring the center. Radial
streets lead into the city.
From Italy to Munich you can take two
different routes:
The first, via the Brenner Motorway, is an easy but
scenically somewhat monotonous route. The main costs, with the exception
of the Italian tollbooths, are the Europa del Brenner bridge and the
fixed toll ("vignette") of the Austrian motorways.
The second that
crosses the San Bernardino and is a very pleasant journey, beautiful
natural landscapes. In addition to the toll of the Austrian motorways,
the "vignette" for the Swiss must be added.
There are almost no
free parking spaces within the Mittlerer Ring. Parking garages in the
city center charge at least 3€ per hour. Since the introduction of the
parking license areas, however, paid parking spaces have been available,
at least in the residential areas. If you are arriving by car, it is
advisable to clarify parking options and prices with the hotel in
advance.
On foot
The city center between the main train station and
Isartorplatz can be easily explored on foot. In a few places, however,
you have to remember that there are also busy streets in the city center
where pedestrians do not have the right of way.
Transportation
The easiest way to explore the city is usually by public transport:
The MVV (Münchner Verkehrsverbund) maintains a dense and ramified
network of local public transport systems with a common fare system,
which means that the tickets purchased are valid for all means of local
transport. The means of transport run fairly punctually. In a
Europe-wide study of 23 major cities in 2010, the ADAC awarded the MVV
first place in the overall rating with top marks (very good) for the
individual criteria of travel time, transfers and information. Only the
fares were rated as too expensive and only adequate. Cell phone
reception has been possible throughout the MVG network since 2012,
including in the tunnel sections. There is a rarely enforced alcohol ban
in vehicles.
The underground lines U1 to U6 have, depending on
requirements, a time interval of 5 or 10 minutes (since two lines always
meet on one route in the city center, there is sometimes a 2-3 minute
interval), the distance between the stops in the inner-city area is less
than 1km. The booster line U7 also runs during rush hour and the U8 at
weekends.
The seven S-Bahn lines connect the city with the
surrounding area with 800,000 passengers every day. The line timing is
20 minutes in inner-city areas, and 40 minutes for some outer areas. In
the center of Munich between the stops Donnersbergerbrücke and the
Ostbahnhof, all lines run on one route, the so-called main route, and
thus approx. every 2 ½ minutes, in the rush hour every 2 minutes. A 2nd
main route to relieve the existing main route in the Downtown is
currently under construction. Completion is expected in 2028.
The
main route is also the bottleneck in Munich's public transport: The
possible capacities and the technical condition of the line, which was
created around 1970 for the Olympics, are disputed between the
proponents and opponents of a second main route. The fact is that in
recent years there have been more and more train cancellations and
delays in the operation of the Munich S-Bahn due to operational
disruptions.
The tram criss-crosses the city on various lines.
Basically, it drives above ground. In addition to their transport
function, some routes are also interesting for tourists because they
pass places worth seeing, e.g. B. Line 19 between Stachus and
Max-Weber-Platz, which runs all the way through the famous
Maximilianstraße and up to the Bavarian Parliament (Maximilianeum).
More than 40 different bus lines operate in Munich. A distinction is
made between city buses (three-digit numbers, run on short routes) and
metro buses (two-digit numbers, run on longer routes with fewer stops).
during rush hours the latter are rarely on time but run consistently
every 10 minutes so this is less of a problem.
The individual
lines of the U1 with U8 and the S-Bahn lines S1 with S8 and the special
line S20 are each assigned a color. The assignment of the direction of
travel to the tracks on the platform can be seen from the display board
above the platform: out of town the terminal station and in town
Marienplatz or Hauptbahnhof.
night lines
On weekdays, the tram
lines N16, N19, N20 and N27 as well as the night buses N40 - N45 run
every hour. For the nights Fri./Sat. and Sat./Sun. and before public
holidays, the frequency is reduced to every half hour. The central
transfer point with coordinated departure times is at Stachus. N80 and
N81 drive from Pasing to Germering. Shortly after 2 a.m. on weekends
there is a late S-Bahn for each route.
Tariffs: (as of Dec 2022)
Current price overview (increases are made annually when the timetable
changes in December)
The tariff system was reformed in 2019 -
since then the urban area has been called "Zone M".
The day tickets:
for any number of journeys in one day in different variants:
Price:
Single day ticket adults zone M = €8.80; Partner day ticket for 5 adults
zone M = 17€. Children's day ticket = €3.50 Validation is required
before departure.
CityTourCard: Special day ticket, with a discount
on currently more than 30 admission prices, e.g. B.: BMW Museum, Allianz
Arena, Bavaria Filmstadt, Sea Life, Hard Rock Cafe, etc. Info. The
discounts of the offer are only worthwhile if you visit 3-4 attractions
in one day.
Examples: Day ticket for the interior: €12.90, group
ticket €19.90; 3-day interior: €22.90, 3-day entire network: €35.90.
Single ticket: For one person and one way (€3.70 for zone M), transfers
and breaks are allowed, return and round trips are not allowed; as a
short route: four stops, of which a maximum of 2 underground stations,
otherwise: according to the zones traveled through. Maximum journey
times: 3 hours (short distance: 1 hour) or 4 hours. Validation is
required before departure. A single ticket for children costs €1.70. The
short-distance ticket costs one stripe on the stripe ticket (does not
apply to the U21 stripe ticket).
Stripe ticket: System like single
tickets, depending on the tariff, the corresponding number of stripes
are devalued from the stripe ticket. E.g.: For Zone M, two strips must
be validated. The short distance is a strip, here a maximum of 4
stations may be covered, of which a maximum of 2 with S-Bahn/U-Bahn.
(Price for the 10 strip ticket = €16.30). Validation is required before
departure. For each additional zone, 2 strips are due again. Children
(6-14 years) pay a flat fee of 1 strip, no matter how far they drive.
U21 offer: Young people (15-20 years) only pay 8.90 euros for the U21
strip ticket, e.g. B. only 1.78 euros for a trip in zone M.
Isarcard:
the weekly and monthly card;
For any number of trips in the selected
rings (1-16) during a week or a month. The IsarCard weekly ticket is
valid for seven consecutive days. In addition, it is valid beyond the
last day of validity until 12 noon of the next day. The monthly ticket
is valid for one month and beyond the last day of validity until 12 noon
of the next day. Example: If the monthly pass is purchased on the 11th
of a month, it is valid until 12 noon on the 11th of the following
month.
(The inner area of the day ticket consists of several
rings (1-4)! No validation required, valid from the time of purchase. If
you move around a lot within the selected zones/rings, a weekly stamp
(compared to day tickets) pays off for 3 or more daily journeys from a
stay of three days.
further special tariffs:
Seniors travel
cheaper with the IsarCard 65.
the IsarCard 9 a.m. is valid on
weekdays except between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m
Young people can use
special offers in connection with the ticket from their school/training
place.
Bicycle transport: if you want to use your bicycle, you have
to buy a bicycle day ticket for the entire network (€3.30 for the entire
network). During peak times, taking the train with you on the subway is
restricted (see below).
Tickets: Tickets are available from machines
and kiosks. The machines take small change and bills up to €50), you can
save money with some cards.
Mobile phone ticket: Since December 2013
it has also been possible to pay directly with your smartphone: In order
to be able to use the mobile phone ticket, one of the timetable apps
from MVV (MVV Companion), MVG (MVG Fahrinfo Munich) or the Munich S-
Bahn (Munich Navigator) must be loaded and registration with bank
details must have taken place. Single tickets, day tickets, bicycle day
tickets, strip tickets as well as the "City Tour Cards" and the "Airport
City Day Ticket" are currently available for visitors. Strip tickets as
well as weekly and monthly tickets cannot be booked by mobile phone at
the moment. After the electronic purchase, a controllable QR code is
transferred to the mobile phone, and the ID card or passport must also
be kept ready.
More information at the MVV. Here you can also
check the scheduled travel times or z. B. display the shortest
connection from point A to B.
The page for the route network maps
of the MVV.
Page for the MVV app, a timetable information as a
smartphone app for Android, iOS and Windows Phone.
Telephone
timetable information (telephone computer): 089 41424344;
According to a study by the Internet portal ab-in-den-urlaub.de, the
price structure of the Munich Transport Association (MVV) is not overly
expensive compared to other cities. On the other hand, when it comes to
single journeys and the connection to the airport, Munich is well above
the German average.
Bike transport
Taking a folded folding
bike with tires up to 12.5 inches is free and possible at any time,
including on buses and trams. Bicycles up to 20 inches can only be
transported free of charge on S-Bahn and U-Bahn trains and approved
regional trains outside of closed times. For bicycles with tires larger
than 20", an additional "Fahrrad-Tagskarte MVV" for €3.30 must be
purchased. The bicycles can only be rented outside of the closed times
(Monday to Friday from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m
o'clock) and can only be taken on the S-Bahn, U-Bahn and regional trains
Public transport barrier-free
Subway: barrier-free All 94 Munich
subway stations are barrier-free with elevators that do not always work.
The C-series cars, which have been in use since 2000, can be boarded
with wide entrance doors without a step, and there is significantly more
space inside thanks to the seats that can be folded up. All platform
edges are equipped with a feeler strip in front of the safety strip.
When entering the older subway cars, a step of 5 cm has to be overcome.
Fatal accidents have repeatedly occurred on these trains, some of which
are still in use, because blind people fell into the gap between two
subway cars and fell onto the track. This is no longer possible with the
new cars. Since 2016, some stations have permanently installed yellow
ramps for easy wheelchair access for the door directly behind the
driver's cabin.
S-Bahn: limited barrier-free Of the 138 S-Bahn
stations, around 100 are currently barrier-free, and half are optimally
equipped. The vehicles of the ET 423 series (built since 1998) used
exclusively in Munich can be entered without steps using a folding ramp
operated by the driver. At the Zugspitze and Zugende there are
multi-purpose areas that are easily accessible for wheelchair users.
Tram: barrier-free Almost all of the 148 tram stops are wheelchair
accessible (lowered curbs). Almost exclusively modern low-floor trams
are used, which are equipped with an electric lift for wheelchairs on
the first door by the driver.
Buses: barrier-free Mostly low-floor
buses with a folding ramp as a boarding aid are used, recognizable by
the handicapped sign.
Wheelchair users should stand at the front of
the trains (underground, suburban railway, tram) so that they can be
seen by the driver. When boarding the buses, the middle door should be
used (signal buttons to the driver outside and inside, parking space).
The emergency telephones newly installed in Munich can also be operated
in a wheelchair and have Braille on the individual keys for visually
impaired people as well as tactile letters.
Additional
information
MVV page on accessibility
Accessibility of the S-Bahn
in Munich (Bundesbahn)
See also the general information on Munich
barrier-free
fare dodger
The "increased fare" is € 60. Ticket
inspectors usually appear in groups of three and are civil. They
identify themselves unsolicited by blue ID cards with a photo. Trying to
negotiate a dispute is useless. If necessary, a forgotten card can be
handed in to the MVG head office (provided that it was removed according
to the stamp before the check and possibly personalized), the fee is
then reduced to € 5. Occasionally, the exits of entire underground
stations are locked and all passengers are locked controlled. The
security forces are also authorized to check tickets in Munich, which is
not the case in all cities. As a curiosity, until July 2019 there were
still platform tickets in Munich to enter the underground stations
(40¢), but these have been abolished as a relic of the past.
Thanks to the many cycle paths, Munich can be easily explored
on two wheels. There are even city tours by bike. The only problem are
the often reckless drivers. But be careful: Recently there are also
police on bicycles, who will catch up and stop you relatively quickly if
you have done something wrong as a cyclist. For visitors there are
bicycles from Deutsche Bahn - Call a Bike on the streets throughout the
city, which can be borrowed quite easily (by mobile phone) and parked at
any intersection.
Rental bikes are also available from MVG (MVG
Rad) - the bikes can be borrowed and returned at fixed stations as well
as at any other location. There are also rental bikes from providers
such as oBike.
Important to know: Cycling in Munich's pedestrian
zone is prohibited and will be pursued by law enforcement officers.
Here you can find information about the cycle path network in the
Bavarian capital: Radlnetz
Motorbike Rental
Motorcycle rental
Munich (2wheels2rent.de), Südliche Ingolstäder Str., 85716
Unterschleißheim. Tel.: +4915253860818, mobile: +4915253860818, e-mail:
info@motorradvermietung-hamburg.de. Open: Handover and returns by prior
appointment. Price: from 159. Accepted payment methods: Master, Visa,
PayPal, Cash.
For those traveling in a group, taxis can
also be an economical way to get to the destination. Taxi prices are
subject to the current taxi tariff in Munich. Depending on the traffic
situation, a good 10 to 15 euros can be estimated for a trip from the
city center to the area on the Mittlerer Ring.
However, if you
don't pay attention to the distance, don't be surprised if it gets more
expensive. From the east to the west end during rush hour, you can
easily add up to €35-45.
Especially at mass events such as
Oktoberfest, New Year's Eve, carnival and football games, longer waiting
times must be taken into account when requesting a taxi.
In the
street
Exploring Munich by car is not recommended, especially for
non-residents. Drivers in Munich are plagued by two problems: traffic
jams and slow traffic on the ring roads, arterial roads and arterial
roads at almost all times and the lack of free parking spaces. It is
best to park in the Park & Ride areas of public transport (MVV) that
exist around the city at S-Bahn and U-Bahn stations and then change.
This is cheaper, faster, more relaxed and protects your nerves and the
environment.
Parking spaces in the city center (within the
Mittlerer Ring) of Munich are available for a fee, at least in the
residential areas and since the introduction of parking tickets and
parking permits. Parking spaces in the center are generally very
difficult to get hold of during the day and also at night, the
multi-storey car parks (parking guidance system) are recommended. On the
popular shopping days z. B. on the Advent weekends, the access roads to
the center and the parking garages are often overcrowded and blocked
early in the day.
Parking tickets: are available from machines
set up on the street. They are only valid for the parking license area
indicated on the traffic signs. The tariff is weekdays from 9 a.m. to 11
p.m. per 12 minutes or part thereof: €0.20, maximum charge €6 per day;
There are parking zones in particularly neuralgic areas in the districts
of Schwabing, Lehel and Haidhausen/Au. The following applies in the
parking zones on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.: Parking along the blue
lines costs €0.50 for every 12 minutes or part thereof. Otherwise, a
restricted parking ban applies to all unmarked places and absolute
stopping bans in places that are difficult to see.
Parking permits
are only available for residents with a proven need;
A parking
guidance system in the center area shows the free spaces in the
multi-storey car parks.
The city has discovered a bubbling source of
income from the fees for parking spaces and is therefore happy to carry
out frequent checks.
The following is just a brief description of the most important sights. Further sights and detailed information (e.g. opening hours, etc.) are listed in the district articles and in sights in Munich.
Marienplatz
The Marienplatz with the new and the old
town hall has been the heart of the city since the city was founded in
1158. The Marian Column is the official city center. The glockenspiel in
the town hall tower from 1908 and the fifth largest in Europe is the
most photographed motif in all of Munich, and it is sometimes almost
impossible for the tourists watching to get through. The statistic that
says that every fifth person in the world is Chinese or Japanese is not
seriously doubted by any Munich resident.
New Town Hall on
Marienplatz, in the neo-Gothic style by G. J. v. Hauberrisser
(1867–1909) built; with the world-famous glockenspiel and the figures at
the coopers' dance and knights' tournament. City information, entrance
from Marienplatz,
Old Town Hall at Marienplatz, built in Gothic style
by Ganghofer 1470–1480;
Alter Peter: Munich's oldest parish church,
whose tower is a symbol of Munich. Directly at Marienplatz.
Pedestrian zone and Stachus
Karlsplatz, popularly known as Stachus
after the innkeeper Eustachius Föderl, who opened the "Stachusgarten"
inn in the area of today's Kaufhof in 1755. The Karlstor was originally
called Neuhauser Tor and was part of the second city fortifications from
the 14th century.
Frauenkirche: the Frauenkirche is actually the
Cathedral of Our Lady and the cathedral church of the Archbishop of
Munich and Freising. One thing is for sure, the symbol of Munich.
Bürgersaalkirche: building from the 18th century. Church of the Holy
Sepulchre, Father Rupert Mayer. Neuhauser Strasse 14 (pedestrian zone),
Michaelskirche: Renaissance church from the 16th century, Jesuit church.
It has the second largest self-supporting barrel vault in the world
after St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Burial place of the Wittelsbach
family, e.g. B. König Ludwig II., Neuhauser Straße 52, (pedestrian zone)
Isartorplatz
With the Isartor and the legendary Valentin Musaeum
inside.
Lenbachplatz
with the courthouse, artists' house and
Wittelsbach fountain
Odeonsplatz and Ludwigstrasse
The
Feldherrnhalle, the Theatinerkirche, the Residenz and the Hofgarten of
the Residenz with the State Chancellery adjoining to the east are
located on Odeonsplatz.
The State Chancellery was completed in
1992 as the seat of the Bavarian government. The central part with the
dome comes from the Bavarian Army Museum, which was built in 1906 but
otherwise destroyed in World War II.
In the boulevard
Ludwigstraße is the Church of St. Ludwig with the second largest altar
fresco in the world.
Maximilianstrasse
Maximilianstrasse, a
boulevard that King Maximilian II had built by Friedrich Bürklein
between 1851 and 1853, runs east from Residenzstrasse at the level of
the Bavarian National Theater. The buildings were built in the so-called
Maximilian style, a mix of elements from Dutch Gothic and Italian
Renaissance, among other things. In addition to posh shops and trendy
bars, the street also houses the Munich Kammerspiele and the Museum of
Ethnology. The end of the magnificent mile is the Maximilianeum, which
is already on the other side of the Isar and where the Bavarian state
parliament meets.
Prinzregentenstrasse
Prinzregentenstraße was
built between 1891 and 1912 and is named after Prince Regent Luitpold.
The English Garden borders to the north and the Lehel district to the
south. The Haus der Kunst, the Schack Gallery and the Bavarian National
Museum are located on the street. The road leads west over the Isar to
the Friedensengel, a 23m high Corinthian column with a golden angel,
which is supposed to commemorate the peace treaty in Versailles in 1871.
The road continues past the Villa Stuck to the Prinzregententheater.
Koenigsplatz
The Königsplatz was designed by the architect Leo
von Klenze in 1817 on behalf of King Ludwig I as a "royal square" in the
style of an ancient work of art with the Ionic Glyptothek, the
Corinthian collection of antiquities and the Doric Propylaea as a
gateway. Completed in 1862. Alienation of style in the Third Reich due
to granite slabs laid out over the entire surface for NSDAP parades and
meetings. Long used as a parking lot after the Second World War, since
1987/1988 in its current form with lawns.
English garden
The
English Garden as the largest inner-city park in the world with the
Chinese Tower, Monopteros, Kleinhesseloher See, its meadows and its beer
gardens is dealt with in a separate article.
Other churches,
buildings and monuments
Asamkirche: Donated by the Asam brothers and
built in the 18th century, the opulently furnished baroque church.
Wheelchair accessibility: side entrance sacristy. Before that, please
contact the responsible nurses, who will be happy to help, on tel.
2609171. Sendlingerstrasse 62
other sights inside
Hofbräuhaus
the most famous inn in the world, "Bavarian atmosphere" as a tourist
attraction. With a recommended beer garden: a beer under shady chestnut
trees, the angel "Aloisius" is sitting right next door.
at Platzl 9,
about 5 minutes from Marienplatz; www.hofbraeuhaus.de;
Access: from
Marienplatz into the valley, directly at the Schneider-Weissbräu left
through the "Böhmler Passage";
Tierpark Hellabrunn, the city's zoo in
the south on the Flaucher an der Isar;
Very well attended, especially
when the weather is nice in spring and autumn.
Visiting hours: April
to September from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., October to March from 9 a.m. to 5
p.m.;
Tierparkstr. 30, 81543 Munich; Phone: (089)/62508-0, Fax:
(089)/62508-32; www.zoo-munich.de;
Directions: U3 to Thalkirchen
underground station, approx. 3 minutes' walk; Bus line 52 from
Marienplatz to the final stop "Tierpark";
Hall of Fame on the
Theresienhöhe, with the busts of well-deserving Bavarian heads and the
Bavaria accessible inside
More indoor parks
Old Botanical
Garden an island of tranquility right by the main station, unfortunately
sometimes a bit neglected: beer bottles in plastic bags on park benches;
Flaucher leisure area on the Isar in the south of the city, popular for
barbecuing and swimming;
Luitpoldpark, classic city park in the north
of Schwabing.
Westpark in the Sendling-Westpark district, the
72-hectare site created for the international garden exhibition with its
Asian elements for relaxing, playing sports, barbecuing and model
boating (model boat friends meet regularly in the lower part).
The Munich Olympic Park with its outstanding
architecture was created on the occasion of the 1972 Summer Games. The
design and the idea of the tent roof for the event locations came from
the architect team Günter Behnisch and Partner from Stuttgart and was
implemented by Frey Otto. The sports facilities were developed through
an already existing mound from the bomb debris of the Second World War.
Today, the park has established itself as a world-renowned leisure and
event center with several million visitors a year, not counting the many
walkers and joggers.
Olympic Stadium: In addition to the 1972
Olympics, it was also the site of the final of the 1974 World Cup and
thus the site of the triumph of the German footballers around
Beckenbauer and Gerd Müller. Also, in 1988, the location of the final of
the European Football Championship in Germany, where the Oranje Stars
were finally able to win their first international title as European
Football Champion. In summer, the stadium is a regular venue for
concerts by the Rolling Stones, Bon Jovi & Co.
Olympia Hall
Theatron, lake stage in the Olympic Park, annual venue for the Whitsun
OpenAir and the Music Summer in the THEATRON; Info: www.theatron.de;
Olympic Tower, 291 meter high television tower with viewing platform at
190 meters and tower restaurant at 182 meters. At the top there is the
Rockmuseum Munich;
Sea Life Center, opened in 2006, animals from the
underwater world from the Isar to the Mediterranean Sea; over 10,000
specimens from 120 different marine species from small seahorses to rays
and sharks.
Nymphenburg
Castle
Nymphenburg Palace and its grounds were built as a summer
palace by order of Elector Ferdinand Maria and his wife Henriette
Adelaide of Savoy in 1664 on the occasion of the birth of the heir to
the throne. The initially simple cubic building was then expanded under
Max Emanuel and Karl Albrecht according to plans by Enrico Zuccalli and
Joseph Effner.
Amalienburg For the Electress Amalia based on
designs by François Cuvilliés the Elder. Ä. Small hunting lodge built
from 1734 to 1739, a major work of European Rococo with precious
carvings and stucco work by Joachim Dietrich and Johann Baptist
Zimmermann;
Extensive historic castle park;
Botanical Garden: With
an area of 22 hectares, around 14,000 plant species, approx. 4,500 m² of
greenhouses and over 400,000 visitors a year, it is one of the most
important botanical gardens in the world. A botanical journey to humid
tropical areas, cool tropical mountain forests and hot deserts.
Particularly interesting from December to April: live tropical
butterflies in the aquatic plant house
Wheelchair users have access
to all major parts of the garden.
Museum Man and Nature,
Marstallmuseum and Museum Nymphenburg Porcelain in Nymphenburg and
International Youth Library in Blutenburg Castle: see also the article
on the Munich museums;
Outdoor attractions
Bavaria Filmstadt
in the Geiselgasteig district of Grünwald. Sightseeing tour at the
well-known film studio. You can see numerous backdrops from film
productions such as Das Boot or Asterix, as well as a stunt show and a
3D effect cinema with shaking seats. You can also take a tour of the
studios and try yourself as an amateur actor. You should plan about 3
hours.
Munich north. In the north of the city, in the district of
Feldmoching-Hasenbergl, there are also some districts from the 1970s
with a large proportion of social welfare recipients. The Hasenbergl in
particular is considered a social hot spot. In contrast, Feldmoching
seems almost rural.
Also in the north on the Riesenfeld (or: until
1972 Oberwiesenfeld, former airfield, now partly Olympic site) is the
BMW site (former supplier of aircraft engines) with the office tower,
BMW World and the BMW Museum (BMW emblem = stylized propeller) .
Allianz Arena in the north of Munich is a unique football temple, an
architectural masterpiece, a landmark of Munich and the home of FC
Bayern - and therefore an exciting destination 365 days a year. The
combination of an arena tour and the FC Bayern Erlebniswelt make a visit
especially on the day without a match a special event. Guests from all
over the world can take a look behind the scenes of the imposing stadium
on a guided arena tour and discover otherwise hidden areas such as the
team cabin or the players' tunnel. The FC Bayern Erlebniswelt, Germany's
largest club museum, also offers an emotional journey through time from
the founding of the German record champions in 1900 to the current
successes. In a double pack, the offer is an ideal program for the whole
family. The FC Bayern Megastore also gets fans' hearts beating faster -
on more than 1,000 square meters, the world's largest FC Bayern fan shop
offers a comprehensive selection of red and white fan articles as well
as the latest jersey collection. The varied gastronomic offer rounds off
the trip to the Allianz Arena. After three years of construction, the
Allianz Arena was opened in 2005 and has been the home ground of FC
Bayern Munich ever since. Some statistics: 75,024 completely covered
spaces, of which 15,794 are standing. The outer shell made of 2,784
diamond-shaped cushions is the largest membrane shell in the world and
can be illuminated in 16 million colors using LED technology. You can
find more information about the Allianz Arena here.
Munich south. In
the south of the city you will find wealthy districts such as Harlaching
and Solln or the suburbs of Grünwald and Pullach, which no longer belong
to Munich. In Grünwald there is also the Bavaria Filmstadt with the
scenery of "Das Boot" and the "Neverending Story". In Fürstenried is the
Fürstenried Castle built by Joseph Effner, where Otto, who was
considered mentally ill, lived from 1883 to 1916. The large city forests
Perlacher Forst and Forstenrieder Forst, which are heavily frequented by
walkers and cyclists, spread out south of Munich.
Munich West. To the
west is Pasing, which was elevated to the status of a town in 1905 but
was then incorporated into Munich in 1938. The center is the Pasinger
Marienplatz with the Marian column. The Pasing factory near the train
station is now a cultural center. The district is traversed by the Würm.
Blutenburg Castle is located north of Pasing an der Würm. In the West
Park, which hosted the International Horticultural Exhibition in 1983,
you can see, among other things, a Nepalese pagoda.
Munich East. In
Altperlach and Ramersdorf with the pilgrimage church of the Assumption
of the Virgin Mary, the structure of the old village is still clearly
visible. Neuperlach's reputation is rather bad because of its high-rise
buildings from the 1970s. A new district was created on the site of the
former Munich-Riem Airport, with a landscaped garden for the Federal
Garden Show 2005 and the new exhibition center. In Berg am Laim
(Clemens-August-Str. 9), St. Michael is an important church of the
Bavarian Rococo style. It was built from 1738 to 1758 by Johann Michael
Fischer. Inside works by Johann Baptist Zimmermann, Johann Baptist
Straub and Ignaz Günther.
Viktualienmarkt. The market is open until 8
p.m. all year round, except on Sundays and public holidays. Not only
regional and country-specific fruit and vegetables are offered here, but
also many exotic and unusual foods. In addition, cycling, drinking
alcohol or playing music is prohibited near the Viktualienmarkt.
Munich has a diverse museum landscape to offer. First and foremost,
with the Deutsches Museum on the Museum Island, the largest technical
museum in the world, the picture collections in the Pinakotheken from
all eras, the classical collections on Königsplatz and a large number of
other museums on interesting special areas, there is a wide spectrum in
the entire cultural development of the world that is unique in the world
mankind documented. The following is an overview of the particularly
important and popular museums in Munich.
The Deutsches Museum is
one of the most important technical collections in the world and the
most popular museum in Germany in terms of visitor numbers.
The
German Hunting and Fishing Museum is located in the pedestrian zone.
The city museum on the history of Munich with the city's photo and film
museum is located on Jakobsplatz.
The 4 State Museum of Ethnology is
located on Maximilianstraße, officially the "Five Continents Museum" for
several years, with around 150,000 objects from all non-European
countries, it is the second largest ethnological museum in Germany.
In the Munich Residenz at Odeonsplatz you will find:
The
Residence Museum, a collection of the building's inventory with the
treasury of the Residence, a hoard of jewels, goldsmith works and other
valuables of the Wittelsbach family.
The State Coin Collection in the
Residence shows coins and coin-like objects dating back to the 7th
century BC.
At the Isartor is the unique 7
"Valentin-Karlstadt-Musäum" all about the legendary Karl Valentin and
Liesl Karlstadt, Karl Valentin's partner.
The Kunstareal Munich
with the three Munich Pinakotheks and numerous other important
collections of fine arts is located in Maxvorstadt just north of the
city center:
The Alte Pinakothek, located on Barer Strasse and home
to the largest public collection of paintings in the world when it
opened in 1836, displays masterpieces of European painting from the 14th
to the 19th centuries.
The Neue Pinakothek, north of the old
Pinakothek and also on Barer Straße, shows outstanding works of European
art from the 19th century. (Closed from January 1, 2019 due to several
years of renovation.)
The Pinakothek der Moderne, to the east of the
old Pinakothek and on Barer Straße, was opened in 2002 and features four
permanent collections of free and applied art from the 20th and 21st
centuries.
The Museum Brandhorst was opened in 2009 and shows works
by Cy Twombly, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol and other classical modern
artists of the 20th century. Next to the Brandhorst Museum is the small
Türkentor, which is used as a joint exhibition space for the Pinakothek
der Moderne and the Brandhorst Museum.
The State Museum of Egyptian
Art is the only museum for the art of ancient Egypt in the world. The
modern new museum building was opened in June 2013.
The Lenbachhaus,
a municipal gallery in the villa of the "painter prince" and artist
sponsor Franz von Lenbach, is known worldwide for the "Blue Rider".
Museums along the Prinzregentenstraße are:
The House of Art with
changing art exhibitions.
The Archaeological State Collection
internet wikipediacommons is a museum for early and prehistory and for
the entire settlement history of Bavaria.
The Bavarian National
Museum is one of the largest art and cultural history museums in Europe
and exhibits collections of art, handicrafts and folklore beyond the
borders of Bavaria.
The Villa Stuck shows changing exhibitions in a
magnificent artist's villa, the museum is already in the district of
Bogenhausen.
The BMW Museum at the Olympic Park is one of the most
visited company museums in Germany and the second most visited in
Munich.
There is more detailed information in the general article on
the Munich museums.
Munich is a trade fair city with around 40 trade fairs, more than
30,000 exhibitors from over 100 countries and more than two million
visitors from over 200 countries every year;
Regular and
important trade fairs are:
Building. The leading European trade fair
for building materials, building systems and building renewal, takes
place every two years at the end of January
f.re.e (formerly C-B-R -
Caravan-Boot-Reisen)). Email: info@free-muenchen.de. Leisure and Travel
Fair, held annually at the end of February.
IMOT. At the "M.O.C.",
annually at the end of February, the largest and most visited motorcycle
exhibition in southern Germany.
IFAT . International trade fair for
water, waste water and waste recycling, the world's largest and most
important trade fair for environmental technologies takes place every
two years (2014) in spring.
bauma . World trade fair number one for
the construction and mining industry, takes place every three years
(2016/2019) in spring, according to visitors (almost half a million) or
exhibition space (2013: 570,000 m²) the largest trade fair in the world
him . International handicraft fair, annually at the beginning of
March.info
Home+Crafts . Annual consumer fair in the run-up to
Christmas at the beginning of December.
ispo. International sporting
goods fair, seasonal several times a year.
intersolar. International
Solar Energy Fair, held annually in mid-June.info
transport logistics
. The world's largest international trade fair for logistics, mobility,
IT and supply chain management takes place every two years in May.
Venues are:
New Munich Trade Fair Center, Exhibition Center,
81823 Munich. Phone: +49 (0)89 949207-20, Fax: +49 (0)89 949207-29. The
New Munich Trade Fair Center on the site of the former airport in
Riem.info
For orientation: The new exhibition center is essentially a
southern and a northern row of halls (the northern one with individual
additional northern extension halls) on both sides along an inner
courtyard in a west-east direction: Access is (depending on hall
occupancy) from two entrance halls at the west end or east end of the
courtyard. Each of these two entrance halls (west and east) has its own
signposted meeting point;
District map of Messestadt Riem as PDF
How to get to the MVV by underground line 2, stop at Messestadt-West or
Messestadt-Ost (end of the line)
Arrival by car: Via the A94
motorway, Munich - Munich East junction, symbol: AS Munich, Messe Riem
3 MOC, Lilienthalallee 40, 80939 Munich. Tel.: +49 (0)89 32353-0, Fax:
+49 (0)89 32353-176. The M.O.C., a hall complex in Munich-Freimann.
How to get there MVV: U-Bahn line 6, Freimann station, then about 10
minutes on foot
Arrival by car: From the A9 motorway
(Nuremberg-Munich), symbol: AS Freimann, the M.O.C. is located directly
at the exit
viewings
Sightseeing tours in the open-topped double-decker bus:
Departure from the station square opposite the main station, every hour
from 10 a.m. to 4.30 p.m.; Phone 089/ 55 028 995
Beer tour through
Munich in a double-decker bus: important places related to beer in
Munich: beer fountain, Hofbräuhaus, Nockherberg, Theresienwiese and the
Augustiner and Spaten brewery with a brewery tour at the end. A
four-hour morning tour costs 34 euros (including a snack with pretzels,
meat loaf or white sausage) and a three-hour afternoon tour without food
costs 29 euros.
Wednesdays to Saturdays, departures 9.30 a.m. and 2
p.m. at the car park on the north side of the main station,
registration: 089/55 07 90 00; www.biertour-muenchen.de
Cherrytours Munich - My city tour (Cherrytours GmbH), Herrnstrasse. 13.
Tel.: +49 89 24203402, e-mail: office@cherrytours.de. City tours
privately or in small groups for individualists. Tours available daily,
also in different languages. Individual start and end points possible on
request. Price: from €20. Accepted payment methods: Cash, Master, Visa.
Instead of trips to Munich, Frauenlobstrasse 24 Rgb, 80337 Munich. Tel.:
(0)89 54 40 42-30, Fax: (0)89 54 40 42-99. Tours on the history,
everyday life and culture of Munich.
Segway Tour Munich
(Seg Tour GmbH), Herrnstraße 13. Tel.: +49 89 24203401, e-mail:
info@segwaytour-munich.de. City tour on different routes through
Frankfurt with the electric standing scooter "Segway®". In addition to
the Classic Tour to the most famous sights, there is also a tour of the
Theresienwiese, to the Nymphenburg Palace or on the topic of the 3rd
Reich. Also bookable for events, company outings or bachelor parties.
Price: 85€. Accepted payment methods: Cash, Master, Visa, Amex, Apple
Pay, Google Pay, EC.info
tram tours. Tel.: (0)89 65 16 170, Fax:
(0)89 65 16 333.
Theme History Path - National Socialism in
Munich: A footpath from Marienplatz to Königsplatz.
Plan, text as pdf
and mp3 downloads on münchen.de.
Culture and history paths: see the
different parts of the city.
Guided tours of the Munich city drainage
system: Visiting Munich's underground and not for sensitive noses. The
history of its origin and daily work in the canals under the city.
Sturdy shoes required, not applicable in heavy rain.
Participation
free of charge, three to four guided tours per week depending on
requirements; Groups of 10 or more, including collective appointments.
Registration on 089 23362008
City walk with the Munich Greeters.
Greeters show guests their favorite spots in their city for free. The
idea: Make a pilgrimage through exciting districts or the best beer
gardens with a real Munich resident and hear interior views of Munich.
The goal is cultural exchange. According to the wishes of the guests,
the focus is on culture or architecture, shopping or a visit to the beer
garden.
Oktoberfest
The Oktoberfest is the largest folk
festival in the world with over 6 million visitors (that's almost half a
million every day), a total of 100,000 seats in the tents, 7 million
liters of beer sold and an estimated total turnover of almost one
billion euros.
Detailed information can be found in the separate
article: Oktoberfest
The Munich carnival begins
immediately after Epiphany with a variety of carnival balls. A selection
are here:
The “Broadcast Balls of the Bavarian Radio”.
The
carnival balls of the "Damish Knights".
The "White Festivals" in the
Max-Emanuel brewery.
The “Olyfasching” are the carnival balls in the
canteen of the Olympic Village.
The highlight of carnival and the
end of the carnival season is the Munich street carnival on Shrove
Tuesday with the dance of the market women on the Viktualienmarkt.
The strong beer season, also known as the fifth season, takes place over
two weeks around Josephi Day (March 19) during Lent. The strong beer
served in the beer cellars refers to the tradition of the Paulaner
monks, who, according to the motto "Liquids don't break fasting", have
been trying since about 1634 to balance their calorie balance by brewing
a strong beer during Lent. In 1861, strong beer was served for the first
time in spring in the “Zacherl-Keller” on Nockherberg. The designation
of the strong beer is "...ator" and is subject to an extra tax. Today,
the strong beer tapping at the Paulaner am Nockherberg with the slap of
the politician on TV is the most well-known event during the strong beer
season. The Munich breweries serve strong beer in the following beer
cellars:
Augustinerkeller (Maximator), Arnulfstraße 52.
Research
brewery (St. Jakobus), Unterhachinger Str. 76 (in Altperlach).
Löwenbräukeller at Stiglmaierplatz (Triumphator), Nymphenburger Straße
2.
Paulaner am Nockherberg (Salvator), Hochstrasse 75.
Unions Bräu
Haidhausen (Unimator), Einsteinstrasse 42.
Every visitor should
be aware that the police control traffic around the beer cellars during
the events to an above-average extent.
St. Patrick's Day: A
parade of Irish and Scottish clubs with traditional Bavarian groups from
Münchner Freiheit to Odeonsplatz; with 30,000 visitors in 2008 the
"biggest Irish event east of Dublin", every year on March 17th.
The Munich Spring Festival is a folk festival in April/May on the
Theresienwiese. Like Oktoberfest, only much smaller.
The Auer Dult is
a traditional folk festival and takes place three times a year, on the
first weekend in May (Maidult), in July (Jakobidult) and on the weekend
after the church fair (Kirchweihdult).
The Long Night of Music takes
place every year in early summer. In 2008, the event consisted of over
100 concerts and events with a combined ticket for €15 including a
shuttle connection service for the bus lines of the Munich transport
company for any number of journeys.
City Founding Festival. In June
around Marienplatz and the town hall. Gastronomy and various events.
Tollwood is a cultural festival with theatre, music, art and
gastronomy and takes place twice a year:
The Summer Tollwood on the
southern Olympic site in June/July.
The Wintertollwood on the
Theresienwiese in the Advent season until the turn of the year with a
Christmas market.
The Kocherlball is a traditional ball in historical
costumes in the very early morning in the English Garden and on a Sunday
at the end of July.
The CSD (Christopher-Street-Day) is the
colourful, motley to over-motley parade of the LGBTQI* scene through the
city center with meanwhile well over a hundred thousand participants,
closing event and subsequent "town hall clubbing" at Marienplatz and in
the town hall with up to 100,000 participants : party event until the
early morning; every year on a weekend in midsummer, usually in July.
The Streetlife Festival and Corso Leopold:
The Streetlife Festival is
an ecologically oriented street festival and has its origins in the
car-free Sunday in 1999. The festival takes place twice a year. Once in
summer and once in autumn, the Ludwigsstrasse and Leopoldstrasse from
Odeonsplatz to Münchner Freiheit are closed to cars over the weekend and
are then an action area for street artists, music and gastronomy. For
more information see the article.
Isar Island Festival . Every year
on a weekend at the end of August on the Isar and between Ludwigsbrücke
and Maximiliansbrücke (east of the center). The program includes street
performers, "Dance for All", theater and music.
Events in the Olympic
Park are:
Music festivals in the Theatron are the PfingstOpenAir at
Pentecost and the music summer in August.
The Munich Midsummer
Night's Dream is fireworks to music in July.
Impark is a summer
festival in August.
See also the respective regular festivals in the
city districts.
In Munich itself there are
over thirty Christmas markets, not counting the many small stalls that
are run by department stores and many restaurants. There is also a large
number of Christmas markets in the immediate vicinity of Munich.
In the following, therefore, only the Christmas markets that are of
interest and importance to the visitor are listed. Admission and the
supporting program are generally free.
The first Munich Krampus
group, Sparifankerl Pass, has been responsible for the Munich Krampus
Run since 2001. Sparifankerl stands for devil, and pass is Austrian for
group. The archaic Perchten masks of the group are based on the Gastein
Perchten masks and come from the cult carver Astei, that is the sculptor
Rupert Kreuzer and the restorer Gerhard Seer from Astlhof. The Perchten
do not have it easy when it comes to their activities: the six to eight
goatskins weigh around 20 kilograms, the leather belt with the cow bells
weighs around 10 kilograms and the wooden mask, known in professional
circles as a “larva”, weighs between 10 and 20 kilograms and is made
anew every year.
The Munich Krampus runs are not as rough and a
bit more civilized than comparable performances in the Alps, where there
is usually a lot more alcohol involved: the Sparifankerl like to be
photographed with the tourists at their performances at the Munich
Christmas markets.
Marienplatz: Munich's largest and oldest
Christmas market with almost three million visitors from all over the
world with origins in the Nikolaidult, which can be traced back to 1642.
Open from the first weekend in Advent to Christmas Eve, in the evening
until 8:30 p.m., but usually already full from the late afternoon. Every
day at 5:30 p.m. Advent music live from the balcony of the town hall.
Own crib market around the Rindermarkt fountain. Own Christkindl post
office in the porter's lodge in the passageway through the town hall:
all postal items that are dropped into the special mailbox at the town
hall receive the special stamp "Munich Christmas Market".
Recently
also with a Krampus run on the Sundays in Advent.
Arrival by subway
and S-Bahn, Marienplatz. For more information, see the relevant section
in the Old Town article.
Tollwood - The Winter Festival:
Multicultural with a large program of events on the Theresienwiese.
Christmas market from the first weekend in Advent until the day before
Christmas, between the holidays then only the festival program. In the
evening until 12:00 p.m. or 1:00 a.m. on weekends; Approach U4 and U5,
Theresienwiese.
Medieval market: Christmas medieval market with
Advent spectacle at Wittelsbacherplatz (near Odeonsplatz); "medieval
village character", supporting program at the weekend;
During the
Advent season daily 11:00 a.m.–8:00 p.m.; Approach U3, U6: Odeonsplatz;
More information in the article about Maxvorstadt.
Christmas market
Schwabing, in the forum of the Munich freedom. Schwabing flair. Large
children's program on weekdays, children's theatre.
Christmas market
at the Chinese Tower in the English Garden, "Munich's most romantic
Christmas market" Handicrafts and traditional Christmas and gift items;
Christmas tree sale.
Open from the first weekend in Advent to
Christmas Eve, evenings until 8:30 p.m.; Approach U3, U6, Munich
Freedom.
For more information on these two Christmas markets, see the
article on Schwabing.
Other Christmas markets are also listed in
the district articles, and there are often many interesting things to
discover and experience even at the smaller of Munich's Christmas
markets.
In the vicinity of Munich there are recommended
Christmas markets in the Fürstenfeldbruck monastery, the Christmas
market in front of the town hall in Dachau, and in Freising in the upper
old town, at the Schafhof and at Marienplatz.
In the wider Munich
area, the Christmas markets in Andechs and Dießen am Ammersee, the only
German island Christmas market on the Fraueninsel in Chiemsee, and, a
little further, the Innsbruck Mountain Christmas or the Nuremberg
Christmas market, the most famous in the world.
The Munich Schäfflertanz is the origin of this old Bavarian custom and
now has a tradition of more than 500 years. There is dancing between
Epiphany and Shrove Tuesday in a seven-year cycle. The next
Schäfflertanz will be in 2019.
Long Night of Architecture: since
2011, once a year in January, special buildings that are otherwise
inaccessible open their doors in the evening, for example the Munich
skyscrapers. Shuttle service between the participating properties.
The Munich Security Conference (msc) is an unofficial conference with
high-ranking international participants and takes place every year over
a weekend in early February. The venue is the renowned Hotel Bayerischer
Hof in the Kreuzviertel district of the old town. For visitors to the
city of Munich, the conference means a significant additional presence
of security personnel in the entire area of the old town, completely
closed areas around the conference hotel (Pacellistrasse,
Promenadeplatz) and personnel checks in the immediate vicinity. In
addition, unmistakable protest events and demonstrations by opponents of
the conference always take place in the old town, also accompanied by a
large contingent of security forces. In general, these demonstrations
remain peaceful, and the police have seen a decline in the number of
signs of violence on the part of individual opponents of the conference
in recent years.
Munich Documentary Film Festival: Germany's largest
festival for feature length documentaries has been taking place every
spring since 1985, since 2002 under the brand name DOK.fest. Almost 100
original documentaries from all over the world with German or English
subtitles will be shown at various venues. There is also a supporting
program for around 12,000 visitors every year.
Munich Film Festival,
held regularly in June since 1983, the largest film festival in Germany
after the Berlin Film Festival. The festival presents feature,
documentary and short films as well as TV movies in the Gasteig and
various cinemas in international, European or German premieres.
Contact: Internationale Münchner Filmwochen GmbH, Sonnenstraße 21, 80331
Munich; Phone +49 (0)89 381904-0.
Klassik am Odeonsplatz on a weekend
in summer, organized by the city's cultural department.
The Long
Night of Museums takes place in October, see the museum article.
Leisure time
Blade Night: Inline skating on summer evenings with
several thousand participants on specially closed main streets and on
changing attractive circuits. Only when the weather is nice. The meeting
point is always at 7 p.m. on the square in front of the traffic center
of the Deutsches Museum (48° 7′ 57″ N 11° 32′ 35″ E). From May to
September every Monday, start is at 9 p.m., free equipment rental.
The DAV climbing and bouldering center in Thalkirchen advertises itself
as the largest artificial indoor climbing facility in the world.
To swim
Bathing regulations: The current bathing regulations in
Bavaria expired in autumn 2013 and were not extended, so nude bathing is
no longer strictly prohibited in Bavaria. In Munich, according to a rule
of the KVR (spring 2014), skinny dipping in public areas (these are
places that are accessible or visible to everyone) is prohibited with
regulated exceptions; fines can be imposed for violations.
The
specified exceptions to the Munich ban on nude bathing (bathing in water
and sunbathing) are the Maria Einsiedel outdoor pool, on the Isar the
areas on the Flaucher, on the Brudermühlbrücke and on the Isar island
Oberföhring, in the English Garden the Schönfeldwiese and the Schwabing
Bay (in the northern part of the English Garden ), and on the
Feldmochinger See the south-west shore. Children under the age of six
and sauna bathers who are protected from view are exempt from the
obligation to cover up.
The Stadtwerke operate a total of 17
public pools in Munich. The facilities have all been brought up to the
latest fun level in recent years and need not shy away from comparison
with private thermal baths. Sauna is the rule, detailed information can
be found in the respective district articles. Pool hotline: 01801
796-223; Information: public utilities.
The Müller'sche Volksbad
(Haidhausen), an indoor pool in Art Nouveau style that is also worth a
visit as a tourist attraction, is centrally located and close to the
Deutsches Museum.
North of the center:
The Nordbad (indoor
pool) and the two outdoor pools in Ungererbad and Bad Georgenschweige
are located in Schwabing.
The Olympic swimming pool in the
Olympic Park is also worth a visit as a sight. Due to total
refurbishment, operations will be restricted until autumn 2018, open
from 10 a.m. In the meantime, only three lanes in the large pool can
often be used, the rest being reserved for clubs and sports students at
the TU.
In the East:
In Bogenhausen there is the
Prinzregentenbad (outdoor pool, ice skating in winter) and the
Cosimawellenbad (indoor pool, closed for renovation until summer 2017).
In the far east in the Ramersdorf district is the Michaelibad (indoor
pool).
In the south:
The Schyrenbad (outdoor pool on the Isar)
and Bad Giesing-Harlaching (indoor pool) are located in the district of
Untergiesing-Harlaching.
The Bad Forstenrieder Park (indoor pool)
and the Maria Einsiedel outdoor pool are located on the southwestern
outskirts of Forstenried.
In the West:
In the north-west near
the Mittlerer Ring is the Dantebad (outdoor pool, in the Gern district)
as a warm winter outdoor pool: swim in the open air without freezing
when it's snowing and the temperatures are icy;
The Westbad
(indoor and outdoor pool) is in the very west of Munich in the Pasing
district.
The Isar Munich's largest
outdoor pool with the longest beach and the largest number of visitors.
Centrally located, open 24 hours, free entry, but the best seats are
often occupied quickly due to the enormous crowds.
The general ban on
bathing in the Isar should be observed: due to numerous installations,
due to the torrential current and due to the fact that the water is
quite cold all year round, fatal accidents occur again and again.
Arriving by underground, S-Bahn, tram or on foot.
In the very north
of Munich and in the district of Feldmoching is the Munich three-lake
plateau, consisting of the Feldmochinger See, the Fasaneriesee as a
former quarry pond and the Lerchenauer See.
In the northwest at the
gates of Munich and in the area of the municipality of Unterföhring is
Lake Feringa, a popular bathing lake and local recreation area with up
to 30,000 bathers every day.
To the east is the former BUGA site,
which was renamed Riemer Park. There is a bathing lake here, which can
be reached on foot from the Gronsdorf (S4, S6) and Messestadt Ost (U2)
stops.
The Allianz Arena, opened in 2005, is
the city's Bundesliga stadium and is located in the very north of
Munich.
The Olympic Stadium of the 1972 Summer Olympics is now used
for various events and was also the Munich Bundesliga Stadium until
2005. The Olympic Stadium is located in the Olympic Park.
The Olympic
Ice Sports Center, home of the EHC Munich, is also located in the
Olympic Park. A new modern ice rink for Munich is being planned.
The
Grünwalder Stadion (in Giesing) is the busiest stadium in Munich and is
used by amateur and youth teams.
The Dante Stadium in
Neuhausen-Nymphenburg is used by women's soccer and American football
teams.
The Olympic equestrian facility in Riem with a riding stadium,
racecourse and open spaces is used not only for equestrian sport but
also as an area for major events.
There are no Sunday shops in Munich, the only exception so far was in
the summer of 2006. At the main train station (basement) and at the
Ostbahnhof there are a few food and newspaper shops that are also open
on Sundays and public holidays. Shopping is also possible on Sundays and
public holidays in the shops at Munich Airport.
There are weekly
markets and farmers' markets during the day and on weekdays in all major
parts of the city at the corresponding market squares in the districts.
Above all, food, flowers and plants from producers in Munich and the
surrounding area are on offer. See the sections on shopping in the
articles on the respective city districts and also the general overview
on the official city portal münchen.de.
Royal Bavarian Purveyor
to the Court is a title that had to be applied for, assessed by the
Court Titles Commission, and then awarded by the Bavarian kings and
prince regents for an annual fee. The privilege allowed its bearers to
use the royal coat of arms in the company logo, along with the
requirement to guarantee high quality of the products. However, there
was no claim to deliveries to the court. During the time of the Prince
Regent, 700 tradespeople were allowed to hold the coveted title. With
the end of the Bavarian kingdom, the title lost its meaning and went out
of fashion. In modern times, the title is popular again, the merger of
the "former purveyors to the court" tries to give itself a regionally
typical Munich profile in the consumer world of internationally active
boutiques, fashion and lifestyle labels, which is also becoming more and
more uniform in the Bavarian capital. Typically, the businesses are
arranged around the residence, the price level of the offer is adjusted
to the demand.
Examples are the clothing stores Ed-Meier (since
1596), Ludwig Beck, the glove manufacturer Roeckl, in the food and
beverage sector the delicatessen retailers Dallmayr and Eilles, the
Erbshäuser confectionery, the Weinhaus Neuner and also various interior
designers and galleries.
The following is an overview of the most
important shopping streets and shopping miles in the city:
The Munich
pedestrian zone in the old town is the largest shopping mile in Germany
with numerous shopping streets and a huge selection of shopping
opportunities, it essentially consists of Marienplatz with
Viktualienmarkt and the surrounding area, Kaufinger and Neuhauser
Strasse, Sendlinger Strasse, Theatinerstrasse and the luxury mile
Maximilianstrasse. The palette ranges from the large department stores
to the luxury shops on Maximilianstrasse. The statistics alone name
around 150 department stores and shops with 200,000 square meters of
retail space, on good shopping days up to 17,000 passers-by an hour and
up to 70,000 customers are counted. The price level of the offer ranges
from medium to high to exclusive.
Large shopping centers outside
the city center are:
In the north and in the district of Moosach
there is the Olympia-Einkaufs-Zentrum (OEZ), a shopping arcade with 135
specialist shops, department stores and restaurants.
The mira
shopping center opened in March 2008 and has 70 shops on 15,000 square
meters in the very north, almost on the city limits and in the
Feldmoching district. The district also includes the Euro-Industriepark,
an area with numerous wholesale markets (food, furniture, electronics,
etc.).
The pep with a total of 135 specialist shops, department
stores, cafés and restaurants is located in the south of Munich and in
the Perlach district.
In the far east and in the Riem district are
the Riem Arkaden, a modern shopping center opened in March 2004 with
around 120 shops.
In Pasing there is the Pasing Arcarden, the
counterpart to the Riem Arcarden, near the train station
(local/long-distance, S3, 4, 6, 8).
The price level of the offer
ranges from sometimes cheap to medium and upscale, sometimes also
exclusive.
Various
The BRK's Theresienwiese flea market is the
largest in Bavaria with up to 2,000 exhibitors and 20,000 visitors. It
takes place every year on the first Saturday of the Spring Festival
towards the end of April.
Computer parts and accessories are
available in and on Schillerstraße just south of the main train station.
The technically most up-to-date parts are offered at absolutely
rock-bottom prices in various shops through direct import from the Far
East, easily recognizable by the freshly printed price labels and by the
afternoon queues in front of the entrance. In the meantime, however,
these sometimes curious collections are being increasingly pushed aside
by online trade and rental prices.
The cuisine in gastronomy in Munich is mixed in a
metropolitan way with a focus on Bavarian (sometimes also
pseudo-Bavarian), Italian and lately also increasingly Asian. Large beer
gardens are usually not cheaper than inns with a limited selection, but
in many of the traditional beer gardens you can eat your own food.
Munich's catering establishments are generally geared towards local
guests and the many visitors from outside. However, if you are traveling
in a larger group at the main evening meal time at around 7 p.m., you
may not get a seat or even your own table immediately and should take
this into account when planning your time: A reservation is always
useful for groups, this is especially true for the well-known catering
establishments with a disproportionate number of visitors in the
evening.
Table assignment of unreserved seats by staff is only
common in the more upscale restaurants, but the waiters still know best
at which tables two or three seats are still free or will soon be free.
Don't be dissuaded from people who are standing around in the entrance
area of Bavarian restaurants waiting for a table to be seated: the
people waiting are mostly guests from overseas who are so used to being
seated at home. In a Munich beer garden or tavern with real Munich
guests, you are also sociable: if there is actually still room at the
table, you are happy to move a little closer together to create a seat
for newcomers.
The brewery restaurants are typical of traditional
Munich cuisine in their choice of food: In the old town, these are the
Augustiner (parent house of the brewery) in the pedestrian zone and the
Augustiner-Bräustuben (Schwanthalerhöhe) in Landsberger Straße and in
the brewery itself: good, plenty and cheap, but a bit away from the
center, then the Alte Hackerhaus (Hackerbräu), the Weisse Bräuhaus
(parent house of the brewery Schneider / Schneider Weisse), the Paulaner
Bräuhaus (former parent company of Thomas Bräu) and of course the
Hofbräuhaus. In Haidhausen there is the Unions-Bräu (hopefully for a
long time to come, probably closed for renovations in 2015).
The
Donisl and the Ayinger, actually not a local Munich brewery, can also be
sorted into the category of inns with traditional Munich cuisine.
In some restaurants, a reasonably priced lunch menu is offered on
weekdays at lunchtime.
The Vinzenzmurr chain of butchers runs a
kind of better fast food shop in its city-wide stores with a changing
range of dishes from soups to noodles to roast pork. Those who can do
without the very last culinary frills can eat reasonably cheaply here by
Munich standards.
The international chains with fast food and
pizza and fish are represented in all important places in Munich.
Munich white sausage, here are a few rules to
follow: Consumption as a classic white sausage breakfast only with sweet
mustard, pretzel and wheat beer. The sausage itself is "unpacked" by the
connoisseur (hold it with your fingers and pull the sausage meat out of
the casing with your teeth), but you can also peel the skin off the top
after cutting it in half lengthwise.
Eating the natural casing and
thus cutting it off in the “Bockwurst style” is absolutely frowned upon.
A little philosophy about the techniques used by the diners is part of
the table talk. According to an old tradition, the white sausage is no
longer allowed to hear the church bells ringing at twelve o'clock. This
was due to the production process, because the white sausage is not
boiled, only scalded. With modern food hygiene, this rule is no longer
viewed so narrowly everywhere. When preparing it, it should also be
noted that the sausage is never boiled. In order to prevent them from
bursting, we recommend slow heating (large pot) to around 80°C or
placing the sausages in boiling water and then letting them steep for 15
minutes with the stove switched off.
First class sources are e.g. B.
the butchers Magnus Bauch and Gaßner, both in the slaughterhouse
district in the Isarvorstadt.
The Munich Leberkäse is a popular
Munich snack and probably the Bavarian answer to fast food. At butchers
it is usually sold warm, in thick slices, in a bun with sweet mustard.
There are now also modern variants, such as the pizza liver cheese,
which contains baked cheese, tomatoes and peppers in the meat. Despite
the name, the Munich variant of the specialty traditionally contains
neither cheese nor liver, but rather lean meat, fat, ice cream and
spices. The name is attributed to a loaf for the baking pan.
Wammerl
is smoked, fatty pork belly meat and fried to a crisp.
The Munich
variant of the old Bavarian crown meat (diaphragm) is a snack or a
second breakfast, which is cooked pink with greens in the broth and
served with horseradish (horseradish), mustard, pickles, chives and
bread. In general, crown meat cuisine is also boiled meat cuisine for
offal.
A plug fish is a mackerel skewered on a stick and roasted over
charcoal, the specialty is available in the beer garden and at the
Oktoberfest.
The Prince Regent cake was created in 1886 by the court
confectioner Heinrich Georg Erbshäuser in his confectionery shop in
Maxvorstadt, which still exists today, on the occasion of the 65th
birthday of Prince Regent Luitpold, successor to King Ludwig II. The
cake consists of thin layers of sponge cake with layers of chocolate
buttercream on top of each other and a chocolate icing, the recipe has
remained largely unchanged since then.
Under the Prince Regent there
were still eight layers for the then eight Bavarian administrative
districts, today the Palatinate no longer belongs to Bavaria, so there
are only seven layers. At that time, however, there was already a
similar nine-layer cake made by court confectioner Johann Rottenhöfer
for the nine children of Ludwig I. The Rottenhöfer confectionery shop on
Residenzstraße existed until June 30, 2013 and has since been
permanently closed. Today, the Prinzregententorte is served with coffee,
but at times beer was not uncommon, and that still applies to
traditionalists today.
Munich snack rolls: "Riemisch" (also:
Remische), occasionally "Maurerlaiberl", "Schuastabuam",
"Pfennigmuckerl" are typical Munich rolls or rolls (Northern German:
rolls), traditionally made from a sourdough with a varying proportion of
rye flour (from 20 to 70%) and baked and sprinkled with different
amounts of caraway.
The name of the Remisch comes from the
high-quality bran-free "Remisch flour" for the first and second course
of rye, mason's loaves and Schuastabuam historically belonged to the
hearty second breakfast of craftsmen such as bricklayers and cobblers.
Because of the time-consuming manual production of the dough from rye,
they are only made by a few bakeries in Munich. Depending on the
proportion of rye flour, they can also be kept for the following day.
Sources of supply are (in selection) the still artisanal bakeries Knapp
& R. Little (old town), Brotraum (Schwabing), Brücklmaier (Perlach), the
shops of the Schmidt bread manufacturer and the branches of the Munich
bakery Hofpfisterei.
Furthermore, at every bakery and at almost every
train station kiosk, very popular pretzels can be bought by Munich
residents at any time of the day or night. They are available in a wide
range: pure, as cheese pretzels, sprinkled with poppy seeds or sesame,
as butter pretzels, normal and large (Wiesnbrez'n) and every pretzel
goes with everything. Even supermarkets (Penny, Aldi & Tengelmann etc.)
have them in their range in Munich.
The
occasionally used term "traditional old Munich cuisine" refers to the
metropolitan variant of the Bavarian and rural cuisine, which is
basically rich in pork, with its hearty side dishes, which is then
expanded to include a few main dishes made from veal and beef:
There is calf's head baked or deboned and, for example, with potato
salad, salad or boiled and then as part of the Kronfleisch cuisine (see
above).
Veal knuckles are grilled and consist of the front or hind
leg of the calf.
Calf's feet are also baked, they are the lowest part
of a calf's front or hind leg and have long been a poor man's food.
Munich Sauerbraten is sour beef with a spicy flavor.
Munich plate
meat, also ox meat with horseradish, is boiled boiled fillet of beef
brisket and is sliced and served a little hotter with horseradish or hot
mustard.
Veal sweetbread spleen sausage is up to 10 cm thick sausage
made from veal sweetbread with small pieces of spleen. It is usually
grilled or baked in slices and served with side dishes such as potato
and cucumber salad.
Saures Lüngerl is a ragout of veal lungs in a
sour cream sauce, served with a bread dumpling.
"The sauce that
binds. It babbles together day and week and as soon as you look around,
a year is over. Life as a civil servant would be unthinkable without a
creamy canteen sauce." (The film character of Monaco Franze about life
continuity and the gravy in the police canteen)
Develey was founded in 1845 by Johann Conrad Develey as
a mustard factory in Kaufinger Straße (pedestrian zone). In 1854,
Develey mixed caramelized sugar and a special blend of spices (company
secret) into the mustard, thereby inventing sweet mustard (white sausage
mustard). In 1874 Develey became the "Royal Bavarian Purveyor to the
Court", the company is now based in Unterhaching, south-east of Munich.
Münchner Kindl Senf is an internationally active manufacturer of upscale
sauces (Dirty Harry's BBQ Sauce) and fine mustards (orange mustard,
mango mustard). It originated around 1910 in a butcher's stand at
Munich's Viktualienmarkt, where it is still represented today. The
company is now based in Fürstenfeldbruck.
Burkhof Kaffee was founded
in 1828 by Wilhelm Burkhardt and Wilhelm Imhof in Sandstrasse
(Nymphenburg) as a coffee roasting company. After moving several times
within Munich (Haidhausen, Berg am Laim), the company has had its
headquarters and roastery in Sauerlach, south-east of Munich, since
1992. Burkhof has belonged to the Hamburg company Darboven since 1974,
but is continued as an independent manufacturer and is primarily active
as a supplier in the international upscale gastronomy and hotel
industry.
The Sektkellerei Nymphenburg was founded in Munich in 1955
by Martin Kollar and Stefan Spernath. Today it is based at
Martin-Kollar-Straße 4 (Trudering) and has been part of the
international Sektkellerei Schloss Wachenheim group since 2005, where
the sparkling wine is also produced. In Munich there is also the popular
Café Nymphenburg on the Viktualienmarkt and the wine tent at the
Oktoberfest under the name Nymphenburg.
Munich beer
The roots
of the Munich beer culture are on the one hand the breweries of the
monasteries, which also served their beer to the population and on the
other hand the nationally important Munich (salt) market: A successful
trading day was in one of the inns around Marienplatz and on Sendlinger
Straße completed.
Munich was founded in 1158, the first mention
of Munich brewers in general dates back to 1280, the right to brew wheat
beer for the Heilig-Geist-Spital is documented for 1286, the oldest
documented brewery in Munich is the Anger-Kloster-Bräu, the year is here
1306. Anger-Kloster-Bräu merged with Löwenbräu after various takeovers.
In the year 1400 eleven civil breweries are documented in Munich,
the highest number is 74 breweries around the year 1600.
The
beverage beer as it is understood today was created in the 15th century:
until then, the sometimes dangerous addition of intoxicants such as
deadly nightshade and poppy or herbs such as henbane and daphne was
quite common. In 1447, the Munich brewing regulations stipulated that
only barley, hops and water may be boiled. This regulation is the Munich
Purity Law. In 1516, Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria issued an analogous
ordinance for his entire dominion, it is the Bavarian Purity Law and is
considered the oldest food law regulation in the world that is still
valid today.
The rise of the Munich breweries begins after
secularization around 1803: the monasteries were dissolved, their
breweries privatized, and with the technical progress of
industrialization (Carl von Linde: refrigeration machine from 1871) in
the breweries of the Wilhelminian period, heavily export-oriented large
corporate structures of brewery and related came into being Secondary
trades such as barrel makers and transport as a mirror for the entire
social development in the 19th century, including the social problems
and including the subsequent economic slumps in the two world wars.
Starting in 1872, Löwenbräu AG was the world's first brewery to be a
public limited company and, with almost 1,000 employees, was one of the
largest employers in Munich at times.
At the end of the 20th
century, the Munich brewery landscape, which is still diverse by
international comparison, and therefore "small" companies, became part
of globalization: only the Augustiner is privately owned, the
Hofbräuhaus is state-owned. All other major breweries now have
international "global players" as partners.
The typical Munich
beers, with the exception of the wheat beer, are bottom-fermented:
Thanks to the proximity to the Alps, ice was readily available to cool
the fermentation vats and storage cellars, with the lower fermentation
temperature the yeast sinks, the beer is bottom-fermented, but also
takes longer to ferment ferment through.
The wheat beer is
top-fermented and is brewed with at least 50 percent wheat malt, the
original wort is between 11.5 and 13.5%, the alcohol content is 4.5 to
5.5%.
In the Middle Ages in the Munich area, wheat beer
traditionally always accounted for a very high proportion of the total
beer turnover, until the generally accepted brewing of wheat beer was
banned under Duke Maximilian I of Bavaria against resistance from all
circles. The reason was the emerging wheat beer monopoly, which was sold
dearly as a ducal privilege. The Hofbräuhaus, newly built in 1589, was
then the duke's brewery, which was the only one allowed to brew wheat
beer. Customers were nobility and the fine court, and since then the
beer has had something exclusive. In 1789 the monopoly fell, everyone
was allowed to brew wheat beer again, but later the popularity waned as
a popular drink. Wheat beer only became a fashionable drink again in
modern times, but in all of Germany.
The typical wheat beer tastes
slightly sour, has a little more carbonic acid, the "creamy" taste is
decisive, it is offered by all breweries. The wheat beer is normally
cloudy with yeast, there are light and dark variants, as well as light
and non-alcoholic ones. The Weissbierradler (white beer with lemonade)
is the Russ or Russn. A slice of lemon on the rim of a wheat beer glass
is just as unusual in Munich as a slice of orange on a pilsner glass
elsewhere.
The Munich Helle (lager) is a bottom-fermented beer: It
was brewed for the first time by the Thomasbräu and made popular by the
Spatenbrauerei from 1894, but the other breweries quickly followed, and
today it is the standard in the brewery program of the large breweries.
The Helle is brewed with fine hops, i.e. not too bitter, the alcohol
content is around five percent, so it is also quite well tolerated, it
does not have too much carbon dioxide and is therefore easy to drink. If
you order a "beer" in Munich without being typed, you will usually get a
light beer and not a "pilsner", properly "half" is 0.5 liters, but the
economy version with a glass content of 0.4 liters cannot always be
prevented. In the beer garden there is the whole thing in a beer mug.
Seasonal beers are:
The bottom-fermented Maerzenbier is a light
beer that is brewed in the spring with less carbon dioxide and a little
more original wort (13.0%). The result is a slightly higher alcohol
content of 6.0% and also a longer shelf life: according to the Munich
brewing regulations Since 1539 it was stipulated that beer could only be
brewed from St. Michael's Day (September 29th) to St. George's Day
(April 23rd) due to the risk of fire.
The strong beer (double bock)
is bottom-fermented and has its tradition as a fasting beer in the
Paulaner monastery on Neudeck. It is only served in spring during Lent,
the original wort is at least 18%, the alcohol content is around 7.5%,
the taste is aromatic and strongly malty sweet. The designation
"Salvator beer" has been protected by the Paulaner brewery since the end
of the 19th century. A total of around 120 different names for double
bock beer from various breweries are registered as "-ator beer", many of
which are unused, however. The other types of Munich breweries are
Triumphator (Löwenbräu) and Maximator (Augustiner).
The Oktoberfest
beer is actually a March beer, it was created as a temporary solution
because the summer beer that was common at the Oktoberfest until 1872
had run out.
Literature:
Wolfgang Behringer; Löwenbräu AG
Munich (Hrsg.): Löwenbräu, from the beginnings to the present. Munich:
Süddeutscher Verlag, 1991, ISBN 3-7991-6471-5; 376 pages. extensive
presentation of the history of the brewery and the entire Munich brewing
industry
Astrid Assél, Christian Huber: Munich and the beer. On a
grand beer tour through 850 years of brewing history. Munich: Volk,
2009, ISBN 978-3937200590; 216 pages.
The beer gardens have often been referred to as the actual living
room of Munich residents, as the place where they feel most comfortable,
and that is perhaps not all that wrong.
As soon as the first rays
of the January sun illuminate the Kleinhesseloher See, the most
important thing for a Munich resident is to enjoy the very first beer of
the year outdoors here at the Seehaus, or up on the Olympiaberg in the
Olympia Alm and wrapped up in warm clothing to defy the snow with a
wheat beer. And when in March the hair dryer pushes the temperature mark
to the twenty-degree mark for the first time, all the beer benches are
full in the afternoon. The high point of the beer garden season are the
mild summer nights, when people from Munich spend most of their free
time in the evenings at the beer table and some actually only need their
apartments to sleep. The last fine-weather afternoons in the sun at the
Oktoberfest are a magnificent end to the season, when the people of
Munich can really squint against the low sun over the beer tents on a
beer bench.
The Munich beer gardens have their origins in the
beer cellars of the breweries, which are cooled against the summer heat
by chestnut trees and ice from the nearby mountains. The beer brewed in
winter was stored here, brewing beer was forbidden in summer because of
the risk of fire. It was obvious for the thirsty to get their beer
directly from the source, but this went against the interests of the
competing inns. The inns were able to enforce that nothing to eat was
allowed to be sold in the beer cellars. But this problem was solved very
easily, because people from Munich simply brought the snack with
sausage, cheese, cucumbers and tomatoes, radishes, etc. along with all
accessories such as cutlery, tablecloth, pepper and salt, in a basket,
and that's the way it is still common today (with a few inglorious
exceptions).
This was then regulated by law for the first time in
a decree by Bavaria's King Maximilian I on January 4th, 1812. This date
is considered to be the hour of birth of the beer gardens, which
celebrated their 200th birthday in 2012. The current regulation is the
Bavarian Beer Garden Ordinance in the version of April 20, 1999, here
the exceptions to the opening times permitted for beer gardens are
legally stipulated by the Federal Immission Control Act with the
restrictions, this applies to most of the large Munich beer gardens
which are not located in residential areas , that's at least 29 pieces,
no closing time and the nationwide, statutory closing time regulation
with the so-called cleaning hour between 5 and 6 a.m.: the landlord
determines how long he serves.
The reason for this liberal rule
was the Munich beer garden revolution, an “uprising” by the beer
gardeners in 1995, which originated in the Großhesselohe forestry
industry.
In Munich, a beer garden is generally understood to be
a smaller beer garden that does not have a self-service area and where
you are not allowed to eat your own food. A Freischank area is a beer
garden with an area used for gastronomy on public property. Here, too,
after two city council resolutions on immission control law from 2001
and 2002, an operating time until 11 p.m. (instead of 10 p.m.) applies.
Each of Munich's beer gardens has its own audience and thus its own
character. There are more detailed lists in the districts, here are only
examples of the larger and most interesting beer gardens in the city:
Downtown:
Beer garden Viktualienmarkt the "most central" beer
garden, the Munich breweries alternate as beer suppliers every 6 weeks;
1100 seats under chestnut and acacia trees.
Parkcafe beer garden,
centrally located in the old botanical garden and almost at the main
train station, 2000 seats;
Hofbräuhaus beer garden, 400 seats in a
quiet inner courtyard under chestnut trees.
Augustinerkeller, close
to the train station directly at the high-rise building of the Bavarian
Radio, self-service area, 5000 seats under chestnut trees, children's
playground;
In the East:
Hofbräukeller on Wiener Platz in
Haidhausen, familiar, old-Munich atmosphere, beer garden with 1,700
seats and large self-service area under ancient chestnut trees.
Paulaner am Nockherberg beer garden with approx. 1500 seats,
self-service area.
In the North:
In the English Garden /
Schwabing:
Chinese Tower, "second largest" Munich beer garden, with
an audience of Munich residents, Munich bohemians and tourists from all
over the world, 7000 seats.
Seehaus am Kleinhesseloher See, almost on
the Mittlerer Ring, fairly young and chic crowd, 2,500 seats.
Aumeister, former Royal Hunters' House (built in 1810) in the northern
part of the English Garden and accordingly slightly "sophisticated",
3000 seats.
At Lake Lechenau:
Lake beer garden Lerchenau, 1200
seats
In the West:
Hirschgarten: certainly not only Munich's
largest beer garden near the Nymphenburg Palace in
Neuhausen-Nymphenburg, 8000 seats;
In the south:
Zum Flaucher
on a gravel island in Thalkirchen in the Isar floodplains, 2000 seats,
open in summer and winter when the weather is nice;
Großhesselohe
forestry near Grünwald and Pullach an der Isar, also referred to as WaWi
for short; with live jazz music, rather young audience, 2500 seats;
large children's playground;
In 1995, forest management was also the
starting point of the Munich beer garden revolution, a protest
demonstration against shorter closing times. As a result, the curfew in
the Bavarian beer garden ordinance was set at 11 p.m.
Exotic and
insider tips
In addition to the 'classic' gastronomy and large
Bavarian beer gardens and taverns, Munich also has a wide range of
exotic culinary facilities and insider tips to offer. An absolute
highlight in Maxvorstadt is Takumi (Heßstr. 71, 80798 Munich), a
Japanese ramen shop that is second to none.
Upscale
181 -
First (Gourmet Restaurant), Spiridon-Louis-Ring 7, 80809 Munich (at the
top of the Olympic Tower). Tel.: +49 89 350948 181. The head chef at
Munich's highest restaurant is Otto Koch, a Gault Millau star for his
"inventive cuisine" and for "local dishes with a facelift". Open: Mon -
Fri from 7 p.m.; Sat., Sun., public holidays: day off.
Dallmayr,
Dienerstr. 14. Tel: (0)89 2135100. Creative contemporary French cuisine.
Features: Michelin 1*, French cuisine. Open: Tue-Fri 19:00-00:00 and Sat
12:00-13:30 and 19:00-00:00. Price: €20 to €90.
Dining room, Am
Olympiapark 1, BMW World, 80809 Munich (in the BMW World). Tel.: +49 89
358 99 18 14. BMW Limousine Service. The head chef has been Bobby
Bräuer, who was born in Munich, since the summer of 2013. He was
“Austrian Chef of the Year” at Gault Millau in 2012 and was still active
in Kitzbühel at the time. One star at Gault Millau since November 2013.
There is classic French cuisine with Mediterranean and regional
influences. Open: Tue–Sat from 6 p.m.
Tantris, Johann-Fichte-Str. 7.
Tel: (0)89 3619590. Attributes: Michelin 1*, French cuisine. Open:
Tue-Sat 12:00-13:30 and 18:30-21:30. Price: €23 to €150.
Schuhbecks
in the Südtiroler Stuben, Platzl 6. Tel.: (0)89 2166900. Traditional
classic cuisine. Feature: Michelin 1*. Open: Tue-Sat 12:00-14:30 and
18:00-00:00. Price: from €65.
Gourmet Restaurant Königshof,
Karlsplatz 25. Tel.: (0)89 551366142. Fine traditional classic cuisine.
Feature: Michelin 1*. Open: Tue-Sat 12:00-15:00 and 19:00-22:00. Price:
€18 to €100.
Atelier, Promenadeplatz 2. Tel: (0)89 2120743. Creative
modern cuisine. Feature: Michelin 1*. Open: Tues - Sat 18:00 - 00:00.
Price: from €105.
Les Deux, Maffeistrasse 3A. Tel: (0)89 710407373.
Creative fine contemporary cuisine. Feature: Michelin 1*. Open: Mon-Sat
12:00-14:00 and 18:30-21:00. Price: €14 to €89.
Acquarello,
Mühlbaurstr. 36. Tel: (0)89 4704848. Attributes: Michelin 1*, Italian
cuisine. Open: Mon-Fri 12:00-14:00 and 18:00-22:00, Sat + Sun
18:00-22:00. Price: €49 to €79.
Schweiger², Lilienstr. 6. Tel: (0)89
44429082. Attributes: Michelin 1*, French cuisine. Open: Mon-Fri
18:00-1:00. Price: from €99.
Theatre
The major theaters in Munich, more information about the
theaters can be found in the districts.
The big stages in the old
town are the National Theater, the Kammerspiele and the Cuvilliés
Theater.
Deutsches Theater: international shows and musicals,
Munich's second largest stage in Ludwigsvorstadt;
The Staatstheater
am Gärtnerplatz was founded in 1865 in Munich's Isarvorstadt on a
private initiative as the "Actien-Volkstheater", but then nationalized
by King Ludwig II as the third court stage due to financial
difficulties. The schedule mainly includes operettas and operas. The
State Theater is located at Gärtnerplatz 3 in the Isarvorstadt;
The
Prince Regent Theater is named after Prince Regent Luitpold and is also
the seat of the Bavarian Theater Academy, major opera and musical
productions are shown. The theater is located in the district of
Munich/Bogenhausen on Prinzregentenplatz;
The Gasteig is a cultural
center with a philharmonic hall and several event halls. It also houses
the University of Music and Theater, the Munich City Library and the
Munich Adult Education Center. It is located in the district of
Haidhausen on Rosenheimer Straße with a direct S-Bahn connection (stop:
Rosenheimer Platz). Closed for at least 5 years since 2021 due to
general renovation.
If Munich is not enough for you, there are
also some interesting cinemas in the surrounding area. The Munich
Documentary Film Festival, Germany's largest festival for feature-length
documentary films, and the Munich Film Festival, the second-largest film
festival in Germany, take place in Munich every spring. See also the
Regular Events section.
There is no curfew in Munich;
there is a “cleaning hour” between five and six in the morning for
restaurants. However, there are venues such as large discotheques that
are exempt from this lockdown period. In Munich there are many ways to
enjoy the night, in the following a summarized overview of the most
important hotspots, more detailed information can be found in the
respective district articles.
There is a large selection of
evening entertainment from clubs, bars and pubs in the old town:
Munich's celebration banana in the city center, also just celebration
mile or party mile, is the arch of the old town ring from Sendlinger Tor
with Sonnenstraße via Stachus to Maximiliansplatz. A number of
discotheques, bars and clubs have concentrated here in recent years.
In Schwabing, once the legendary center of Munich nightlife, the
number of clubs and pubs has declined sharply in recent decades due to
gentrification. In the area around Leopoldstraße and Münchner Freiheit
you can still find a selection of bars and pubs. Many students are now
instead in the pubs in the nearby university district in Maxvorstadt.
The importance of Ludwigsvorstadt-Isarvorstadt for Munich's
nightlife has grown: there are cafes and pubs mainly in the
Isarvorstadt, especially around Müllerstraße, and the pink scene also
meets in the pubs on Gärtnerplatz and Glockenbachviertel. Clubs such as
Blitz and, in summer, several beach bars are now also located on Museum
Island.
For decades, Europe's largest party area was located in
Berg a am Laim and near the Ostbahnhof, first with the Kunstpark Ost and
then its now closed successors Kultfabrik and Optimolwerken with dozens
of clubs and bars. The area is currently being transformed into the
so-called Werksviertel, but a small number of new and alternative bars
have recently emerged. In the nearby Wilhelminian district of
Haidhausen, there is a good selection of entertainment options with an
extensive pub and restaurant scene.
There is also a lot going on
at night in Neuhausen in the west of the city: in addition to the two
event centers "Backstage" and "Freiheiz" (see event locations below)
there is also a lively pub scene.
The newest hotspot of Munich
nightlife can be found in the north of Sendling. Here you will find a
number of spectacular alternative cultural projects around the cattle
yard, such as the signalman Thiel, the Wannda Circus, the party ship
Alte Utting or nightclubs like the Gruam.
In
recent years, some well-known clubs such as the MMA Club or the Bob
Beaman have had to close, but Munich still has a well-developed techno
scene to offer:
1 Signalman Thiel, Viehhof, Tumblingerstrasse 29,
80333 Munich. Email: info@bahnwaerterthiel.de wikipediacommons. Techno
club and alternative cultural center in a container castle made of
shipping containers and several discarded subway railcars.
2 Blitz
Club, Museum Island 1, via Ludwigsbrücke. Email: kontakt@blitz.club
wikipediacommonstwitter. Techno club in an impressive location on Museum
Island and with an international DJ line-up.
3 Charlie,
Schyrenstrasse 8. Email: br@charl.ie. Small basement club with top-class
DJ bookings.
4 Drunken Monkey, Lenbachplatz 1 facebook. Electro and
Afterhour Club.
5 Cheshire Cat, Schwanthalerstrasse 2 facebook.
Techno club with its own (cat) scene, once located in the Optimol works,
since 2019 in Schwanthalerstraße 2.
6 Harry Klein, Sonnenstr. 8, at
the stachus. Email: info@harrykleinclub.de wikipediacommons. One of the
most traditional techno clubs in Munich with an international line-up
and known for its live mixed visuals.
7 Pacha, Maximiliansplatz 5.
Munich branch of the club chain from Ibiza.
8 Palais, Arnulfstraße
16. Email: info@palaisclub.de. One of the most famous after-hours clubs
in Munich.
9 Pathos, Dachauer Str. 112. Techno parties in a former
ammunition factory.
10 Pimpernel, Müllerstr. 56. Email:
info@pimpernel.de. Traditional venue of the house and after-hour scene.
11 Rote Sonne, Maximiliansplatz 5. Email: info@rote-sonne.com
wikipediacommons. Another traditional techno club with top-class DJ
bookings.
Clubs with a mixed musical program
Well-known clubs
with a mixed musical program (electro, house, indie, rock, hip-hop) are:
12 Alte Utting, Lagerhausstraße 15. Email: info@alte-utting.de
wikipediacommons. Party ship on Lagerhausstraße with live concerts,
disco in the engine room and a spectacular view.
Backstage,
Reitknechtstr. 6. Traditional location for alternative styles of music
and rock.
Call Me Drella, Maximiliansplatz 5.
13 Corleone,
Sendlinger-Tor-Platz 7. Email: mail@corleone.cc. Small bar club with
electro DJs or live music.
Outdoor heating hall,
Rainer-Werner-Fassbinderplatz 1. Club nights and concerts in a former
thermal power station.
14 Goose Elsewhere. Email:
info@gansamwasser.de. There are regular concerts, cultural programs and
live DJs in the wooden witch's house.
15 Goldener Reiter,
Theklastraße 1. Email: goldener.reiter.munich@gmail.com facebook. Disco,
funk, electro in a minimalistically furnished basement club.
16 Minna
Thiel, Bernd-Eichinger-Platz 1. Email: gastro@minnathiel.de facebook.
Concerts and cabaret in a rail bus.
Muffatwerk, Zellstr. 4. The indie
club Ampere.info is also popular here
P1, Prinzregentenstraße 1.
Nobel club, used to be the meeting point of Munich's chic crowd.
Strom, Lindwurmstr. 88. Concerts from indie rock to post-disco punk.
17 Sugar Mountain, Helfenriederstrasse 12. Email:
hello@sugarmountain-munich.com. Subculture location with film festivals,
concerts, exhibitions and warehouse raves in a former concrete plant.
Tonhalle, Grafinger Straße 6. Concerts in a traditional location in the
Werksviertel.
18 Wanna Circus. Email: info@wannda.de. Techno club
nights or indie rock in circus tents.
A party bus with a bar runs
half the night between the venues of various party areas, the main
station, Lenbachplatz, the Viktualienmarkt and Grafing (note various
discounts with bus tickets!).
Night owls can get a good overview
of current events in city magazines such as In München, which are
available free of charge in many bars and restaurants and in most
cinemas. "Prinz" isn't necessarily better for €1, but it's rarely sold
out at kiosks.
Venues for concerts
The large event centers for
concerts / event locations are usually more or less far from the city
center. Further information on event centers is also available from the
districts.
The Muffathalle (cultural center with a
multidisciplinary program, up to 1,200 people) and the municipal
cultural center in Gasteig with the Philharmonie (2,400 fixed seats) are
located near the city center and on the Isar.
The building of the
Cirkus Krone (3000 seats, Maxvorstadt) is still in the west of the city
center and within the Mittlerer Ring (3,000 seats, Maxvorstadt): in
summer the circus is on the road, and concerts, lectures and sporting
events then take place in the Krone building.
The Oympiahalle is
Munich's largest event hall (up to 12,000 people seated, up to 15,000
without seats) and is located in the north of the city center in the
Olympic Park. Here, from music to sports and shows, the really big and
internationally renowned names are the guests. Adjacent to the Olympic
Hall is the subterranean Small Olympic Hall (up to 3600 visitors without
seats).
The Zenith area with the Zenith Hall (up to 6000 people) is
located in Freimann, here there is mainly modern music.
The culture
and event center Backstage is located west of the city center in
Neuhausen, where there are music events of the harder kind. The capacity
is about 1200 people for the "Werk" and about 600 people for the
"Halle". Also in Neuhausen is the freiheiz (theatre, cabaret and music,
capacity up to 800 people).
In the BMW World in Milbertshofen, north
of the city center and adjacent to the Olympic Park, there is also a
regular program of concerts with a focus on the classical sector.
Munich has the highest hotel prices in Germany, the average room
price per night is around €109 (as of 2013). In general, it should be
noted that in the high season, i.e. the trade fair times and the
Oktoberfest, the accommodation options are often fully booked very
early. During the Oktoberfest, many establishments have increased prices
again.
The area around the main train station in Ludwigsvorstadt
has the highest density of hotels in the city center. There are numerous
chain hotels as well as many privately run hotels. More and more new
buildings are also to be found towards the outskirts.
The Munich
youth hostels are located in Neuhausen and in Thalkirchen. The youth
hostel of the Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband in the center of
Ludwigsvorstadt and the youth hostel Haus International in
Schwabing/West should also be mentioned here. The German hostel group
A&O is also represented in Munich with three houses (main station, Laim,
Hackerbrücke).
Campsites are located in Thalkirchen and
Obermenzing.
With the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten, the Hotel
Bayerischer Hof and the Charles Hotel and several others, including a
Mandarin Oriental, Munich also has several luxury hotels with absolute
top prices in a national comparison.
For more accommodation
options, see the boroughs in the Accommodation section.
The
comprehensive presentation of accommodation in Munich on the official
Internet portal for Munich.
Statistics on the distribution of
accommodation establishments (pdf) in the Munich districts (according to
the Bavarian State Office for Statistics for the year 2011).
Munich is a university city. The venerable Ludwig Maximilian
University of Munich and the Technical University of Munich are located
here. The departments of both universities are not located on one
campus, but in the city center in Maxvorstadt and also scattered
throughout the city (mostly along the U6).
There is also a film
school in Munich, a journalism school, a Bundeswehr university and many
other training and further education institutions for media, art,
business, etc.
The State Library is so popular for studying that
you can hardly get a desk space during exams.
For more detailed
information about Munich's universities and colleges, see the Munich
university district, that's Maxvorstadt.
In addition to the large
number of elementary schools, junior high schools and secondary schools,
there is also a large number of high schools. These are each under
municipal and state care.
Munich is one of the cities in Germany with the highest economic
power and has experienced strong immigration for decades due to the
large number of jobs on offer. The unemployment rate is low by German
and Bavarian standards and was only 4.4 percent in October 2015.
More information about job offers is available from the employment
agency.
The police headquarters in Munich is located in the old town next to
the Michaelskirche in the pedestrian zone;
general security
According to the police crime statistics (PKS) for 2021, Munich is
one of the safest German cities in Germany. The police registered 5,194
crimes per 100,000 inhabitants; the number of registered crimes has been
declining for years.[2]
Even in deprived areas such as
Hasenbergl, Westend and above all Neuperlach, it is relatively safe to
move around the streets at night. Of course, the subjective feeling of
security that quickly arises in Munich should not tempt anyone to become
careless. But if you carry your rucksack firmly on your body, keep an
eye on your handbag and whose wallet doesn't almost fall out of your
trouser pocket, you can spend a completely carefree time in the Bavarian
state capital.
Public transport safety
For a big city like
Munich, the security situation in public transport is almost excellent.
Violent incidents, as they are the order of the day in other cities, are
extremely rare here. B. in 2007 are the regrettable exception, since the
terrorist attacks on July 7, 2005 in London, the surveillance measures
and security facilities have been further expanded.
Alcohol
consumption is prohibited throughout the MVV network. All U-Bahn and
S-Bahn stations in the Munich area are under video surveillance.
Emergency pillars with an emergency call have now been set up at many
train stations, enabling direct voice contact with the subway operations
center (UBZ) in the MVG operations center. There is an emergency plan
with evacuation measures for each station, and automatic emergency
generators are installed for the tunnel and station lighting. Battery
operation of the lighting is also possible inside the trains and at the
stations.
Security at the Oktoberfest
Pickpocketing is the
biggest security risk for unsuspecting tourists during the Oktoberfest.
This not only applies to the Wiesn itself, but wherever large numbers of
people gather, including the pedestrian zone at Marienplatz.
For
more see the Oktoberfest article, section Safety at the Wiesn.
Munich has numerous public and private clinics. Listing them would go
beyond the scope here, so only the two main buildings of the
universities are mentioned.
Klinikum Großhadern (Munich
University Hospital): Take the U-Bahn line 6 to the last stop Klinikum
Großhadern or bus 56 (Klinikum Ost stop), 266 or 269 (Klinikum
Großhadern stop)
Klinikum Rechts der Isar (TUM): Ismaninger Str. 22;
81675 Munich; Switchboard: 089 4140-1; Subway Max-Weber-Platz line U4/
U5; Tram Max-Weber-Platz line 18, 19; Bus Max-Weber-Platz line 190, 191
Important phone number:
general emergency services a list of
medical and dental emergency services in Munich
Pharmacy emergency
service: 089/ 59 44 75
Poison emergency number (24 hours)
Toxicological department of the II. Medical Clinic: 089/ 1 92 40
Dental emergency service Munich mediation (A&V e.V.) 089-30005515
Dental emergency service: 089/ 72 330-93 or -94; 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.,
tel. 24-hour announcement service;
Central private dental emergency
service: 089/ 51 71 76 98; 7 days on call, 24 hour operator;
On-call
hotline for dental service (emergency service): 01805/ 19 13 13
Naturopath emergency service: 089/ 55 55 40 and 089/ 50 30 50;
Telephone counseling: Catholic: 0800/ 11 10 222, Protestant: 0800/ 11 10
111;
Mobile psychiatric crisis service: 089/ 72 95 96-0;
Women's
emergency number: 089/ 76 37 37;
Youth hotline: 0800/ 111 03 33;
Pediatric emergency service: 089/ 30 680;
Animal clinic: 089/ 21 800;
Veterinary emergency service: 089/ 29 45 28 (weekends only);
"Not
sick at all is not healthy either" (Karl Valentin)
services and addresses
Munich Tourism, Sendlinger Str. 1,
80331 Munich. Tel.: +49 89 23 39 65 00, fax: +49 89 23 30 233, e-mail:
tourismus@muenchen.de.
Opening hours of the tourist information,
there are extensive information leaflets and brochures, not only about
Munich:
Main train station, Bahnhofplatz 2, Mon-Sat 9 a.m. - 8 p.m.,
Sunday 10 a.m. - 6 p.m
New Town Hall, Marienplatz 8, Mon-Fri
10am-8pm, Sat 10am-4pm
Munich family pass: An offer from the city of
Munich to families from Munich and the neighboring districts (Dachau,
Ebersberg, Freising, Munich and Starnberg): The pass is valid for two
adults and up to four children up to the age of 17 and costs 6.- €,
there are numerous discounts and vouchers, it is issued by the city
information, among others. There is a free family pass for families with
more than four children.
Munich City Library (Central Library Am
Gasteig), Rosenheimer Str. 5, 81667 Munich (various events, including
author readings, slide shows and film series). Phone: +49 89 480 98
-3313. Open: Mon-Fri 10 a.m. - 7 p.m., Sat 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
The city
library also maintains numerous branches in the districts, as well as
the literary archive Monacensia (Bogenhausen).
Youth Information
Center Munich (JIZ), Sendlinger Straße 7, 80331 Munich. Tel.: +49 (0)89
51 41 06 60, fax: +49 (0) 89 51 41 06 96. separate information folder on
the subject of staying overnight in Munich.
Location of the Munich
city administration (also for subway, municipal bus, tram), Ötztaler
Str. 17, rear building (U 6, Harras or Partnachplatz; bus 134,
Ortlerstraße; S7, S20 and S27, Harras). Tel.: +49 (0)89 23 300. Open:
Mon-Thu 8:00-12:00, Tue 8:00-12:00, 14:00-18:30, Fri 7:00-12:00 .
Source of the Deutsche Bahn AG (also for S-Bahn; in Munich Central
Station). Tel.: +49 (0)89 1308-6664, (0)1805 99 05 99 (lost and found
service hotline).
Lost and found office during the Oktoberfest:
Branch of the municipal lost and found office in the administration yard
on the Theresienwiese for all lost property on the Oktoberfest grounds.
Opening times (only during the Oktoberfest): Mon-Sun: 12.30 p.m. to
11.00 p.m.;
Legal emergency service (criminal matters) 0171-532 810 4
Traffic Police Inspectorate Traffic Accident Recording, Tegernseer
Landstraße 210, 81549 Munich. Phone: +49 89 6216-0.
Munich
barrier-free
See also: Accessibility in public transport (subway,
S-Bahn, tram, buses)
www.muenchen.de Website of the official
tourism office for barrier-free travel.
www.muenchen-tourismus-barrierefrei.de Page of the Disabled Advisory
Board of the Tourism Working Group
Language
Even if there are
rumors to the contrary, relatively clear High German is generally spoken
in Munich. Due to the decades-long influx of the so-called "Zuagroastn"
("those who were drawn to it") from all corners of Germany, the "Munich
dialect" has become more and more watered down. Therefore, in principle,
there should be no dialect-related communication difficulties. Of
course, according to the Bavarian language, there are a few
peculiarities.
As a foreigner, you should refrain from trying to
speak Bavarian. Firstly, it sounds terrible and secondly, the locals
will immediately expose you. However, you can also make a fool of
yourself if you order a roll in a bakery or a wheat beer in a
restaurant. Bavarian purists bother themselves with the North German
Tschüss and prefer the South German/Italian Ciao (Tschau) here. As a
rule you can make it: As long as you don't bend your tongue, you can use
Bavarian designations. If you try to imitate the tone of the dialect or
speak whole sentences, you quickly put your foot in it. Incidentally,
the population from the surrounding area describes the people of Munich
themselves as "Stooderer" (from the city) and sometimes even as
"Stadtprissn", because of the sometimes strongly distorted atypical
Bavarian manners.
daily newspapers
Newspapers with a local
section for Munich and information on current affairs are: the
"Süddeutsche Zeitung", "Münchner Merkur", "Tagezeitung tz" and the
evening newspaper "AZ". There is a city edition of the Bild newspaper.
various
Dogs: Large dogs (more than 50 centimeters at the
shoulder) may, according to an ordinance by the district administration
department of the city (spring 2013), be allowed on subways, suburban
trains and trams, on buses, in pedestrian zones and within the old town
ring road and also in the vicinity of playgrounds only at the be led on
a leash. There is no muzzle requirement in Munich.
Munich offers
full coverage through various mobile networks. There are numerous
Internet cafes and call shops in the city (especially near the main
train station). The central post office is also near the main train
station; Address: Arnulfstr. 32; 80335 Munich.
An overview of the
various private providers of free WiFi in Munich can be found at
www.hotspot-muenchen.de.
A public free WLAN city network is
currently (spring 2013) only being set up in Munich.
The name Munich is usually interpreted as "with the monks". The name
is first mentioned as forum apud Munichen in the Augsburg arbitration of
June 14, 1158 by Emperor Friedrich I. Munichen is the dative plural of
Old High German munih or Middle High German mün(e)ch, the forerunner of
New High German Mönch.
Before the founding of the city, there was
said to have been a settlement of monks here. Archaeological finds have
not been able to confirm that this was on the Petersbergl, as is often
claimed. According to another hypothesis, the eponymous monks'
settlement (Klosterhof Schäftlarn) was on the site of today's
Michaelskirche. An earlier assumed connection to the Tegernsee monastery
has been disproved for some time.
It is not certain whether a
monastic settlement existed when Munich was founded. It is also possible
that munichen was already a fixed place name at that time, which in turn
went back to an earlier monastic settlement that no longer existed.
Occasionally it was also doubted that the name munichen refers to a
monastic settlement at all.
The city's medieval Latin name is
Monacum, adjective monacensis; also Monachia or Monachium are attested.
Munich has different names in other languages: The city is called
Munich in French and English (each with different pronunciation), in
Spanish Múnich, in Portuguese Munique, in Italian Monaco (di Baviera)
("di Baviera" to distinguish from Monaco in the same name Principality),
in Czech Mnichov and in Polish Monachium.
The foothills of the Alps between the Limestone Alps and the Danube, where Munich is also located, lie on a deep subsidence basin that has been filled in for millions of years, mainly by erosion from the Alps. In the Tertiary, mostly sand and boulders were deposited there by rivers from the Alps. During the subsequent ice ages, the last of which ended around 10,000 years ago, large streams of glaciers and meltwater formed in the Alps, leaving moraine hills and gravel plains in the foothills of the Alps. The 55 km wide Munich gravel plain, which starts at the end moraines of the Isarvorland glacier, is a sloping plain with a height difference of 300 meters between Holzkirchen in the south and Moosburg in the north, whose surface forms are primarily formed by the gravel from the Würm ice age. In the south of the plain, the rivers, especially the Isar, cut deeply. As in the south of Munich, there are more forests on these gravel soils, such as the Perlacher Forst and the Forstenrieder Park, also because the groundwater level is relatively low here. In the north of the city, on the other hand, where the water table is close to the surface, there are large fens, such as the Dachauer Moos in the north-west and the Erdinger Moos in the north-east. See also: Munich Green Belt.
The average altitude is 519 m above sea level. NN. The highest point in Munich is on the southernmost edge of the city in the district of Solln. It is located about 600 meters south of the Warnberg estate (about 579 m above sea level. NHN) directly south of two soccer fields located at the edge of the forest of Forstenrieder Park at 580.5 m above sea level. NHN. The Olympiaberg is only a little lower at 565.1 m above sea level, which is relatively close to the center. The lowest point is near the extreme northern city limits in the Feldmoching district on the Oberschleißheim regatta course, east of the Schwarzholzl nature reserve and forest area, which is around 480 m above sea level. NHN is located. From this data, there is a height difference of about 100 meters in the urban area, but due to the location on a plateau, the height differences within the built-up urban area are rather small.
The Isar flows through the city area over a length of 13.7 km from
south-west to north-east, parallel to it runs the Isar works canal as
far as Sendling. The Museum Island with the Deutsches Museum is in the
Isar, and the Prater Island is in the immediate vicinity downstream. In
the southern parts of the city, the Isar has cut heavily into the gravel
plain, with steep edges on both sides. The lower-lying district of
Thalkirchen is located where the left part of the terrain separates from
the Isar. The step can be seen even more clearly in Sendling and on the
western side of the Theresienwiese. On the right bank of the Isar, the
Tierpark and the district of Au lie below the escarpment, which
approaches the river again near the city center (Gasteig = gacher
[steep] climb; ramps at the Maximilianeum and the Friedensengel that are
prominent in terms of urban planning), before the difference in height
gradually increases in the northern district of Oberföhring loses.
Other watercourses are the Würm, which flows through western Munich
coming from Lake Starnberg, the Hachinger Bach, which enters the city
area in the southeast near Perlach and continues underground north of
Neuperlach, as well as a number of city streams branching off the Isar,
such as the Eisbach and the Auer Mühlbach.
Lakes in the Munich
city area include the Kleinhesseloher See in the English Garden, the
Badenburg Lake and the Pagodenburg Lake in the Nymphenburg Park, the
Olympiasee, the Nadisee, the Schwabinger See, the Dreiseenplatte with
Lerchenauer, Fasanerie and Feldmochinger See in the north and west the
Langwieder See and the Lußsee, which belong to the Langwieder
Seenplatte. In the south, near the left bank of the Isar, is the
Hinterbrühler See. In the course of the Federal Horticultural Show 2005,
the Riemer See was created in the east.
The total area of Munich is 310.7191 square kilometers. Of this, 44.6 percent are buildings and associated open spaces, 17.0 percent traffic areas, 14.7 percent agricultural areas, 15.7 percent recreational areas, 4.4 percent forest areas and 1.5 percent water areas. In addition to the areas allocated to buildings, the proportion of recreational areas, forest and water areas has increased since 2007, while the proportion of traffic and agricultural areas has decreased. The changes over this period were less than one percent, the strongest absolute change (0.8 percent of the city area) affected agriculture. The relative increase in water areas by around 14 percent was the largest (as of December 31, 2019). The city boundary covers 118.9 kilometers. The largest extension of the urban area is 20.7 kilometers from north to south and 26.9 kilometers from east to west.
Like other large cities, Munich has repeatedly expanded through the incorporation of surrounding, formerly independent, smaller towns and communities. In Munich, these incorporations took place between 1853 and 1942 in several phases. The few enlargements of the urban area before 1854 did not take place through incorporations, but through real expansion of the urban area at the expense of the surrounding area, which was usually not populated. After the Second World War, no more actual incorporations took place, but there were still three enlargements of the urban area at the expense of neighboring communities without their cancellation (1954, 1962, 1967). Conversely, in 1951 a part that had only been incorporated in 1942 was spun off from the city area.
The
urban area is not divided into districts in the sense of municipal law,
but - exclusively - into urban districts. Their number had risen to 41
by the Second World War and was reduced to the current number of 25
during reorganization in 1992 and 1996. In everyday use, the people of
Munich tend to refer to the historically grown districts and quarters.
The 25 districts are divided into a total of 105 district parts for
statistical purposes. Below the borough subdivision level are the 475
borough quarters. These are broken down into building blocks at the
lowest level. A building block is a spatially connected area of land
that is bounded on all sides by roads, paths, railway lines,
watercourses or other prominent topographical lines and is not cut
through. The building blocks have no names, and only half of the borough
neighborhoods (237 out of 475) have a name.
As of January 1,
2011, the district parts and district quarters were reorganized.
Due to its location on the Munich gravel plain, the urban area of
Munich is generally well ventilated compared to other cities with a
basin location and is therefore less susceptible to smog.
The
neighboring Alps exert a strong influence on Munich's climate: in
northerly areas, there is a risk of heavy and often long-lasting
downpours.
In the summer months, the afternoon thunderstorms are
also notorious, sometimes accompanied by heavy hailstorms, moving in
from the neighboring Upper Bavarian lakes to the south-west as far as
Munich.
A special weather phenomenon in Munich and the foothills
of the Alps is the Föhn: a Mediterranean low creates dry, mildly warm
weather on the north side of the Alps, especially in spring and autumn,
with far-reaching views, while the rest of Bavaria is covered by clouds.
For some people, the hair dryer causes symptoms such as headaches with a
bad mood or tiredness. These sensitivities often only arise in those
affected after they have been in the region for several years, and
visitors are rarely affected.
Some key data on the Munich
climate:
Annual average relative humidity: 79%
Rainfall : 959 mm
per year
Average annual temperature: 8°C
Average summer
temperature: 11.9°C
Average winter temperature: −1.5°C
Measured
maximum temperature (10 years): +34°C
measured minimum temperature
(10 years): −34°C
"Everyone talks about the weather, but nobody does
anything about it." (Karl Valentin);
In Munich, the general trend of temperature warming by about one
degree Celsius of the mean annual temperature in Germany over the last
120 years can also be observed. In November 2016, the Plenary Assembly
of the City Council decided that an increase in average temperature, an
increase in heat extremes, an increase in the number of hot days and
nights above 20 degrees Celsius (tropical nights), a change in
precipitation patterns, and an increase in local heavy rain events
belong to the climate changes to be expected. Against this background,
the city administration initiated a study via the Department for Health
and Environment (RGU) in cooperation with the German Weather Service
(DWD), which is intended to determine local weather data in this
context. The data are to be incorporated into the design of a concept
for measures to adapt to climate change in the state capital of Munich
and the Integrated Action Program for Climate Protection in Munich
(IHKM), which, among other things, will make decisions on questions of
settlement structure and density, building and greening or a
well-functioning should control air exchange in the big city.
In
December 2019, the Munich City Council decided on the climate emergency
for Munich and at the same time commissioned the city administration to
develop an action plan on how the goal of climate neutrality in the city
of Munich by 2035 can be achieved. Contrary to the climate emergency in
Munich, the members of the social committee, who are members of the
board of trustees of the Heiliggeistspital Foundation, voted on May 20,
2021 for further forest clearing in the forest box. In May 2021, people
protested for the forest box. A vigil and repeated tree houses were
erected and cleared by the police.
Munich has a number of nature and landscape protection areas
distributed throughout the city as well as adjacent to it. There is also
the geotope Aubinger Lohe (No. 162R001).
nature reserves
There
are four nature reserves in Munich:
Allach blaze (NSG-00573.01)
Armored meadow and hardwood (NSG-00611.01)
Blackwood (NSG-00460.01)
Southern Fröttmaninger Heide (NSG-00100.134)
landscape protection
areas
There are 20 landscape protection areas in Munich, for example:
Langwie Motorway Lake (LSG-00120.01)
Aubinger Lohe and Moosschwaige
(LSG-00120.02)
Allach Forest (LSG-00120.06)
Nasturtium wood
(LSG-00120.07)
Isar meadows (LSG-00120.09)
Forest cemetery as well
as castle and castle park Fürstenried (LSG-00120.15)
Deer Garden
(LSG-00120.16)
Nymphenburg with canal and park remains in the
northwest (LSG-00588.01)
Forstenrieder Park (The current district of
Forstenried was incorporated in 1912 (district 19). The forest lies
outside the city limits in an unincorporated area)
Forest box
(LSG-00114.01)
Perlacher and Grünwalder Forest (LSG-00534.01)
See
also the lists of nature reserves, landscape protection areas and FFH
areas in the city of Munich and the Munich green belt.
The legally permitted limit of 40 μg/m³ for air pollution caused by harmful nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is clearly exceeded in Munich. Motor vehicles are the main cause of nitrogen dioxide pollution, and diesel vehicles in particular. In October 2012, the Bavarian Administrative Court legally obliged the Free State of Bavaria to revise the clean air plan. Since 2011, the value has been reduced from 85 μg/m³ to 78 μg/m³ in 2017. The value thus remains at a high level. In 2017, Munich became the city with the highest nitrogen dioxide pollution in Germany for the first time. In 2018, Munich was still the city with the third highest nitrogen dioxide pollution nationwide.
The flora and fauna of Munich belong to the Holarctic region. The
city's area would naturally be mostly covered by forests, with
beech-dominated mixed forests predominating. However, about a quarter of
the historically documented native plant species are already extinct
today. Currently, 1,631 species have been recorded by the Flora Munich
Group, of which around 25 percent are new residents and did not
originally occur in the city area. The Nymphenburg Park is particularly
well recorded and rich in species, with 662 species the highest number
of species per grid field to date. A total of 2034 plant species have
been documented in the Munich city area, of which 1182 species are
native. In the meantime, however, the number has started to increase
again. Climate change is also changing the flora of the city.
In
Munich, a tree protection ordinance protects trees with a trunk
circumference of 80 cm and more (measured at 1 m above the ground). In
landscape protection areas, on the other hand, a landscape protection
ordinance protects all trees and shrubs.
The Bavarian dwarf snail is only found in Munich. The species was
discovered in the 1980s.
The so-called city pigeons split the
city society through the pollution they cause. The state capital of
Munich is trying to contribute to reconciliation with a comprehensive
concept ranging from public relations work and advice to setting up
pigeon houses.
According to the city's Health and Environment
Department, rats and mice are common throughout the city as human
descendants. The rodents prefer to settle where people live and where
food can be found, for example in the leisure and recreation areas in
the city center.
The number of dogs registered in Munich is
increasing and amounted to 36,347 animals as of December 31, 2017, of
which 35,948 were taxed as pets.
Climate change also brought
newcomers to Munich's fauna, which usually only feel comfortable in
tropical temperatures in the Mediterranean region. Other animal species,
on the other hand, suffer from the milder winters and the persistent
drought.
Munich was first mentioned in a document in 1158 as
forum apud Munichen in the Augsburger Schied, after the Duke of Bavaria
and Saxony, Heinrich the Lion, built a crossing of the salt road over
the Isar at approximately the site of today's Ludwigsbrücke and founded
a market near the crossing.
However, the city of Munich was not
founded with the Augsburg arbitration; the existing settlement was only
granted market, coinage and customs rights by Emperor Friedrich
Barbarossa. The Freising bishops received a third of the resulting
income.
It is not known when the city of Munich, which has come
into the light of history since 1158, was actually founded and what name
the settlement bore when it was founded. The oldest and at that time
only parish church in the city is the Peterskirche.
When Henry the Lion was outlawed by
the Emperor in 1180, Bavaria fell to the Wittelsbachs and Munich to the
Bishop of Freising. In 1240, Munich also came under Wittelsbach
ownership and became a ducal residence as early as 1255 after the first
division of the country.
Duke Ludwig IV had been the German king
since 1314 and also the Holy Roman Emperor since 1328, and Munich, his
residence, was significantly expanded with a new ring of walls. At this
time, Munich adopted the colors of the old empire, black and gold, as
city colors.
From the end of the 14th century there were repeated
uprisings by the citizens against the dukes, who then moved their seat
of government from the old court to the new residence on the outskirts
of the city. During the Munich riots (1397-1403), Duke Ernst resided
outside the city. Because of the threat of the Hussites, the existing
city fortifications were reinforced in 1429 with a second, outer wall
ring.
In 1442 were by Albrecht III. expelled the Jewish citizens
from the city. As a result, no Jews lived in Munich until the second
half of the 18th century.
In
1468 the cornerstone was laid for the late Gothic new building of the
Marienkirche, the "Frauenkirche", which took only twenty years to build
despite its size. In terms of architecture and size, Gothic Munich did
not differ much from the other ducal cities of Bavaria such as
Ingolstadt, Straubing or Landshut around 1500, and with just over 13,000
inhabitants it was still far behind Nuremberg and Augsburg, which at the
time were among the five largest cities in the empire belonged.
After the city had experienced a new
cultural heyday in the late Gothic period, Munich became the capital of
the Duchy of Bavaria in 1506 at the beginning of modern times through
the reunification of the duchies under Albrecht IV (1465–1508). In the
years that followed, the influence of the citizenry continued to decline
and the Wittelsbach dynasty determined the development of the city from
then on.
Under the rule of Wilhelm IV (1508–1550) and Albrecht V
(1550–1579), Munich became a center of the Renaissance and the
Counter-Reformation. Duke Wilhelm was the first Wittelsbacher to move
permanently from the Alter Hof to the Neuveste, the original building of
the Munich Residence, whose expansion has now begun. The Hofbräuhaus was
founded in 1589 by Wilhelm V (1579–1597). Michael's Church and the
Jesuit College were built for the Jesuits. Two early city views are
shown in Georg Braun, Franz Hogenberg: "Civitates orbis terrarum" from
1572. Around 1570, Jacob Sandtner's model of the city was made of linden
wood, which, together with those for the four subordinate government
cities of Straubing, Landshut, Ingolstadt and Burghausen, is one of the
oldest in the world.
Under Duke
Maximilian I of Bavaria (1597-1651), Bavaria regained the Electoral
Palatinate portion of the Upper Palatinate and the electoral dignity,
and Munich then became the residence of the Electorate of Bavaria in
1628, which now again comprised almost all of Old Bavaria, but then had
to in 1632 during the Thirty Years' War endure the occupation of Swedish
troops. Munich had to pay a high ransom and provide hostages to avoid
being destroyed. A little later the plague broke out and killed a third
of the population. After the end of the war in 1648, however, the city
recovered and opened up to the Italian Baroque under Elector Ferdinand
Maria (1651-1679). This is how Nymphenburg Palace and the Theatiner
Church as well as the first opera house came into being. However, the
effects of the war were an important prerequisite for the implementation
of the elector's absolutism.
In 1704, during the War of the
Spanish Succession, Munich came under Habsburg occupation for several
years, since Elector Maximilian II Emanuel (1679–1726) had allied
himself with France. An uprising by citizens and farmers ended in bloody
murders in Sendling. After the elector's return from exile, the French
late baroque prevailed at court and subsequently the Bavarian rococo
developed.
After the imperial coronation of Elector Karl Albrecht
(1726–1745), Habsburg troops occupied the city twice from 1742 for long
periods. Maximilian III. Joseph (1745-1777) then gave up the great power
politics of his two predecessors and devoted himself to internal
reforms, so the Bavarian Academy of Sciences was founded in Munich in
1759. In 1789, by order of Elector Karl Theodor (1777–1799), the English
Garden was laid out in the floodplains of the Isar and a little later
the medieval town fortifications were demolished. Under Karl Theodor,
Munich was the residence of Electoral Palatinate-Bavaria, the
third-largest state complex of the Old Kingdom.
Although Munich became an imperial residence in 1328,
it did not rise to become a major city until 450 years later. Towards
the end of the 18th century Munich was growing rapidly, had already
caught up with Augsburg in 1750 and overtaken Nuremberg. From 1806, this
development accelerated even further when Napoleon elevated Bavaria to
the Kingdom of Bavaria, making Munich the capital of a country twice the
size, which included large parts of Franconia, Swabia and the Rhine
Palatinate. Now Protestants could also acquire Munich citizenship. Under
King Max I Joseph (1799-1825) the National Theater was built and the
planned expansion of the city began. In 1818 Munich received
self-government with two mayors and two councils.
In 1700 Munich
had just 24,000 inhabitants, but the number of inhabitants soon doubled
every thirty years, so that in 1871 170,000 people lived in Munich and
in 1933 840,000. Up until the beginning of the 19th century, however,
Munich was still a "structure that had been static until then",
surrounded by a ring of villages that were significantly older than the
city centre. Growing into a big city was possible because around 60
villages and their agricultural areas were incorporated. The city has
grown particularly dynamically since 1870.
With the reign of King
Ludwig I (1825-1848), Munich became a well-known art city. The
classicists Leo von Klenze and Friedrich von Gärtner designed
Ludwigstrasse, Königsplatz and the extension of the Munich Residenz. In
1826, the king had the Ludwig Maximilian University relocated from
Landshut to Munich.
Ludwig's son Max II (1848–1864) promoted the
humanities in particular and gathered a literary circle around him (“The
Crocodiles”). Like his father, Max II emerged as a builder. The
buildings on Maximilianstraße,[A 6] today one of the most exclusive and
expensive shopping streets on the continent, were built in the new
“Maximilian style”, reminiscent of English Gothic.
Under King
Ludwig II (1864–1886), musical life experienced a new boom with several
stays by Richard Wagner. In the 19th century, when Munich was repeatedly
plagued by epidemics (especially cholera), Max von Pettenkofer
introduced the sewage system. As a result, Munich was already considered
one of the cleanest cities in Europe towards the end of the 19th
century.
In the time of Prince Regent Luitpold (1886-1912),
Munich then experienced a tremendous economic and cultural boom. Among
other things, the Prinzregentenstraße and the Prinzregententheater were
built. Around the turn of the century, Schwabing flourished as an
artists' quarter, frequented by numerous important writers and painters
of the time. In 1896 the Munich cultural magazine Jugend was published
for the first time, which gave Art Nouveau its name; In the same year,
the number 1 political-satirical magazine Simplicissimus was published
by Albert Langen. In 1911 the artists' association Der Blaue Reiter was
founded. In the first sentence of his story Gladius Dei, Thomas Mann
coined the dictum of this era for this era.
In 1916, during the
First World War, Munich was hit by bombs during a French air raid, which
did not cause much damage. The deteriorating supply situation, on the
other hand, posed a major problem for the population. There were strikes
and arrests, and an increasingly revolutionary atmosphere arose.
Revolution, Weimar Republic and National Socialism
After the end of
the war, revolutionary riots broke out in Munich in 1919. While the
November Revolution of 1918 was peaceful and ended with the abolition of
the monarchy, the Munich Soviet Republic, an uprising of communist and
socialist groups, was violently suppressed by the Reichswehr and
Freikorps in the spring of 1919. In the years that followed, Munich
increasingly became the nucleus of National Socialist activities, for
example the Adolf Hitler shock troop was founded. In 1923, Hitler's
march to the Feldherrnhalle failed. However, Munich always remained the
seat of the National Socialist German Workers' Party, except from
November 1923 to February 1925, when the party was banned throughout the
Reich.
After the seizure of power in 1933, the city was to be
extensively rebuilt; responsible architect was Hermann Giesler.
"Although the bombastic plans for converting Munich into a Führerstadt
were never realised, the Nazis left their unmistakable architectural
stamp on the city thanks to numerous pompous building projects."
In 1935, Hitler gave Munich the honorary city title of the Nazi era:
Capital of the Movement. In 1938 the Munich Agreement was concluded,
which stipulated the annexation of the Sudetenland to the German Reich.
On December 1, 1937, the Lebensborn breed organization moved into
Thomas Mann's house, which was on the corner of what was then Föhringer
Allee (since 1955: Thomas-Mann-Allee) and Poschingerstrasse. The
headquarters of the SS organization remained in the building until
December 31, 1939.
The Second World War began in September 1939,
shortly afterwards the Bürgerbräukeller assassination attempt failed and
in 1942-1943 the White Rose resisted. Like all major German cities,
Munich was badly hit by Allied air raids during World War II (air raids
on Munich). By the end of the war, 90 percent of the historic old town
and 50 percent of the city as a whole had been destroyed. It is
estimated that around 6,000 people died and around 15,000 were injured.
Two days before the Allied occupation of Munich, the resistance
organization Freiheitsaktion Bayern, which consisted of military and
civilian figures, called on local broadcasting stations to rise up
against National Socialist rule. The uprising of the Freedom Action was
ended on the same day by an SS unit. On April 30, 1945, the US Army
finally occupied the city of Munich without much resistance. Elsewhere
in Germany, the war continued until early May. It finally ended on May
8th with the unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht.
Numerous
memorials commemorate the victims of National Socialism.
After the reconstruction, which was largely based on the
historical cityscape, Munich developed into a high-tech location after
the Second World War, and numerous companies in the service sector, such
as media, insurance companies and banks, settled here. In the first
post-war decades, Munich also benefited indirectly from the division of
Germany, as numerous companies from the Soviet occupation zone and
German Democratic Republic and from Berlin relocated to the south. One
of the best known among them is Siemens.
Tourism also experienced
an upswing in the city, which is rich in important museums (e.g. Old,
New and Pinakothek der Moderne, Deutsches Museum) and sights.
During the Cold War, Radio Free Europe was based in Munich.
In
1962 there were the Schwabing riots, the first prelude to the
Europe-wide youth revolt of the 1960s.
In 1972 Munich hosted the
XX. Olympic Games marred by the kidnapping and murder of Israeli
athletes by Palestinian terrorists. All eleven hostages, one policeman
and five terrorists were killed. As a consequence, the GSG 9 of the
Federal Police was founded in Germany. For the games, the Oberwiesenfeld
area was transformed into the Olympic Park and public transport was
massively expanded with underground and suburban trains, some of which
extend far into the surrounding area. During this time, parts of the
city center were transformed into pedestrian zones.
Since the end
of the Second World War, the Glockenbachviertel has developed into a
center of the gay movement, numerous artists such as Rainer Werner
Fassbinder and Freddy Mercury lived there. In 1988 the Munich Biennale
was founded by Hans Werner Henze.
The new Munich
"Franz Josef Strauss" airport, around 30 kilometers away, was opened in
May 1992, and the old Munich-Riem airport was closed at the same time.
The Messestadt Riem with the Riemer Park, which was opened as part of
the Federal Horticultural Show in 2005, was later built on its site.
In 2002, the Pinakothek der Moderne was opened in the Munich art
area, which was subsequently expanded with the new buildings for the
Museum Brandhorst and the State Museum of Egyptian Art, the Jewish
Museum Munich, the Museum of Urban and Contemporary Art and the
extension for the Lenbachhaus became.
From 2000 to 2011, the
river landscape of the Isar in the eight-kilometre-long section between
Großhesseloher Bridge and the Deutsches Museum was designed with great
effort to be close to nature under the motto "New life for the Isar". In
2002, the Panzerwiese and the adjacent Hartelholz were declared a nature
reserve and fauna-flora area.
Especially after the turn of the
millennium, numerous skyscrapers were also built in Munich, for example
the 146 m high Uptown skyscraper and the twin Highlight Towers, the SV
skyscraper completed in 2008 or the Skyline Tower (see also the list of
skyscrapers in Munich). Since a referendum in 2004, in which the
majority of Munich voters who took part spoke out against the
construction of buildings more than 100 meters high, no high-rise
building has been built in the Bavarian state capital that exceeds the
two almost 99-meter-high towers of the Frauenkirche overlooked.
In 2017, the BMW Group began expanding its research and innovation
center FIZ in the north of Munich. The development center is expected to
grow by around 50 percent by 2050 and then offer 41,000 jobs.