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Munich- Must See Sights

Hofbräuhaus

Described as “the most famous pub in the world”, the Hofbräuhaus has its origins in the dissatisfaction with Munich beer expressed by the thirsty royal household of Wilhelm V, Duke of Bavaria. Fed up with having to import beer to Munich from the city of Einbeck in Lower Saxony, Wilhelm decided to build his own brewery. Thus, in 1589 the “brown” Hofbräuhaus was born, so called because only brown ale was brewed there. The historic beer hall on the first floor of the building is where the brewing was actually done, under the cross vaults. These days up to 1,300 guests can sit at long tables, some of which have been there since 1897, as testified by the many initials, names and comments engraved on them. In the centre of the public beer hall there’s also is a music podium where the Hofbräuhaus’s own musicians play every day. The overall experience is the epitome of the Munich beer hall: spacious chambers, hard benches, crowds of revellers and traditional oompah music.

Englischer Garten

One of the largest municipal parks in Europe, merging into the open countryside north of Munich, the Englischer Garten takes its name from the 18th-century parklands landscaped by English aristocrats to recreate a sense of untouched nature. Created on reclaimed marshland, it was conceived by Munich notable, Benjamin Thompson from Massachusetts, who escaped to Bavaria after finding himself on the wrong side in the US Civil War.

Locals come here to sunbathe, picnic, swim, jog, play soccer, ride horses and even play cricket. In winter it’s infested by cross-country skiers. Among the English Garden’s many attractions there’s a boating lake, four beer gardens, the Monopteros (a Neoclassical temple on an artificial hill) and the lovely Eisbach meadow with its clear, icy river. One of the city’s most famous beer gardens in situated around the Chinesischer Turm, a pagoda, also known as the Chinaturm, which plays host every weekend to a Bavarian brass band. But the Aumeister, along the northern perimeter, is arguably even more attractive, with a restaurant designed in the style of an early 19th-century hunting lodge.
One word of warning: Munich citizens are, even by German standards, bracingly unembarrassed about public nudity and it isn’t unusual, in the summer, to see office workers stripping off during their lunch breaks to read the papers or sunbathe. Being German, however, they also tend to behave themselves.

Alte Pinakothek

Constructed between 1826 and 1836 to exhibit the collection of old masters begun by Wittelsbach Duke Wilhelm IV in the 16th century, the Alte Pinakothek (Old Art Gallery) is housed in a long Florentine-style palazzo and is one of the largest art galleries in Europe. Its outstanding collection, spanning the period from the 14th to 18th century, numbers some 900 paintings (with many more in storage.) Its particular strengths include the finest representation of the German School to be found anywhere in the world and the largest collection of works by Peter Paul Rubens anywhere in Europe.

The ground floor covers 15th century German painting in the left wing, and 16th to 17th century German, Flemish and Dutch painting in the right, while the first floor begins with 15th century Netherlandish painting in the left wing, and then proceeds to German, Italian, Flemish, Dutch, French and Spanish art. Highlights include Dürer’s Self-Portrait and The Four Apostles, Albrecht Altdorfer’s Battle of Alexander, Breugel’s Land of Cockaigne and The Last Judgement, Rembrandt’s Passion Cycle, a Madonna by Leonardo da Vinci, as well as works by Giotto, Botticeli, Raphael and Titian.

The Octoberfest

Munich’s world famous Oktoberfest was first held in the year 1810 to celebrate the Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig’s marriage to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. The festivities began on October 12, 1810 and ended on October 17th with a horse race. In the following years the festival was prolonged and moved forward into September, so that revellers could take advantage of the warmer nights to enjoy the gardens outside the tents and stroll over the Theresienwiese park.

Today the Oktoberfest attracts six to seven million visitors annually and lasts for sixteen days, always ending on the first Sunday of October. Each of the seven Munich breweries has its own huge tent and the tents are divided along four main avenues. Visitors sit ten to a bench, and after a few litres of beer half the hall is singing and dancing on the tables. In addition to beer, pretzels, chicken halves, sausages, and pork knuckles are sold. There are also a number of small tents, which tend to be far less boisterous and not so overcrowded.

The other main aspect of the Oktoberfest is the fair, which is more family orientated, with rides and stalls of every description jostling for customers. As a result the daylight hours, when parents take their children around the fair, tend to be more restrained. It’s also much easier during the day to drink and eat in comfort without long queues since the real party animals tend to be sleeping it off. Only after dark do things begin to get really wild again.

The Frauenkirche

Munich’s great symbol is the Frauenkirche church – specifically its twin towers, which, with their strange onion-shaped early Gothic copper domes, dominate the skyline. Less reverent spectators have commented that the domes are particularly appropriate symbols of Munich since they resemble overflowing beer mugs. At 99 metres, they dominate the skyline partly because of a city ordnance which prevents any modern building from being built whose height exceeds 100 metres.

Constructed between 1468 and 1488, the church was consecrated in 1494 and stands in its own small square, just to the west of the Rathaus. Its redbrick Gothic exterior is actually quite plain, but the interior is more interesting. At the entrance to the nave there is the imposing Mannerist tomb of Ludwig IV, a tribute to the first of only two members of the Wittelsbachs dynasty who managed to get elected as Holy Roman Emperor. There are also beautiful stained-glass windows in the ambulatory chapels and twenty-two simple octagonal pillars supporting the Gothic vaulting over the nave and chancel.

The most famous story relating to the church is the legend of the devil’s footprint. Apparently the architect made a pact with the Devil. In order to get enough money to complete the church, he had to construct it without a single visible window. When the Devil came to inspect the completed church, he saw the high Gothic windows from a distance and thought he had won the builder’s soul. Once inside, he was led to a certain point from which not one window was visible, since all were hidden by the octagonal pillars. Stamping his foot in frustration, the Devil stormed off, leaving his singed cloven footprint in the pavement by the entrance hall.