Munich ( , ; ) is the
capital city of Bavaria
, Germany
.
It is
located on the River Isar
north of the
Bavarian
Alps
. Munich is the third largest city in Germany, after
Berlin
and Hamburg
.
There are
approximately 1.35 million people living within city limits, while
the Munich
Metropolitan Area
(including the urban areas of Augsburg
, Ingolstadt
, Rosenheim
and Landshut
) is home to over 5 million people.
The city's
motto is " " ("Munich Loves You" in
the English version). Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz"
(cosmopolitan city with a heart). Its native name, , is derived
from the
Old German word for
Mönche, which means "
Monks" in
English. The reason for naming the city in such a manner is to
honour the fact that monks of the Benedictine order founded the
city. This is also the reason for the monk depicted on
the city's coat of arms. Black and
gold—the colours of the
Holy Roman
Empire—have been the city's official colours since the time of
Ludwig the
Bavarian.
Munich is not the only location within Bavaria known as "München".
Three such
locations exist: the one which is known as "Munich"; another which
is northeast of the city of Nuremberg
, and also Hutthurm
, a town north of the city of Passau
.
Geography
Munich lies on the elevated plains of
Upper Bavaria, about 50 km north of the
northern edge of the
Alps, at an altitude of
about 520 m
ASL.
The local rivers are
the Isar and the
Würm
.Munich is situated in the Northern
Alpine Foreland. The northern part of this sandy
plateau includes a highly fertile
flint area
which is no longer affected by the
folding processes found in the Alps, while
the southern part is covered by
morainic
hills. In between there are fields of
fluvio-glacial out-wash, like around Munich.
Wherever these deposits get thinner, the
ground water can permeate the gravel surface and
flood the area, leading to
marshes as in the
north of Munich.
Climate
Munich has a
continental
climate, strongly modified by the proximity of the
Alps. The city's altitude and proximity to the northern
edge of the Alps mean that precipitation is rather high. Rain
storms often come violently and unexpectedly. The range of
temperature between day and night or summer and winter can be
extreme. A warm downwind from the Alps (a
föhn wind) can change the temperatures completely
within a few hours, even in the winter.
Winters last from December to March. Munich experiences rather cold
winters, but heavy rainfall is rarely seen in the winter. The
coldest month is January with an average temperature of . Snow
cover is seen for at least a couple of weeks during winter. Summers
in Munich city are fairly warm with average maximum of in the
hottest month of July. The summers last from May until
September.
Demographics
Munich: St. Lukas and River
Isar.
In July 2007, Munich had 1.34 million inhabitants; 300,129 of those
did not hold
German
citizenship.
The city has strong Turkish
and Balkan communities. The largest groups of
foreign nationals were
Turks
(43,309),
Albanians (30,385),
Croats (24,866),
Serbs (24,439),
Greeks (22,486),
Austrians (21,411), and
Italians (20,847). 37% of foreign nationals come
from the
European Union.
With only 24,000 inhabitants in 1700, the population doubled
roughly every 30 years. For example, it had 100,000 people in 1852
and then 250,000 people in 1883; by 1901, the figure had doubled
again to 500,000. Since then, Munich has become Germany's third
largest city. In 1933, 840,901 inhabitants were counted and in
1957, Munich's population passed the 1 million mark.
47.4% of Munich's residents are not affiliated with any religious
group, and this group represents the fastest growing segment of the
population. As in the rest of Germany, the Roman Catholic and
Protestant churches have experienced a continuous, slow decline in
their memberships. 38.3% of the city's inhabitants are
Roman Catholic, 14.0%
Protestant, and 0.3% Jewish (as of 31 December
2008). There is also a small Old Catholic parish and an English
speaking parish of the
Episcopal
Church in the city.
History
Origin and Middle Ages
The year 1158 is assumed to be the foundation date, which is only
the earliest date the city is mentioned in a document.
The document was
signed in Augsburg. By
that time the
Guelph Henry the Lion,
Duke of Saxony and
Bavaria, had built a bridge over
the river Isar next to a settlement of
Benedictine monks—this was
on the Salt Route and a toll bridge.
Almost two decades later in 1175 Munich was officially granted city
status and received fortification. In 1180, with the trial of Henry
the Lion,
Otto I
Wittelsbach became Duke of Bavaria and Munich was handed over
to the
Bishop of
Freising. Otto's heirs, the
Wittelsbach dynasty would rule Bavaria
until 1918. In 1240 Munich itself was transferred to
Otto II Wittelsbach and
in 1255, when the Duchy of Bavaria was split in two, Munich became
the ducal residence of
Upper
Bavaria.
Duke
Louis IV was
elected German king in 1314 and crowned as
Holy Roman Emperor in 1328. He
strengthened the city's position by granting it the salt monopoly,
thus assuring it of additional income.
In the late 15th
century Munich underwent a revival of gothic arts—the Old Town Hall was enlarged, and a
Munich's largest gothic church, now a cathedral—the Frauenkirche
—constructed in only twenty years, starting in
1468.
Capital of reunited Bavaria
When Bavaria was reunited in 1506 Munich became capital of the
whole of Bavaria. The arts and politics became increasingly
influenced by the court (see
Orlando
di Lasso,
Heinrich Schuetz
and later
Mozart and
Richard Wagner). During the 16th
century Munich was a center of the German
counter reformation, and also of
renaissance arts.
Duke Wilhelm V commissioned the Jesuit
Michaelskirche
, which became a center for the counter-reformation,
and also built the Hofbräuhaus for
brewing brown beer in 1589.The
Catholic League was founded in
Munich in 1609.In 1623 during the
Thirty Years' War Munich became electoral
residence when
Maximilian I, Duke of
Bavaria was invested with the
electoral dignity but in 1632 the city was
occupied by
Gustav II Adolph
of Sweden. When the
bubonic
plague broke out in 1634 and 1635 about one third of the
population died. Under the regency of the Bavarian electors Munich
was an important center of baroque life but also had to suffer
under
Habsburg occupations in 1704
and 1742.
In 1806, the city became the capital of the new
Kingdom of Bavaria, with the state's
parliament (the
Landtag) and the
new
archdiocese of
Munich and Freising being located in the city.
Twenty years later
Landshut University
was moved to Munich. Many of the city's
finest buildings belong to this period and were built under the
first three Bavarian kings. Later Prince Regent
Luitpold's years as
regent were marked by tremendous artistic and cultural activity in
Munich (see
Franz von Stuck and
Der Blaue Reiter).
World War I to World War II
Following the outbreak of
World War I in
1914, life in Munich became very difficult, as the Allied blockade
of Germany led to food and fuel shortages. During French air raids
in 1916 three bombs fell on Munich.After World War I, the city was
at the centre of much political unrest. In November 1918 on the eve
of revolution,
Ludwig III and
his family fled the city. After the murder of the first republican
premier of
Bavaria Kurt Eisner in February 1919
by
Anton Graf von Arco
auf Valley, the
Bavarian
Soviet Republic was proclaimed. When
Communist had taken power,
Lenin, who had lived in Munich some years
before, sent a congratulatory telegram, but the Soviet Republic was
put down on 3 May 1919 by the
Freikorps.
While the republican government had been restored, Munich
subsequently became a hotbed of right-wing politics, among which
Adolf Hitler and the
National Socialism rose to prominence.
1923 Hitler and his supporters, who at that time were concentrated
in Munich, staged the
Beer Hall Putsch
, an attempt to overthrow the
Weimar
Republic
and seize
power. The revolt failed, resulting in Hitler's arrest and the
temporary crippling of the
Nazi Party,
which was virtually unknown outside Munich.
The city would once again become a Nazi stronghold when the
National Socialists took power in Germany in 1933.
The National
Socialist Workers Party created the first concentration camp at Dachau
, 10 miles (16 km) north-west of the
city. Because of its importance to the rise of National
Socialism, Munich was referred to as the
Hauptstadt der
Bewegung ("Capital of the Movement").
The NSDAP headquarters were in Munich and many
Führerbauten ("Führer-buildings") were built
around the Königsplatz
, some of which have survived to this
day.
The city is known as the site of the culmination of the policy of
appeasement employed by Britain and
France leading up to World War II. It was in Munich that British
Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain assented to the annexation of
Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland region into Greater Germany in the
hopes of sating the desires of Hitler's Third Reich.
Munich was the base of the
White Rose, a
group of students that formed a
resistance movement from June 1942 to
February 1943.
The core members were arrested and executed
following a distribution of leaflets in Munich
University by Hans and Sophie
Scholl.
The city was very heavily damaged by allied bombing during
World War II—the city was hit by 71 air raids
over a period of six years.
Postwar Munich
After
American
occupation in 1945, Munich was completely rebuilt
following a meticulous and — by comparison to other war-ravaged
West German cities — rather conservative plan which preserved its
pre-war street grid. In 1957 Munich's population passed the
1 million mark.
Munich
was the site of the 1972 Summer
Olympics, during which Israeli
athletes were assassinated by Palestinian terrorists in the Munich
massacre
, when gunmen
from the Palestinian "Black
September" terrorist group took hostage members of the Israeli
Olympic team.
The majority of residents of Munich enjoy a high quality of life.
Mercer HR Consulting consistently rates the city among the top 10
cities with highest quality of life worldwide—a 2007 survey ranked
Munich as 8
th. The same company also ranks Munich as the
world's 39
th most expensive city to live in and the most
expensive major city in Germany. Munich enjoys a thriving economy,
driven by the information technology, biotechnology, and publishing
sectors. Environmental pollution is comparatively low, although
as of 2006 the city council is concerned about
levels of
particulate matter (PM),
especially along the city's major thoroughfares. Since the
enactment of
EU legislation
concerning the concentration of particulate in the air,
environmental groups such as
Greenpeace
have staged large protest rallies to urge the city council and the
State government to take a harder stance on pollution.
Today,
the crime rate is very low compared to other large German cities,
such as Hamburg or Berlin. This
high quality of life and safety has caused the city to be nicknamed
"
Toytown" amongst the
English-speaking residents. German inhabitants call it
"Millionendorf", an expression which means "village of a million
people".
Politics
Results of the elections for the city
council 2008
Munich's current mayor is
Christian
Ude of the
Social
Democratic Party of Germany.
Munich has a nearly unbroken history of
SPD governments since World War II, which is remarkable because the
rest of Bavaria is a
conservative stronghold, with the Christian Social Union
winning absolute majorities among
the Bavarian electorate in many elections at the communal, state,
and federal levels.
Munich is currently governed by a coalition of the SPD, the Greens
and the Rosa Liste (Pink List, a gay rights party).
As
capital of the Free State of Bavaria, Munich is an important
political centre in Germany and the seat of the Bavarian
State Parliament
, the Staatskanzlei (the State Chancellery) and of
all state departments.
Several
national and international authorities are located in Munich,
including the Federal Finance Court of
Germany
and the European
Patent Office.
Munich has decided since 2003 to switch 14,000 computers gradually
to
free software. It develops a
Debian based Linux distribution called
LiMux.
Subdivisions
Since the administrative reform in 1992, Munich is divided into 25
boroughs or
Stadtbezirke.
Architecture
The city is an inspiring mix of historic buildings and impressive
architecture, since Munich reconstructed the ruins of their
historic buildings but also created new landmarks of architecture.
A survey, conducted by the Society's Center for Sustainable
Destinations for the
National Geographic Traveler,
chose over 100 historic places around the world and ranked Munich
as the 30th best destination.
The inner city
At the
center of the city is the Marienplatz
—a large open square named after the
Mariensäule, a Marian
column in its centre—with the Old
and the New Town Hall
. Its tower contains the Rathaus-Glockenspiel
. Three gates of the demolished medieval
fortification have survived to this day—the Isartor
in the east, the Sendlinger Tor in the south and the
Karlstor in the west of the inner city.
The
Karlstor (destroyed during the Second World War and rebuilt
afterwards) leads up to the Stachus
, a grand square dominated by the Justizpalast
(Palace of Justice) and a
fountain.
The
Peterskirche
close to Marienplatz is the oldest church of
the inner city. It was first built during the
Romanesque period, and was the focus
of the early monastic settlement in Munich before the city's
official foundation in 1158.
Nearby St. Peter the Gothic hall-church
Heiliggeistkirche (The Church of the Holy Spirit) was
converted to baroque style from 1724 onwards and looks down upon
the Viktualienmarkt
, the most popular market of Munich.
The
Frauenkirche is the most famous building in the city centre
and serves as cathedral for the Archdiocese of
Munich and Freising.The nearby Michaelskirche is the largest renaissance church north of the Alps, while the
Theatinerkirche
is a basilica in
Italianate high baroque which had a major influence on Southern
German baroque architecture.
Its dome
dominates the Odeonsplatz
. Other baroque churches in the inner city
which are worth a detour are the
Bürgersaalkirche, the
Dreifaltigkeitskirche, the
St. Anna
Damenstiftskirche and
St. Anna im Lehel, the first
rococo church in Bavaria.
The Asamkirche
was endowed and built by the Brothers Asam, pioneering artists of the rococo
period.
The large
Residenz
palace complex (begun in 1385) on the edge of
Munich's Old Town ranks among Europe's most significant museums of
interior decoration. Having undergone several extensions, it
contains also the treasury
and the splendid rococo Cuvilliés
Theatre
. Next door to the Residenz the neo-classical
opera, the National Theatre
was erected. Among the baroque and
neoclassical mansions which still exist in Munich are the
Palais
Porcia
, the Palais Preysing
, the Palais Holnstein
and the Prinz-Carl-Palais
. All mansions are situated close to the
Residenz, same as the Alte Hof
, a medieval castle and first residence of the
Wittelsbach dukes in Munich.
The inner city has been recreated in the virtual world of
Second Life and can be visited for a virtual
sight seeing tour.
The royal avenues and squares
Four grand royal avenues of the 19th century with magnificent
official buildings connect Munich's inner city with the
suburbs:
The
neoclassical Briennerstraße
, starting at Odeonsplatz on the northern fringe of the Old Town close
to the Residenz, runs from east to west and opens into the
impressive Königsplatz, designed with the "Doric" Propyläen, the "Ionic" Glyptothek
and the "Corinthian" State Museum
of Classical Art
, on its back side St.
Boniface's Abbey
was erected. The area around Königsplatz is home to
the Kunstareal
, Munich's gallery and museum quarter (as described
below).
Ludwigstraße
also begins at Odeonsplatz and
runs from south to north, skirting the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, the St. Louis church
, the Bavarian State Library
and numerous state ministries and
palaces. The southern part of the avenue was constructed in
Italian renaissance style while the north is strongly influenced by
Italian Romanesque architecture.
The
neo-Gothic Maximilianstraße
starts at Max-Joseph-Platz
, where the Residenz and the National
Theatre are situated, and runs from west to east.
The
avenue is framed by neo-Gothic buildings which house, among others,
the Schauspielhaus
and the Building of the district
government of Upper Bavaria and the Museum of
Ethnology
. After crossing the river Isar, the avenue
circles the Maximilianeum
, home of the state parliament. The western portion of Maximilianstrasse is
known for its designer shops, luxury boutiques, jewellery stores,
and one of Munich's foremost five-star hotels, the
Hotel Vier
Jahreszeiten.
Prinzregentenstraße
runs parallel to Maximilianstraße and begins
at Prinz-Carl-Palais. Many museums can be found along the avenue,
such as the Haus der
Kunst
, the Bavarian National Museum
and the Schackgalerie
. The avenue crosses the Isar and
circles the
Friedensengel monument passing the
Villa
Stuck and Hitler's old apartment.
The Prinzregententheater
is at Prinzregentenplatz further to the
east.
Other boroughs
Two large baroque palaces in Nymphenburg and Oberschleißheim are
reminders of Bavaria's royal past.
Schloss Nymphenburg
(Nymphenburg
Palace
), some 6 km north west of the city
centre, is surrounded by an impressive park and is considered to be
one of Europe's most beautiful royal residences.
2 km
north west of Nymphenburg Palace is Schloss Blutenburg
(Blutenburg
Castle
), an old ducal country seat with a late-Gothic
palace church. Schloss Fürstenried (Fürstenried
Palace
), a baroque palace of similar structure to
Nymphenburg but of much smaller size, was erected around the same
time in the south west of Munich. The second large
baroque residence is Schloss Schleißheim (Schleissheim
Palace
), located in the suburb of Oberschleissheim
, a palace complex encompassing three separate
residences: Altes Schloss Schleißheim (the old palace),
Neues Schloss Schleißheim (the new palace) and Schloss
Lustheim (Lustheim Palace). Most parts of the palace
complex serve as museums and art galleries.
Deutsches
Museum
's Flugwerft Schleißheim flight exhibition
centre is located nearby, on the Schleißheim Special Landing
Field.
St
Michael in Berg am Laim
might be the most remarkable church out of the
inner city. Most of the boroughs have parish churches
which originate from the Middle Ages like the most famous church of
pilgrimage in Munich St Mary in Ramersdorf
. The oldest church within the city
borders is
Heilig Kreuz in Fröttmaning next to the
Allianz-Arena, known for its Romanesque fresco.Especially in its
suburbs, Munich features a wide and diverse array of modern
architecture, although strict culturally-sensitive height
limitations for buildings have limited the construction of
skyscrapers to avoid a loss of views to the
distant Bavarian Alps.
Most high-rise buildings are clustered at
the northern edge of Munich in the skyline, like the Hypo-Haus
, the Arabella
High-Rise Building
, the Highlight Towers
, Uptown Munich
, Münchner Tor and the BMW
Headquarters
next to the Olympic Park. Several other
high-rise buildings are located near the city center and on the
Siemens campus in southern Munich. A
landmark of modern Munich is also the architecture of the sport
stadiums (as described
below).
In
Fasangarten is the former McGraw Kaserne
, a former U.S. army base, near Stadelheim
Prison
.
The parks
Munich is a green city with numerous parks.
The Englischer
Garten
, close to the city centre and covering an area
of 3.7 km² (larger than Central Park in New York), is one of
the world's largest urban public parks, and contains a nudist area, jogging tracks and
bridle-paths. It was designed and laid out by
Benjamin Thompson, Count of Rumford, an
American, for both pleasure and as a work area for the city's
vagrants and homeless. Nowadays it is entirely a park with a
Biergarten at the Chinese Pagoda.
Other
large green spaces are the modern Olympiapark
and Westpark
as well as the parks of Nymphenburg
Palace (with the Botanischer Garten
München-Nymphenburg to the north), and Schleissheim
Palace. The city's oldest park is the Hofgarten
, near the Residenz, and dating back to the
16th century. Best known for the largest beergarden in the
town is the former royal
Hirschgarten, founded in 1780 for
deer which still live there.
The
city's zoo is the Tierpark
Hellabrunn
near the Flaucher Island in the Isar in the
south of the city. Another notable park is Ostpark, located
in Perlach-Ramersdorf area which houses the swimming area,
Michaelibad, one of the largest in Munich.
Sports
Olympiasee in Olympiapark,
Munich
Munich is home to several professional
football teams, including
FC Bayern Munich which is one of Germany's
most popular and charismatic clubs. The Munich area currently has
three teams in the
Bundesliga system (
FC Bayern TSV
1860 and
SpVgg Unterhaching),
which comprises the three top divisions of
German football. The city's hockey club
is
EHC Munich.
Munich
has also hosted the 1972 Summer
Olympics and was one of the host cities for the 2006 Football World Cup which was not
held in Munich's Olympic Stadium
but in a new football specific stadium, the
Allianz
Arena
.
The Deutsche Baseball Verein hosts two teams in the area, the
Munich-Haar Disciples, and the Gauting Indians; both of which
currently play in the First League of the Bundesliga, both in the
South Division. This has created a strong rivalry since the
Disciples entered the first league in 2007.
On
October 16, 2009, the International Olympic
Committee
has listed Munich as one of the three Applicant
Cities for 2018 Winter Olympic
Games, with Annecy
, France
, and
Pyeongchang
, South
Korea
. If chosen, Munich will be the first city to
host both the
Summer and
Winter Olympic Games.
Culture
Language
The
Austro-Bavarian
language is also spoken in and around Munich, where it is known
as
osterreichisch-boarisch. Austro-Bavarian has
no-
official status by the Bavarian
authorities or local government yet is recognised by the
SIL and has its own ISO-639 code.
Museums
The
Deutsches
Museum or German Museum, located on an island in the
River Isar, is one of the oldest and largest science museums in the
world. Three redundant exhibition buildings which are under
a protection order were converted to house the
Verkehrsmuseum, which houses the land transport
collections of the Deutsches Museum. Deutsches Museum's
Flugwerft Schleißheim flight exhibition centre is located
nearby, on the Schleißheim Special Landing Field.
Several
non-centralised museums (many of those are public collections at
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität) show the expanded state collections
of palaeontology
, geology, mineralogy, zoology
, botany and anthropology.
The city
has several important art galleries, most
of which can be found in the Kunstareal, including the Alte Pinakothek
, the Neue Pinakothek
, and the Pinakothek der Moderne
. Alte Pinakothek's rather
monolithic structure contains a treasure trove of the works of
European masters between the 14th and 18th centuries. The
collection reflects the eclectic tastes of the Wittelsbachs over
four centuries, and is sorted by schools over two sprawling floors.
Major displays include
Albrecht
Dürer's Christ-like Self-Portrait, his Four Apostles,
Raphael's paintings
The Canigiani Holy
Family and
Madonna
Tempi as well as
Peter Paul
Rubens two-storey-high
Judgment Day. The gallery
houses one of the world's most comprehensive Rubens collections.
Before
World War I, the
Blaue Reiter group of artists worked in
Munich.
Many of their works can now be seen at the
Lenbachhaus
.An important collection of Greek and Roman
art is held in the Glyptothek and the Staatliche
Antikensammlung (State Antiquities Collection).
King
Ludwig I managed to acquire such famous pieces as the Medusa Rondanini, the Barberini Faun and the figures from the
Temple of
Aphaea
on Aegina
for the Glyptothek. The Kunstareal will be further augmented by the completion of the
Egyptian Museum
.
The
famous gothic Morris dancers of
Erasmus Grasser are exhibited in the
Munich
City Museum
in the old gothic arsenal building in the
inner city.
Another
area for the arts next to the Kunstareal is the Lehel
quarter
between the old town and the river Isar: The State Museum
of Ethnology in Maximilianstrasse is the second largest
collection in Germany of artifacts and objects from outside Europe,
while the Bavarian National Museum and the adjoining Bavarian State Archaeological
Collection
in Prinzregentenstrasse rank among Europe's
major art and cultural history museums. The nearby
Schackgalerie is an important gallery of German 19th century
paintings.
The
former Dachau
concentration camp is 16 kilometres outside the city.
Arts and literature
Munich is a major European cultural centre and has played host to
many prominent composers including
Orlando di Lasso,
W.A. Mozart,
Carl Maria von Weber,
Richard Wagner,
Gustav Mahler,
Richard Strauss,
Max
Reger and
Carl Orff. With the
Biennale, founded by
Hans Werner
Henze the city still contributes to modern music theatre.
The
Nationaltheater where several of Richard Wagner's operas had their premieres
under the patronage of Ludwig II of
Bavaria is the home of the Bavarian State Opera and the Bavarian State Orchestra.
Next door
the modern Residenz Theatre
was erected in the building that had housed
the Cuvilliés
Theatre before World War II. Many operas were
staged there, including the premiere of
Mozart's "Idomeneo" in 1781.
The
Gärtnerplatz
Theatre is a ballet and musical state theatre while
another opera house the Prinzregententheater has become the home of the Bavarian Theatre
Academy.The modern Gasteig
center houses the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra.
The third orchestra in Munich with international importance is the
Bavarian Radio
Symphony Orchestra. Its primary concert venue is the
Herkulesaal in the former city royal residence, the
Residenz. A stage for shows, big events and musicals is the
Deutsche Theater.
The
Golden
Friedensengel
Next to
the Bavarian Staatsschauspiel in the Residenz Theatre
(Residenztheater), the Munich Kammerspiele in the Schauspielhaus is one of the most
important German language theatres in the world. Since
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's
premieres in 1775 many important writers have staged their plays in
Munich such as
Christian
Friedrich Hebbel,
Henrik Ibsen and
Hugo von Hofmannsthal.
Prominent literary figures worked in Munich especially during the
final centuries of the Kingdom of Bavaria such as
Paul Heyse,
Max Halbe,
Rainer
Maria Rilke and
Frank
Wedekind.The period immediately before
World War I saw particular economic and cultural
prominence for the city.
Munich, and especially its suburb of
Schwabing
, became the domicile of many artists and
writers. Thomas Mann, who also
lived there, wrote ironically in his novella
Gladius Dei
about this period, "Munich shone". It remained a centre of cultural
life during the Weimar period with figures such as
Lion Feuchtwanger,
Bertolt Brecht and
Oskar Maria Graf.
In 1919 the Bavaria
Film Studios
were founded.
From the Gothic to the Baroque era, the fine arts were represented
in Munich by artists like
Erasmus
Grasser,
Jan Polack,
Johann Baptist Straub,
Ignaz Günther,
Hans Krumpper,
Ludwig von Schwanthaler,
Cosmas Damian Asam,
Egid Quirin Asam,
Johann Baptist Zimmermann,
Johann Michael Fischer and
François de
Cuvilliés.Munich had already become an important place for
painters like
Carl Rottmann,
Lovis Corinth,
Wilhelm von Kaulbach,
Carl Spitzweg,
Franz von Lenbach,
Franz von Stuck and
Wilhelm Leibl when
Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), a group
of expressionist artists, was established in Munich in 1911. The
city was home to the Blue Rider's painters
Paul Klee,
Wassily
Kandinsky,
Alexej von
Jawlensky,
Gabriele Münter,
Franz Marc,
August Macke and
Alfred
Kubin.
Hofbräuhaus and Oktoberfest
The
Hofbräuhaus am Platzl
, arguably the most famous beer hall worldwide, is
located in the city centre. It also operates the second largest tent
at the Oktoberfest
, one of Munich's most famous attractions.
For two weeks, the Oktoberfest attracts millions of people visiting
its beer tents ("Bierzelte") and fairground attractions. The
Oktoberfest was first held on 12 October 1810 in honour of the
marriage of crown prince
Ludwig
to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. The festivities
were closed with a horse race and in the following years the
horse races were continued and later developed
into what is now known as the Oktoberfest. Despite its name, most
of Oktoberfest occurs in September. It always finishes on the first
Sunday in October unless the German national holiday on 3 October
("Tag der deutschen Einheit"-Day of German Unity) is a Monday or
Tuesday-then the Oktoberfest remains open for these days.
Culinary specialities
The
Weißwürste ('white
sausages') are a Munich speciality. Traditionally eaten only before
12:00 noon-a tradition dating to a time before refrigerators-these
morsels are often served with sweet mustard and freshly baked
pretzels.
Leberkäs, Bavarian baked sausage loaf, often
served with potato salad, is another delicacy of the region.
The most famous soup might be the
Leberknödel Soup.
Leberknödel is a bread dumpling seasoned with liver and
onions.
Schweinebraten (pot roasted pork) with
Knödel
(dumplings made from potatoes and/or white bread) and
Kraut (cabbage) or a
Schweinshaxe (pork knuckle)
are served as lunch or dinner.
Beuscherl, a plate of lung,
heart and spleen is also served with dumplings.
Popular as dessert is the
Apfelstrudel (apple)
strudel with vanilla sauce, the
Millirahmstrudel a cream cheese strudel,
Dampfnudeln (yeast dumplings served with custard) or
Auszogene, a fried pastry shaped like a large donut but
without a hole. And there is also the famous
Prinzregententorte created in honour
of the prince regent
Luitpold.
Some specialities are typical cold dishes served in
beergarden:
Obatzda is a Bavarian cheese delicacy, a
savoury blend of smashed mellow camembert prepared with cream
cheese, cut onions and spicy paprika (and sometimes some butter).
It's often served in the beergardens as well as
Radi,
white radish cut in thin slices and salted, and
Münchner
Wurstsalat, Munich's famous sausage
salad with thinly-sliced Knackwurst marinated in vinegar and oil
with onions on a bed of lettuce. Popular grilled meals include
Steckerlfisch which is a local fish, such as trout or
whitefish, speared on a wooden stick, grilled and smoked on
charcoal—the typical feature is the crispy skin. Another classic is
A hoibs Hendl (half a grilled
chicken). A
Maß (die Maß) is a litre of beer, a
Radler consists of half beer and half lemonade.
Local beers brewed in Munich
Munich is famous for its breweries and the
Weißbier (or
Weizenbier, wheat beer)
is a speciality from Bavaria.
Helles with its translucent gold colour is
the most popular Munich beer today, although it’s not very old
(only introduced in 1895). Helles and
Pils
have almost ousted the
Munich Dark Beer (
Dunkles), which gets its dark colour from burnt
malt, the most popular beer in Munich within the 19th
century.
Starkbier is the strongest Munich beer, containing
6–9 percent alcohol. It is dark amber and has a heavy malty taste.
It is available and popular during the Lenten
Starkbierzeit (strong beer season), which begins on or
before St. Joseph’s Day (March 19).
There are around 20 major beer gardens, with four of the most famous and
popular being located in the Englischer Garten and the largest one in the Hirschgarten.
Markets
The
Viktualienmarkt is Munich's most popular market for fresh food
and delicatessen. A very old feature of Munich's Fasching
(carnival) is the dance of the Marktfrauen (market women) of the
Viktualienmarkt in comical costumes.
The
Auer
Dult
is held three times a year on the square
around Mariahilf church and is one of Munich's oldest markets, well
known for its hardware, tat and antiques.
Three weeks before Christmas the
Christkindlmarkt opens at Marienplatz
and other squares in the city, selling Christmas goods.
Nightlife in Munich
Nightlife in Munich is thriving with over 6,000
licensed establishments in the city, especially in Schwabing, which is still the main quarter for students and
artists. Some notable establishments are: the touristy
Hofbräuhaus, one of the oldest breweries in Munich,
located in the city centre near Tal; Kultfabrik (formerly known as
Kunstpark Ost) and Optimolwerke, former industrial areas converted
to host many different discos and pubs; Munich's gay quarter is in
Isarvorstadt, surrounding the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz, also
known as the Glockenbachviertel.
Colleges and Universities
Munich is a leading location for science and research with a long
list of Nobel Prize laureates from
Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen in 1901 to
Theodor Hänsch in 2005.
Munich has become a spiritual centre already since the times of
Emperor Louis IV when philosophers like
Michael of Cesena,
Marsilius of Padua and
William of Ockham were protected at the
emperor's court. The Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) and the
Technische Universität München (TU or TUM), were two of the first
three German universities to be awarded the title
elite
university by a selection committee composed of academics and
members of the Ministries of Education and Research of the
Federation and the German states (Länder). Only the two Munich
universities and the Technical University of Karlsruhe have held
this honour, and the implied greater chances of attracting research
funds, since the first evaluation round in 2006.
Main building of the Ludwig
Maximilians University
- University of Munich (LMU), founded in 1472 in Ingolstadt, moved to Munich in 1826
- Technical University of
Munich
(TUM), founded in 1868
- Munich Business School
(MBS), founded in 1991
- Munich
University of Applied Sciences
(HM), founded in 1971
- Munich
Intellectual Property Law Center (MIPLC)
- Universität der Bundeswehr
München
, founded in 1973
- Pionierschule
und Fachschule des Heeres für Bautechnik
- Hochschule für Musik und Theater
München
, founded in 1830
- Akademie der Bildenden Künste
München
, founded in 1808
- University of Television and Film
Munich
, (Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film)
founded in 1966
- Hochschule für
Philosophie München, founded in 1925 in Pullach
, moved to Munich in 1971
- Hochschule
für Politik München
- Katholische
Stiftungsfachhochschule München, founded in 1971
-
International Max Planck Research School for Molecular and Cellular
Life Sciences [2827],
- Deutsche
Journalistenschule, founded in 1959
Scientific research institutions
Max Planck Society
The
Max Planck Society, an
independent German non-profit research organization, has its
administrative headquarters in Munich. The following institutes are
located in the Munich metropolitan area:
- Max Planck
Institute for Astrophysics
, Garching
- Max Planck
Institute of Biochemistry
, Martinsried
- Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial
Physics
, Garching
- Max
Planck Institute for Foreign and International Social Law,
München
- Max Planck Institute for Intellectual
Property, Competition and Tax Law
, München
- Max Planck
Institute of Neurobiology
, Martinsried
- Max Planck Institute for
Ornithology, Andechs
-Erling (Biological
Rhythms and Behaviour), Radolfzell
, Seewiesen (Reproductive
Biology and Behaviour)[2828]
- Max Planck Institute for
Physics
(Werner Heisenberg Institute), München
- Max
Planck Institute for Plasma Physics
, Garching and Greifswald
- Max
Planck Institute of Psychiatry
, München
- Max
Planck Institute for Psychological Research, München
- Max
Planck Institute of Quantum Optics
, Garching
Other research institutes
Economy
Munich
has the strongest economy of any German city, as well as the lowest
unemployment rate (5.6%) of any German
city with more than a million people (the other ones being Berlin and Hamburg). The city is also the economic centre of
southern
Germany
. The initiative “Neue Soziale
Marktwirtschaft (INSM)” (New Social Market Economy) and the
“
WirtschaftsWoche” (Business
Weekly) magazine have awarded Munich the top score in their
comparative survey for the third time in June 2006. Munich topped
the ranking of the magazine “Capital” in February 2005 for the
economic prospects between 2002 and 2011 in sixty German cities.
Munich
is considered a global city and holds
the headquarters of Siemens AG
(electronics), BMW (car), MAN
AG (truck manufacturer, engineering), Linde (gases), Allianz
(insurance) and Munich
Re (re-insurance), Rohde & Schwarz (electronics). Among German cities with
more than 500,000 inhabitants purchasing power is highest in Munich
(26,648 euro per inhabitant) as of 2007. In 2006, Munich
blue-collar workers enjoyed an average hourly wage of 18.62 euro
(ca. $ 23).
The breakdown by cities proper (not metropolitan areas) of
Global 500 cities listed Munich in 8th
position in 2009.Munich is also a centre for
biotechnology,
software and other
service industries.
Munich
is also the home of the headquarters of many other large companies
like the aircraft engine manufacturer MTU Aero Engines, the space and defence
contractor EADS (headquartered in the suburban
town of Ottobrunn
), the injection molding machine
manufacturer Krauss-Maffei, the camera
and lighting manufacturer Arri, the
semiconductor firm Infineon
Technologies (headquartered in the suburban town of Neubiberg
), the DRAM company Qimonda, as well as the German or European
headquarters of many foreign companies like Precision Plus, McDonald’s and Microsoft.
Munich
has significance as a financial centre (secondary to Frankfurt
), being home of HypoVereinsbank and the Bayerische
Landesbank. It outranks Frankfurt though as home of insurance companies like
Allianz and Munich
Re.
Munich is the largest publishing city in Europe and home to the
Süddeutsche Zeitung, one of
Germany's largest daily newspapers. Munich is also home to
Germany's largest public broadcasting network,
ARD, and its largest commercial network,
Pro7-Sat1 Media AG, is home to the
headquarters of the German branch of
Random
House, the world's largest publishing house, and is also host
to the
Burda publishing
group.
The
Bavaria
Film Studios are located in the suburb of Grünwald
. They are one of Europe's biggest and
most famous film production studios.
Lufthansa
has opened a second hub at Munich's Franz
Josef Strauss International Airport
, the second-largest airport in Germany, after
Frankfurt International
Airport
.
Transportation
Public transport network
Munich International Airport
Franz
Josef Strauss International Airport (IATA: MUC, ICAO
: EDDM) is Germany's second largest airport,
after Frankfurt, with about 34 million passengers a year, and
lies some north east of the city centre. The airport can be
reached by suburban train lines
S8 from the east
and
S1 from the west part of the city. From the
Hauptbahnhof (main railway station), the journey takes 40–45
minutes. A
magnetic levitation
train (called
Transrapid) which was
to have run at speeds of up to from the central station to the
airport in a travel time of 10 minutes had been approved, but was
cancelled in March 2008 because of cost escalation. Supporters of
the transrapid project founded the organization
Bayern pro Rapid in 2007.
The
airport began operations in 1992, replacing the former main
airport, the Munich-Riem airport
(active 1939–1992).
Other airports
The Bavarian state government has announced plans to expand the
Oberpfaffenhofen Air Station located west of Munich, for
commercial use. These plans are opposed by many residents in the
Oberpfaffenhofen area .
The
Memmingen Airport
is also called Airport Munich
West.
Public transportation
For its urban population of 2.6 million people, Munich and its
closest suburbs have one of the most comprehensive and punctual
systems in the world, incorporating the
Munich U-Bahn , the
Munich S-Bahn , trams and buses. The system is
supervised by the
Munich Transport and
Tariff Association (
Münchner Verkehrs- und Tarifverbund
GmbH). The
Munich Tramway is the oldest existing public
transportation system in the city, which has been in operation
since 1876. Munich also has an extensive network of bus
lines.
The main
railway station is Munich Hauptbahnhof
, in the city centre, and there are two smaller
main line stations at Pasing
, in the west of the city, and Munich
Ostbahnhof
in the east. All three are connected to the
public transport system and serve as transportation hubs.
ICE highspeed trains stop at
Munich-Pasing and Munich-Hauptbahnhof only.
InterCity and
EuroCity
trains to destinations east of Munich also stop at Munich East.
Since 28
May 2006 Munich has been connected to Nuremberg via Ingolstadt by the 300 km/h (186 mph) Nuremberg–Munich
high-speed railway line.
The trade fair
transport logistic
is held every two years at the
Neue Messe München (Messe
München International).
Individual transportation
Munich is an integral part of the
motorway
network of southern Germany.
Motorways from Stuttgart
(W), Nuremberg, Frankfurt and Berlin (N),
Deggendorf
and Passau (E), Salzburg
and Innsbruck
(SE), Garmisch Partenkirchen
(S) and Lindau
(SW) terminate at Munich, allowing direct access to
the different parts of Germany, Austria and Italy. However,
traffic in and around Munich is often heavy. Traffic jams are
commonplace during rush hour and at the beginning and end of major
holidays in Germany.
Cycling is recognized as a good alternative to motorised transport
and the growing number of
bicycle lanes are widely used
throughout the year. A modern
bike hire
system is available in the central area of Munich that is
surrounded by the beltway.
Around Munich
The Munich
agglomeration sprawls
across the plain of the
Alpine foothills
comprising about 2.6 million habitants.
Several smaller
traditional Bavarian towns and cities like Dachau
, Freising
, Erding
, Starnberg
, Landshut and Moosburg
are today part of the Greater Munich Region, formed
by Munich and the surrounding districts, making up the Munich
Metropolitan Region, which has a population of about 4.5 million
people.File:StadtpfarrkircheStJakob.JPG|DachauFile:Erding_center.JPG|ErdingFile:Freisinger_Dom_aussen_01.jpg|FreisingFile:Cloister_Fuerstenfeld_Portal.jpg|FürstenfeldbruckFile:Landsberg_Befestigung_4.jpg|LandsbergFile:Kastulusmünsterp.jpg|Moosburg
Twin cities
Munich is
twinned with:
Famous people of Munich
Famous people born in Munich
- Athletes
- Markus Babbel, born 1972, former
footballer and current head coach of VfB
Stuttgart
- Franz Beckenbauer, born in
1945, former footballer and current president of the Supervisory
Board of FC Bayern Munich
- Stephan Fürstner, born
1987, plays for FC Bayern Munich
II
- Thomas Hitzlsperger, born in
1982, footballer who currently plays for Stuttgart
- Philipp Lahm, born in 1983,
footballer who currently plays for Bayern Munich
- Andreas Ottl, born in 1985,
footballer for Bayern Munich
- Christoph Schubert, born in
1982, Ice hockey Player who currently plays in NHL for Ottawa Senators
- Frank Shorter, born 1947, champion
distance runner
- Politicians
- Carl Amery, 1922–2005, writer,
President of the German PEN Center and founding member of the
German Green Party
- Heinrich Himmler, 1900–1945,
Nazi, leading organiser of the Holocaust
- Franz Josef Strauß,
1915–1988, Minister-President of the Free State of Bavaria
- Writers
- Alfred Andersch, 1914–1980,
writer
- Leon Feuchtwanger, 1884–1958,
writer
- Klaus Mann, 1906–1949, writer
- Eugen Roth, 1895–1976, writer
- Simran Sethi, born in 1970,
environmental journalist
- Musicians
- Sportfreunde Stiller,
Popular German rock band
- Richard Strauss, 1864–1949,
composer
- Carl Orff, 1895–1982, composer
- Wolfgang Sawallisch, born in
1923, conductor and pianist
- Ralph Siegel, born in 1945,
composer
- Brent Mydland, born in 1952,
Grateful Dead keyboardist
- Harold Faltermeyer, born in
1952, composer and record producer
- Nick Menza, born in 1968, Megadeth drummer
- Lou Bega, Singer/Songwriter, born in
1975
|
- Entertainment
- Percy Adlon, born in 1935, film
director
- Moritz Bleibtreu, born in 1971,
actor
- Werner Herzog, born in 1942, film
director
- Curt Jürgens, 1915–1982,
actor
- Karl Valentin, 1882–1948,
comedian, author and film producer
- Fritz Wepper, actor, born in
1941
- Michael Haneke, filmmaker and
writer, born in 1942
- Uschi Obermaier, sex symbol of
the late sixties, born in 1946
- Jeri Ryan, actress, born in 1968
- Julia Stegner, topmodel, born in
1984
- Briana Banks, porn actress, born in
1978
- Nobel Prize winners
- Eduard Buchner, 1860-1917,
chemist and Nobel Prize winner
- Ernst Otto Fischer,
1918–2007, chemist and Nobel Prize winner
- Wassily Leontief, 1905-1999,
economist and Nobel Prize winner
- Feodor Felix Konrad
Lynen, 1911–1979, biochemist and Nobel Prize winner
- Rudolf Mößbauer, born in
1927, physicist and Nobel Prize winner
- Fashion designers
- Nobility
- Painters
- Others
|
The Mariensäule (Mary's column)
Famous residents
- Julia Fischer, violinist, pianist,
professor
- Freddie Mercury, lead singer of
Queen
- Orlande de Lassus,
composer
- Richard Wagner, composer
- Max Reger, composer, organist, pianist
and conductor
- Thomas Mann, author
- Hans Magnus
Enzensberger, author
- Vladimir Lenin, Russian
revolutionary
- Adolf Hitler, Austrian-born German
politician
- Franz von Lenbach,
painter
- Franz von Stuck, painter and
sculptor
- Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944),
painter
- Brigitte
Horney, actress (Münchhausen
)
- Max Schreck, actor
- Rainer Werner
Fassbinder, film director
- Lola Montez, courtesan to King
Ludwig I
- Marsilius of Padua, Italian
medieval scholar
- William of Ockham, English
medieval philosopher
- Joseph Ratzinger now Pope Benedict former Archbishop of
Munich-Freising
- Muhammad Iqbal, Pakistan's
national poet, who got his Ph.D. from Munich in 1907
- Joseph von Fraunhofer,
optician
- Justus von Liebig,
chemist
- Georg Ohm, physicist
- Wilhelm Röntgen, Nobel
Prize winning physicist
- Albert Einstein, Nobel Prize
winning physicist, grew up in Munich
- Max Planck, Nobel Prize winning
physicist
- Werner Heisenberg, Nobel Prize
winning physicist
- Sepp Maier, footballer
- Gerd Müller, footballer
- Nick McCarthy, guitarist,
Franz Ferdinand, grew up in
Munich
References
- Names of
European cities in different languages#M
- Region Munich
-
http://www.mstatistik-muenchen.de/themen/bevoelkerung/jahreszahlen/jahreszahlen_2008/p_jt090114.pdf
- stmf.bayern.de (German)
- 2007 survey Mercer Human Resource Consulting
- 2007 Cost of Living Report Munich Mercer Human
Resource Consulting
- Report in Stern magazine (German)
- Best 110 historic places worldwide
- http://www.munichsl.com/ Munich in SL
- [1] Study conducted by INSM (New Social Market
Economy Initiative) and WirtschaftsWoche magazine
- [2] Bundesagentur für Arbeit (Federal agency
for work)
- [3] Germany, statistics, studies,
consumers
- Landeshauptstadt München, Direktorium, Statistisches Amt:
Statistisches Jahrbuch 2007, page 206 (Statistical Yearbook of the
City of Munich 2007)
- [4] Fortune Global 500 annual ranking of the
world's largest corporations
External links
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