Königsplatz, München

The plans for the Königsplatz were drawn up by Leo von Klenze in 1812 in anticipation of Munich 's expansion. Klenze's designs reflected the ideas of Karl von Fischer, who saw in the Königsplatz a "Forum for the Arts" comparable to the "Forum for the Sciences" represented by Ludwigstrasse. The square took 50 years to complete, the final building, the Propyläen, being finished in 1862, 14 years after the abdication of King Ludwig I who originally commissioned the scheme.

Picture - Hallway of the Old Pinakothek in Munich.

Picture - View of Theatinerkirche in Munich.

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Konigsplatz Map

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Transit: U-Bahn: U2 (Konigsplatz); Tram: 18.

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Between 1933 and 1935 the appearance of the Königsplatz was completely transformed when, in the hands of the architects Paul Ludwig Troost and Leonhard Gall, the square became the National Socialists's "Akropolis Germaniae" in the so-called "Capital City of the Movement". Granite paving replaced the grass and Klenze's Neo-Classical buildings acquired a new function as the setting for huge Nazi rallies. The National Socialist headquarters in Meiserstrasse/Arcisstrasse were "incorporated" into the square by the removal of trees, the buildings in question being the "Führer's Building" (now a college of music), where the Munich Treaty was signed in 1938, the offices of the NSDAP (National Socialist Workers' Party of Germany, now housing the State Graphic Collection), and two so-called "Temples of Honor", blown up in 1947 as part of the process of de-nazification. These "Temples" had replaced two Neo-Classical buildings designed by Karl von Fischer and Schnorr von Carolsfeld.

Today grass grows once more in the Königsplatz. True to its original Neo-Classical conception, the square has again taken on (since June 1988) the character of an "ancient forum", emphasised by the solitary grandeur of the three tree-framed principal buildings, the Glyptothek, Staatliche Antikensammlung and Propyläen.

Related Attractions

Old Picture Gallery

Built between 1826 and 1836, Munich's Old Picture Gallery is one of the biggest in the world. The Gallery showcases Dutch, Flemish, Italian, French, German, Spanish and Medieval Paintings.

Highlights:	Italian Paintings	Medieval German Paintings

Sculpture Gallery

The Sculpture Gallery is one of the oldest Museums in Munich. Home to some of the oldest sculptures in Europe, the Gallery also showcases Greek and Roman Sculptures.

Highlight:	Outstanding Exhibits, Munich Sculpture Gallery

Theatine Church of St Cajetan

The Theatine Church of St Cajetan is one of Munich's landmark buildings. The church, built in a typically Italian High Baroque style, boasts splendid marble statues and beautiful facades.

New Picture Gallery

The New Picture Gallery in Munich displays works of art ranging from the Roccoco to Art Nouveau period.

State Collection of Antiquities

The State Collection of Antiquities is held in a splendid Late Neo-Classical building constructed in the mid 19th C.

Ludwigskirche

This church was built by Friedrich von Gärtner in the first half of the 19th C. The lovely façade is flanked by twin towers.

Munich Municipal Art Gallery

The Art Gallery is housed in an early 20th C villa, which once belonged to artist Franz von Lenbach. The gallery displays a strong collection of 19th and 20th C paintings.

Bavarian State Library

The Bavarian State Library in Munich is Germany's largest library with some 9.6 million volumes and more than 57,500 periodicals. The library has several sections of particular note: the science, manuscript and incunabula departments, the music collection, the oriental and Far Eastern department, the comprehensive East European collection and, last but by no means least, the large map collection of more than 800 atlases and 250,000 maps.

The long range of buildings, with seven wings laid out around two courtyards, was built by Friedrich von Gärtner in 1834-39 within the plan for the development of Ludwigstrasse. The style is modeled on that of the Early Renaissance palaces of Italy. The strong emphasis on the horizontal articulation of the facade contributes to the continuity and monumental effect of the street.

On the steps leading up to the entrance are statues of Thucydides, Homer, Aristotle and Hippocrates, all by Ludwig Schwanthaler.

Court Garden

The Hofgarten, a garden in the Italian style, lies on the north side of the Residenz, enclosed on two sides by long arcades. It was laid out in its present form in 1613-17, in the time of Duke Maximilian I, and has undergone no significant alteration since then. Rows of chestnuts, limes and maples give welcome shade among the beautifully tended rose- and flowerbeds.

In the center of the gardens stands the Temple of Diana, a twelve-sided pavilion with a low domed roof (1615; attributed to Heinrich Schön the Elder). The "Tellus Bavarica", the graceful bronze figure on the roof (originally by Hubert Gerhard, 1594), was given new attributes to make it a symbol of Bavaria by Hans Krumper.

War Memorial

A memorial commemorating Munich's civilian bomb victims and servicemen and women of both World Wars, is also found on the east side of the gardens.

State Palaeontology and Geology Collection

The State Palaeontology and Geology Collection occupies a hybrid, and somewhat, monumental building designed by Leonard Romeis, originally for a school of commercial art.

The palaeontological section has an extensive display of animal and other fossils from crucial epochs in the Earth's history. The particular strength of the collection lies in the material from the Swabian and Franconian Jura (e.g. ichthyosaurs from the Holzmaden Lias, pterosaurs from around Eichstätt in the upper Jura). Other highlights include the skull of a triceratops from Wyoming and the skeleton (cast) of a giant elephant which perished in the Mühldorf/Inn area sometime in the Late Tertiary. Also worth seeing are the fossils of Ice Age fauna and the special display devoted to the Nördlingen Reis meteorite crater.

Brienner Strasse

Brienner Strasse is an early 19th century development of Neo-Classical and Neo-Renaissance style houses. It was laid out in squares which also include shops and galleries.

Ludwigstrasse

Ludwigstrasse is a prominent avenue in Munich featuring Neo-Classical architecture that has been well-preserved and rarely altered from the original development plans.

Chancellery, House of Bavarian History

The large complex of buildings on the east side of the Hofgarten houses the Chancellery and House of Bavarian History. Highly controversial

City Gate

Leo von Klenze modeled this Neo-Classical "City Gate" (1846-62) on the Propylaea on the Acropolis in Athens.

Aligned with the obelisks

German Theater Museum

The Theater Museum in Munich, founded in 1910 in the house of the actress Clara Ziegler (1844-1909), a member of the Court Company, is now

Maxvorstadt

Maxvorstadt, a planned early extension of Munich begun towards the end of the 18th C., lies to the northwest of the city center, its lay-out

Old and New Law Courts

The Alte Justizpalast in Munich is a monumental building with projecting wings on either side. It was severely damaged in 1944 and completely renovated a few years ago. Designed by Friedrich von Thiersch and erected between 1887 and 1897, this superb example of Late Historicist architecture incorporates elements of both the Renaissance and Baroque.

The north facade of the building overlooks the Botanische Garten. The eastern end with its vaulted middle section, facing onto the Karlsplatz (Stachus), has all the effect of a richly decorated main front. The four-sided steel-and-glass dome over the central light well was a novel feature at the time of its construction.

The adjacent "new" Law Courts, a Neo-Gothic building in brick with a clock tower and stepped gables, was also the work of Friedrich von Thiersch. Built in 1906-08 it illustrates the revived interest in North European architectural forms fashionable at that time (the contrast with the Old Law Courts is striking).

State Graphic Collection

Since 1949 the State Graphic Collection has been housed in one of the former "Führerbauten" situated just off Königsplatz. The building

Old Botanic Garden

From 1814 to 1909 this park, just north of the Old Law Courts in Munich, was the municipal Botanic Gardens. A whole range of trees, some of them quite exotic, are a reminder of its former glories. The area became a public park in 1935-1937 since when it has provided an oasis of peace amid the rushing traffic of the city center.

The gardens were originally laid out in 1808-14 by the landscape gardener Ludwig von Sckell. The Neo-Classical gate in Lenbachplatz was erected in 1812 by Joseph Emanuel Herigoyen. The Neptune Fountain (1935-37) was the work of Joseph Wackerle.

In 1854 a "Crystal Palace" was erected on the north side of the garden for the first international Industrial Exhibition. The steel and glass structure - progressive for its day - was destroyed by fire in 1931. An exhibition of works by major German Romantics was lost at the same time.

St Boniface's Church

The Benedictine Monastic Church of St Boniface in Munich, which is also the parish church of the Maxvorstadt, was built in 1834-47 in Byzantine style to the designs of Georg Friedrich Ziebland. Following its destruction in the Second World War Hans Döllgast rebuilt the south end and porch, and later a modern conventual building was constructed on the ruins of the north end and apse.

In the aisle on the east side (to the right of the main entrance) is the tomb of King Ludwig I.

The old conventual buildings originally linked the building which now houses the State Collection of Antiquities with the apse of the church - a bringing together of religion (the Church), learning (the monastery) and art (the museum) which appealed to the Romantic educational ideal of the first half of the 19th C.

General and Applied Geology Collection

Located in the substantial complex of buildings in Luisenstrasse belonging to the Technical University, the General and Applied Geology Collection boasts informative exhibitions on the twin themes of "Erdkruste im Wandel" (The Changing Crust of the Earth) and "Bodenschätze der Erde" (The Earth's Mineral Resources). Also of considerable interest are two display cases explaining the structure and rock formations of the eastern Alps (northern limestone Alps, central Alps and southern Alps) and a third devoted to the geology of carbon deposits (fossil fuels).

Pieces of rock can be examined under a magnifying glass, so revealing their complex structures and constituent minerals.

Karolinenplatz

The Karolinensplatz, Munich's first star-shaped open space, was laid out in 1809-12 to the plans of Karl von Fischer, who probably took as his model the Place de l'Etoile in Paris. The square is one of those into which the Brienner Strasse opens.

The obelisk (by Leo von Klenze) in the middle of the square commemorates the 30,000 Bavarian soldiers who fell in the Russian campaign of 1812.

The original Neo-Classical uniformity of the square has unfortunately been damaged by later building.

Munich's America House and the Anthropologische Staatssammlung (State Anthropology Collection; viewing by arrangement) are situated on the southwest side of the square.